MARITA had always dreamed of living in Manila and studying in St. Celestina’s. But for her first two years in high school, she went hungry at the feast. There were the Big People: the daughters of politicians, of successful businessmen, in the same classroom with her, sharing the same toilets, changing and sweating together during PE. But Marita was invisible to them and had to make do with the commoners like Dorotea. She was just one of a few dozen provincianas whose family names and landholdings did not stir anyone’s envy or even interest, and she found to her chagrin that she was consigned to the company of the other undistinguished provincianas who were as common as dirt.
As an interna at St. Celestina’s, Marita rarely went home on weekends. She told Inang she would rather stay in the
