Take Me Home (City Series #4)

Chapter Four

Z

It's been a long, long weekend.

No holidays. No cancelled school days. Just.. gossip. And a lot of it.

I thought the issue from Friday would have died down by now, but everyone seems to still be talking about what happened in that party. Narinig ko lang ang nangyari kay Miggy na pumunta doon. He immediately messaged our groupchat and told us what happened.

My eyes remained on the empty chair where Lia Chen usually sits.

I don't know her. And I most definitely do not care about her.. but she is my vice president. I don't agree with what they did to her, and what others are saying about her, too.

Wala naman akong twitter pero maski sa akin umabot ang mga pinagsasabi ng ibang mga tao. They've been calling her a lot of names. I'm pretty sure her older brothers don't have twitter, too, so they probably don't know about what's going on with their sister.

Ang nakaka-alam lang ata na kuya niya sa nangyari, si Kuya Gabe. He was the one who helped her out. I actually felt really sorry for her when I heard about what happened.. and I'm glad that her brother was there to at least help.

I also.. never knew that she liked me.

Hindi naman halata. We barely even speak to each other. She ignores and avoids me most of the time, whether in the classroom, in council meetings, or in the court.

So I'm thinking, it's probably not true. And if it is true, which is a very low probability, she's never done anything to flirt with me or to let me know, which is good.. for me, I guess. I hate rejecting girls, but I hate leading them on even more. So I try my best to let them down gently, but on the spot.

Nakapasok na ang teacher namin sa classroom, wala pa rin si Lia. Exams na namin next week, kaya panigurado, hell week na ngayon. We're going to be having quizzes every single day.

"We're going to be—"

Napatigil yung teacher namin dahil kay Lia na kapapasok lang ng classroom. She didn't look like her usual self. She didn't have any make-up on. Hindi rin masyadong straight ang buhok niya. I guess she naturally has wavy hair.

"Sorry po. Traffic."

"Mm-hmm." our teacher looked at her suspiciously. "As I was saying, we're going to be having a brief discussion for the first ten minutes, and then, quiz."

Most of our classmates groaned, pero alam naman na naming lahat na may quiz ngayon. Teacher Benji announced it last meeting.

While our teacher was summarizing everything we learned this quarter, I couldn't help but look over at Lia. Sobrang bilis niya magsalita.. as if she was cramming.

Did she not review?

"Okay, everyone stand up."

Nagsi-tayuan ang lahat at umupo sa gilid ng classroom. Teacher Benji always does this whenever we have quizzes or exams in his subjects. Alphabetical ang seating arrangement para iwas kopyahan.

"Andres, Almonte, Chen, Enrique, Fuentes, Go.."

We all sat on our designated seats, which made me have a clearer view of Lia Chen. Namumugto ang singkit niyang mga mata.

But my eyes wandered to her hands, as well. We were instructed to keep everything except for our pen.

But she was holding onto a small piece of paper.

Is she planning on.. cheating?

That's impossible. Lia Chen, out of all people I know, would never cheat. She's a straight-A student without even trying. Hindi naman siguro niya gagawin 'yan.. especially not now.