Chapter 5: Volta

My mom pushed me to have a haircut before the year 2009 started because she wanted me to look 'clean.' On the opposite, I wanted to look messy. Clean cuts just don't appeal to me because they are way too simple. A messy hairdo is kind of jolly because you wouldn't know where each strand is going to grow to and in what certain direction it will lead to.

Anyway, 2009 had a generic kick-off starting with new resolutions that just don't happen and are only there to laugh at. Trust me, no one succeeds in achieving their resolutions.

For one thing, I was having this speech in front of my English class on the day of our return to school after the Christmas break and I promised I'd grow the Devil Lock considering that I underwent a significant hair length loss. Deep inside, I promised to myself too that I'd be going for Bianca. And this time, I was extremely sure.

Initially, my crush on her was just a joke. I mean, I did not really like her that much. I just found her attractive. But after the Merry Christmas Atom Bomb she dropped into my heart, I was able to peek into her eyes and see a totally different side of hers - which was pure goodness.

I changed.

I drifted away from Ken and Jasper. I stopped having lunch with them at our favorite place, Manang's, partly because Ken was becoming busier by the moment and that Jasper was hitting on someone, probably. Besides, I wanted to be alone. I did not hang out much with my block mates as well 'cause I really felt distant to them. I have a completely different schedule and I'm taking different core subjects because I was delayed with my units.

After a week of being solitary, particularly the first week of January, I realized that the whole idea of being alone sucked so I tried hanging out with people again, but this time, with new ones. There was this time when I told Mark, a block mate, to hang out with me at the Kostka benches on the ground floor of the building 30 minutes before my English class. The moment we sat there, Jeimi, an English classmate of mine who was Bianca's seatmate, just came out of Berchman's hall and was walking towards Kostka. I called her attention.

"Jeimi!" I shouted. That was kind of stupid because I got everyone's attention instead of only hers.

"Hey Mike!" she responded when she got closer.

That was the first time I really talked to her for more than 5 seconds. At first, I thought she was snobbish and all that. But no, in fact she was super friendly. Anyway, the reason why I called her was because I felt that she's going to talk to Bianca before our English class that day for their research paper. My predictions were accurate though because in a matter of minutes Bianca was already hanging out with us. It was an ultimate epic win of killer GG tactics (if ever you understood that) since I spent like 20 minutes chatting with the girls.

We went to our class just as the bell rang. It was a hot Wednesday of the 21st of January. I opened the door of our English classroom for the girls to get in. That was gentlemanly of me but I loved the job. The whole time though, I was looking at Jeimi and Bianca's direction since I realized I earned an upper hand towards Bianca because I felt Jeimi was her best friend on that class. I did not realize that 50 minutes had elapsed since the bell suddenly rung, and from there I immediately transposed my ultimate epic win of killer GG tactics into action just when we were dismissed.

"Hey Bianca, are you going to the History talk our teacher assigned us to attend today?" I asked in high spirits, taking notice that Mikko and Vince were cheering and all that shit at the background.

"Uhm yes, are you going too?" she responded carefully. Well, she had this careful tone that sounds as if she's really choosing every word she says.

"Yes! That's great! But before that, I'm going to print out an attendance slip at the CTC Comp Lab because Ma'am wants us to submit one," I replied immediately.

"Oh, I need one too! Let's go and print out two copies," Bianca told me while we were descending from the 3rd floor of the Kostka hall. Ralph was with us that time and he was constantly teasing me. I enjoyed it though because Bianca found the whole situation weird yet entertaining.

When Ralph parted ways, Bianca and I printed out copies of the attendance slip and then we went straight to the talk for our History class. I was shy back then since I could not spontaneously open up a topic to talk about but we both had a great time entertaining each other with our life stories.

One and a half hours full, I was with Bianca all throughout the talk. Ian was there too. But still, Bianca and I were together on one side of the room. There were no more seats so I sat on the floor; she does not want to. I had her bag on my lap though so that she'd be carrying no load while standing up. I don't know how she lasted the whole period but I knew it left her exhausted. That's when I told Ian that I want to treat the both of them a snack after the talk.

"Ian! Tell Bianca that we'll be going to McDonald's!" I whispered to his direction, making sure that Bianca was not taking any notice to our conversation.

"Bianca, let's go to McDo after this! Go go go! Come with us, will you?" he told Bianca just after I told him the grand idea.

Anyway, we ended up each having a simple Burger McDo Value Meal and a hot fudge sundae after a 10-minute walk to McDonald's Katipunan which was right in front of the Ateneo. I willingly shouldered all expenses since I really wanted to make a simple treat to this gorgeous English classmate of mine. I ordered an additional Cheeseburger Mcdo Value Meal for her driver too, and the whole time we were on the counter we were almost leaning to each other. I felt those envy eyes around me.

Shortly afterward, she was fetched by her driver. I brought her to her car, opened the door for her, and reached her the take-out bag of the Burger Mcdo Value Meal and the hot fudge sundae she's been munching on.

The rest of the evening was a quality bonding time with Ian and I was telling him how much I was 'in love' with Bianca until we were almost home.

Speaking of quality, Ian texted Bianca when we were somewhere in Marcos highway.

"Mike loves you," he straightforwardly said.

"Haha you guys are weird," she immediately replied.

Goddamn it the night was fucking unforgettable.

I changed.

It was a night of volta with the person I totally fell in love with. Better ask me the very details of that night 'cause they remain sharp in my memory, and I'd rather share them personally, else I'll take another chapter.

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