Amethyst Died that Saturday

15

"Wala nang apples."

Napakurap ako. "What?"

"Ubos na ang apples," she said, hugging her feet together.

"Kakabili ko lang, ah!" I exclaimed, and looked at her, munching on one.

"Doblehin mo kasi pagbili ng apples," sabi niya habang ngumunguya. "Alam mo namang favorite ko ang apples."

"Okay. Ano pa?"

She grinned at me. "Cheetos."

Cheetos, in my own opinion, is disgusting. Para lang namang pritong harina na binudburan ng cheese. I don't know what Amethyst liked about Cheetos, but I really hate buying it because she always insists for me to have a bite. Kapag nakangisi na siya sa 'kin at nakaabot ang kamay na may hawak na Cheetos — wala na. Kailangan ko nang kumain.

I don't like eating Cheetos. Pero kapag nakakagat na ako ng isang piraso at nakangiti na siya sa 'kin ng parang isang bata, naglalaho na 'yung kapangitan ng lasa ng chichirya.

Still, Cheetos and apples are the least that we should worry about.

Last Saturday, I had a fight with Tanya. The first ever real fight we've had in our three whole years of friendship. Kinwento ko 'to kay Amethyst at may mga bagay siyang hindi nilinaw sa 'kin.

She had always suspected Tanya, and Cinna knows about it? Even before the fire started, Amethyst had been trying to know who was behind the death threats of her family, and she did not tell me about this. Whether she thinks it is a useless information, I still honestly think that these kind of things are supposed to be told.

But I still trust Amethyst. She is . . . I don't know. Special to me. I saw myself in her, during the time that no one was there to protect me. Noong unang araw na nag-desisyon akong tutulungan ko siya, I made myself swear that I would protect her.

But maybe . . . Amethyst is more than just a girl I want to help and protect.

"Amethyst."

I said her name without thinking. Her name just went out my mouth, just as I was thinking about her. Habang magkatabi kami sa iisang couch, tumingin siya sa akin, kumurap, ngumunguya ng mansanas. For a few seconds, I just looked in her eyes, and everything around me silenced. In this very moment, it is just me and Amethyst's brown eyes.

I've always liked Cinna. Always have. She was . . . she was the girl I have always dreamt of. But I did not foresee that because of her, I'd stumble upon the beach where Amethyst almost died in the vastness of the sea. Where her eyes looked at me for the first time, where she smiled amidst her tears and called me "the coffee shop boy".

Sometimes my heart just hurts at the thought of her. Whenever I get to drive with Cinna, or whenever I think of the things I have to do or things I have to risk, I always remember that if it is for Amethyst, it would be more than worth it.

She stared back at my eyes. Television light shone on her rosy cheeks. Her breathings remind me of her fast breathing back in that shoreline at 1 AM, almost a couple of months ago.

"C-Come with me," I said.

"Come with . . . you?" she asked. "S-Saan?"

I looked away. Her face was too close.

"I don't know," sabi ko. Tiningnan ko ang relo ko. It's 1 AM already, and nobody else in the town is probably awake right now. Tumayo ako mula sa couch saka mabilis na pumunta sa kwarto.

Kumuha ako ng isang malaking hoodie saka isang hoodie para sa 'kin. When I walked out the room, Amethyst was looking at me, curiosity in her eyes.