Back to the future
638 Words
So there I was, rocking up to my old high school during enrollment season. I figured, why not drop by and see if I could catch a glimpse of Kate. She told me she'd be around the second week of June, but hey, I decided to swing by the last week of May. You never know, right?
The school was packed with students, and the heat was like a giant energy-sucking vacuum cleaner. I dragged myself inside, and security was so lax you might think they were inviting everyone in for a party. This was back when the government hadn’t thought about deploying police to schools for incident response. It was a madhouse during these times.
I looked for a place to hang out. The canteen was jam-packed and scorching hot, no thanks. The benches under the acacia tree? Also full. With nowhere to go, I decided to head out to a nearby eatery just across the street. Didn't even make it out of the gate before I bumped into familiar faces, nodding here and there. But then, Dadoy popped up and we ended up chatting.
"Chris!! Long time no see!" We did the whole manly handshake and bro-hug. Dadoy was an old classmate who I lost touch with before graduation, starting around the J.S. Prom.
"What are you doing here?"
"Just visiting, man," I replied.
"Where are you now?"
"I dropped out, dude."
"Oh, what happened?" he asked, surprised.
"Got lazy with school, man. I'm a professional Octoberian now. How about you? Where'd you go for college?"
"CCM, studying Criminology."
"Wow! A scholar!"
"Nah... got in with a connection, man."
We chatted some more. He was there to help her little sister enroll for sophomore year, but they got separated in the crowd because her little sister was a bit of a wanderer.
"Let's go find her. I've got nothing better to do."
"Thanks, man."
"Got a picture of your sister?"
"Here’s hee ID."
"Hey, I know this girl! That’s Nikki!"
"You know my sister?"
"Yeah, she's friends with my younger brother. Been to our place in Bulacan!"
"Dang, this kid loves to wander. Mom wants to send her to the province because of it."
"Maybe she's with my brother. Let’s check out where they’re staying."
So off we went to the apartment where my mom stays during weekdays for work. She’s a teacher at a nearby elementary school, so she's hardly home.
We could hear them as soon as we reached the gate. Dadoy quickly unlocked the gate. Before the door even opened, we heard them chatting and laughing loudly.
"Nikki! Nikki!!!" Dadoy shouted, banging on the door. When it opened, there was Nikki. But seeing there were girls inside, Dadoy held back from cursing.
"Why did you leave me without telling me?" he asked. I let Dadoy handle it and just nodded at my brother who was playing the guitar. There were Angela, Lorraine, Jessica... and Kate, sitting next to Jeric. Kate couldn't look me in the eye since I walked in, and I didn't give her any attention either.
Jessica, Arcy, and Lorraine were all cozied up on the long wooden sofa, while Nikki was the designated drink server, sitting on a low stool without a backrest. It seemed like they’d just started drinking, and our arrival had interrupted their fun.
"I'm not even drinking! Just serving!" Nikki argued with his brother.
Dadoy cut their bickering short and invited me out for a smoke, even though he knew I didn’t smoke.
"Man, so many girls in there..."
"Yeah, friends of my brother. They've been to our place before."
"So they know you?"
"Just the girl next to the hip-hop dude and Angela, kinda."
"Why not hook me up with one? Are you close to your brother?"
"We don't really talk."
"Show him who’s boss!"
- Writer
