Parallel Lines

Patricia waved as she said, “Bye, I should head to our classroom now. Sir Brother is not yet there.”

She nodded and waved as well, staring at her friend who disappeared and went inside Thomas More’s room. She sighed and hid behind the fire extinguisher.

The locks of her hair were perfectly in a bun; her pair of glasses was almost at the tip of the bridge of her nose. She had no time to fix it anymore since she was just checking if her timing was right for her to enter the room successfully.

“There you are,” She felt a warm hand placed on her shoulder.

Her body shook and yelped, “You scared the hell out of me!”

The blue eyed boy laughed, ruffling her hair, “Enter the room now, or they’ll easily see you here.”

She snorted, slapping his hand away from her hair, “Hey! It’s perfectly tied. Get your hands off.”

“Get your hands off,” The boy mocked her. She punched his arm, making him wince in pain. “Shut up, Raph. Or I’ll kick you.”

Raph laughed, opening the door for Jennifer. She muttered her thank you, placing her bag beside the pink fluorescent bag on the nearest seat beside the back door. Damn, she got all the time in the world to sit and sleep on that place.

She sat, and glared down to the person sitting beside her.

“Wow,” The tall boy smirked down at her; his voice was dry and raspy. “You’re finally here, girly.”

She nodded her head; her sweater was giving her the comfort that she was still craving from her bed. “Yup, Jarod. I don’t know what’s with you this morning, and I’m having a bad start so don’t get me started.”

“I’m in a good mood, girly,” He grinned at her, fixing his composure as he remembered what happened earlier. “I got to bump into her this morning. What’s with you?”

Jennifer smiled at him, “I’m happy for you, man.” she said, tapping his back with enthusiasm.

“That’s why I like talking to you,” He grinned, removing her ponytail. “You understand me very well.”

“I don’t really understand you,” She stated, smirking, “I’m just trying to cope up with your well, feelings, because your aura is different this morning. Now,” She glared at him, taking her ponytail from him, “Give my freaking ponytail back, can’t you see how clean my bun is?” she cussed, placing her hair in a bun again.

He ignored her rants and asked her, “What’s with you anyway, Jen?” The tall boy glanced at her, “You’re cranky as hell.”

She shrugged her shoulders, letting out a small laugh, “Nothing, really. Just relationship shit.”

“Come on,” He nudged her, “Tell me.”

Jennifer rubbed her palms together as she confessed, “I caught him with someone.”

“You caught him cheating?” His eyes widen, as he bit bottom lip.

She easily nodded and smiled at her friend, “I did. And, I don’t know, for the second time actually. It doesn’t matter alright? Let’s just talk about your day with Fatima.”

“And you’re letting that slip away easily?” He squinted at her, acting like he didn’t hear what she just said.

She chuckled at Jarod, making the boy get more pissed. “It’s just… No, I’m not letting it slip away. We haven’t had a normal conversation yet, because well, he’s plainly busy and such…”

He shook his head, disagreeing with her statement, “Jen, he can’t be that busy. He’s just living 2 blocks away from you. And he practically had no plans of wanting to see you?” his voice rose, making her feel uncomfortable.

“Jarod, just,” She shrugged once again, “Let it go. Don’t mind me.”

His eyes bore to her presence. Jennifer never saw him like this before, sure, he already transformed to a very cranky and angry Jarod but, all of it was just his silly jokes. She never saw him this serious in her entire life.

Which made her crack a laugh.

“SHUT UP, JENNIFER!” She heard Raph and Nicholai yelling from the other side of the room. She cussed at them and proceeded on laughing.

Jarod glared at her, dipping his finger on her cheek and pushed it with force. “You think this is funny? How mature of you, Jen. Very mature.”

“I can’t take you seriously,” She chuckled, “Please don’t talk like that anymore or I’ll end up laughing my stomach out.” She said, grinning at him.


Recess finally came, and here she was left alone by Jennifer Salgado in 5th floor, since she already needed to go down because of president duties.

She went downstairs to the canteen and started to look for her friends’ table. Soon, she easily spotted them and went there.

As the wind blew her hair, she felt gloomy once again. The thought of Jereek, Mister La Salle boy, couldn’t calm her down. All she wanted was to talk to him already.

And she wanted everything to be okay.

She couldn’t just say her good bye to him that easily. It was just a simple mistake that he made, she knew that he didn’t mean it.

Well, so far, that was what she thought.

“Heeey!” The group welcomed her, their greetings roaring.

It was her set of friends, consisting of Patricia, Allena, Alyssa, Christel, Jennifer (yes, another Jennifer) and Buena Lou. They greeted her with smiles as she sat on her place.

“How’s you?” Allena grinned, stuffing popcorn inside her mouth, “Heard someone made a mistake again.”

Jennifer nodded slowly, groaning, “Yeah. God, if he weren’t my boyfriend, I’d practically grill him alive.”

Christel laughed, “As if you could do that,” she said, answering one of her assignments, “Too bad he’s your boyfriend. I’m glad to see that happen in real life.”

“How brutal are you, really?” Alyssa spoke up, combing the tips of her long hair, “Though seriously,” she chukled, “If I were you anyway, my boyfriend or not, I’d grill him alive and let his parents watch him being grilled by his loving girlfriend.”

Jennifer laughed, “If I only I could, haha,” she looked down and played with her handkerchief. “I can’t believe he can do that though.”

“Is that what La Salle does with their students?” Jennifer Salgado commented, yawning, “Kidding, you need to talk him, and clear all of this up.”

“Yeah,” she easily nodded and decided to change the topic, “Anyway, you guys ready for retreat? Heard that we’re about to have our retreat this July.”

Allena sighed loudly, “Oh dear,” she scoffed, “I don’t think I’ll enjoy retreat without you guys. They should start making retreat by friends.” The whole group laughed with her response.

“Indeed,” Christel agreed, still chuckling, “Though I’m hoping it really is on July. I can’t stress how bored I am with first grading.”

The group chatted until the bell finally rang. All of them stood up and proceeded to go upstairs already. As they walked to the trashcan to throw their leftovers, they heard a person calling Jennifer’s name.

“Iris!” It was the tall boy calling, with his friend, Erik, “Hey!”

She raised her eyebrow at him and replied, “Yup?”

“Come with me,” Jarod grinned, “I want you to see this.”

She sighed and threw her trash, “Is it that important?”

Jarod raised his shoulders and answered, “Ya know me, Iris, I don’t lie when it’s serious. Now come with me and the surprise is waiting for you. You don’t let surprise wait for you, aight?”

She rolled her eyes and said her goodbyes to her friends. She turned to him and said, “Now what?”

“I assure you,”His friend, Erik, spoke up, “This dude can seriously do weird things, Jen. I don’t know how and when, but yeah, you’ll surely be surprised.”

She snorted angrily and replied, “Seriously, Jarod? Just take me.”

She wished it was something that she wanted to happen. But she knew it was one of the impossible things that could truly happen on that day.