Taming the School Heartthrob

Chapter 5

THE NEXT MORNING, I felt the urge to talk to Ceasar. To say thank you, or maybe ask for my calculator, or just basically talk to him instead of acting like nothing happened—that he didn't help me or anything. But I was stuck in my seat, glancing at my notes, trying to look behind my back and face him once and for all.

He arrived at the classroom a little late, brows furrowed with his usual disheveled hair and only one strap of his bag hanging across his back. He didn't say much to our classmates, not even to those classmates that he usually talks to from time to time during classes. He didn't have many close friends. Well, I couldn't tell if anybody would want to be friends with him—given his arrogance and conceitedness.

A scene from yesterday flashed inside my mind once again. The familiar brush of our shoulders as he held me, so I could steady my feet on the ground. Our eyes met and my cheeks felt weird. A made an awkward shrug, as if that would cut off the resurfaced memory.

I gripped my pen and grappled with the loud voice of our teacher dominating the surroundings. I allowed myself to focus on the discussion, until all the moments that I could recall about what happened yesterday sank bit by bit, disappearing until all I was feeling was the noise in my ear, the heat from the rising sun peeking through the window of our classroom, and the tough surface of the chair I was sitting on.

The days passed by quickly and by the time it was class dismissal outside, girls were laughing and looking inside the classroom as if hoping to spot someone they knew.

I grabbed my things and it was a coincidence when their eyes met mine. “Trina? Trina Yue, right?”

“Atasha, Milrey?” I mumbled, recognizing them. They were my classmates during junior high school. They are enrolled in a different strand from mine, General Academic Strand, known as GAS. But we still go to the same campus.

We just didn’t get a hold of each other despite that fact, because we aren’t even close—I mean; I wasn’t close with them. I have no specific friends in Junior High school, not even a constant circle of friends. I had a few friends, but they had their friends too. Just wasn’t the preferred or favorite friend, yeah that’s me.

“And Dona!” Someone ran towards us and then squealed. Two of them smiled widely and jumped. The other looked at me from head to toe. All three of them are wearing headbands but in different colors, they looked coordinated with one another.

“How have you all been?” I ended up smiling at them too, as I walked towards them.

I didn’t plan to talk to them for a long time, was only planning to show respect and not ditch them just because we were close.

“Well... yah, we have been good,” said one of them, but glanced inside the classroom. It was Atasha. “Are you sure they are still inside Milrey?” She looked at her friend beside her. This time both of them peeked inside.

“Looking for someone? Maybe I can help?”

“Oh, right!” Dona screamed in excitement, her hair swayed from her back. She looks vibrant with her wide smile and squinted eyes. She held my wrist and leaned in closer to me. “It’s my birthday later. I invited Marc and Nikko, your classmates,” she said, her voice almost in a squeak, but her cheeks started to turn bright red.

Atasha whispered, “Dona has a crush on Marc, and I have my eyes set on Nikko.”

“Oh,” an unexpected smile escaped my lips.

“Can you call them right here? We just wanna talk to them, just quickly.” Dona didn’t let go of my wrist. “You can also go to our house later, 8 pm.”

Atsaha and Milrey nodded. “Surely you should come, Trina!

I was contemplating how to respond inside my head.

Should I? But I am not close to you guys…

When I opened my mouth, that was the exact moment that the two guys that Dona mentioned a while ago walked outside of the classroom. Just in time, I opened my mouth and grabbed their attention.

“Hey…” I said. “My friends from junior high wanted to talk to both of you…”

“Hmm?” Marc glanced at me, eyes speaking with the same curiosity as that afternoon when I caught him inside the classroom alone and I was looking for my calculator—come to think of it, I still haven’t approached Caesar about it the second time.

I snapped out of my thoughts when Dona slightly hit my arms.

“Of course, we invite lots of people—most are our batch mates!” Dona’s voice echoed in the corridor, where students were walking from side to side. Most of them are about to go home. “Trina will even attend.”

“Huh?” I looked confused as I scanned their faces one by one. They were hopeful for a positive response from me, I can tell.

“She knows where our house’s at. Our friend from Junior High School.”

Nikko cleared his throat. “Are you certain that you are inviting me and my friend?”

“Certainly!” Atasha and Dona replied in chorus. “It’s a party after all!”

Dona immediately opened her bag and fished for something inside. She counted three thick pastel-colored rectangular papers. She handed it to me, Marc, and Nikko one by one.

“The address is written inside,” she added. “See y’all later.”

