Giovanni Clark: Gone Crazy (Golden Child Series #1)

Chapter 27

Nagkatinginan ang mga kaibigan ko. Alam kong naalarma sila dahil alam nila ang nangyari noon. They were there when I was the hardest on myself.

Hinanap ng kanang kamay ni Apollo ang kamay ko kahit ang atensiyon ay na kay Beatrice pa rin, animo'y nagbabantay sa posibleng pagsalakay.

Nang sa wakas ay tila nakita na ni Beatrice ang hinahanap sa phone, tatayo na sana si Apollo para pigilan ito nang naunahan siya ng anunsiyo ni Raquel.

"I-I received a text message, everyone! From a friend at the awarding!"

She didn't fail to gain everyone's attention. Nabahiran ng lito ang hitsura ng karamihan ngunit binalewala niya iyon, kahit pa ang bayolenteng reaksiyon ng kaibigan sa tabi niya.

Saglit na sumulyap si Raquel sa akin bago tumayo at pintahan ng malawak na ngiti ang hitsura.

"They won, guys! The host declared Mackenzie as this year's overall champion again!"

Napuno ng sigawan at palakpakan ang klase dahil sa narinig na balita. Napasilip na rin pati ang ibang section sa room namin.

Apollo and my friends seemed surprised and thrilled about the news, too. But they didn't miss the chance to check on me. Talagang lumapit pa sila sa akin para lang tanungin at siguraduhing ayos lang ako.

No, I wasn't. But I could handle it. Just like I always did. So in return, I smiled and chuckled at their worried faces.

"Lagi kayong naaawa sa akin. Pansin ko!" Pinaningkitan ko sila ng mata. "I'm starting to get offended!"

Napaaray ako nang kurutin ni Seka ang tagiliran ko. "Iba ang naaawa sa nag-aalala, Mallari!"

"Is Beatrice bored or something? It was so obvious kung sino ang pinatatamaan niya. The way she looked at you, Riz," Kenna couldn't contain it anymore, rolling her eyes at Beatrice's direction.

Pero iba pa ata ang napuna ni Palmer sa kabila ng mga nangyari.

"You should've seen the haunting look on Apple's face earlier. The veins in his neck and arms were showing, keeping his temper at bay!" she giggled and slapped her cheeks lightly. "In that split second, I thought I was cheating on Diego!"

Apollo was grossed out beside me and wrinkled his nose at her.

"Frankly, my dear... don't do that to yourself. You should've seen me pluck every single hair on her head instead. If it wasn't for Campuzano."

I flinched at the mere sound of Raquel's last name. Apollo's right. She...

At that moment, I couldn't contain the urge to glance her way. She spotted my gaze but immediately looked away. Hindi nagtagal, nagpaalam ito sa mga kasama at sinundan ko siya ng tingin nang palabas ito sa classroom.

I sighed as I recalled what she did earlier. I'm aware of the possibility that maybe, I was just overanalyzing things... again. Pero ang totoo, hindi niya talaga iyon ginawa para sa akin.

She was just too excited to break the news to everyone and nothing else! Kahit pa... nasa kalagitnaan ng pagsasalita ang kaibigan.

It has been a year and Raquel's sudden change of treatment towards me bothers me. Alam kong nagkakasagutan kami noon. Madalas naming nami-misunderstood ang isa't isa. Pero bigla na lang isang araw, nagbago ang pakikitungo nito sa akin.

Hindi dahil mas lumala ang trato niya sa akin kundi dahil nasa iisang section man kami, hindi ko naman dama ang presensiya nito. At sigurado akong... ako lang ang nakakapansin noon.

That kind of treatment was exclusive to me. She went cold all of a sudden that the brief eye contact we made a while ago felt like a milestone to me! Like it did something different after almost a year!