by M.G. Marquez
CHAPTER TWO
MAGGIE
Why do all elevators don’t work when I need them to? They only work only on days when the Accreditors are here. Today isn’t Accreditation day. I have to use the stairs.
Cursing, I ran just to be stopped by a Great Wall of China. I bounced back when I ran into a girl the size thrice as me. She turned to face me and asked for an apology for walking so slowly. Dumbfounded, I accepted her apology though I should be the one to apologize for running without looking on my way. She smiled.
She let me on before her and I continued running. When I reached my room, I peeked on the door window. I saw Sir Wynn writing on the board so I took the chance to enter the room. When I turned the knob, the door creaked. Darn.
I knelt in nervousness. My block mates began laughing, but I disregarded them. I hope Sir M would, too. He did. I crawled toward my seat, called Nikki’s attention and gave her my bag.
“Hey, will you stay like that forever?” Nikki teased so I stood up, a hand raised. Mr. Wynn raised an eyebrow at me. “I just went to the comfort room, sir.”
“Then take your seat now.” I did.
Nikki asked what happened to me, why the hell I was late, and what’s with the red marks on my arm. I told her everything which sucked because I have to remember all those crap-looking people who treated me bad. She just laughed.
“Oy, oy! Why are you noisy? Why’re you so happy?!” He pointed his finger at us. We stared at him, startled. “You’re chatting all day then you’ll ask questions from me? Don’t let me talk to your mothers at the end of this semester!” He stormed out of the room.
Half-amused, half-afraid, we sat and waited for someone to crack the ice. Someone did.
“CANTEEN!” and so we did.
On the way to the canteen, I continued telling Nikki and Nica what happened to me earlier. I was at the climax of my story when someone bumped into my back. Ouch.
“Hey!” I yelled.
“I’m sorry!” When he turned to face me and apologize, my blood reached the top of my head. He was the one who dropped me on the ground earlier!
“YOU?! You owe me something!”
“You’re the one who owe me. I saved you and you threw a shoe at me in return,”
When I was about to defend myself something hard fell on my head. Again. I looked at my hand and saw a sampaloc fruit. A while ago it was mango, now sampaloc? What’s wrong with gravity now?
I looked up and saw him running away. When I was about to run after him, someone called out from above. I saw one, two, three, four guys jumping down from a tree. Again. They surrounded me.
“Where is Yvan?” Mr. Clean asked, spewing saliva on my face.
“Who’s that again?”
“Yvan!” When I said that I don’t know where he is and that I am not an Information Desk to ask for missing children, Electrical Tape attempted to attack me but Someone No. 3 spanked him in the face. Serves him right.
“Miss, I know you know Yvan so tell us where the fuck you’re hiding him,”
“Look, I don’t know and I don’t care who that Yvan is, okay? And please! Where do you think would I put that Yvan, huh? I don’t have magical pockets like Doraemon. Stupons,”
“Stupons?”
“You’re stupid and a moron. You’re a PACK-age.”
No one dared to speak after that until Someone No.4/Perfect Boss walk up to me. I stepped back, embarrassed.
“You,” he said in a tone an octave lower. “How can you speak to us that way, girl? Do you even know who we are?”
I was lost for words in the next seconds because (1) he was effingly trying to melt me in his gaze, (2) he was closing so much space between us, and (3) too many girls were screaming five feet away, and I am 99.99% sure that they’re running toward us them. But just one look from Perfect Boss stopped them midway.
He turned to me. My knees shook when he picked up my ID. I tried to snatch it from him but he had unlocked the lace before I did. My eyes grew wide.
He got my ID. I got my lace. Oh great.
He smirked at me and I swear I saw his eyes twinkled… in evil thoughts, maybe. “Hey, in case you don’t know, we’re a gang. And we kill people who go against us.”
I sucked up all the air I could suck and pretended to be cool, unafraid.
“Bummer. You’re saying too much and you’re polluting the air,” I acted as if I’m suffocating and I’m going to die. I stuck my tongue at him while I grabbed Nikki and Nica’s arms so we could leave. I heard him shout after we left, “I’m Guji Tarence Kim. Remember that name.”
I gnawed my fears and tried to swallow them all.
I nearly choked.
“Well, that was a show right there.”
I chewed my inner cheeks as I try to forget what I have done. When I failed, I let my head drop to the table. I cried in pain. “Oh no…” I wailed. “Why didn’t you tell me anything about those guys? I’ve been blabbering about them for about two hours already and you guys didn’t even tell me they’re dangerous? Deadly?”
Nica can’t help but laugh at my misery. Really? I don’t see anything so funny here except that I’m going to die early, probably.
“We didn’t even know that you’re referring to them!”
“I don’t even know we’re friends,” when I rolled my eyes at them they laughed even more.
“Know what? Guji don’t speak to girls. He can be your boyfriend!”
Seriously? I’d rather step in front of a train, be in pieces, and die rather than be his girlfriend. I don’t see any future with him except days of terror and endless threat. I have dropped the idea of me having a love story with him ten minutes ago. I thought he was cool and nice, but he turned out to be a demon’s spawn.
Why do “cool people at first sight” actually suck?
“Hey, do they… really kill people? Don’t they go to jail?”
“Na-ah. They don’t exactly ‘kill’ people. They only teach them lessons. Lessons learned the hard way. You’ll get hospitalized for months in the least,” Nikki explained. I never thought that the word ‘hospitalized’ could be this scary. I’m scared.
I decided to drop the subject and returned to my book. When I was about to look down to read, something caught my eye. No, someone. I craned my neck to have a better view of the table just behind ours. A guy with glasses seated there, reading. Guys with glasses always attract me, I don’t know why. Sometimes this fetish makes me creepy. I stare at them for an hour in the least.
“Maj, what you are looking at?” Nikki asked and when I didn’t reply, she hit me with a book. “Might at least answer my question?”
“Oh. I was looking at nothing in particular,” I said, still glancing past her shoulders. So suddenly perked up, I watched how he put his glasses down. It was a slow-mo moment I savored for the next five seconds until a Great Wall of China blocked my view. Great, thank you for ruining my moment. Wait. Was she the same Great Wall I encountered a while ago? How small can the world be?
I shifted my attention from her to the guy. I dropped my pen so to have an excuse to bow down. When I bowed down to pick up my pen, I’ll have the chance to see him. I did. He looked at me. I looked at him. We looked at each other. I swear all of my veins constricted and then suddenly oxygen was overrated.
It was him.
He was the one I threw my shoe at. I jolted back into place and kept myself busy.
Annoying. This is really annoying! Why is he always where I am?
When I looked at their table again, they were gone. Both of them. But I saw something they’ve left on the table.
A book.
I hurried out to catch him them.