Chapter Text
It was likely an another day at the city's elementary school--Marikina--the most well-disciplined and respectful city that bounds a lot of things. Especially being the shoe capital of the Philippines--remarkably 'a city of good character'--and having one of the most luscious parks that mostly makes people feel just like home.
The school was a lush paradise for every student, with every plant and flower blossoming close to their paths towards the classrooms. Although, everything was used to quite subtile for every girl and boy who strolls through every pathway that they'll go.
In one of classrooms--specifically for the first graders, it was merely decorated with bunch of stuff that the school owns. From old weary books to trinkets to an almost worn out poster that shows basic stuff about the alphabet, math, and others. A regular almost perfect room for a newly first grader who regularly enters in it.
The class adviser--regularly in her mid-30s--writes on the chipped-old blackboard as her students' voices chatter throughout the room while patiently writing their usual assignments on their notebooks--plus some extra reminders from the adviser's last meeting.
One student mouthed a word written on the board as she slowly writes with her pencil. Her handwriting was wobbly and unformal, missing some of the marks that someone marked for her to trace through. While other students managed to swiftly finish their copy, she was likely the only student who writes like a slow kindergartener. Afterall, she was still practicing her letters--even if she was now in a literal first grade classroom alongside the older kids and an adviser who was seem intriguing just as her previous ones.
She managed to finish her writing before the school bell rang, as fellow students had slinged on their backpacks into their shoulders--with a few sharing a wild laugh after an eerie silence as they walked out of the room. Soon after the room was emptied out--at the slightest bit, the little girl stood up from her chair and she nervously delivered her finished copy of her writing towards the woman--who was now sitting at her desk as she waits for the next group of students to enter in.
"T-T-Tapos na po." the little girl stutters, combing her hand towards her short black hair and she majorly showed her a smile--a tooth was missing on her bottom.
The adviser grimly accepts the little girl's notebook as she quickly opened it up to observe her work, before she flicked her red ballpen through the page and stamping a nice little smiley that indicates a check--indicating the way that said 'you're good'. At least that's what she'd expect from the girl.
Without uttering any word, she quickly returned the notebook to her, recieving a quiet 'thanks' in return. The little girl soon raced out towards the hallway, with her notebook still on her hand and her red bag slinged on her dominant shoulder.
As she raced down at the wooden staircase, she catched her sight upon the new kindergarteners--who were just following their teacher towards the school gates, with their bags in hand and a smile that reminds her about last year. Where things are like a fantasy to her.
She soon followed them towards the gates, only meeting with a bunch of grown adults hustling and bustling to pick up their young children in return of showing their stamped stars on their arms. They were always proud whenever they recieve a stamp.
While other students walked away with their parents, some of them stay behind the fence as they waited for their school service to pick them up at a later time. On this moment, the little kids were rambling about stuff they do in class as they played around with the little trinkets they've brought along with them.
"Okay, parang naghihintay na lang ako dito." the young girl sat down on the blue plastic bench--just a feet away from the two girls chattering along with their toy makeup upon the one girl's hand.
She looked directly towards them, a wistful smile formed on her tan face as she endures their child-like fantasy that made her somehow feel like a literal baby. After a while, the one girl's guardian called by the gate as the young girl immediately snapped off from her lust imagination.
Annoyed by the sudden treamor, she opened up her notebook--only to re-read out the words that she wrote alongside some others that she intently copied from the blackboard of her classroom.
As time passes by, each of the student has been picked up by the service drivers--notably some tricycle drivers and some motorcycle drivers that came from afar from the neighborhood with most of them came from Pasig or Rizal--the other cities next to Marikina. She mostly peeked at some students walking past her, but she doesn't mind much about them going home without a parent's guide.
By the time when the last student was drawn out of the gates, a lady guard--remarkably a young adult in a white police uniform-- intently saw the little girl laying down on the bench as she slept with her school bag, which it was used a substitute for a pillow.
At first, the young guard began to wonder about the young girl's parents--despite that they've never came in to pick her up during the whole afternoon while seizing their own rustic jobs in a poor environment.
She tempted herself to wake the little girl up, but she only smiled sadly at her; showing her some brief sympathy. Once reassuring the girl, the guard soon makes her way back at her makeshift wooden chair as she begins flipping up a pencil to list down on the blue records book while she tallies up the students who had entered and exited alongside the guests--which she had calculates up to six per day, forty-two per week. An unlikely new visiting record in all of the school's quarter.
As the woman continues to list down, she heard a loud flop of a slipper as a young girl--probably in the first grade--had stepped out of the school corridor. Fair, bubbly and bright, she always tends to keep a confident smile on her face.
"Magandang gabi po, ma'am Terra." the young girl greeted the school guard with a shy wave.
The school guard--Ma'am Terra--glanced at the young girl with a half smile before she returned to reading off the records.
