Rematch

CHAPTER 9

I woke up to my phone blaring to life with the alarm. It was 5AM. I cracked an eye open to adjust my sight to the light, but was greeted by a whole lot of darkness instead. I always slept with a night light on because I made a habit to do advanced reading. So, that meant I knocked out in a different room without the faintest memory of how I got there.

There was a soft click from outside and I immediately sat up. That was a bad idea because I felt an imaginary screw driver being driven into my skull and I moaned at the pain.

Gingerly, I patted my way around the room muttering as to why there wasn't a single night light on. I found the knob instead so I pulled the door open and was welcomed by a small, empty and clean kitchen. A sandwich on a plate covered with a cling wrap was sitting at the middle of the square table with a note taped to it.

Sorry, didn't know we were having a guest last night. It was all I could offer. There's hot water in the thermos for a cup of coffee. Zach didn't come home btw. You could stay until the headache's gone. But please lock the unit if you choose to leave. Sorry I couldn't stay. Got errands to do. -Trance

I didn't know what to feel. Be mortified that there were more than a dozen people who saw me puking all over the pool area last night? Feel miserable for yet missing the initiation party the second time? Or fight the stupid grin threatening to split my face into two because the very first letter I received from a non-relative and not related to school was from him. I let all three emotions co-exist while I helped myself with the tuna sandwich he prepared for me.

Three bites into the sandwich later and my mind started to work. I remembered Jarlin telling me he was crashing with Zach. I looked around expecting a bachelor's pad. But it was no place for a bachelor because, judging by another door beyond the spacious living room, there were obviously two bedrooms. Vaguely, I wondered why Zach would get a 2-bedroom unit if Jarlin was only staying for vacation. Unless Zoey was planning to move in with her twin soon, then that would be an explanation.

I shrugged my shoulders and decided it was none of my business. It was important to note, however, that the place was considerably neat for two guys to be living together at the moment. Especially when the other guy was Zach. His room was always a good place to treasure hunt. If you wanted to find which one of the clothes were clean, and which one should have been washed a month ago. Sometimes there were a couple of bills and you could call dibs if you found it. Maybe, some people did change for the better.

The wall clock had me groaning again as it was almost 5:30AM. I had to move fast as we had practice at 7AM. Sadly, I didn't get to savor the food and the coffee because I still had to go back to the dorm, take a long warm bath and change. But the simple meal did alleviate the headache. After washing the dishes, I went back to the room I slept in which I assumed was Zach's because...he didn't come home right? So it was only logical to let me use his room while he probably crashed at some Berkeley dorm room after the initiation.

When I switched the lights on, I sucked in my breath.

A wall had been covered by a collage of photos and I couldn't help but to walk closer to see them clearly. They were of scenic views, rolling mountains, lovely sunsets...and people. Common friends back in San Jose, California...

And photos of myself.

I was still holding my breath as I looked at stolen shots rendered in full color and black and white. A lot of them showed me walking on crutches, with the knee immobilizer or the support. Some, I recognized were taken at the World Park and I was looking ahead, deep in thought. And then in the middle of it all was a photo of me, smiling directly at the camera.

I knew for sure these were taken by Zoey. Aside from her small watermark plus the date in every frame, she was the only photographer I smiled at whenever I saw her pointing her camera at me.

Why Zach had so many photos of me was jarring, it gave me goosebumps. I wanted to leave the place right then and there but was pulled back by several candid photos at the outer part of the collage. They were of Jarlin and Zach, shirtless, drenched in water and smiling widely at the camera as they both pointed with their thumbs to the curtain of waterfalls behind them.

My eyebrows crashed. Zoey once told me that they were going for a nature trip. Last year. The date at the lower corner of the photo confirmed that. My breathing became shallow as I scoured the collage for other group photos. True enough, there were shots of Jarlin sleeping on a hammock, as well as the twins playing chess on a stone bench, with him photobombing, him playing basketball with Zach and what looked like Filipino teens on the street. They were all dated last year. What's even confusing was that they were taken on different dates spread throughout last year.

Which was very unsettling, unless Zoey messed up the dates. But that would be so uncharacteristic of her. However, if she had the right timeline...that meant Jarlin was...

I left the unit in a hurry, making sure I locked it. All the while, I was in autopilot since my mind was continuously churning out questions that gave birth to more questions.

It was just utterly impossible. Zoey told me that Jarlin got scouted for the National Team. If he had been here since last year, wouldn't his opportunity be forfeited? The twins never said anything about this-

Unless they didn't want you to know.

The terrible sense of betrayal settled low in the pit of my stomach the whole taxi ride back to BRIS.

Those two had a lot of explaining to do.

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Posted on 4 April 2015 Saturday