The next day, at school.
It was lunch break, so the usual chats between teachers on the side of the stage, the kids running around, students eating or playing basketball, and then there was a shout. "Andito na si Boni! Andito na siya!" A student exclaimed. Next thing you know, everyone was rushing to see him, even the teachers. "Ah! Wag kayo magulo, kakalabas pa nga ng ospital!" Mr. Reyes said. Maria Clara and Ibarra just got out of the canteen, and wondered what on earth was happening. They were so confused, it was as if a celebrity came to visit the school, then they heard "Welcome back Mr. Bonifacio! O, okay ka lang?" A teacher said.
Maria Clara ran to the crowd of students, being followed by Ibarra. She made her way through, and immediately went to hug Elias as soon as she saw him. "Sorry Elias, I-" she started crying. "Oh, oh, ba't ka umiiyak? Sus, sorry na rin-" Elias said, being interrupted again. "Hindi. Don't apologize to me, apologize to Crisostomo. It was you who hurt him, diba?" She gave Elias a death glare. "Yeah no about that-" Elias said, he then passed by Ibarra and ran away. Maria Clara sighed, "He'll never stop being stubborn, huh." She said. "Right, Cris?" She asked. The students went away. "Cris? Crisostomo." Crisostomo snapped out of his trance.
"Huh oh yeah!" He replied. Did- did he just shove a paper into my hand? Ibarra thought. Him and Maria Clara then went to their next class.
"Alright. Instead of moving to our next topic, why don't we have a re-cap on our previous topic, so that Mr. Bonifacio can catch up? Hmm?" Ma'am Dolores, their Filipino teacher said. The students did not mind, since the previous topic was actually quite interesting.
"Sige ma'am! Para malaman ni Elias na may magkapareho siyang panga-" a student said. "Hoy wag mag spoil!" Another one said. Elias looked confused. He leaned towards one of his friends, "psst- hoy, ano prev topic naten kahapon?" he asked. "konti lang alam ko nag tanga ako ih- about sa nobela ni rizal ata yun? yung noli me tangina or kung ano ba yun?" His friend replied. "gago diba noli me tangere yun? ulol para kang sira" Elias replied.
"Hoy Bonifacio, just because galing ka sa ospital doesn't mean may privileges kang makikipag chat sa seatmates mo." The teacher said. She also added "Ay, speaking of which, ano pala nangyari sayo? All the staff said was that nagkasakit ka daw or something, care to share? Elias nodded, and went in front of the class.
"So umuwi ako sa bahay diba? And well while I was there, parang nahirapan ako mag hinga ih. It felt like may mga sugat sa katawan ko, parang sugat galing sa buwaya." He laughed, then continued, "And well I hallucinated." He said. "Anong nakita mo sa pagkahallucinate mo Mr. Bonifacio?" The teacher asked.
"A man. Not an old one, he looked quite.. young. He wore a a black suit and a black hat. He just got off a boat and he was rushing towards me. Medyo natakot ako don ih." He said. Everyone looked at him, stunned, as if he just said a really bad word or something. "What?" He asked.
There were whispers of 'shit anong chapter yun?' and 'diba yan yung nangyari sa nobela ni rizal?' yada yada yada..
At lunch time
Elias sat in the bahay kubo, staring at the roof and playing with a cat. The cat was small, and cute. Elias watched as it climbed up his arm, then to his shoulders, then to his head. "Hoy, anong ginagawa mo diyan?" He said, laughing slightly. Meanwhile with Ibarra.
That was weird.. Ibarra thought. He suddenly remembered the paper that was given to him, the paper Elias suddenly gave him secretly while running away. Sige, let's open this godforsaken paper. He opened it, there was a message.
"Yo. Uh sorry ha? I didn't actually think that ball would hit you, well maybe I did. Ah basta, just meet me at the school's bahay kubo, the one with the black hat on its roof? Lam mo yun, diba? Libre kita tanghali, or baka gusto mo ikaw ang mag-libre? Charot lang, dalian mo. -Elias"
Ibarra was surprised. Elias Bonifacio? One of his supposed 'rivals', asking him out for lunch? Eh lunch lang naman Crisostomo, wag kang mag overthink diyan. He made his way to the bahay kubo. He found Elias shaking his hand really hard, with a cat on his lap. Ibarra approached him.
