Breakfast swam before my eyes, and I persistently rubbed my eyelids, as if that could do anything. When I could see clearly enough to identify a circle from a square, I picked up my glass of water and met my mother's gaze.
"Don't tell me you finished it last night."
I drank, wondering just how big my eyebags were, or just how contented I looked, or if the bulb of the reading lamp beside my bed finally decided to explode. "Okay, so I won't tell you."
She wore that expression, the expression that said she didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed, and I decided to give a serious answer.
"No." I smiled. "I finished it this morning."
---
We had a practice yesterday, a Ramayana practice. Actually yesterday was quite perfect, and this post is one day late. Thank my Harry Potter sort-of addiction. I say sort-of since I'm not really an addict. If I were, I would have just skipped the practice to buy the book. I'm glad I'm not.
When I arrived at school, some of my classmates had gone on ahead to Quintin's house, and some had not yet turned up. Among those who hadn't arrived yet was Bonggi.
So Quintin called the number next to Bonggi's name on the class directory.
"Bonggao, nasan ka?"
I remembered something Bonggi had told us about the class directory, but it was too late now. I kept my mouth shut, smiling.
"Bonggao, si Quintin 'to, nasan ka?"
I waited.
"Jayson, ikaw ba 'to?"
Several questions and apologies and explanations later, we were all laughing. Our laughter was doubled and trebled just when we decided to leave. Bonggi had still not yet arrived, and we had to get to practice place. And once we were headed to the cars, a figure ran across the flagpole area, distinctly Hanuman-like.
"Si Bonggi o!!!!"
Sometimes people amaze you by being amusing. That's normal. What's weird is if they do it without trying.
---
We had spent quite a time in the airconditioned room, almost in tears from laughing. Some things cannot be helped- like having to regale the people not present then of the mishap of Quintin calling Bonggi, and other insane things that have happened thanks to the wrong information on the class directory, like Patti's walking headfirst into a glass door, like the accidental replacement of the word "fortifications" by the word "fornications". (I didn't write that. I didn't even know what "fornications" meant. Wow. It actually hurt me physically to admit there was actually a word I didn't know the meaning of.)
Yung shirt ni Clint, spoof ng Salvadore Ferragamo (tama ba?). Nakasulat, "Sobratorpe Ferrogwapo". Anlayo pero natatawa kami ni Trish.
Kinukulit nila ako, inaasar nila ako kay August...
Trish: (as Sita) Do you have your heart set on me and want to marry me- yuck, ang feeler ko! (which brought about another round of laughter)
Parang nagddate sina Airah at Jonats sa airconditioned room noong lunch! Pati sina Manu at Tia, sa tabi pa ng pool!
Galing pala sa parehong school sina Vince Bernardo at Norman.... Hindi halata. I don't know why but the thought of some people coming from the same school is... weird.
Magaling gumawa ng bow si Menez ('yan, Norman, corrected na siya!!!! =>)! I offered him P500 in exchange for one of them. And Norman and Clint taught me to fire an arrow. Seriously, it isn't as easy as it looks, and it's much, much harder to actually aim an arrow. That was proven by the guy who managed to get an arrow stuck in the branches of one of Quintin's trees.
And Ravana didn't come. So we had two surrogate Ravanas for the day. One was Manu and the other was Berto. Try and imagine it. I dare you to keep a straight face.
And once the first batch of people had left and practice was officially over, we watched cartoons. It sounds weird for the best students in this country but not at all for Sodium '09.
It takes a long time to appreciate some things... And now I'm glad my wish to be in another section wasn't granted. If someone decides to grant it, I just might kill them.
Well, as of now. Tomorrow or the day after may change everything.
---
I remember the first time I ever read a Harry Potter book. It was Grade 2 Chinese periodicals, and I sat by myself in the playground, absorbing words. The bell rang and I was forced to go off to my classroom. I rushed through the tests and I forgot to study for the next day's exams, virtually forgot everything except the book. When it was done, I wanted the next. And the next. And the next after that. That was the quarter I had dropped from first place to second place and scored a mere 94% on the tests, but at that time I didn't really care.
I realise now, in the midst of upcoming tests, unedited-edited-edited Ramayana scripts, and late STR papers, that some things really never change.
---
"I'll sleep at two and I'll wake up at seven. That's five hours of sleep, it ought to be more than enough," I said, as if there was someone else aside from me awake at that ungodly hour, someone awake who actually gave a damn about what I said. I shut my mouth forcibly to prevent myself from arguing with myself and possibly waking someone up.
That was wrong, and I knew it. I didnt want to pretend he was there. I didn't want to believe he was there and could hear me and would actually retort to me, and I didn't want to pretend I did.
His absence is sometimes inevitable, I knew, and I either had to live with that reality or die with it, because either way it would still be a reality. But I had long since faced the fact that my imagination helped me deal with reality, so much that, without it, I would probably not be alive now.
I'm serious. =>
"... and all the roads we have to walk along are winding
and all the lights that lead us there are blinding
there are many things that i would
like to say to you
but i don't know how
so i said maybe
you're gonna be the one who saves me?
and after all
you're my wonderwall..."
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