Next To You

8 - Poster

The sharp scent of coffee and freshly baked cinnamon roll filled the air of the research laboratory. It was the long awaited soap-making day, and Jade was genuinely enjoying herself. For once, school didn’t feel so heavy. The room buzzed with excitement as students poured mixtures into molds and experimented with essential oils and colorants.

“Don’t put too much cinnamon scent!” Cassie warned, nudging Shery’s arm as she giggled.

“Why not? I like the smell of cinnamon!” Shery replied, laughing while trying to control the dropper.

Jade grinned as she stirred their base mixture, careful not to let it harden too soon. Trish was in charge of pouring, carefully aligning the molds on their workspace like a perfectionist. It was messy, yes, but fun. Neil, who was in a different group, looked just as immersed in the activity. His group had chosen citrus scents, and he was carefully carving little designs onto the hardened surface of one soap block using a toothpick.

Their eyes met briefly, and Jade offered a small smile. Neil gave a quick nod before returning to his carving. She didn’t know why, but the sight of him enjoying something that even if it wasn’t sketching, made her weirdly content.

By the time the class ended and they had cleaned up, the girls were filing out of the room, laughing and discussing their soap-making “masterpieces.” Jade trailed slightly behind, phone in hand, as she wiped her forehead with a tissue.

As they walked down the stairwell, something on the wall caught her attention.

A bulletin board that is crowded with flyers and announcements. It had a new, crisp white paper pinned right in the center. In bold, colorful letters, it read: “POSTER-MAKING CONTEST – Theme: Art in Science”. Just below, her eyes locked onto the words that made her pause: ₱3,000 CASH PRIZE.

₱3,000.

That was more than enough for Neil to fix his phone.

Her gaze instinctively darted to the bottom of the flyer, contest date, submission deadline, mechanics. It was open to all senior high school students, and the judging panel would include one of the research professors.

Without thinking too long, she pulled out her phone and took a quick photo. Before she could inspect the image, she heard Shery call her name.

“Jade!” Shery called, noticing she wasn’t beside them anymore.

Jade swiftly pocketed her phone. “Coming!” she called, then jogged down the remaining steps to catch up with them.

That evening, Jade lay on her bed, scrolling mindlessly through Messenger. Her finger hovered over the search bar. It had been nagging at her since she got home: Should she message Neil about the contest? Would that be weird?

Before she could overthink it, she typed “Neil Dela Vega.”

A few accounts popped up.

Most of them had generic selfies as profile pictures, but one caught her eye, it was a digital sketch of a boy, drawn in muted colors. It wasn’t a photo, it was art. A self-portrait? That must be him.

She clicked on it. The cover photo was another sketch, a city skyline in watercolor tones.

Yep, this had to be Neil.

Her thumbs hovered above the keyboard for a few seconds. Then she typed:

“Hey, it’s Jade.”

She saw the three dots appear. Then disappear. Then appear again.

It took a full two minutes before a message popped up:

“sup”

Jade blinked. Seriously? Two minutes to say ‘sup’? She rolled her eyes, then typed again:

“U’re using ur laptop?”

This time, the reply came quicker:

“yup”

Jade groaned softly into her pillow. What is it with this guy and three-letter replies? But she pressed on.

“So, do you still want to get your phone fixed?”

She stared at the screen. A minute passed. Then another.

Finally, Neil replied:

“why?”

Jade made a face. Why? Just answer the question properly! But instead of nagging, she attached the photo she took of the contest flyer and typed:

“Why not try this? I think 3,000 is enough to get it fixed.”

This time, Neil didn’t reply with words. He sent a simple 👍 emoji.

Jade stared at it.

That was it? Not even a “thank you”? No “I’ll think about it”? No questions? She put her phone down and sighed.

“He’s such a snob” she mumbled into the quiet room, even though a small part of her hoped he was just awkward… or shy… or bad at chatting.

The next day, school returned to its usual rhythm. They had Physics first period, and Jade sat at her usual spot at the third row, left column, beside Shery, Cassie, and Trish.

Neil was seated all the way at the back, right column.

Their Physics teacher stood at the front, holding a tuning fork. “Alright everyone, today we’re experimenting with sound waves and how they travel, reflect, and amplify. You’ll be working with the same group in the last experiment, and we’ll be using tuning forks, strings, and surfaces to study resonance and vibration.”

She struck the tuning fork against a rubber pad, and the soft hum echoed through the room.

“We’ll dim the lights a bit to help you focus on vibrations and sound movement, especially with the string experiment,” the teacher added.

Students buzzed with curiosity as kits were handed outeach group received a tuning fork, a metal stand, rubber bands, and string.

“Go to your respective groups, please!” the teacher instructed

Sure enough, Neil made his way from the back and was assigned to Jade’s group. She watched him approach quietly, carrying his kit.

“Guess we’re lab groupmates again” he said, setting the materials down.

“Must be” Jade joked, then immediately regretted how cheesy that sounded.

To her relief, Neil smirked and simply said, “Maybe.”

They began the first experiment, tying a string to a tuning fork, letting it dangle, and striking it to observe the vibrations. The quiet hum spread through the surface of the table. Then, they pressed the base of the fork against a metal cup to amplify the sound.

“Feel that?” Trish said, touching the string as it vibrated.

“Yeah, it’s like a tiny earthquake,” Shery added, giggling.

Neil remained focused, writing down their observations. Jade watched him for a moment. His eyes narrowed as he scribbled something beside a simple diagram of sound waves. His handwriting was neat, slanted, with small arrows and labels, like how an artist would take notes.

“You really don’t talk much in group work, do you?” Jade whispered.

Neil looked up. “I do. Just not loudly.”

She smiled. “Same.”

They continued their experiments but this time observing how sound changed when the tuning fork touched different surfaces. Wood, metal, plastic. The room was filled with soft humming noises and the occasional clinks of metal.

At one point, Neil accidentally struck the table leg and winced at the loud echo.

“Careful” Jade said, laughing. “You’re going to summon a banshee with that.”

Neil chuckled. “Imagine that as a Physics topic: ‘Sonic Mythology.’”

“I’d ace that,” Jade said, flashing a playful grin.

After class, as they packed up their things and the lights returned to full brightness, Jade glanced at Neil.

“Hey,” she said, “about the contest…”

Neil looked up. “Yeah?”

“Are you gonna join?”

He hesitated. “Maybe. I’m thinking about it.”

She tilted her head. “You should. You’re talented, and you kinda need it.”

Neil gave a small laugh. “You really don’t sugarcoat anything, do you?”

“Nope. But seriously, I think you’d win.”

There was a pause. Neil slung his bag over his shoulder and looked at her with something unreadable in his eyes.

“Thanks, Jade,” he said softly. “That means a lot.”

This time, it wasn’t three letters.

As Jade walked to her next class with her friends, her heart felt strangely light. She glanced back once, only to find Neil already gone.

For all his quietness, he somehow had this lingering presence.

And if he did join the contest and win, maybe it wouldn’t just fix his phone.

Maybe it would remind him that his passion deserved a place in the world.

Even if it started with just a poster.