Parallel Lines

The 3 walked towards the exit around CECE. Since it was a Monday morning, Jarod didn’t actually have plans on attending Sir Ace’s class so he decided to drag Jennifer and Erik with him.

The surprise was absolutely nothing: All he wanted was to exit secretly in the CECE’s hall, get a snack at Tito Nic’s and probably hang out at around Cavite.

He was grinning as placed his arm across her shoulder, “I swear, you’ll love my surprise,”. He grinned like a five year old wanting to show his new toy car.

“Eugh,” Jennifer reacted, slapping his arm away, “Be honest with me. Are you sure this ‘surprise’ is for me or for you only one?” She glared at him.

He laughed at the girl, pushing her eyeglasses for her, “Erik,” he called, “This surprise is for her right? Please answer her dumbass question for me.”

The blonde dude snorted in annoyance, “This surprise is not for you, he just wanted you to com for just his case. I mean you’re a girl and he just – “

“Fuck you,” Jarod pushed him away, “You’re ruining it, you fag.”

Erik laughed, “Come on, you can’t just let her cut class just to come with you because of your hatred and lack of enthusiasm towards this school that she won’t even going to get benefit from,” and ruffled her hair, “Am I right, Jen?”

“Duh,” She snapped and stopped walking, “Now, answer me, both of you.” She folded her arms as she rolled her eyes.

The blonde dude raised both of his hands as he laughed, “Oh! I’m out, I’m out. Let my bestfriend,” He smiled sarcastically at Jarod, “Do his job.”

Jennifer pushed her glasses and raised an eyebrow at him, “Jarod, come on.”

“Ugh,” He groaned, grabbing her arm, “Just come with me. That’s the surprise. I want to get out of here.”

She flicked her tongue, a smug written on her face, “Dude, I want to graduate. We’re seniors.”

“I can let you graduate, okay? No one can see us,” He begged, “Just, let’s just go out, you know, I don’t want to get locked up inside a room full of imbeciles. I’d rather get locked up in RocketNet.”

Jennifer sighed loudly, “As much as I want to cut classes, I can’t. I can’t do the way that you do.”

Jarod ignored what she was saying. He walked towards the gate and luckily, it was open. He looked inside wondering if there were any janitors. “Come,” he approached the two.

“Jarod,” Erik said, “Let’s just go upstairs.”

He acted like he heard nothing, pulling Jen’s arm, “Come on.”

Jennifer glanced at Erik, a sincere look on her face, “You should go upstairs now.”

“Hey,” Erik raised his eyebrow, holding her shoulder, “Are you sure?”

Jarod looked at the two, his temper was starting to run low, “Come on, Jen. I’ll – “ he stirred his tongue, trying to think of a positive thing, “I’ll treat you. Since you’re not having a good day, I’ll treat you. I promise.”

He had no plans of lying to the girl, she was the only he got at that moment.

“Fine,” She glared at him, “Yeah,” and glanced at Erik, “I’m sure. See you.”


They rode the jeep, and he paid for the two of them. They decided to just roam around Cavite rather than Sucat since Jennifer was afraid that she might get caught.

“Seriously,” she fixed his jacket that she was wearing as she said, “Since when were you doing this?”

Jarod sat in front of her, his pink fluorescent bag on his lap. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Second year. I don’t know,” He rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s kind of a habit.”

“Damn,” she sniffed the jacket she was wearing, “Your jacket smells good as hell.”

He scoffed at her, chuckling mockingly, “Jen please, I’m John Lloyd and I smell that good. Don’t even doubt it.”

“Shut up,” She answered, “You won’t even cut classes if I didn’t decide to come with you.”

He stared out, since they were at the far end of the jeep, “It’s just a matter of charm and sweetness to get you to come with me. You can’t blame my charm.”

“Ohhh,” She moaned in so much annoyance, still sniffing his gray jacket, “Please do choke on your fucking saliva. You’re making me feel nausea.”

He laughed at the girl. “I don’t know, I think I also want to help you since you’re pretty much acting like your boyfriend didn’t cheat on you,” he glanced at her, “And that needs to stop.”

The atmosphere went heavy as he said those words. He watched her movements, she never glanced at him, and she just let her eyes bore unto nothing. In a short time of being friends with this girl, he already knew the bad habits that she had. One of these habits was staring in to nothing when you hit a topic that could easily make her silent and fall in to conclusions.

He couldn’t help it; he sat beside her quickly, since the jeep was stuck on traffic. He let out a breath and tapped her back, “We can talk about it.”

The girl kept her face outside and didn’t look at him. He saw her remove her glasses and probably, wipe the tears filling her eyes.

He remembered the time when this happened to him. She didn’t know it yet, that’s why he wanted to spit out. First though, he took his handkerchief and handed it to her.

She gladly took it and whimpered her gratitude to him. He nodded as he started, “You know what a man feels when a girl cheats on him?”