Then all three of the girls giggled as they bid goodbye to us.

I stood on my spot taking in what had just happened. The softness of the scented paper I was holding proves that what just happened was true. It’s Dona’s 18th birthday.

“You’ll go?” asked Marc, who was already staring at me. Maybe he’s as shocked as I was.

Nikko flipped the invitation and read it cover to cover. “This is legit. I will go.”

Nikko thought he was the one Marc asked a question. I wonder why he was looking at me too if he was asking his friend.

“You two should. Are you fond of parties?”

“I don’t refuse when I am cordially invited by the celebrant.”

“I’m a bit hesitant—”

Nikko looked at Marc with disbelief. “Are you sure, dude? We got invited by those pretty girls.”

I pretended that I wasn’t listening to them have a bro-talk.

I slid the invitation inside my bag and was about to walk away when I heard Marc’s voice, it was calm.

“Hey, Trina… will you attend?”

“Probably.”

Then I turned my back on them and started walking towards the gate.

I’ve read that the theme was pastel dresses, any designs are acceptable, modest ones. Particularly. I don’t know if I have those kinds of clothes. But I’ll manage—I don’t have a choice anyway.

I arrived home and was greeted with silence. “Ma?” I called, but no one answered. I got my keys inside my bag and opened the gates. I saw my mother in the living room rocking my youngest sibling to sleep while my other sibling was doing assignments on the floor.

“What am I going to cook for dinner?” I asked, as I slowed my footsteps while looking at them. I blew a kiss to my second sibling, who looked up at me while coloring his notebook.

“There’s chicken in the refrigerator,” said my mother, her tired eyes bore onto me but she still gave me a smile.

“I’ll cook adobo then.”

“That’s yum, Ate!” my younger sibling Rico, exclaimed.

“It’s always yum because I’m the cook,” I said, smiling, returning his energy.

“Ma,” I called my mother before getting inside my room and changing into the comfortable clothes I usually wear at home. A pair of pamajas. “I got invited to a birthday party.”

She nodded. “Who’s birthday? And where is it held?”

“Remember Dona, my talkative classmate during junior?” I asked, referencing an old memory she’ll surely recall. “She just turned eighteen.”

“What time will you leave?”

“8 pm.”

“Home?”

“I don’t know.”

“10 pm, it’s dark outside. Not safe.”

I nodded, agreeing to her statement. “Can I ask Papa to fetch me if ever?”

“You can. Just call him.”

“Okay,” I said, quite happy because I wouldn’t have to argue with my mother before I could attend occasions. But it is my personal choice not to socialize with people a lot. You never know who you should trust.

Well, it seems tonight’s event won’t need that kind of moral obligation though.

Like I expected, I cooked dinner with the family and got prepared for the celebration that I’m about to attend two hours from now.

When I scanned my closet earlier, I got a simple peach dress with puffy sleeves, it’s length was above my knee, not too skimpy nor long. It fits the theme. Thank God for relatives who give clothes to their nieces when they don’t plan to wear them anymore. A waste for someone could be a great use for another.

I bid goodbye to my mother when I was all set. I just fixed my hair into a pony tail. I don’t fancy make-up, so I didn’t bother putting on some. I don’t have much of it anyway. I just put on a faint red lipstick to give life to my pale face.

Despite not wearing any make-up, my relatives tell me I have good features that make me stand out from my crowd. Black smooth wavy hair suits my oval-shaped face and my eyes, serious about its sophisticated shape as they say, I got it from my beautiful mother—who had become stressed from housework that she couldn’t have time for herself.

I wore a hand me down dress and I only had myself to complete the vibe—my confidence.

I rode a jeepney to the venue and by the time I got inside, the house was filled with various people I didn’t even know. Sparkly lights and fancy dress illuminated the function room where the party was being held.

Each step I took I was caused not to bump into people, which was impossible because there were so many people standing at the grand entrance.

Fear manifested the worst scenario that was only circulating my head when someone bumped into me, and I bumped into that someone even worse.

I heard a slight whimper. “Oh no, I’m sorry.”

When I looked up, my eyes met a familiar gaze—but I didn’t feel a serotonin kind of nostalgia, instead I remembered the stress I went through because of the person right in front of me.

The girl that was clinging to his arm was the one I got bumped with. She was about to say something when Ceasar displayed a silly grin. “A classmate!” he announced, as if there was something extraordinary about it.

Yet several visitors looked at us, wondering and confused.