Blogger: Sa San Vicente ka rin?Friend: Di...bumibisita lang. Parent's ng husband ko. Dun sila nakatira sa San Vicente.
Di na ako nag-usisa. Sa 24 years kong pamamalagi sa aming "peaceful" barangay...ni minsan ay di ako gumawa ng effort para makilala ang aking community. Maybe it was how Mom raised us. Nung mga kids pa kasi kami...she'd usually forbid us to play with the kids in the neighborhood. Gusto niya, laging nakasubsob yung mga ilong namin sa libro.
Di naglaon...we grew up into...well..let's just say shy people. Hmmm...may mali dun...I'm not really shy....more of reserved...pag di ko kakilala yung tao...I would not bother being friendly...tipong ganun. Ano nga ba yun in simple terms? Snob? Hmmm...maybe.
Kaya I did not bother to ask Friend kung sino sa mga kapitbahay ko ang napakasalan niya. Any name she'd mention will just be meaningless to me. Anyway.....
Friend: Diba nung highschool tayo...naging kayo ni Ali? Kayo parin ba ngayun?
Blogger: Er...di naman kami naging official na kami.
Friend: Ahh...talaga? Well..what happened? You guys looked good together.
Blogger: (napaisip) Well...kami'y magkaibigan pa rin.
Friend: Pero diba you guys were inlove with each other? Ano nangyari dun?
Blogger: (Nyak? Huh? WTF!!? How the hell does she know so much?!! Ni hindi nga kami close ng girl na toh?!!!) Uhm...hehehe...it was not meant to be lang siguro.
Di na siya nagtanong tungkol kay Ali. Napunta ang usapan sa mga "scandal" at tsismis na lumabas nung mga HighSchool Days namin. Naungkat din ang mga pangalan ng mga batch mates na parang di makabasag pinggan noon...na naunahan pa kaming magka-anak ngayun...
Nang makarating na ako sa bahay...the subject about Ali won't leave my mind. Packsyet...napaniginipan ko pa nga eh...hayzzz.
And after the dreams, the floodgates opened and memories came rushing back.
1st Year HS - Magnolia Classroom
Nakikita at nakakasabay ko na siya sa jeep noon. He was always with a girl...whom I thought was his neighbor and probably his girlfriend. On the 1st day my high school life, I saw him again sa loob ng Magnolia Classroom
He was not interesting...he was just a familiar face.
Kaklase ko rin ang isa pang familiar face nung grade school... siyempre...dahil 1st day...scared - as in...uber insecure... I needed someone to atleast talk to pag break time...kaya naman tinabihan ko si Candice, my grade school aquaintance. And Ali was seated on the row right infront of us.
Nung pumasok na yung adviser ng class, she immediately advised that there will be some sort of seating arrangement. "This is to make sure that you freshmen people will make new friends and not just stick to your elementary friends..." -
yun yung sabi ni Miss Adviser.
CRAP.
Hindi ko nagustuhan ang idea. I was already too unsure and my anxiety level was already too high. Suddenly, being separated from Candice was unthinkable! And to think na halos rare yung mga moments na nag-usap kami during our 6 year elementary days!
Pero siyempre, the seat plan was followed. And Ali ended up as my seatmate. The Adviser's strategy was to arrange us in alphabetical order...his family name was Hernandez...we were the only kids in class with family names starting in "H".
When we were all arranged like dutiful little puppets...I decided na I wanted him to be my friend. Mabilis kasing umikot yung wheels sa utak ko. The second that I figured out that we'd be seated together for the whole school year.. I've already considered na dahil nakatira siya sa neighborhood..he can be my companion pauwi. Scared kasi ako tumawid sa kalsada mag-isa. With him by my side... well..and him being a guy...he can always take the side where the vehicles would be coming from... hehehe...selfish...I know.
Blogger: (Siyempre...di pa ako blogger nun...) Ano ulit pangalan mo?
Ali: Alejandro...pero Dre tawag nila sa akin sa bahay.
Blogger: Alejandro? (makes a face) Masyadong mahaba. San naman galing yung Dre?
Ali: Ewan ko.
Blogger: Tawagin nalang kitang Ali. Ang haba ng name mo eh.
And that started it all. Me christening him with a shorter name. Nung una...ayaw niya...I think it sounded wrong for him. Pero I'm hard headed. I kept calling him Ali until everyone in our batch came to know him as Ali as well.
He was smaller than me back then. 4'11" compared to my superior 5 feet height (ahahaha...yeah...I looked tall once...a long long time ago). He was also payatot...and I was chubby. He always teased me about it.
We became inseperable. We'd usually walk to our paradahan with his cousin (ito yung girl na lagi niyang kasama sa jeep nuon) and some other classmates. Pero we'd usually be walking side by side...me asking him never ending questions about his life.
Ilan kayong magkakapatid?... Ha? ...Andami naman!
San ka nag-elementary? ...Ahhh...duon pala...er...san yun?
Sinong crush mo sa classroom?...Nge..wala? Ako si Jed (giggle,giggle)
I felt soooo comfortable around him. We can talk about anything. After 3 months or so...we'd go home together hand in hand. Ala pang malisya nuon. Takot nga kasi akong tumawid sa daan...and I'd usually hold on to his arm pag tatawid na...until eventually...kahit di na tumatawid...hawak kamay pa rin.
We became the best of friends.
The 3 month long na tampuhan.
Er...I'm sleepy next time na ulit. Ho-hum (yawn, yawn).PART II
