Chapter 2

I arrived home at around five noon.

"How's school?" Mom asked as she opened the door. She was at home the whole day. She has a little fever. I said nothing. Even I didn't say anything, she'll know. She knows because she observes, and she's my mother. School never tires me but the trips.

I put down my little heavy back pack on the sofa. "Mom, do you know someone named David?"

"Why?" She asked staring at something I couldn't explain.

"Nothing." I replied. There's something in her mind, she knows I'm lying. She went to the sink in the kitchen to soak her small towel in the basin. I went to my room.

My room is filled with books. Mostly textbooks that were used in the private schools I was enrolled to. That's one of the reasons why my mom hated going inside my room, it's messy. My mom once offered help, to move those books in the attic but I refused. I wanted to keep them, though it's useless. It's now useless to keep books of your pre-school years which contain alphabets and shapes. They were piled up in the floor on left of my bed. And, some were scattered under my bed. The novels are neatly arranged on each drawer of my table.

Silence is what I like most. My mom and I lived together alone for all my life but she has always been respectful of my privacy. I changed to my pyjamas and lie on the bed. I closed my eyes. Thoughts come in and out. David's thought comes in again. I've been a fan of mystery stories and I felt like I wanted to solve what's bothering me—him knowing me and I not knowing him.

I tried to call some of my high school friends and asked them about someone named David. I was disappointed nobody knows him. That's what I expected, anyway. So I convinced myself it was just a first day prank from a new classmate. I pushed that thought out of my mind.

I opened my window to allow the fresh dusk air pass through my room. The faded curtains hang on my window for almost a year now, I guess. But, I don't tell mom. She'll get angry and will nag all day. She manages to keep the house clean and she's working at the same time. My father died in a car accident months before I was born. It's been the two of us since then. She never searched or found someone to marry. I don't know where she works exactly. All I know, she have a degree on psychology, or was it psychiatry? She never tells about work on me. I never asked, anyway.

"Meg, Jonathan on the phone!" Mom knocks on my door. She always knocks even the door is unlocked which she could just open.

"Hi Meg!" Jon always calls. It is as if we haven't seen each other for years. He cares a lot and that is what I like about him. "Have you had dinner?" He's showy. We've been friends for a year now. I was about to ask, 'What made you call?' but it would be ridiculous.

"How's your day today?" I asked instead. Talking with him seems unending. We talked a lot about what's new and what's not. He even mentioned David.

"See you tomorrow. Good night. Bye."

Tomorrow in school was the same. Nothing to look forward to but friends—Jon and Hannah. We stayed on a bench in the quadrangle waiting for the time to pass till it was time for PE. I am not physically healthy, definitely not sporty. PE is not for me. But, I have to take this subject as a requirement. So, I did. And it was basketball. I thought then that basketball is only for the males. Now, I'm here standing in the middle of the gymnasium, wearing this PE shirt and jogging pants. I always make excuses that will send me sitting on the bench. Sometimes, I say my head aches, or my stomach aches, or my ankles were sprained etc.

There was this PE afternoon. I was sitting on the bench. Monthly period was my excuse which looks fake. Somehow, it got through. I just watched them play. Jon was not that good in that game but he manages well. Hanna is an expert, an ace. She was a varsity in her high school.

Someone stumbled on the floor and screamed the pain. It was David. His ankle was treated with an ice. Being the only one doing nothing, I was asked to give him first aid. So, I was holding this ice. My hands were freezing to death.

"It's too cold. I can't hold it for few more minutes. Can you handle it on your own?" I said. That is the first time I talked to him again since the first day prank. I never talked with him because he never talked to me.

"Do you remember me?" he said. The least reply I expected. Weeks had passed and he's still on that prank.

"Come on, you're still on that prank, aren't you?" I said half teasing. He stared at me then looked away.

"I'll handle this." He got the ice and walked towards the other bench, away from me.

The professor whistled, it signals break. I handed Jon and Hannah their towels and bottles of water. Jon is bathing on his own sweat. I volunteered to put his towel on his back. The same on what I did to Hannah.

I was at the bus stop when I hear someone calls me—Drew. He's one of my few male classmates. He resides on the same city where I live. And, that means we'll be riding on the same bus that noon. Window on my right, he's on my left. Drew was not irritating but I feel uncomfortable around guys aside from Jon. Because, he's the best guy I know. Drew is smart, a nerdy but rarely talks to everyone but me. I somehow enjoyed hearing new information from him. Like, about the book he currently reads or the food he ate last night, those stuffs. Simple but informative. Thanks to him, I broke that day my usual street viewing habits going home.