Pieces Of You (Bara Fanfiction)

Blackjack

Parang nabuhusan ng pulang pinta ang buong paaralan ng umagang iyon. Mr. Ramil de Jesus, the Grade Five adviser, thought.

Last two days, naging group project ng mga bata ang gumawa ng valentine decorations para sa room and he spent two hours or so sa pagkabit lang ng mga iyon. His room is now littered with colored paper and cartolina cuttings of hearts of many sizes of colors spanning from red to pink.

In the year of 2005, Valentines was considered huge lalo na sa mga highschool students but it rubbed off to elementaries, thus, the clattering of excited grader students in the hallway after the flag ceremony. Mr. de Jesus, together with her homeroom class planned a short program in the class and this don't help with the ball of energy that is his student, and then there was an absolute chaos the minute before the class starts.

"Okay, kids. Please be seated." Ramil tries pero kabaliktaran pa ang nangyari as his students sprung off of their seat and wreck havoc by declaring and shouting absurd love declarations to their crushes, mostly for the upperclass grade and teenage hearthrobs. His effort to sooth them went in vain. de Jesus can only try. "Okay." He caves in. "Let's do our Valentine exchange nalang, agree?"

It only took a moment before kids scurries around, squelling, shouting and over excited students buzzing around. There was a quick exchanges of red valentine cards and forceful hugs. Ramil walks around to calm everybody down, to reprimand those noisy squelling and screaming at baka nakaka abala na sila sa ibang klase and really, calming this kids is imposible but that's what he's getting paid for.

There is a group of students that the whole faculty and teaching staff of the school calls 'the Archers', a nickname bestowed upon them since Kindergarten where they all met. The gang stays bestfriends eversince. Of course, they were the brightest and well mannered students he ever had, they are also the mischievous and cunning the like. He's always sure to keep an eye on them.

He finds Kiefer Ravena, one of the ringleader biting the shoulder of Mika Reyes.

"It's a love bite!" He insist excitedly. Mika's glaring at her.

"Ang dugyot mo! Kadiri!" He heard Mika said.

Pagkatapos niyang paghiwalayin ang dalawa sa tulong ni Thomas,the peace maker, he also found himself looking after Kim Fajardo, Jeron Teng and Aly Valdez who was inserting a rather suspicious looking box in the bag of Victonara Galang na abala naman sa paglilibot at pamimigay ng stickers sa mga kapwa studyante. They seems well behave at the moment.

He circled back at the back room of his class and all she saw were a blur of red shirts circulating around him though his vision quickly stills at the only black dot in his room and his lips quickly turned into thin line.

Shiela Marie Pineda.

Of course, she's wearing an all black today and sits alone in the back of his class, her hands were busy sketching God knows what in her notebook. He likes to think that the girl was an anomaly, she doesn't have the enthusiasm of an average student. Sometimes she goes to class hungry and without lunch. Some days, it looks like she haven't taken a bath for a while.

And yes, he had called a parents-teacher meeting twice pero walang nagpakitang magulang para kay Shiela. It was then ng magtanong siya at nalaman na ampon lang pala ang bata.

Shiela was a very peculiar kid. Hindi eto aktibo sa klase, was silent the whole time but still striving at maintaining a passing grade. Shiela followed all the rules and never dares to defy them but she never saw her approach or talk to someone. She's the blacksheep of his class and oh, the cruel kids are so harsh.

It wasn't necessarily outspoken. Oftentimes, bulong bulongan lang ang ginagawa ng mga bata pag nakatalikod si Shiela. He had come to know that kids feared her and usually fear leds to hatred. No one dared to approach the kid in the playground. Nag iisa lang din eto tuwing breaktime. No one wanted to be her reading partner but she insist that it was fine (she's pretty advance in reading compared to her peers). It seems that even the festivities hadn't brought any kindness to the kid as no one gave a card or candy to Shiela.

But it seems that his thoughts were being heard as he saw Victonara Galang approach the girl tentatively with her roses and stickers. Kim stands at the back with a worrisome look in her eyes.

"Gusto mo ba ng kiss?" Ara asked politely but with a very kind smile, offering Shiela her stickers of hearts and lip prints.

"Ok lang. Di mo naman ako kailangang bigyan." Shiela replied, almost in whisper. Her voice defeated pero nakayuko pa rin at patuloy na gumuguhit.

Ara just simply reaches Shiela, placing the lip print sticker with an i love you written across to her hand without waiting for the latters consent. "Alam ko. But i want to." She says, smiling brightly at Shiela.

Shiela on her own looked at the sticker in her hand and looked afterwards at the smiling Ara. She wants to smile, she does, but she can't help herself to do it. Silence between the two kids drag for a moment before Ara breaks it again.

"How come you don't have any valentine?" Vic asked, genuine interest lacing her voice.

Nagkibit balikat lang ang dalaga bago sumagot, "wala namang nagbibigay sa akin e."

This seems to satisfy Vic.

"Babalik na ako sa upuan ko," Vic says, "Happy Valentines Day, Shiela."

The kid just nod and watched her leave.

Ramil wishes there were more Ara Galang in the school.

--

The next day, dali daling bumaba si Bang sa Jeep at tumakbong patungo sa Klase. It is Wednesday which means they're going to be having a quiz. She found her seat, right at the far back of the room and quickly search for the needed paper and pen to be prepare before the looming quiz when her hand scrape something over the top of her bag that she doesn't recognize.

She pulls it out and her mouth drops open a little.

It was simple yet very beautiful for the ten years old Pineda. Isang pulang construction paper na tinupi and its front were peppered with tiny drawings of hearts. Its edges were rimmed with laces and a short phrases was scrawled across. "What is nothing to you ,can be love to me." There were sketchy drawings of hearts on both sides and in the lower part of the note was "Will you be my late Valentine? Love, Vic."

Shiela smiles. She can't help it. It's small and hidden by her hair but it was there. Her lips are turning up in the corner and her eyes crinkle.

When she look up at hinanap si Ara, she saw her at front, looking at her with a smile playing on her lips. Shiela's simple smile stay put for a brief few second.

It's the most beautiful thing Vic thinks she's ever seen.