3
Today was judgment day.
I was just kidding.
Today was the day that I needed to attend and Accounting subject. I hated that this subject was giving me a hard time but I didn't have any choice; this subject could lead to a better future for me, too.
I would buy Harvey and everything around him if I would be that successful in the future. I wouldn't brag and say that my family was rich. I was from an average family. You couldn't ask for something if it wasn't Christmas or your birthday. We were taught that only the things we need should be bought with using our parents' money. I had an older brother named Kenn and a little brother named Kitt.
I left home early since Angel wasn't coming to school with me. Joshua must have picked her up today. If I would be given a chance to be fetched at home too, Dyosa and Diwata would be sorry.
Those two gorgeous weren't not with me today. They said that breakfast with their beloved guys was a must, so I let them enjoy their time with the guys they like. I just hoped that they would not be running into me, crying, with broken hearts. I didn't think that those guys were taking them seriously.
When I got in the room, it wasn't that full with students yet. Some were still enjoying the free time, while the professor was still out, using their phones.
Some of the students attending this class were taking a different course from us. We were not considered as a block section because the differences in the time that this subject offered. Only Angel and Dyosa were able to be in the block section since we were in first year. I wonder how did they manage to have the same schedule.
Also, I was still hoping that one semester I would get the chance to be one of Harvey's classmates. That could be possible if we were taking a general academic subject.
We still weren't given a class arrangement in this subject so I decided to seat at the third row again, same reason. I fished a book from my bag and decided to read to kill time. Mara influenced me with book reading. Angel and I were given a chance to be scholars in this school, so I was working my brain hard to be functional always.
Compared to the half of the population of the students here who owned a personal car, Angel and I needed to take a cab or the jeepney to get here. But now she had Joshua to pick her up and drop her to school whenever he wanted.
Someone poked my arm. "Hi, Les. Good morning."
When I looked up to see who was the person, it was Monica. She was again giving off that friendly vibe.
"Hi, Aica. You can sit here beside me," I offered.
"Isn't there someone who would sit next to you?" she asked.
"No one. Both the seats next to me are vacant."
"That's good!" she said, sitting next to me.
I put the book back into my bag so I could focus on talking with Aica. She placed her bag on the vacant chair next to her.
"You're bag's going to sit there?" I asked, trying to pull off a joke.
"Nope. Gelo's seat. Okay lang ba?"
I nodded in response. She was so concerned with her friend Gelo, reserving his seat, making friends for him.
"Gaano kayo ka-close?"
It accidentally slipped off my tongue.
"Ni Gelo? So-so," she said. "We're classmates since first year, first sem. Starting that day we are always together, like magnets."
I told her that I thought they were in a relationship. She let out a chuckle.
"Oh, no. May boyfriend ako. I admit that sometimes they thought we are together. Pero hindi talaga, I don't see him as someone more than a friend."
"Are they close? Your boyfriend and Gelo?"
"Yep, he knows Gelo, but they aren't that close. He gets jealous about Gelo. Well, I can't argue with that. Pinapaintindi ko naman sa kanya na there isn't a slight chance that I will get to like Gelo. We are just friends."
I loved the way she talked. I could stare at her the whole day, watching her talk. Maybe her boyfriend was mesmerized by Aica's charm. I wouldn't deprive Aica the chance to be called the prettiest woman I knew.
"How about Gelo? Sure ka ba wala siyang gusto sa'yo?"
She smiled. "Yep, I know he doesn't like me. He said so himself."
Could it be possible for two friends not to fall for each other? Considering that they were man and woman. Their friendship wasn't common, and if they were always together there was a high chance that feelings would develop between them.
No one, not even I, could predict the future.
"He can deny it," I said, not into losing the possibility that he might like Aica.
"Why would he deny it? Alam mo Les, kilala ko na si Gelo. He wouldn't lie to me."
Aica was determined to convince that she was right.
"First boyfriend mo ba 'tong ngayon?" I asked.
