GLOSSARY
· Ano 'to / Ano ito – What is this? or What is it?
· Halata ba? – isn't it obvious?
· Daw – basically a word to highlight the fact that a piece of information was overhead from someone else (ex: Willow Balagtas daw means it's word of mouth around the area that her name is Willow Balagtas)
· Dito sa – Here in/at
· Diba? – Right?
· 'noh? – abbreviation for "ano" which means "What?"// however " 'noh" in this context means "Right?"
· Ganoon lang talaga – That's just the way it is!
· Sa'yo – to you
· Siguro – Maybe
· Andito girlfriend mo – Your girlfriend is here
· Andyan na! – He's here
· Binabati ka lang – We're just greeting you
· na – already
· Aba, siyempre – Oh, of course!
· Baka Tibo - Maybe She's Lesbian
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Upon opening the door to the class where miraculously, we found that all of our classmates were still in a riot and waiting for Sir Elio. Boys were clustered in all the corners of the room passing around a paper ball and playing ersatz basketball. A group of boys and girls were off in one corner, joining in chorus over a 90's song by the Eraserheads, a famous Filipino band that disbanded a little while ago (ten years or so ago apparently). The lights were off and the only light that shone through my room was from the windows that opened out into an open air hallway that let the sun shine through.
Others were clustered in small groups and pairs laughing and talking about random things but the groups and pairings weren't all clique-based. Sometimes, they literally just picked up a useless conversation with their seatmate that ended up going places or others made unexpected friends over the course of four days because bottom line is everyone here knows everyone.
I may be in the ninth grade but in my Pacific-Islander – Spanish Colonized – Whitewashed country, that was not the mark of the beginning of high school. Junior high school begins at 7th grade for optimal bad decision making times and ends at 10th grade and we rarely transfer and we get less than eight new students in the batch yearly unless it's 1st grade, 7th grade or 11th grade so basically we have all know each other since we were rocking black chokers and varsity jackets like it was the best thing since pizza.
A group budged Deanna and me into their conversation as soon as we approached them. Some of them have been my friends since elementary and we have been suffering together ever since like Christian, my boyfriend.
"Hey Val," he tucked his arm around me and planted a kiss on my head. It would have been sweet except all I could really feel from that was emptiness. Not from me, but from him.
"Christian Gray, hi, babe," I smirked and lifted his hand off me, "Y'all not gonna be the reason I'm getting another warning for PDA."
He pinched my cheek and proceeded back into the conversation which I decided to listen to as well.
"…Balagtas is what Thalia was saying," My childhood best friend, Sammy Delos Reyes, was blabbing, "Like, why is she always not here?"
"Hmm? Ano 'to? What are we talking about?" I butted in.
"Haven't you heard about the new girl, Valerie?" Thalia asked.
"Halata ba? Isn't it obvious?" I snapped and rolled my eyes as Christian nudged my head flirtatiously.
"Willow Balagtas daw. She was on the section list but she hasn't been to school for the first few days. I stalked her days ago pero like her socials are all private and her display pics are like WattPad boys?" Thalia reported, "Anyway, Sammy and I were just talking about what could have happened to her, 'noh?"
"I mean, she could be nervous? A million things! It's gonna be hard for her to adjust dito sa St. Nick, 'diba? Remember what we did to Dea?" I nudged her and laughed as she glared at me jokingly.
"You're really not going to live that down, 'noh?" Deanna covered her face. "I can forgive the teasing about that video but the stalking on my socials were just unforgiveable," She sternly blurted.
Deanna was in fifth grade when she entered and I wanted to see if I could read her thoughts and all I could see in her head was the fact that she was nervous that people were going to find something about her. I had to stalk and scour through YouTube and FaceBook accounts of the parentals but I did find a video of her flopping on her first grade ballet recital and I shamelessly shared it to Sammy who ended up telling the whole batch.
Deanna couldn't live it down…for like three weeks but when you're in fifth grade, you forget about little stuff like that and move on. We ended up apologizing to her when our class adviser found out and we've all been friends since but hey, I have to use my power for something.
