Chapter 1

1987 Words
“You failed our exam on logarithms again, Ella.” The girl in question sighed audibly in front of her teacher, Ms. Santos. The news was not entirely new to her. She hadn’t exactly been doing great in her 12th grade Mathematics subject and this past semester, she almost didn’t pass. It was mere luck that kept her grade come close to passing. It wouldn’t have been too much of an issue that she was not good in Math if she wasn’t trying to apply for the entrance examinations of the University of the Philippines. She had always wanted to be a licensed veterinarian (her only goal in life) and this school was the best vet school in the country. She needed to get in there at all cost… But for some reason, this thing with Math was holding her back. “If this will continue, you won’t be able to meet the requirement for the UPCAT application.” The teacher had a warning in her voice. “Yes, Ma’am.” I’m aware of that…” Ella’s voice was small as she responded. Deep inside, she was berating herself. Why did she have to be so bad at Math?  “If for the next quiz tomorrow, you’d still fail, I would have to require you to get a tutor. Understood?” Tutor? Ella didn’t have the extra money to pay for that, but so as to cut the conversation short, she just nodded in agreement. “Yes, Ma’am. I understand,” she replied. “Alright, you’re dismissed.” Her adviser finally let her out of the classroom.  Ella said her thanks and headed out. Most of her classmates had gone home already, but she was held back because the teachers wanted to talk to her about her dismal grades at her dreaded subject. She was met by Jasmine, her cousin, who was waiting for her with her friends at the exit of the classroom so that they could go home together. When Jasmine saw her, her friends bid goodbye to her cousin. She nodded to them in acknowledgement, which they returned. Jasmine’s friends weren’t her friends, but they greet each other respectfully when they cross paths.  “What did Ma’am Santos tell you?” Jasmine asked her as they walked along the corridors. Ella couldn’t help but notice the lingering stares of the boys pass by Jasmine, which her cousin didn’t notice at all, as she was busy talking to her. Poor guys, she thought… But she couldn’t blame them as Jasmine is one of the most beautiful and popular girls in their school. She shrugged her shoulders. “Ya know… Math again.” “Oh.” Jasmine had an understanding look in her face. “I see. You should have picked the Humanities track instead. We don’t have hardcore Math there!” Her cousin giggled. “Errr… But I’m not good at writing like you… And STEM track is the one required for the Pre-Vet course.” It would have been nice to have a talent on something like Jasmine did, but Ella wasn’t like that. She was pretty much average on everything, not exactly bad, except for Math. The only thing that she was good at (and interested in) was animals. Her connection with these creatures was significantly much better than her connection with humans. And now, if she really wanted to have a career on this only thing she was good at, then she needed to pass her Math subject, which wasn’t an easy thing to do by itself. Was she destined to be doomed? She hoped not. “Hey, look! It’s your crush, Patrick!” Marcus whispered to him. Patrick couldn’t resist turning his head just to catch a glimpse of Jasmine who was walking on the corridor beside a girl he didn’t recognize. Marcus instantly formed a sly grin on his face after seeing his reaction, saying: “Thought so. I don’t blame you. She’s hot!” Patrick snorted at his perverted-minded teammate. Marcus was a hopeless case. “Damn. Stop it, Marc.” He creased his forehead, wondering to himself. “Who’s that girl beside Jasmine?| Marcus looked back again at the two girls nearing the exit. “Ah… That’s Ella. She’s our classmate. Didn’t you know?” The puzzlement remained in Patrick’s face. “She is? Why don’t I see her?” “Dude?!” It was Marcus’ turn to be incredulous. “She’s been our classmate since last year! How could you not notice her at all?” Patrick then shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, well. I’m not good at remembering faces.” Marcus shook his head at his friend. “Dude, you’re f*****g unbelievable.” “Yeah, yeah.” Patrick then decided to walk ahead of his talkative teammate in order to cut the conversation off. Marcus had the tendency to be so annoying sometimes. The next day… “f**k this s**t!” Ella screamed to no one in particular. Normally at this time of the day, she would be in Joy Street, feeding the feral colony of cats and small pack of stray dogs there. But instead of going there, she took a detour to the abandoned basketball court behind the houses in Gentleness Street, intending to release her pent-up frustration on herself. Instead of carrying bags of cat food and dog food that she got from an animal rescue group that she joined on f******k, she was clutching her crumpled quiz paper. She only got three out of ten questions right, which meant that she would have to get a tutor as it was her agreement with Ms. Santos. And that brought her to her other problem: she didn’t know where she would get the money to pay for the services of a tutor. The monthly allowance that the Department of Social Welfare and Development sent her was only enough for her food and school expenses. She was actually lucky that she didn’t have to pay for her lodgings since she lived with Jasmine’s family in exchange for helping with the housework. She looked down again at her dismal score, got annoyed, and proceeded to kick the nearest stone on the ground as hard as she could. “Ow!” Someone yelped. Ella’s eyes