Take Me Home (City Series #4)

Chapter Fourty-Five

"Woohoooo! Let's go, Lia, let's go!" Tili nina Raffy sa bleachers, kaya naman napapikit ako sa hiya.

I shouldn't have told them that I was trying out for the school varsity team. Oh Lord, do I regret my decisions now. They even have a big photo of me printed on an illustration board!

Mabuti nga at may boses pa rin sila, lalo na si Raffy at Mage. Silang dalawa yung sobrang lakas ang sigaw. Kahit na patapos na kami at stretching nalang ang ginagawa ko, todo sigaw pa rin sila.

"Chen!" sigaw nung Coach habang nagsstretching kami kaya naman tumakbo ako agad papalapit sa kaniya.

"Yes, Coach?"

"What have you been doing these past two years?" tanong niya.

I gulped.

"Uh.. um.."

"Bakit ngayon ka lang sumali?"

"I didn't.. I didn't think I was good enough for varsity, Coach. Kaya sa intrams lang ako sumali. Wala sa volleyball buong focus ko nung first and second year."

"And this year?" tanong niya. "Can you handle that now? Because if not, sabihin mo kaagad sa akin. I don't want to waste my time training you if you're just going to quit on me."

I blinked. "Coach?"

"Do we have a deal, Miss Chen? You give it your all, I put you on the team. Sayang ang potential mo."

"Really?!" I let out a huge smile, but immediately fixed myself. "I mean.. yes, Coach! I won't let you down!"

"Good. Make your remaining years in this school count."

Hindi ko na napigilan ang ngiti ko. The others were done stretching, so I ran to the bleachers and gave them a thumbs up. Sumigaw silang dalawa habang si Vale naman ay nakahalukipkip lang pero nakangiti rin.

"I knew you could do it! High school palang tayo, you played like a UAAP player na." Mage grinned. "Ah, I'm so proud!"

"Nakita mo ba yung poster namin para sa'yo? Kulang nalang talaga mag-body roll ako habang kinakantahan ka ng sexy sexy love!" Raffy laughed and held her illustration board up.

"I just wish Ena were here.." naging malungkot ang ngiti ko once I said those words.

I haven't seen Ena in a while. We visit her all the time, but she just stays inside her room. Kapag pumapasok kami, we barely get one word from her. Raffy still doesn't know about it, all she knows is that Selena didn't enroll.

I wish I could tell her.

But it's not my story to tell.

"Sana nag-enroll pa rin siya! Hati nalang kami sa tuition ko tas sabihin ko sa magulang ko na nawala ko yung kalahati." Raffy sighed.

Binatukan siya kaagad ni Vale kaya sinamaan siya ng tingin ni Raffy.

"Selena wouldn't want that." Vale shook his head.

Raffy tried to headlock him, but Vale being the tall guy he is, immediately got out of Raffy's trap.

"Ang ganda talaga dito kapag gabi na. Di tulad ng lunchtime, ang dami palaging tao!" I said. "Baka naman now I'll be able to see you guys more often? After my trainings gano'n."

"Sure!" Raffy grinned. "Sakto siguro yun, katatapos ng klase namin or ng practice sa Church."

I looked around and saw students ready to leave, probably done from their night class. Everyone was headed for the silang building kung saan ang daanan papuntang main gate. A lot of students were also walking out of the Rizal building, all wearing white uniforms.