CHAPTER 5

ELIZABETH’S POV

Flashbacks.

“Good morning, princess! Time to wake up. You’ll have a long day ahead.” I groaned when I heard my Mom’s voice. Suddenly, I felt something warm in my forehead. 

“Come on, princess. Today is your first day!” She tries to shake my shoulder. 

“Yes, Mommy! I’m awake na po,” sabi ko habang nagtatanggal ng muta sa mata. 

Nakita ko siyang inaayos iyong kurtina sa kwarto ko. Lagi niyang ginagawa iyan, she’s my human alarm. She knows everything about me. She’s aware of everything that’s happening to me. I can live with these mornings forever. Kahit may trabaho siya, she still makes sure na naasikaso niya ako. My Mom was never busy especially for her family. 

“Mom? I love you.” Napatingin siya sa akin at lumapit sabay yakap ng mahigpit. Medyo halata na itong baby bump ni Mommy kasi malapit ng mag-three months si baby. I am super excited!

“Good morning, my princess! Mahal, bakit ang aga mong nagigising, dapat lagi lang kayo nagre-rest ni baby. Teka nga─ bakit si Mommy lang ang may I love you ha? At bakit hindi niyo ako isinasali sa hug niyo?” Narinig kong sabi ni Daddy sabay pasok sa kwarto ko. Nagtinginan kami ni Mommy at sabay na natawa. Whay are they still acting like a teenager?! 

“Sus Edwin! Ang tanda-tanda mo na napakatampuhin mo pa rin, halika na nga!” Pang-aasar naman ni Mommy kay Daddy. Natawa ako dahil nakita ko pa kung paano humaba iyong nguso ni Daddy. Napangiwi ako pero gosh, ang cute nila! 

“Good morning, gwapo kong Daddy! I love you, both!” sabi ko sa kanila at sabay naman nila akong niyakap ulit. Having them makes me feel out of this world, the love I feel coming from them is a feeling that I would never get from anyone else. They make me feel so happy and loved. 

“I love you more. Baba na kami. Sunod ka na ha?” I nodded. They kissed my cheeks bago sila lumabas sa kwarto ko. I took my phone and saw a message from Elias and my best friends. Mga excited. After replying to their messages. I got up, fix my bed and took a bath. 

I found my parents in the table when I got down. I kissed Dad’s cheeks, I ate my breakfast and Dad’s drove me to school. I checked my phone because my schedule was here. The school sent us this a week ago. I dialed their number, kinakabahan ako. I’m sure Tine is already here, she’s an early bird, early nerd rather. No one is answering their phone. Fine, gonna look for my room na lang. Oh! I forgot, magkakaiba pala kami ng course. So probably, hindi kami magkakaklase. What? Hindi ako sanay mag-isa. 

Pumasok muna ako sa comfort room malapit sa room namin to retouch my face. When suddenly, I heard some murmurs from one of the cubicle. 

“Stop. Later, yeah, I will call you.” I heard the girl said. Wait? That voice is so familiar. Tine Marie Valdez! My gosh, what if ibang tao iyong nakarinig nito? Narinig kong nag-unlock iyong pinto. Humarap ako sa gawi nila. Nagulat siya. 

“Oh. Hi!” Awkward siyang ngumiti. Pinandilatan ko siya ng mata. May binulong siya sa lalaking kasama niya which I noticed that we have the same logo of uniform.

“Wow! What a morning Tine Marie Valdez! Halika nga, I wanna pull your hair right now! Kailan ka pa natutong makipag-ano dito sa school? Hoy! Nako, sinasabi ko talaga sa iyo!” sabi ko sa kanya pagkaalis ng lalaki. She hugged me. 

“Anong nakipag-ano?” tanong niya. Halatang nang-aasar!

“Just kidding! Sorry na. Napaka-kulit kasi, hindi na po mauulit boss. Promise, sa labas na lang ng school sa susunod.” Aba’t─ Binatukan ko nga. I rolled my eyes habang siya tawa nang tawa. 