Ibarra cleared his throat. "Uh, dude? Ok ka lang?" He asked. Elias looked at him, his face suddenly brightened, it was like he saw an angel. Punyeta, why is he looking at me like that? Ano ako, si Lord? "Uh, dude?" He asked again. Elias snapped out of it. "Sorry, uh let's go?" He said. "Go where?" Ibarra asked. "If you read my letter you would know." Elias replied. Oh. He means lunch. Great.
The two boys walked out of the school, passing by some small shops on the sidewalks. This is awkward.. Ibarra thought. "So, saan tayo?" Elias asked. Ibarra looked around for a good place to eat, and spotted a big restaurant. "How about there? The one with the red and white carpets?" He said. Elias laughed. "As expected. Of course you would want to go there, tanginang ilustrado." He said.
Ibarra frowned. "Wag kang magalit, tara na." Elias said. They both found a take for two, ordered their food and ate. Ibarra simply stared at the food for a good 2 minutes. But was interrupted by Elias. "Tinola? O ano, di ka pa nakatikim niyan?" He said. What?! Anong akala ng hayop na to, Amerikano ako? Ibarra thought. "Excuse me? Of course I have tried this! In fact, it's my favorite. Just because I lived in Europe for how many years doesn't mean I had lost my Filipino blood!" He said.
"Woah, woah, kalma. Nagbibiro lang ako, sus." He said. There was silence. "Hey uhh you like tinola right? Well marunong ka ba magluto?" Elias asked. "Maybe" Ibarra replied. Parang hard to get ah. Elias thought. "Sige nga, lutuan mo nga ako ng tinola." Elias said. Ibarra looked at him with an annoyed look. "Ulol, you think I'm gonna cook for you? I'm not your ninang." He said.
"Librehin kita one week." Elias said, hoping that he would agree. "Two weeks." Ibarra said. Elias looked at him, but put down his gaze. Both of them enjoyed their meal in silence, and eventually finished and payed. They both arrived at the school, which was oddly quiet. Normally there would be students rushing to their classes or wherever. "Bakit ang tahimik?" Elias asked. Ibarra checked his watch.
"What?!" He said. Elias looked at him, "Tch, nakakainis ka mag ingles! And why are you surprised?" Elias said. "Dude, may one hour pa bago klase!" Ibarra said, shockingly. Elias' eyes widened. He thought they would have like 5 minutes, but an hour? Yes, maka jamming pa ako! Elias said. He almost went ahead, but remembered, he was with Ibarra. He sighed slightly, "Hey uhh, gusto mo mag jamming? We still have a lot of time." Elias said.
Ibarra just replied a quick 'sure'
They both went to a grassy place, no one usually went there, only Elias would. Not even half the students knew that that place existed in their school. Elias took out his guitar, it was a dark maroon color, and there were some scratches. He started playing. Ibarra was genuinely surprised by how skilled Elias was in playing the guitar. He played all those old songs most Filipinos knew, maybe a few modern songs, and then he started playing 'Ikaw Lang' by Nobita.
It was good, then the last chorus came and Elias started singing.
"Malay ko bang hindi mapapagal~"
"Iibigin kita kahit gaano pa katagal~"
Ibarra rocked his head back and forth, and sang along with Elias unconsciously.
"Tumingin ka saking mga mata~"
"At hindi mo na kailangan pang magtanong ng paulit ulit~"
"Ikaw lang ang iniibig~"
Elias watched the boy sing in front of him, jaw dropped. He suddenly stopped playing. "Ang ganda ng boses mo." He said. Ibarra opened his eyes in shock. "I- I sang?! In front of you?! I-" he said, "Shh, di mo kailangan mag overreact. And.. we should really do this more often." Elias said.
Heya readers! O, ano, you liked this chapter? Charot, anyways if you're wondering what song they were singing, just scroll up and look at the cover video of this chapter, or just search "Ikaw Lang" by Nobita.
Word count: 1447 words
