Once In A Lifetime (Life Struggle Series #1) COMPLETED

Chapter 01

"Nakita mo ba ang rosary ko, ate?"

I was done eating my breakfast. Pandesal at pinalamanan sa sardinas ang almusal ko ngayon. The sardines are close to mold. It's not bad though. I'm even thankful that my stomach is full. Minsan lang ako mabusog sa umaga.

"Anong rosaryo?" I asked, acting like I didn't throw it.

I threw it away earlier. I get annoyed every time I see her holding the rosary so I threw it away to avoid myself from getting mad. 

"Huh? Hindi mo alam, 'te? Importante iyon sabi ni Ma'am," she pouted. I pinched her cheeks.

Ang cute talaga ng kapatid ko.

"Hindi iyon importante, Fatima. You can live without it," I stated the truth. Fatima frowned.

"Pero~"

"Bata ka pa, Fatima. Maiintindihan mo rin ang sinasabi ko sa pagtanda mo,"

You'll understand me when you grew up. When you find it hard to live in this kind of life.

Ganoon naman talaga, 'di ba? They won't understand where you are coming from when they did not get through it. People will only understand you until they put their feet on your shoes.

I walked to school with happiness written on my face. Ganito talaga kapag busog. I gave every student a warm smile.

"Hey, love," may mabigat na braso ang umakbay sa akin, "You seemed happy."

"Syempre, Pia. Ang sabi nga ni Tinay..." I pointed my two index fingers on my cheeks and formed a cute "Happy lang" smile.

Pia looked at me weirdly. I laughed and made her do the same thing. She did it with a sad smile. Pinektusan ko nga. Happy lang nga dapat.

Her words contradict her actions. She tells uplifting words but her eyes say the opposite.

That's human. We tell people we're happy but the truth is we're already drowning inside.

No one knows about it though.

After attending our first class, we headed to Justin's house to do our task on the values subject. Our teacher told us to group ourselves by friends and make an explosion box with our pictures on it. Sila Pia, Lady at Justin ang nga kagrupo ko dahil sila ang barkada ko. I am friends with everyone. Madali kasi akong makisama. Palangiti at approachable ang mukha. But these three are my main, my lifeline. They knew me well. Mas kilala pa nga siguro nila ako kumpara sa family ko.

"Ba't ang panget ko rito!" I got the picture and looked closely at it. Ang dugyot ko naman.

"D'yan lang?" Lady teased.

I threw the pillow I was hugging to her. Mabilis siyang nakailag at tiningnan ako ng masama.

"Serves you right, bitch," I stickied my tongue out.

"Thanks for the help, Jassy and Lady," sarkastikong pagpapasalamat ni Pia.

"You're welcome!" Lady and I said in unison.

We looked at each other and giggled. Nang ma-realized kong hindi nga pala kami bati ay tinarayan ko ito. I even flipped my hair.

"Wala bang meryenda, Justin? Ginugutom na ako," I tried not to sound demanding. Wala akong kinain nang pumunta ako rito. Inaasahan ko kasi na papakainin kami ni Justin.

"Ma! Where's our meryenda? Jassy is complaining!"

My eyes widened in shock and covered Justin's mouth.

Tanga! Hindi naman ako nagrereklamo. Nagpaparinig lang.

"Bwiset ka talaga, Justin. I'm not complaining!" I defended myself.