Interim Goddess of Love #1 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 7

Of course I knew who Vida Castillo was.

That was probably the one sign of truly belonging to the Ford River student body. The people who honestly did not recognize Vida when she passed them in the hallway were the freshmen on their first day. When I came into this school she was a junior, and editor-in-chief of the student news website. Now that she was a senior, she was president of the student council. What she had been before that, I didn't know, but it was probably awesome. People who were introduced to her didn't even bother with pretending they didn't know her name. They were all like, "So I finally get to meet you."

Even I got tongue-tied over how beautiful she was.

My moment with Vida happened in the school library. I was trying to find the single volume of a Philippine Myths and Legends book that was supposedly there, but wasn't really on its proper shelf. This had actually happened to me before. Some of the students in this school could be so inconsiderate.

The library took up the entire third floor of the West building, although that wasn't large enough compared to the older schools. (Eventually I should stop comparing Ford River to the older schools.) The stacks and selection I found impressive, mainly because I often found what I needed for my classes. But I was surprised to find so little about other things, and in that regard the library felt more like a rather large chain bookstore.

Just in case it was just in the wrong place, I scanned the stacks. When I took a U-turn into another shelf, I nearly bumped into Vida herself.

"I'm sorry," I said automatically, even if I hadn't done anything wrong.

She was like a source of light between the bookshelves. Not that she was glowing (or maybe there was some of that), but she just couldn't be ignored. It was Monday, uniform day, and in theory she and I were wearing the exact same plaid skirt and white top, but on her it looked tailored and perfect. Then I noticed that she was looking straight at me.

"Hannah, right?" she said.

"Yes... yes?" I stammered.

"This library is so inadequate. People in this school have no respect for books."

"I was... there's this book I'm trying to find. It's not here."

She shrugged. "The shelving in this section is horrible. What were you looking for?"

"Philippine myths and legends," I said, but it looked like she already knew.

"Too bad. Can't you find that on the internet?"

"I tried. There's nothing much. I mean, I guess I wanted to check something not put up by some guy on Wikipedia."

Her hand came upon my shoulder, and I was steered away from the maze of shelves. Near the librarian's desk was a short shelf of children's books, and without hesitating Vida pulled one out by the spine.

Ang Alamat ng Araw at Buwan. Illustrated and bilingual.

I wanted to ask if she was kidding. "I think I need something a bit more... mature."

Vida ran the book, and the student ID around my neck, through the quick-checkout barcode reader and was obviously not kidding. "Nonsense. Anything worth knowing is taught to kids first anyway."

Then the book was in my hand, and she and I were walking out of the library—no, she was escorting me out. Each step of the way she caught every eye she passed, and some of them actually turned to me too. Just being around her for two minutes was already upping my social value.

Outside the library doors, a guy holding a woman's bag and two books was waiting. "Thank you, darling," she said, taking the items from him, and on her, the additional bag and books still looked magazine-perfect. "Hannah, this is my boyfriend Jake."

"Hi, Jake," I said. I knew the guy—he was a sophomore too, and we might have taken a PE class together last year. He was one of the more good-looking guys, probably the cutest one in my batch. If Vida, a senior, absolutely had to date a sophomore, then Jake Lalisan was the guy to date.

"Hi, Hannah," he said, and I almost laughed at how obedient we sounded. And then I picked up something from him as soon as I heard his voice.

He's confused. Jake did not know, apparently, that he was Vida's boyfriend, but was flattered to hear it.

"Bye, Hannah," Vida said, taking Jake by the arm and waving like we were friends. "We should talk about the book when you're done."

Funny. I always thought that Vida got her reputation because she was just that pretty. As she walked further away from me, it was like I was waking up from a trance, and realized that she had just monopolized my time and I had let her.

She is totally one of them. I wondered why Quin didn't tell me.