“Cute mo!”

“Sino na naman ba iyon?” tanong ko habang nagsusuklay. But her phone rang, start na yata ng klase niya. 

“Oops! Time to go. I will make kwento later. See you later!” She hurriedly got out of the room. Napailing na lang ako sa mga kalokohan niya. Nako! Buti na lang matalino siya sa academics and buti na lang magkatabi lang ang Med Department at Engineering Department. Lumabas na rin ako at nagtungo sa room namin. Medyo marami na rin kami and almost boys. I shrugged my shoulders. I guess, bihira lang talaga ang babae sa engineering.

It’s almost lunch time pero wala pa ring professor na dumating. So it’s true, na hindi pa regular class kapag mga first or second day ng klase? I got a message from Jai na nasa cafeteria na raw siya. Daanan ko na lang si Tine. We have decided kasi na sabay-sabay pa rin kumain ng lunch kapag kaya ng schedule kahit may sari-sariling cafeteria each department. 

Malapit na ako sa department nila nang makita ko na namang may kausap siyang lalaki, take note, iba iyong lalaking kasama niya kanina. Kailan ba ako masasanay dito? She makes paalam na sa boy when she saw me approaching. She hugged me while walking as I rolled my eyes.

Jai is waving when she saw us. We ordered food first at dumiretso na rin kay Jai. 

The day went through na walang dumating na professors. I feel like nagsayang lang ako ng isang buong araw sa buhay ko. Naglalakad na ako papunta sa parking lot, nauna ng umuwi sina Tine at Jai, opo, iniwan nila ako. Kidding aside, Jai just got her period kanina, nag-absent siya kasi grabe mag-menstrual cramps ang isang iyon. Si Tine naman need pa niya asikasuhin ibang kapatid niya. I just waited for the last subject to confirmed that no professor was coming. So it was totally fine. 

I took my phone para mai-text sana kung saan ba banda nag-park iyong driver namin when suddenly I heard a beep from my behind. There, I saw Elias standing like a model of their university. Their uniform suits him well! I saw some of my schoolmates eyeing and drooling with my boyfriend. Napangiti ako, oh well! That’s mine! He’s mine, ladies! He waves his hand and I waved my hand too. Lumapit ako sa kanya, niyakap niya ako at hinalikan sa noo. Not minding the people around us. Does this person know how attractive he was?

“I miss you. How’s your day, mahal?” tanong niya habang nakayukong nakatingin sa akin. Kumalas ako sa yakap para matignan siya ng mabuti.

Napasimangot ako bago magsalita. “You know, they’re right. Walang pumapasok na professor kapag first day of school. So yeah, nothing much happened today. How about you?” tanong ko pabalik.

“We had our recitation at the first subject, first quiz at second subject…the next were almost introduce ourselves na,” sabi niya. He’s taking Political Science as a Bachelor’s Degree bago siya mag-law. 

I received a text message from Mommy, she wanted me to buy her an Ice Cream, strawberry flavor. Our baby is craving! We first went through to an Ice Cream parlor before he finally took me home. Elias just stopped by the house but also left immediately kasi out of the way naman talaga bahay namin sa bahay nila. 

The next day, Mom woke me up because Elias was downstairs, waiting. Oo pala! Sinabi pala niya sa akin kahapon na sabay kaming papasok sa school ngayon dahil 8:00am pa start ng klase niya. I did my morning routine at bumaba na rin pagkatapos. I saw them at the dining table, hindi pa sila nag-i-start kumain dahil hinihintay nila ako. I kissed my Mom and Dad’s cheeks, also Elias. He whispered ‘good morning’. 

We started eating when Dad suddenly talk. “How’s school? Both of you?” Nagkatinginan kami ni Elias, it’s not like kinakabahan kami na hindi maganda ginagawa namin sa school, it was just a sign kung sinong unang sasagot. Pero oo, Elias was still nervous everytime he is around with my parents. Ewan ko ba dyan, matagal na kami pero kinakabahan pa rin siya. I nodded at him para sabihing siya na ang mauna. 

