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Isa sa pinaka-ayaw na araw ni Lorelei ang finals week.
Yes, she enjoys studying, heck she can study for her whole life—kahit wala na siyang gagawin kundi mag aral, gora lang s’ya. Kaso, there is one person who is getting on her nerves. (Read, Loki Mendez).
At first, she thought that their academic rivalry was a pure joke. Like, they are both in senior high, different strands, and different sets of subjects. She thought that Loki is just spewing some nonsense because natalo niya ito nung lumipat s’ya ng grade 10 sa pinapasukan niyang school. She didn’t expect that the other would take it seriously.
The time that she lost sa kanilang rivalry was one of the worst days na naranasan niya.
Yeah, that was exaggerated.
Or maybe not.
Loki taunted her for losing against him over 0.5 points on their average! Lorelei cannot believe how childish that is. And nagpatuloy ‘yon for almost five months!
Ghad. She couldn’t believe it.
That was the trigger of Lorelei’s competitive side. Halos araw-gabi na siya nag-aaral just to beat him at ipakain ang sinabi ni Loki about sa kanya when she lost.
Kaya ngayon, halos mangiyak-ngiyak na s’ya sa kaka-aral.
She put her hair on a bun, and worn her anti-radiation glasses kasi kanina pa s’ya nakatutok sa laptop niya and her notes. Gusto niyang sumigaw sa inis, kaso bawal dahil nasa library s’ya.
Thank heavens that Clark High’s library is open for twenty-four hours.
She tried to calm herself down, but she couldn’t. Nagpapanic lalo s’ya when she is looking at her notes—and she couldn’t recall any lessons taught by her professors.
She almost screamed when someone knocked on her table. Napasapo s’ya sa kaba at tiningnan kung sino ang kumatok. She fixed herself, as she rolled her eyes.
“Ano, manga-asar ka na naman ba?” Lorelei asked Loki as she looked at him.
“I know when to asar you, do not worry,” Loki said, as she looked at Lorelei’s table. “Can I sit here?”
“Huh? Ano ka, sinuswerte? Wala na bang upuan?” Lorelei asked.
“Look around kung meron pa.”
Lorelei stood up as she looked around. Punuan na nga ang library ngayon. Despite na ayaw niya sa tao na nasa harapan niya ngayon, may puso pa naman siya.
“I guess I have no choice. Go on,” Lorelei said, as Loki sat in front of her.
She focused once again sa pinagaralan niya, pero wala talagang pumapasok sa ulo niya. She looked at the person in front of her na tutok na tutok sa pag-aaral.
Sana all, she thought. Sana all may pumapasok na information sa utak.
So she did what she needed to do.
Kinalabit niya si Loki, na naka-earphones—na pinagaaralan ang previous lessons niya. He removed his earphones as he looked at Lorelei.
“Kaunting favor lang oh, matutulog muna ako. Pag may dumaan, pakisabi nagpapahinga muna ako. For one hour lang naman,” she said, as she grabbed one of her thickest book para gawin itong unan. Loki muttered okay before going back to his work.
Lorelei set her alarm for an hour and as her head hit on her book, nakatulog kaagad s’ya.
Loki looked in front of him and checked if tulog na nga ba ang nasa harapan niya. He snapped his fingers but there was no reaction.
When he confirmed na tulog na nga s’ya, he silently removed Lorelei’s notes and yung libro na naka patong-patong sa desk niya. He carefully raised Lorelei’s head to remove the book na pinatungan nito, at pinalitan niya ito ng makapal na sweater upang hindi sumakit ang ulo nito habang natutulog ang isa.
Loki does not know what to do to help Lorelei, so he is hoping that what he is doing right now can help the sleeping princess that is in front of him.
He started to scan Lorelei’s notes as he highlighted some of the important keywords. He jots down simpler terms and definitions on his sticky notes as he continues to study Lorelei’s subjects.
He thank the stars na may kapatid s’ya na kasing-strand lang ni Lorelei kaya he is familiar with the subjects, and actually knows some of it.
Since same lang naman sila ng core subjects, he checked and annotated some of Lorelei’s solutions (and as well the guide on how to solve them much easier). Lorelei’s notes are complete, kaya hindi siya nahihirapan sa pag-annotate at paglagay ng keywords or formula sa kanyang sticky notes.
Napatingin s’ya sa oras while he is writing some of the last keywords on Lorelei’s notes. It’s been almost an hour na inaayos niya ang notes ni Lorelei. Loki fixed Lorelei’s notes by order before leaving. He smiled softly as he was writing the last note and placed it on Lorelei’s forehead. He fixed his things and left the area before Lorelei woke up.
Lorelei’s alarm echoed in her ears, as she sat properly. Nang tumingin siya sa harapan niya, she only saw an empty chair. Napahimas s’ya sa kanyang noo, at nararamdaman ang sticky note na nakadikit dito. She removed it, as she read the contents of it.
hello, lorraine. kidding. i know your name. it’s lorelei.
since i am a human being with all sorts of emotions, i decided to help you out with your struggle.
i highlighted and jot down some simpler notes for you to understand it more easily. stop memorizing wordy words, it does not help. and stop forcing yourself to understand complex terms. rest your brain for a while. it helps.
no need to thank me for what i did.
— loki.
ps: please give me back my sweater tomorrow. thank you very much.
She checked her notes and indeed—mas madali niyang natatandaan ang mga pinag-aralan niya kanina. She do not know if dahil ba sa notes ‘yon or because she rested her brain for a while. Or maybe both.
But nonetheless, she is grateful for what Loki did to her.
Maybe, Loki Mendez is not that bad after all,
she thought as she smiled.