The Boyfriend App

Prologue: A princess locked away

There are few words in the English language that

come close to describing the intense fecling of being

in love. There are even fewer words to express

the unbearable torment of heartbreak. And the

heartbreak Irom someones irst love? Forget it.

But this was the precISe ernotion seventeen-year-old

Rapunzel Kate Lapuz was experiencing inside a stall

n the girls bathroom. Kate, who took pride in having

English as her favorite subject and being called Ms.

webster by her Enghsh teacher im junior high, Iound

herself at a loss for words to describe what she was

feeling.

Outside, it was a sunny Thursday allernoon in sleepy

Concepeion Integrated Tetchnolngy Sehool- High

School on one of the 7, 641 tropical islands ol the

Philhppines. 1or Kale though, it lelt like a giant hood

had been slipped on top of the world, extinguishing all

ght and sucking away all breath.

Ilad the whole world in fact ended. that would've

Solved a lot of thingS. At the top oI Kate's ist were

iliation and social suicide. She couldn't

Degin to comprehend the level of stupidity she had

e was an nonor roll student but she fell for

the oldest trick in the book: she fell in love with the

bad bo

But who was she kidding? There were no books

Written about this. Her own ma, the loving and strong

woman that she was, couldn't have warned her about

us. Ana Kate s own rusty big brain? it it had hands,

it would've washed them clean of all traces of this

cFail.

Her brain had known what was going to happen. Her

brain had warned her that Josh Ventura couldnt be

trusted, that he couldn't change. Being a player was in

his nature. Her brain gave Kate plenty of heads-up but

her heart was too happy to listen.

Her heart-her big, fearless heart- had told her

that when the day came, they would all deal with

it together. The same way Kate had entered the

relationship, she would leave it unburned and with

eyes wide open. She had thought then that she would

be ready now but it was clear nothing could've ever

prepared her for the day.

She wished she could thrust her hand inside her chest

and massage her heart. She might as well yank the

whole organ out and give it a telling-off. Or she'd try

to figure out all the veins and arteries. They'd been

studying DSL installation in ICT-11, so maybe she

could figure out which wires went where and which

ones were defective. Maybe then her eyes would stop

gushing tears without her express permission.

She tried to trace the point when everything had

started to go wrong, right before they spiraled out of

control. She kept thinking if she could identify such a

point, things would somehow instantly get better

Why was Josh so hateful to her? How could he

dump her so unceremoniously and replace her with

Bernadette? The Super Glue of all people! It was in the

cafeteria Kate found out. She thought they were on

the same side. She and him against the world. JOSH &

KATE 4EVER in a heart pierced with cupid's arrow, like

the extensive graffiti in that bathroom; now nothing

but trashy and meaningless scrawls.

How could Josh be so cruel? She thought he would

never hurt her. He said so. He promised it. It was like

she hadn't known him at all. Or he her. The more

she recalled his familiar face - his long hair, thick

eyebrows, dark brooding eyes and aquiline nose - the

sharper the pain she felt.

It was weird. The pain was emotional but it also

bordered the physical. She kept rubbing her chest

through her middy blouse as though that would ease

it. She was having trouble breathing. She was crying

sO much she was getting sick and wanted tO throw

up. Ilow could something so beautiful cause her this

much pain? Now Kate knew that burning fire lurked

behind an angel's smile.

She guessed everybody was talking about her right

now. she rarely missed class arnd there was supposed

to be a pop quiz in English today. Worse than the

ntense feellngs of jealousy and hearthreak Was the

numihaton. How could she muster the srength to

come out of the bathroom ever again, hold her head

nmgh and not let anynody see her swoilen eyes? she

just hoped to go on with her life but even that option

had been taken away rom her.

Ma... he silently cried out as she thaught of her

mother and how much she wanted to feel her

embrace. If only she could teleport from the bathroom

stall back to her bedroom, where she d stay forever.

IIer ma: caring, ever supportive and intuitive. When

she noticed Kate was walking on air the first few days

of her relatonship, she had immediately guesed she

was in love. At first. Kate tried to deny it but it seemed

her ma knew her more than she did herself. She said

she could see it in the glow of Kate's Skln and her uvely

novemenits, she siept with her for the first time ina

Wle and teasen ner apout it

Her ma whispered to her that she was happy Kate had

found love. She explained that love made everybody

happier, gentler and altogether nicer people. Love

could change even those who were birer and devoid

of hope. But Kate s ma also warned that people were

sometimes not who they sald they were. Beauty was

only skin-deep. What matrered most was what was

mside. what was invisible arnd essential, ike m the

book The Little Prince, which her ma used to read to

her when she was a kid.

Why are you telling me these? Kate had asked her ma,

still trying to deny the truth.

wel, tr's because I care aboutyou so much and you

rave a very bg heart You warna vust everyone

arond you because you have so mIucn Love to give. And

it's all right when youre with me and your

close friends, but sooner or later you'll meet different

AULLs o) people ard some wont be who you expect

Ey are 1 dott want you to be disapponted and, most

mportau, I aont wOt you to cnuge cwa (OSe yolu

rusting character. Becaise thats the part I Love about you the most.

The thought ok her tma and her warning, which Kate

couldn't really make senise ok Tilly today, made her cry

even more. She was quickly running out of pocket

Tissue and even looked tissue Iron lie dispenser The

Tears ust Kept pouring out ol her, sfhe th0ught she

might llood the entre school il she kept at it.

She couldnt stay in the bathroom forever though. The

rough plan was to wait till the school closed and it got

dark. she knew all anout the ghost stories but didnt

Care about any ot those right now. She was so upset

she thought she could strangle a ghost to death, or

back to life, whatever.

(rade 11 students took most ol their lessons in the old

building, which meant the bathrooms were housed

in another structure. They were dirtier and older

but they were alsa visiled less Irequently, which was

perfect far Kale's present needs. Besides, it was kind of

suilable because right naw she felt like something that

had been discarded alher its owner had lost interest.

She had been crying so much she Wondered where

all the water was coming from, how her smal body

could produce that much. She was also starting to feel

thirsty. Thirsty and tired.

She noticed belatedly that her phone was vibrating.

She rummaged through her shoulder bag and peeked

at the screen, sobbing piteously. It was her beshie Lor

(short for Lorraine) checking on her. It turned out

Kate had been crying for two hours straight and it was

finally time to go home

Kate ignored all the missed calls and texts and put the

phone back in her bag. Let them all think she had gone

home early, she thought.

She couldn't stop thinking of Josh Ventura. He was

stuck in her mind like a Vine clip and she couldn't get

him out. All the happy memories that they had shared

now felt like the giant wheels of a speeding cargo

truck, under which he had thrown her.

And the thought of Josh and Bernadette together made

her blood boil. Kate never used to care or think about

Bernadette in any way. She was just another student

on another track. People even dubbed her the Super

Gue because of her tendency to stick to any boy. But

now Kate was forced to compare herself to her with

regards to appearance, intelligence and personality.

She wished there was an off switch for love. But in the

same way she hadn't noticed when she fell for Josh,

there was no end in sight for the pain. It felt infinite.

She wished she was some kind of robot that could

be programmed to forget, so she'd be back to her

normal cheerful self who didn't miss class and looked

forward to every single day. She wanted to be her ma's

daughter again or the straight-A student that everyone

in school admired her to be.

The thought of her old self and where she was hiding

ATM brought another bucket of tears