He cleared his throat bago nagsalita. “Wala pa po gaanong ginagawa since kaka-start pa lang po kahapon Tito,” sabi niya na halatang kinakabahan. Nag-iwas ako ng tingin at kunwaring kumakain. Pinipigilan kong ngumiti. Napansin ko naman ang pamumula ng tainga niya, so cute! 

Tinignan ako ni Daddy, naghihintay din ng sagot ko. “Same with Elias, Dad. Actually, wala ngang umattend kahapon na professors eh, I feel like I wasted my time sitting there. Hmp! Atleast, sana they informed naman us, ‘di ba?” sabi ko. Halatang nagmamaktol at nagsusumbong.

Narinig kong tumawa si Mommy. “That’s normal! Sabi nga nila hindi mabubuo ang college life mo kapag hindi mo na-experience ‘yan lahat.”

After naming kumain, hinatid na rin ako ni Elias sa school. I received a message from Jai, nasa coffee shop daw sila ni Tine, sa harap ng school. Since medyo maaga pa, dumiretso muna ako sa kanila.

“Oh, I thought you were with Tine?” tanong ko kay Jai, pagka-upo ko. She pointed the table beside the glass wall. May kasamang lalaki at iba na naman iyong dalawa kahapon. Really Tine Marie?!

“What’s new?” As a matter of fact, yes, walang bago. Tinalikuran na lang namin siya.

“My gosh! Tinatamad akong pumasok, walang gwapo sa mga kaklase ko!” sabi naman ni Jai. if I know, wala lang talaga siyang matipuhan kahit maraming gwapo. 

“Anyway, how’s your Mom? Gosh! I want a baby sister too… kaso malabo na. Oh, nevermind!” sabi ni Jai. 

Narinig ko pa ang mahina at tawa niyang pilit. Jai’s really not bringing the topic about her family kaya nagulat ako at binanggit niya ngayon. Her Mom died when she was six years old but her Daddy got married again after three years. We met her step mother and we can say that she’s nice and caring, just her daughter Sofia was the problem. Hindi sila magkasundo ni Jai. That’s why, very close sina Mommy at Jai kasi Mom treated her na rin as her own. Kinakapa ko pa kung anong sasabihin ko. 

“She’s fine naman. She’s craves a lot, especially strawberries and ice crea─”

“How dare you, b*tch?! That’s my boyfriend! Mang-aagaw ka!” Napalingon kami sa banda nila Tine dahil biglang may sumigaw. Bakas ang gulat namin dahil si Tine pala ang sinisigawan ng babae. Nagkatinginan kami ni Jai at napangisi. Here we go again. We sat still, relaxed and watch what will gonna happen. It’s not like this is our first time to witness this kind of scenario, we had lots of these. Katulad nang lagi niyang ginagawa.

Tine composed her composure, tumayo siya at hinarap ang babae. “I’m sorry,” sabi niya sa babae. Bakas ang gulat sa mukha ng lahat ng taong nakasaksi pati na ang babae. Yes, laging nagso-sorry si Tine sa mga ganyang babae. For her kasi, first, she is not mang-aagaw. Second, never daw siyang makikipag-away para lang sa lalaki. Third, para hindi siya ma-report sa school at luckily never pa talaga siyang na-report sa school. And last, nagso-sorry siya kasi iyon daw ang isang bagay na never niya narinig sa Tatay at ng kabit niya sa kanila. Kaya never daw siyang magiging katulad nila. 

Siya lang ang may playgirl na may puso. She got her bag at hinarap naman ang lalaki saka sinampal ng malakas saka siya naglakad na papunta sa amin. Sabay-sabay na napasinghap ang mga tao. Tumayo na rin kami at lumabas na parang walang nangyari. 

What a show! That’s our girl! 

We secretly flipped our hair.