"Huy ate, imik imik naman tayo jan. Sige, baka panis na laway mo," my sister, Jaja, laughs as she pokes my side. My feet keeps boucing up and down uncontrollably. I slap her hand away and shoot a glare on her direction. She just continues to laugh in return.
We're on our way to my new school, Ateneo de Manila University. I got recruited to join their women's volleyball team. Even though I would much rather stay with my family in Batangas, I just couldn't turn down the offer. It offered a full scholarship ride, dormitory with all my teammates, covered school fees, and allowance. Now, I just gotta deal with the homesickness I will definitely feel and just get on with my college life.
During the four-hour ride from Batangas to Ateneo, I only spoke a little. My hands are shaking, I'm just too nervous. All I was thinking before moving here were: Paano ako kakain? May pagkain ba sa dorm? Makakatulog kaya ako ng maayos? Mabait kaya teammates ko? Sino kaya roommate ko? Sana mabait. Well, I'm really worried about my food the most, I needed to take care of my health, duh.
"Andito na tayo," my dad speaks up as we enter the gate of the university. We pass by the Blue Eagle Gym, that's probably where we would be having our trainings. To say that the campus is huge would be an understatement, it was enormous even. There were a lot of trees and wide fields, it looks really quiet and peaceful probably because there weren't much people around. I see a few pedestrians jog on the sidewalks. As we got further inside, the buildings for different classes start to appear. There aren't much students nor professors since there's still two weeks left before school starts. It wasn't hard to get around and look for our destination since we've been toured about a month ago, so it would only take a little time for me to get used on getting to my classes and back at the dorm and to manage not getting lost in this huge place. We rounded a corner and stopped in front of a building surrounded by a few trees, this must be the women's volleyball team's dorm.
I step out of the car, stretching my legs, my butt hurts from sitting too long. I look around, everything's nice and eerie quiet. There were a few trees and other dormitories in the street. I honestly could get use to something this calm.
My dad gets my luggage out of the trunk and I slung the backpack and duffel bag on my shoulders respectively. They were mumbling things about taking care of myself and not missing a meal, while I was busy thinking about not seeing my family everyday and how much I'll miss them. It's going to be hard to get used to not waking up to my mom's loud yelling telling us to get up and get ready for school, and my sister asking for a few more minutes. I'm gonna miss seeing their faces when I wake up in the morning and before I go to sleep at night. I'd still be talking to them on the phone, but it wouldn't be the same. Nevertheless, it's not like I'll be leaving the country, we could see each other every now and then. Without noticing, a single tear left my eye.
"Hala ate, bakit ka umiiyak? Ang OA mo naman, kala mo mangiibang bansa," Jaja jokes, earning a slap on the shoulder. "Aray naman! Kala mo nangiispike ng bola eh."
"Mukha ka namang bola," I stuck my tongue out until my mom told us to stop. They helped me set my things on the dorm lobby.
I turn around to my parents, my mom has tears forming in her eyes and I quickly approach to hug her. "Ma, kala ko ba walang iyakan?" Ay nauna na pala ako naiyak kanina.
She laughs, "Nagpapawis lang mata ko." We all laugh with her. "Basta anak, wag mo pababayaan sarili mo ah, kumain ka ng maayos. Pag ikaw pumayat, ibabalik kita agad agad sa Lipa!" she says sternly.
"Jhoana, magaral kang mabuti, wala munang magboboyfriend," my dad says in the same tone as my mom's, "o girlfriend," he continues, that earned a snicker from my sister. They knew about me being bisexual and were completely okay with it, that makes me glad.
They reminded me about more things like not forgetting to call or text them often or else I should expect having them knocking on our door in no time. We bid our goodbyes, since it's almost four, they decided to head on their way to avoid getting home late.
I wonder how no one has heard us outside yet, they must've been on their own business or something. I breathe in and out before knocking on the front door. It took a minute before I hear someone shuffling behind the door. A girl opened it, about my age and height, a smile plastered on her face.
"Hello! Rookie ka?" she beams, and looked at everything behind me. I nod my head. "Tara pasok." She helped me with my things even though I insisted that I can handle it. I thanked her.
