I wasn't studying at BRIS in the Philippines yet when Geovanne first talked to me. As weird as that sounded, I was back in California, breezing through my senior year in high school like it was the worst year of my life. Why that was…well, my best friend's heart got broken by the basketball superstar of our high school, and so she moved a year ahead of me to the Philippines to her senior year at BRIS. I remained in San Jose High School.
I met him in one of my video calls with Justine. Justine or Jazz, as what Zach and I called her even when her real name was Jude Kristine Marthens, was so against me dating the quarterback of our football team in SJHS that she didn't mind ruining her lunch with her new friends at some restaurant just to yell at me.
"Didn't my falling for a sports guy not teach you anything?" I bet her tablet's screen got a crack out of it. She didn't stop speaking, convinced that she'd get me to break it off. She tucked her hair behind her ear and let out a sigh of impatience. "You're better off dating smart guys, like you. Not jocks. Student council types, like Geovanne Estevez here."
She said it so casually I was so certain she didn't mean it. Then she pulled a guy to look at the tablet's camera so he could wave at me. It was kind of awkward, actually. I didn't know the guy. I barely knew what to say to my friends. How was I supposed to talk to this one?
"You look Filipino," he said.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. It was the first time somebody had ever said that to me. I didn't look my Asian half. My brother did. I looked more my American half.
"Yeah, you do." He raised a palm, as if to say he swore. "So ganda." Which meant so pretty. That one, I never really bought. I knew what I looked like and if I was pretty, it was only because I looked a lot like my charming twin brother, Zachary Paul.
"Thank you." I wasn't going to say he looked handsome, even when he did. He had that jet black hair and steel grey eyes I loved looking at on people.
As I stared at him, I wondered how tall he was, and if he wasn't a jock since he had that athletic built. It was obvious beyond his Berkeley uniform – white shirt, navy blue coat, striped tie. The perfect image of a man whose standards I wouldn't pass.
We didn't speak a lot during that conversation, though he was able to force my Facebook name out of me. Yeah, he was charming that way. I felt strangely comfortable and trusting, as if in a sudden daze. And I didn't have any problems giving my name to him because I barely opened the account. I wasn't even sure if I got the password right, but I thought maybe I'd check in a few days just to see if he really was going to send me a friend request.
I learned at prom that I should have listened to Justine. As it turned out, I was a freaking challenge in exchange for a black sports car, and so I flew to the Philippines for college. Of course, I did that right after getting a tattoo, which threw my whole family to the walls of the house. But that wasn't the only reason I had in mind. I wanted to be with Jazz, too. I hardly went out of my way to make friends, and so when I found a few I'd like to keep, I'd really keep them.
The original plan I had was that I didn't study in any co-ed university because I didn't want to be around boys anymore. That's what I wanted, even when it meant being separated from my twin for the first time. But, of course, that wouldn't do. Our parents just wouldn't permit it. Zach wouldn't permit it. I'd have him on my back, no matter what. So imagine my delight, hearing he wasn't really staying at the Berkeley dorms, but renting out a condo unit somewhere in Alabang, still near the school, so Jarlin Trance, Jazz's ex-fiancé, could have someone to share rent with. Trance needed that as of the moment.
I knew right then BRIS was the perfect answer to what little independence I craved. After all, BRIS had a massive campus, separating Berkeley from Reagan by a park in between. I could be where Zach was, without being around guys too much.
You'd think that my scheme worked and that I didn't get hurt anymore. But no. I kind of forgot that fate was annoyingly smart and that it could play with me however it wanted. For even when I studied in a co-ed international school, where strict rules applied about socializing with the opposite sex and classes were held separately, I still ended up dating Geovanne's twin brother, Mattheus Estevez. And that was how I got my heart broken again by a sports dude.
* * * *
"Dude, that is so creepy," Jazz said over lunch. She was shaking her head, but her smile didn't fade from her lips, which told me how amused she really was. "I mean, hanging out with the twin brother now?"
I barely had time for Jazz anymore because of the media club and that stupid media project. This was the first lunch we had together in only-the-heavens-knew-how-many weeks, so it pained me to break the news to her. I had one more task up. I wouldn't be able to go to Palawan with her as planned. Plus, I was gonna steal the only guy who had agreed to hang out with her, since she was held off from the sports fest and all other physical activities deemed detrimental because of her knee injury.
Well, not that it was solely my fault. Geovanne had a share on it. He was on detention, too.
Being part of the Berkeley Student Council and a sophomore, Geovanne was assigned to oversee the freshmen and sophomore athletes, even when he was already part of the swimming team. However, he had been placed in a position to help me finish my special task, as punishment for, shall we say, a certain miscalculation. And he'd better help me finish, because his participation in the swimming competition was on the line. That was one hell of a punishment. I wondered if the school would keep to that, though, given that he'd been undefeated for the past five years.
I rolled my eyes, hoping Jazz wouldn't take offense in it. Geovanne was, after all, a very close friend of hers. I had no plans of hanging out with guys, but this was mandatory. Something close to life-and-death.
It was inevitable because the club handled everything media. The newspaper-magazine, the TV and radio stations that we shared with Berkeley, and the play productions, which we shared with the Berkeley and Reagan Artists' Circles. Collectively, we were the BRIS Media Arts Cluster, or how non-members would tease as the Bris Macs.
I was the only freshman member now so whatever I had to do for Ms. Rivera's class and for the club, I had to do well. And alone with Geo. I sighed.
Jazz shrugged her shoulders. "How hard could it be? You can just walk into the Berkeley grounds and suck everything up."
"What?"
"Oh, that came out wrong, dude." We laughed and I felt so suddenly that a part of the burden had been lifted from my chest. Yup, my friendship with Jazz could do that. "But seriously, 2,000 photos?"
"For the photo wall, which will be unveiled during the opening ceremony of the sports fest. Photos should show different athlete emotions." Then I added, with my voice a tune higher to highlight my contempt, "In black and white. I mean, who does that?"
"You do." She laughed.
Ms. Rivera told me a few weeks after becoming a member of the Reagan Media Club that what got me noticed was my collection of black and white photos, each showing people with different expressions and emotions. She must have thought me perfect for this task. Yeah. Sure. But she forgot about the realistic part – deadline.
"You're right. It's torture." Jazz threw her napkin on the table after wiping her mouth. She crossed her legs together and then crossed her arms by her chest. "I pity you. I guess I'm gonna have to be willing to give Geo to you for this little extra project. Whatever you call it."
"Thank you." I cocked my head to a side and rolled my eyes, hoping that she heard the additional sarcasm in my voice.
She laughed, and I knew right then that she did.
"I'm just a little worried, though."
Jazz grinned at me with wide eyes, almost as if too excited about her being right. "That you'd fall for him, too?"
Although Jazz had only teased me twice about Geovanne, the last time being way before I dated Matt, I was certain she hadn't grown out of it.
"No." My answer was quick.
"Then what is it?"
"That he'd bring up Matt every now and then."
She narrowed her eyes. "Is that gonna be a problem?"
No. That could be a solution.