"Why do y'all even stalk the new kids on SocMed?" Deanna argued.
"Ganoon lang talaga, Deanna, you know? You're just unsure about someone interrupting the constant peace you've had for years!" Jima De Lorenzo, Christian's best friend, put in.
"Oh, really now, De Lorenzo? What did they do sa'yo? Siguro they banged your head against a frying pan because it is just so abnormally big now," Deanna retorted.
"Which head though, baby girl?" He winked and everyone just groaned in disgust before Sammy slapped him hard on the shoulder.
"Hoy, chick-boy. Andito girlfriend mo.," Sammy hissed.
"Sorry, babe," He said apologetically and tried to kiss her but Sammy shrugged him off and grimaced.
"Andyan na! Sir is here!" The class "star-child" Axel yelled as he peeked out into the hallway and we all clamored to fix our chairs for class.
"Hurry up, guys! Double time with your movements!" Dea demanded as soon as everyone finally settled down.
The door opened and our tall and weirdly handsome Math teacher entered with his usual confident disposition but in his wake trailed a girl wearing the school uniform who looked uncomfortable upon entering. Her messy bun had brown highlights and strands carelessly sticking out but it made her look effortlessly charming. You just knew that this was the kind of girl who should be telling this story. We all stood up to greet Sir Elio.
"GOOOD MOOORNING, SIIIR ELIOOOO. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WITH YOUUU," The boys began in slow mock chorus but the whole class followed along.
"Hay, De Lorenzo, You're in grade 9 na. Fix that attitude, sir," He chastised.
"Binabati ka lang sir. We're just greeting you!" De Lorenzo smirked but Sir Elio just rolled his eyes and muttered something about not growing up.
"Anyway, be seated class-"
"THANK YOUUU SIR ELI-"
"De Lorenzo, attitude!"
He guffawed and high-fived Christian before we all took our seats.
"Anyway, class, good morning! Before we begin, I'd like to introduce your new classmate who will finally join us. It is my honor to introduce her as your class adviser as of the moment instead of your math teacher. Would you please kindly introduce yourself?" He handed the front of the classroom platform to the uncomfortable girl from earlier who upon stepping on the stage contorted her face into one of confidence.
"Hi everyone!" She stretched her lips into a thin smile and twisted her body to face and wave to the people around the room a little awkwardly but she put her hand down when she was met with indifference although Jima did wave back.
"I am Willow Jane Balagtas. I am fourteen years old and I love WattPad books and music. I am a public school transferee in Makati and we move here so I enroll here," She chirped and listed things by ticking off things on her fingers. She had quite a bit of the Filipino accent when she spoke and she didn't exactly have the perfect view of grammar but it was clear she knew how and that she was trying.
Nice to meet you but we're all dying to know what's on your heart, Willow?
She continued to list some stuff about her which I didn't think was necessary as I focused on her intentions, her willpower, her mind and heart, everything. I searched and concentrated but as she kept talking, I found absolutely nothing.
"…That's about it? Um, I'm feeling nervous but I'm excited to work with all of you!" She shifted the pronunciation in a lot of those words but I shrugged it off. Sorry, English was a first language, I can't help it.
"Thank you, Miss Balagtas! That was really nice of you. Please take your seat and welcome to St. Nicholas! Alright class, let's have De Lorenzo for the prayer because he always has something to say today so might as well say it all to God, right, De Lorenzo?"
Jima stood up on the platform and nodded vigorously, "Aba, siyempre, sir! Alright, let's all stand…" He droned on and on about his discussion as Willow took her seat and proceeded to listen to Sir Elio.
"She does seem a bit off, right?" Christian whispered next to me, "Is your gay-dar working, Val? Baka tibo?" He inputted.
I looked at him funny and smirked, "Your first instinct about a weird girl is she might be lesbian?"
He put his hands up and shook his head, "Hey! I'm just asking." He pulled out his textbook and attempted to listen but I couldn't even try because Christian was right. Well, maybe not the lesbian thing but she was a bit off…and I need to know why.