After a slight gesture between the lady guard, she sat on the bench--that's placed on the opposite side of the gate and she looked out to see the people hanging out at the streets, where she had found it boring for somewhat reason. There were a few kids playing around the small park and a man playing his acoustic guitar for his friends while enjoying their liquor--all that ain't enough for her to entertain herself.
Stiffling a harsh groan, she gathered her school bag against the bench and she begins to check the things that she haven't forgotten--just to ensure herself about her stuff she frequently lose around her school. As she continues counting her notebooks, she heard a mere sound of a cloud thundering upon the grey skies; with a raindrop suddenly plucking against her tan arms.
"Yikes." the young girl mutters, just as the rain begins to drizzle along the school corridor.
She quickly retreated towards the other bench, where it has a large awning that helps to shelter against the pouring rain.
"Jusko." she swore, a hard frown implented on her face as she stared at the rain dripping against the ground.
As much as she never expected for the weather to change, she mentally cursed herself for not reminding her mom to bring an umbrella with her--especially if they've never listen or read the weather forecast from yesterday.
"Naman." the young girl dismissively thought, looking up again to only see the rain pouring hard against the awning with no points of stopping anytime soon.
A quiet yet muffled groan was heard behind the girl's back as she finds a kid--whom she just woke up from her dull nap, with her hair slightly messed up from turning and her uniform was crumped from the sweat that was brought by her body.
"Okay ka lang?" the one girl quietly asked as she slowly patted her school bag--a thing that she'd forgot to do before she went back to check the contents of her bag. "Parang hindi ka pa ikaw nasusundo ang nanay mo."
The other girl blinked her eyes, suddenly having the thought of her sounding almost as mundane as her own voice. She'd somewhat felt fixated on the unfamiliar girl beside her, having the tempt to watch and observe her.
As the young girl recounts all of her school notebooks, she slightly noticed the sugar flaking all around her bag--only for her to see the forgotten sugar cookies that she received from her aunt. She took them out with it's crumbly contents still stored in a cheap plastic.
"Bigay yan sakin ng tita ko for lunch." she said to the other girl beside her and she lends her some half-cracked ones. "Gusto mo ba? Baka kasi nagugutom ka na."
The little girl refuses to accept, despite only seeing her giving a cookie that she kept in her school bag throughout the day. She timidly folded her arms, still refusing herself to make up her mind to accept the girl's snack--even though she begins to feel sorry about taking it. But the other girl insisted to. No words or wild gestures or anything.
Taking by her hesitant nod, she immediately chow down on the cookie. The girl's pupils diluted on the delightful sweetness that hits her mouth, making her endure for more.
"Mag-iisa ka lang dito?" she asked, in an somber voice that would usher the awkward silence between them. "Magagabi na tapos wala pa ung mommy mo."
The girl shrugs, not uttering a single word after munching off an another cookie that she just stole from her.
"At umuulan na pati." she sarcastically groans, kicking her feet against a small stream of water that flows towards the bottom step. "Parang hindi pa ito titigil hanggang mamaya."
She looked beyond the gates, a fixated worry begins to spread all over her as she resists herself to not bawl her eyes out; not just because her busy mother was rarely been this late to pick her up from school--even in this type of weather that suddenly poured right upon the strike of the afternoon.
"Okay ka lang ba?" the voice of the other girl spoke, her voice briefly showed some concern towards her.
She merely shook her head in response, her face crumples up in a frown as she fidgeted her thumbs together, in a way that could somewhat entertain her and to ease her trembling fear of her being alone--with a young girl beside her who looks kind and neat.
"Wag ka magaala," the other girl placed her hand over her forearm to somewhat comfort her. "andito naman ako."
The young girl's grey eyes twiched back at the girl beside her, slightly offended at the sudden strange act that she was doing.
For a second, she thinks about the possibility of her being an apprehensive person--just because she looked more different than she was; having her to live poorly at the outskirts of a busy urban neighborhood.
While the other person just lives, like she was totally confident and free without the care in the world. Immersing herself to a lush paradise that her mother always dreamed--or told her--about.
She continued to stare at the other girl's hand as she thinks about how she would tell her without fumbling over each of any possible words that she could ramble out in her head. She would even sufficed herself to say a couple of 'thank yous' but she couldn't seem to master the word at all--despite she only knows the basic Filipino meaning.
And in the end, she recluntly manages to give a thankful nod, with a tiny smile that crept up at her lips. The girl seems to get what she does, immediately deciding that she'll just let her be.
"Ate!" an older woman--remarkably the little girl's sister--called behind the gates as she waves at her from afar.
The little girl waves back at the woman and she hurriedly slinged her bag onto her shoulders, much to her delight having someone to finally pick her up after hours of sitting alone in a cramped out corridor.
And as she begins to walk out of school, she couldn't help herself to glance back at the stranger she just met. Although she silently prayed for the day she'll be able to see her again, and to speak out her words that she'll would possibly say.
To the girl she mostly loves.