"By the way, my name's Jia. One year na ako sa team," she smiles. Of course, I know her. I watch their games on TV, I know all of them here. Jia is a great setter.
"Jho," I extended my hand in front of me for her to shake, but she just looked at it. Instead, she pulled me in a hug, it caught me off guard but hugged back nonetheless.
She showed me around the dorm, pointing to where the kitchen, living room and bathrooms are. She told me that the rooms were upstairs and most of the girls aren't here yet and they'll be coming back anytime this week. The others who are already here went out, leaving her alone to greet and welcome the rookies when they, we, arrive.
"Sabi ngayon daw darating yung iba pang rookies, pero wala pa naman sila, una ka nga eh." I hummed in response, because I wasn't a very talkative person and I'm still too shy to make a convesation.
After a few moments of silence, she speaks up. "Jho, talk naman. You're so quiet," she says. Ay english, oo nga pala mga conyo karamihan dito. Arneow kasi ih.
"Sorry. Nahihiya pa ako," I chuckled.
"Luh? Walang hiya hiya. We'll be spending a lot of time with each other and all the other girls, kaya dapat we'll get along," she then invited me to the kitchen to get something to eat and maybe talk while we wait for the other rookies.
"So, where are you from?"
"Lipa, Batangas," I smiled.
"Nagcommute ka lang?"
"Hindi. Hinatid ako ng family ko," gosh, I miss them already. Paano pa yung ilang taon na madalang lang kami magkita?
"Sayang! Hindi ko sila nameet," she sighs. "Maybe next time," she smiles, "Saang school ka nga pala galing?"
"DLSU Lipa," I grinned knowing the La Salle is their rival school. She gasps fakely.
"Hala! Spy ka no?" I laugh at that, "Lagot ka, bawal spy. Charot! Green to blue galing." We talked about nothing specific, just mostly about the team.
"So paano nga pala yung rooms?" I ask, I can't wait to unpack my things and settle in.
"Pagkumpleto na lahat. Baka sa isang araw pa, kaya ngayon baka we can sleep in any room muna." Sana mabait roommate ko.
More rookies came before it got dark outside. Jia did the same touring around with each of them. By the tine it got to 6:30, almost all the rookies had arrived. We're waiting for one more. It also started raining pretty hard, that a lightning and thunder would sometimes flash and crash.
"I forgot yung name nya eh," Jia says, regarding the last rookie, "I think it's-"
She gets cut off by a knock on the door. We were all startled. It wasn't loud, but it was unexpected. We all turned to it, no one dared to speak . I don't know why, it seems like we're in a scary movie. Someone cleared her throat. It was Maddie, one of the rookies.
"Hala, may mumu sa labas!"
"Wag naman ganyan!"
"Natatakot ako anuba."
"Parang mga bata, baka yung inaantay na natin yan," Jia says, standing up and heading to the door. She opens it, revealing a tall girl and she's soaking wet.
"Uhm.."
"I'm sorry for arriving so late, got caught up in the rain." Siya nga yung isang rookie.
"Oh no. Pasok ka! Basang basa ka na," Jia steps aside to let her in. We all stared at her. I observe the way she looks, even though that she should be looking shy and all, she stands so confidently, and speaks like it, too! She hauls her bags in and faces all of us.
We all have small smiles on our faces, then she asks if she could use the bathroom first to change since it was freezing. And Jia just accompanied her dumbfoundedly. Di muna nagintroduce, rude.
We talk amongst ourselves while the girl's in the bathroom, we all had the same thoughts about her. But of course, we shouldn't judge and just give her the benefit of the doubt. Ikaw ba naman maligo sa ulan tas basang basa ka haharap sa bagong teammates mo? Then she walks in the living room, Jia showed her around for a while.
Finally, we got to introduce ourselves, I was eyeing her curiously the whole time.
"And you must be Beatriz," Jia says after all of us.
This girl, Beatriz, nods. She dips her head, and one side of her lips tugged upwards.
"Yes. Beatriz de Leon. But please do call me Bea."