480 Hours

I look up from my binder to see the board that’s full of Professor Figgins’ writings before finally looking down at my binder again and continuing to take notes, waiting for the bell to ring and the professor to dismiss the class. Besides the voice of Professor Figgins talking about the culture and behavior of people in England, I can faintly hear the sound of the pen I use dancing around the paper.

It’s pretty odd I know, but I think that’s just one of the side effects of finally getting my ears properly cleaned by the doctor yesterday. It’s a bit disturbing at first, especially when I was accidentally listening to the girls that sat just a few feet away from me during lunch today talking in a hushed tone about the clothes I was wearing. But on top of that, I’m glad that I had my ears cleaned.

“When is he going to stop rambling?” I hear the girl who sits behind me whispering to another girl that sits next to her. Again, I glance at my wristwatch, 14:05. I’m pretty sure Professor Figgins will stop talking in a few seconds because it’s only just a mere second away from the bell to ring.

Just as Professor Figgins puts the marker down on his desk and looks around the room, the bell rings and the girls behind me let out a huge sigh of relief. As I clear my table, I overhear them talking about going to the mall and watching movies at the cinema. Just as I finish and sling my backpack over my shoulder, they pass me by, walking towards the door and making their way out of the room. I know who they are. They’re Alana and Ariana, the infamous twins that are the talk of campus. They’re pretty famous with their looks that can make almost all the guys swoon. To be perfectly honest, I think the twins are fine and they don’t seem too special, yet almost everyone adores them.

Anyway, I’m the second last person to leave the room. As always, I pass Professor Figgins a smile as I make my way out of his class, which he simply replies with a tight-lipped smile and firm nod like he always does. As soon as I’m out, I quickly make my way to bus station so I could take a bus to go to Starbucks that’s on the other side of the town to meet up with Alice before I forget again.

I got a call from Alice yesterday. She said about how she’d be in town for a couple of days for work. So while she’s in town, she wants to meet up and have a proper face-to-face conversation with me. It’s been a few months, though. It’d be lying if I say I don’t want to have the face-to-face conversation with her (that I’m sure it will turn into a heart-to-heart after five minutes). Alice can be annoying and nosy sometimes, but she’s still my sister and I love her to death.

When the bus stops just in front of the coffee shop, I quickly make my way out of the bus and into the coffee shop. As soon as I step my feet in that place, I can easily see Alice sitting in one of the booths in the corner of the room with her BlackBerry attaches to her ear. I make my way towards her and without tapping her shoulder or doing anything that can give her a heart attack, I casually have a seat in front of her and put on a smile on my face.

Her eyes widen as soon as she sees me sitting in front of her. After talking fast about tax and money involved and other things that I don’t understand, she finally hangs up the call and set down her phone on the table, “I ordered green tea latte for you.”

I don’t notice there are two paper cups of coffee on the table until she passes one of it to me, “thank you, Al.” I take a sip of my latte carefully before setting the cup down on the table again.

“By the way, thanks for showing up here,” she starts, “I know you’re tired and have so many things to do instead of sitting in Starbucks that’s on the other side of the town with me.”

“Al, Papa called me and told me that he wanted me to show up whenever you ask me to meet. You know I can’t say no to him,” I shrug, “besides, if he wanted me to be here and talk with you so bad, then this might be something important.”

Papa called me about a week ago when I was writing a short story that I wanted to send to the campus’ paper so it could be published. I was surprised at first because Papa called so early in the morning which meant it was late night at where he’s. He was asking me about how I’ve been before telling me that Alice might be coming to town for a few days and that if she wanted to meet up and talk with me, I probably should just go because she might talk about something important. That made me to think about every worst scenario I could come up with for the next three days.

A little smile that’s previously on her face before just falls off when I finish my words. Now that’s one of the signs that I may or may not be having an important conversation with Alice, “Well, this escalates quickly,” she lets out a chuckle coming out of her mouth, “Actually I was planning to have an easy conversation first and asking everything about how you’ve been doing before moving on to the important part.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” I smile apologetically.

“It’s okay. I know you can’t help it,” she quickly says and smiles again, “so, let’s just get this done with, eh?” I just nod ‘cause practically I’m too lazy to say anything and unsure what to do.

So I wait for her to talk and take another sip of my coffee before it gets cold as Alice prepares herself to talk. I watch her as she shuts her eyes for a while and takes a few deep breaths. She never really does this before, unless she’s about to have a job interview or a scholarship interview that I managed to see a few times before when we’re still living under the same roof.

“You might not like the things I’m about to say.” I raise my eyebrows. She doesn’t just continue her words after that. Instead, she takes a few deep breaths again and rubs her hands nervously and the things she does are only starting to drive me nuts.

“What is it, Al? You’re making me so nervous.” Right after I finish my words, Alice finally starts to talk. And she’s right. I don’t like anything, every word that comes out of her mouth for next hour.