“Well,” he grinned, not waiting for her to response anymore, “It will feel like shit. I mean, a man knows that a girl cheats when she’s not comfortable to open up to you anymore and just let you get hurt without any physical contact, just let you get hurt by making you watch her with someone.”

He stared out as well as he continued, “Jen, it was three-thirty in the afternoon when I decided to buy her fresh sunflowers in Megamall. Those sunflowers were worth 500 bucks but I didn’t mind how much cash I was releasing from my wallet that time because it were for her anyway. I told her to wait me up at Mcdo Gatchalian so we can eat and chat a bit, since it was summer and both of us had nothing to do.”

“So,” he licked his bottom lip, “When I rode a jeep to Sucat and paid, I couldn’t hide my excitement. I tried to call her, luckily she easily answered it and the convo went like: ”I’m close, Fatima. Are you already there?” “Oh, hey, no, I haven’t taken a bath yet. What do you mean?” “I told you we’ll meet today right? Mcdo Gatch?”. It took her a while before she could answer me but I let it go and wait for it to sink to her until she replied. ”Alright see you, Jarod. Your treat right?” “Yeah, my treat, Fats.” Before I could say my goodbyes to her, she hung up and it didn’t hit me one bit with what she just did. I hid my phone and sighed because I realized how lucky I am to have her.”

He looked at Jennifer and finally, he got her attention. He smiled and continued his story, “Until finally, I reached Mcdo Gatchalian. I was wearing a blue polo shirt and black pants that time – because that polo shirt was my favourite and it was a day I was looking forward to. I went down from the jeep, ignoring the fact that I almost got hit by a running motor. I even heard the driver cussed at me,” He grinned at the memory, “But I didn’t say sorry at all, I just continued walking and decided to look through the glass windows of the fast food chain.”

“Was she there?” The girl blew her nose using his handkerchief. He laughed, grinning at her, “She was. She was actually waiting for me. Though there’s a problem…”

She raised an eyebrow, “Problem? Wait,” She wiped her nose with his handkerchief one more time. “Should I still give this back to you? Um…”

“No, you can have it, disgusting…” He chuckled, “Um well, she was with a boy as well.”

Jennifer nodded, lips agape, “I can’t believe Fatima could…”

“Neither did I,” He shrugged his shoulders upward, “I thought he was just her brother so I entered and greeted the boy with enthusiasm. Her face fluttered when she saw me with the flowers; she dragged me outside and talked to me there.”

He blinked hard, “I didn’t listen to her explanations anymore. I just stood there looking at her, wondering what just happened. Wondering, why she needed to drag me out, I just greeted her brother. And why was she explaining things? Until I realized it was her new boy. When I handed her the sunflowers I bought, she accepted it told me to go home. She told me to go home because it was already late.”

There was a silence pause after he talked. Few more blocks ‘til they reach SM Bacoor. He twitched his lips and let his eyes bored on Jennifer’s presence. He saw how she nodded and stayed silent with him. She waited for a minute before she could open her mouth again.

“And after all that,” She whimpered, “You’re still into her?”

Jarod chuckled as he answered, “I feel so stupid but yes, I’m still into her.”

“I think I’m stupid as you.” She smiled, leaning her back, “I already saw the proper proof for me to leave him but yet, I still couldn’t make myself.”

“Yeah,” He nodded, “You know, you can’t just let go of something that made you feel happiness for a short time. You’ll keep on holding on, wishing the person will come back to you. But I was wrong. I thought it was just a rough patch. I thought I’ll see her again the next morning and we’ll be alright, like nothing happened.”

Jennifer gazed at him, ruffling his hair, “For a boy like you, you deserve someone that could actually appreciate what you already have. Fuck efforts, I mean, they are useless. People who crave for efforts are dumbasses because if your love one asks for cold water, then you end up fanning a fucking water just to get it cold, for you love him or her that much you’d do that because of fucking “efforts”. But in the end, someone will come around and gives him or her water with ice, and that’s the person he or she will choose. See? That’s how stupid efforts are. And remember, people’s efforts fade but something you have in you is something that will never fade.” She smiled, “Right?”

Jarod stared at her, letting the words sink into him. Who would have thought, Jennifer Iris, would talk something like this in front of her? After days of knowing her as the bitchiest person alive, he realized and understood what her thoughts contained. And these weren’t just thoughts. These were thoughts filled with lessons that she had reflected throughout her life.

“And for a girl like you,” He whimpered, “You deserve someone who’s willing to spend much of his time listening to your stories because,” He rubbed the back of his neck, “even though he lacks effort or not, you’re worth of every minute ticking in this world.”

She smiled at him before she could even answer, “I don’t think so. But, sure. Thank you.”

He kept his gaze on her until they finally reached SM Bacoor. He had nothing to say; he remained paused and just watched her through his vision.

She waved her hand in front of his face, chuckling.

“Hey Jarod,” She grinned, “We’re here. Stop daydreaming.”

And after that, he swore to himself she had never seen a girl like her glow that much in front of him.