I went to school the next day with renewed vigor. My special day might be over already but not the mystery I had been looking into.
Our Filipino subject had just finished so I took the chance to talk to Yana.
“Hey, Yana…” I whispered to the girl beside me who was already answering the homework on Florante at Laura.
“Hm?” She finished writing the sentence first before looking up at me.
“Um…” For a second I almost forgot what I was about to say. The look she just gave me was pretty distracting. I had to compose myself. “Do you have an idea if the school had built or repaired something three years ago?” I said, still mesmerized at the sight of her biting her lower lip to hide her smile. Of course, it was obvious that she was smiling sweetly. And it was probably because of the story she was reading.
“Why do you ask?” I watched as her expression changed into curiosity. I was thinking of what to answer when she spoke again, “Oh, is it for the class trivia you’ve been assigned to?”
I found it convenient so I agreed right away.
“Let me check if we have records on that. I’ll drop by the SB room anyway,” she said, getting back to the book and then stopping midway. “In any case, do you want to come with me?”
Yana’s invitation might seem out of the blue but what’s the harm, right?
“I thought only SB members were allowed here. Thanks for inviting me in” I said, looking inside the empty room. I guess she knew there’d be no people around this time.
It was a regular-sized room with two large windows. In front was a white board. In the corner was a bookshelf and a desktop computer next to it. File cabinets stood next to the walls, taking most of the room’s space. In the middle were two long wooden tables in parallel with each other; with three chairs each row.
“It’s fine as long as it’s for academic purposes,” Yana replied nonchalantly as she signed in a logbook for attendance. “Actually, I’m not in the mood to work today. So I’m going to skip the afternoon meeting,” she said, grinning.
What, is she rebelling already? The thought amused me.
“For now, I’ll just help you out so I don’t have to go here later.” She shrugged. “Go sit anywhere you want, Rin.”
I did as I was told, wondering how she behaved during meetings. After rummaging through a file cabinet, she joined me at the table with a folder in hand.
“Looks like you found my seat,” she said to me, amused.
I didn’t know why but I got a bit flustered knowing it was her place I was sitting in. She pulled out another chair and sat down across mine.
“Wow, so you do keep school records here, huh,” I said.
“I was actually surprised too when I learned about it from the orientation. The seniors said that the Student Board was created for transparency. It’s like we, even as students, can check where the funds, donations, and tuition fees go. Pretty amazing, right?”
She then read the documents in front of her and we got down to business.
“There’s the Roof Deck venue,” she told me after a quick scan.
“I thought it’s pretty new, though.”
“Its construction actually started about three years ago, but it was stopped. It only continued last year,” she explained.
“Why was it stopped?” I asked. I was getting the tingles.
“It’s because an accident happened during its construction. The school decided to halt it for the time being.”
“Does it say what kind of accident happened there?”
“No, it doesn’t. There’s not much info. Just the project paper and budget proposal.”
She read some more and continued, “Oh, this is interesting. It appears it was the Student Board at that time who proposed the idea of having our own social venue to save money. I didn’t know we could actually do that.” Yana nodded in approval.
Hearing that part, it became clearer to me as to how Nicole Lorenzo had possibly gotten involved in the case.
“It makes me curious,” I said. “Who usually manages the construction of venues like this one?”
“Let me see…” Yana checked the documents again. “We usually outsource building contractors to take care of it. But in our end, it’s the Head Administrator who supervises the whole project.”
“How about the funds? Is it still under the Head Admin?”
“No, it’s the Finance who manages it.”
“Say, is it stated who the Head Administrator and the Head of Finance were at that time?” I asked again.
“The Head Admin was…” I waited in anticipation as Yana’s eyes moved from one document to another. “…Mr. Augusto Pier. While the Finance Head is named Rosita Estrella.”
Yana lent me the page as I scribbled the names on my notebook.
“Hm, you seem really eager about this huh,” Yana said, staring at me. “I think you don’t have to be so into details. What the teacher asked you to do was pretty simple.”
“Ah… Well… It just made me curious, I guess.”
It felt bad lying to her but I couldn’t let her know just yet.
I actually thought of telling her about this a couple of times when we were alone. I was about to tell her, but something was holding me back.
I was thinking I couldn’t trouble Yana with mere speculations. If there was a truth that needed to be uncovered, then I’d be willing to do it on my own.
I don't want to get her involved like I do. She has a lot in her mind already.
I don’t want her to get in trouble. She has a reputation to uphold.
I don't want her to get hurt. She means so much to me.
And if things would go haywire, then I’d be the one to take the fall.