widened in surprise. She honestly thought that she was alone in this court. After all, few people knew about this hidden place. All of the residents used the covered court on Goodness Street two blocks away from here. As for her, she only discovered this place when she followed a stray mama cat that she befriended. She looked around and saw no one. She was starting to wonder if this place were haunted. Well, she didn’t believe in the supernatural, but it would be cool if she would experience it once. She proceeded to walk towards the direction where she heard the voice coming from but stopped when she hit something on the ground. She looked down, this time, her sight not obscured by the piece of paper she was holding, and was met by a pair of furious eyes. She stood still, transfixed. This would be the first ghost that she would see— “Hey! What was that for?!” Oh. The ghost seemed mad. Maybe it got annoyed with her loud scream earlier? They say spirits didn’t like to be disturbed.  “b***h! Answer me! Are you deaf or what?” Ella’s forehead creased. The gall of this ghost to insult her? It was then that the ghost rose up from where he was lying down and stood up to his full height. Wait. Ella’s eyes blinked. She knew this ghost! “Rosales?” Ella had to shake her head. It turned to be a real person after all, specifically, her classmate, Patrick Rosales, a member of their varsity basketball team and popular, or rather, infamous student in the campus. And here she thought she would finally encounter a ghost… The “ghost” also stopped and looked at her curiously. “Wait. You know me?” He pointed at himself. Ella rolled her eyes at the tall guy. She had to crane her head just to talk to him because she only reached up to his chest. “Duh. We’re classmates,” she deadpanned. The tall guy then scratched his head, as if trying to remember her face, and then his eyes widened. “You’re the girl from yesterday! The one who was walking beside Jasmine on the corridor!” He exclaimed. Well, she did remember going home with Jasmine yesterday, but she didn’t remember crossing paths with Patrick. In any case, she wasn’t paying much attention to anything since yesterday because her mind was filled with worries regarding her grades. In the end, she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and turned back, intending to go find a place where she would have some privacy to scream her frustrations out. “Wait,” Patrick stopped her. Ella did and looked back at him, a frown etched on her face. “You need to apologize to me,” the tall guy added. “Why?” she questioned. A tick visibly formed on the guy’s forehead, but he answered her, his teeth clenched as he did so. “Because you hit me with the stone you kicked earlier.” Patrick raised his reddened left arm to show it to her. Ella shrugged again. “Alright. I’m sorry then.” It was her turn to confront him. “You need to apologize to me too.” “What?” Patrick’s voice was filled with incredulity. She looked him in the eyes and answered coldly. “You called me a b***h earlier.” “Well, it was your fault anyway,” the guy reasoned out. Ella rolled her eyes at him. “How would I know that there’s another person here? I’ve been going here for three months now and I haven’t seen anyone come here, so I certainly didn’t plan to hit someone with the stone I kicked.” She leveled him with a stare, this time, unrelenting. “Again, apologize to me. I did it earlier, so you should do it too. It’s only fair.” Patrick was silent for a short while, and then he sighed. “Well, I’m sorry, I guess,” he said nonchalantly. The apology didn’t sound genuine to Ella, but she didn’t care anymore. She just wanted to get away from this place because someone already ruined it for her. She was already walking away when Patrick called her again. She stopped walking and looked back at him wearily. “What is it again?” Ella was thoroughly exasperated by now. Patrick had a curious look on him when he spoke up. “Why were you screaming earlier?” “What’s it to you?” As far as she remembered, she never talked to this guy before. After all, he was popular so they didn’t have a reason to socialize. Needless to say, she was puzzled with the tall guy’s question. He scratched his head again, looking sheepish a bit. “Well, I was just curious. You seem pissed,” he replied. Ella decided to humor him. After all, it would be the first time they exchanged words. “It’s because I failed our Math quiz again and I would need to find a tutor but I don’t have the money to pay for one.” She was sure the guy didn’t give a damn to her predicament but he asked for it, so she told him. Patrick nodded to himself, saying, “I see.” Then he stared back at her intensely. “You knew Jasmine, right?” “She’s my cousin,” she answered curtly. Why was this guy suddenly asking her questions about Jasmine? “I have a proposal to make to you…” the tall guy started, which made Ella’s frown deepen. What was he up to? Nevertheless, she listened.  “I can tutor you in Math for free. In exchange, you’d have to introduce me to Jasmine and give her a favorable impression of me,” Patrick finished. Oh, that was why. It seemed like this tall guy was another one of her cousin’s fanboys. There were rumors of Patrick Rosales being a bit of a delinquent, always fighting with their rivals in basketball from another school outside the campus. But looking at him now, he didn’t seem particularly violent. If he were, he should have hit her when she accidentally hit him earlier. Well, he called me a “b***h…” In any case, she was admittedly desperate. Ellen found herself telling him, “Deal.”
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