She nodded, a hide on her face couldn't be concealed. "He's going to be my first and last."
"He's lucky to have you. Sana tumagal pa kayo, 'till forever," I told her.
She said her thanks and said that she was praying for it to happen.
"What's the book that you were reading?" she asked, starting a new subject.
Aica shared that she was a book lover. She loved to read and collect books. She even recommended authors that she had been following for their great works, like Mitch Albom and Paulo Coelho.
The book that I was reading was The Da Vinci Code. It would take me months to finish reading this book. One hundred and five chapters was a lot for me.
Monica and I were able to talk about some other books and authors while waiting for the class to start. She could read two books in just a day.
"Bukod sa bookworm ano pa pwede kong itawag sa'yo?" I asked, trying to make her laugh.
She knew a lot of authors more than I. John Green, Rainbow Rowell, and two other authors did ring a bell to me, and the rest of the authors she mentioned I need to do some research about them.
"Just call me Aica. They all call me Aica."
"Aica was derieved from?" I asked.
"I dunno," she shrugged. "Mom started calling me Aica when I was two. Maybe from Ica in Monica?"
I was checking my phone when Aica called out Gelo's name.
I looked up and saw the unfriendly face of Gelo. He looked at Aica and then scanned the room for possible seats he could take. He was still standing near the front door with his backpack in hand.
"Dito ka, sa tabi ni Leslie," Aica told him. He didn't look he was into the idea. "Hey, Gelo. Sit next to Leslie. Next to Les, Gelo. Hello?"
Aica mentioned my name until Gelo paid attention to her. Some of the students' attention were caught by Aica. Gelo was now looking at him. He didn't look creepy, but he was giving me the off vibes. He was giving off this aura that he wanted to disappear just so he could get out of Aica's sight.
"Anong meron sa pangalan ko?" I asked Aica with curiosity.
"You have the same name as his ex-girlfriend," she revealed.
Oh, so that was the reason. Now I could define the aura he was giving of; he was pissed off.
Since Aica wanted him to sit next to us, Gelo had no other choice but to drag his feet into our row. Aica moved to the empty seat next to her and let Gelo sat beside me. He was seated there, silently, not even saying hi to any of us. He was staring at the clean whiteboard.
Aica tried to make fun of him, but he wasn't paying attention.
The professor came in, introduced himself, asked for everyone to do the same. He started with the lecture and gave us a short quiz after. I tried to glance at Aica, not to ask her answer for the quiz, just to check on her. Gelo was a huge barricade, and I felt like whenever I tried to lay my eyes on him, he would shoot me deadly stares.
I wasn't asking for answers. Hell, no. We weren't close.
--
We were asked to exchange papers for checking the short quiz. I gave my paper to Aica; she handed her paper to Gelo for checking and;
"Who's going to check my paper?" I heard Gelo asked Aica.
"Leslie," she simply said. "Give your paper to Leslie. Leslie's going to check it for you."
I was left with no option but to get Gelo's paper.
This guy mumbled something uncomprehinsible and gave his paper to me. I took it from him and smiled. He did nothing to acknowledge the friendliness I showed him.
Aica nudged him in the arm. By the looks on her face, she was trying to pass a message to Gelo saying 'she has the same name as your ex'. Meanwhile, the look on Gelo's face was saying he didn't give a damn.
I focused my attention on Gelo's paper while the professor was writing the correct answers on the board. Wow, I said to myself. His handwriting was superb. I liked his penmanship for a guy. My brother couldn't write legibly as this. I scrutinized his answers. He had answered all the questions given, with the right solution for each.
I had a hard time answering the last question; Gelo had written his answer in the easiest possibly way for me to understand. So, that was how he got the answer.
We started checking each papers on hand. The first two questions, Gelo got it right. I kept on putting a check mark on each number until the last question.
He got the right answers for each. A perfect score for this guy.
"Anong score ko?" Aica asked Gelo when we were asked to return the papers to the owners.
"16. Suits you for constantly teasing me," Gelo answered. "Keep up the good work," he sarcastically said.
I was still holding his paper. I couldn't give it to him because he wasn't looking at my direction. When he turned to face me, I stared at him. Praising his ability to perfect the quiz. He was staring back at me, that's when I realized that he was waiting for me to give his paper back to him.
"Ay, sorry! Perfect ka, galing mo," I said and handed him his paper. He didn't say thanks or anything else. He accepted it.
"You may pass your papers if there are no errors in checking. Then after that you may go. Class dismissed," the professor announced.
Gelo instantly rose from his seat to submit his paper, his bag was with him. He left the room when he handed the paper to the professor. He didn't say bye to Aica.
"Look at that guy," said Aica. "Iwan ba naman ako rito?"
"You may go after him. Sungit niya, 'no?" I asked.
"I couldn't agree more. He's the silent type, Les. Plese bear with him."
If Gelo was the silent type, we wouldn't be a good match. We can't be friends, either. I was loud. He wanted the world to be silent.
"He got a perfect score," I said.
Aica didn't seem surprised. "Tell you what, one of our professors calls him That's my Boy. He's so proud about his performance in class," she shared.
I was in awe of what I had heard. A professor gave him a moniker for being a good student? Could it be that he was the top of their class? If the professor noticed him, he could really be the best.
"He's smart, period," I told her.
She returned my paper. I looked at my score. I got fifteen out of twenty. Man, I should study harder to get a perfect score.
"Bye, Les. Sundan ko lang si Gelo. See you tomorrow!"
Aica left the room. I was still staring at my paper. It was a good thing that Gelo wasn't the one who corrected my paper. What could be his reaction at my score?
Keep up the good work, I said to myself. Tsk. That was really sarcastic.
-
"Loka ka talaga, girl! Siya na nga yata ang tinutukoy natin na boylalung matalino raw, sabi ng mga informers di ba, Dyosa? Sumagot ka! Sagot!"
I was with the gang and Joshua. I told them what happened in our class, the score I got, the scores that my seatmates got. Diwata and Dyosa kept on saying that the guy who got the perfect score was the same guy they were referring to as the handsome, smart, lovable, etcetera, just to praise him.
"Ay girly, siya na nga ata 'yon. Gwapo ba, Les? Describe mo naman. Mabago ba?" Dyosa kept on asking questions.
Joshua was having a good time watching the two of them talk and bug me with questions about the guy they were eyeing.
"Kayong dalalawa, you always look for the pogi, gwapo, mabango na babe. I have my eyes for Harvs only," I said.
I didn't get the chance to look closely at Gelo. He was intimidating me. But I would agree that he was smart, he knew the how's and what's of Accounting. He was taking the subject lightly. One thing that I could assure them, Gelo wasn't the type of guy that they could easily get to befriend. He was silent. We were loud as speakers.
"Harvs, Harvs, puro na lang Harvs! Lumang luma na ang Farmville nag haharvs ka pa rin," Dyosa cracked a joke but none of us laugh.
"Speaking of Harvey," Angel started. "I saw him," she added.
I was waiting for her to say something else, like describe the way he dressed, who was with him, what was he doing, and such things.
"So anong balita mo? Saan mo nakita? Anong oras? Sinong kasama?"
They were all looking at me. Couldn't believe that I just asked them a lot of questions in a span of one minute.
"Si Cheska" said Angel.
"WHAT?! SI CHESKA? HE WAS WITH CHESKA?"
Cheska was here in our school with Harvey?! Oh, no.
"Yes, he was with Cheska," Angel reiterated her answer.
"Yep, with Cheska," Diwata added.
"Harvey was with Cheska," Dyosa said.
And because they were looking at Joshua, egging him to say the same thing, he did speak. "He was with Cheska, Les."
They all laughed hard when they saw how pissed I was with their remarks.
~