Chapter Four: The Second First Honor
949 Words
The parents were restless before the teacher even arrived — which meant the children were worse.
Mrs. Sanchez worked the crowd while they waited, teasing the mothers and fathers with guesses about which child would take first honor this year, as if the answer weren't already written somewhere in a folder she was holding. One by one the graduates lined up at the back of the gym in stiff, unfamiliar dresses and barongs, fidgeting under ribbons they hadn't chosen themselves.
Princess stood among them, older now, the unease from her first graduation replaced with something quieter and heavier.
"Let's give a round of applause to our first honor student, once again — no one else but Princess Zimsome."
Her legs went the way they always did before they obeyed her — shaking first, moving second. She made it to the front anyway, the way she'd made it through most things: not gracefully, just persistently. Second honor, third, fourth — Ghayle, her closest friend since they were small enough to share a single umbrella in the rain, took the last spot on the stage and beamed out at the crowd like she'd already found her father's face in it.
Princess hadn't even looked. She already knew there was no point.
She found Ghayle again afterward at the playground, sitting on the low wall by the swings, watching the cluster of families taking photos near the stage.
"What are you thinking about, Princess?" Ghayle asked, dropping down beside her.
"I'm jealous of you guys," Princess said, before she could decide whether it was worth admitting. "You're lucky. You have parents here."
"I don't have a daddy. Just a mommy." Ghayle bumped her shoulder against Princess's, gentle, matter-of-fact. "Come on. Let's just go play so you don't sit here being sad."
"Hmm... fine."
It worked, the way it always did — for an hour, anyway. But the ache came back on the walk home, and it was still there when she reached the mansion and found Sioning in the kitchen, halfway through slicing vegetables for dinner.
"Nay. I got first honor at school." She said it flat, the sadness bleeding through despite herself.
"Talaga, anak? My child really is smart, ha." Sioning didn't stop chopping, but her voice went soft around the edges. "Why the long face?"
"Because I didn't have anyone with me back there."
The knife stopped.
"I'm sorry, anak. I couldn't come — Madam wouldn't allow it." Sioning wiped her hands and crossed the kitchen anyway, pulling Princess into a hug before the girl could decide whether she wanted one. "I want you to remember something, okay? We're here for you. Always. You have your brother, you have me — and Ate Marta, too. She came by last week, you know. Said she and Tatay Pedring miss you both. It's been a while since you visited."
"I want to go see them, Nay. We don't have school for a few days."
"Just be careful on the way there. Bring your brother along, so you're not alone."
"Opo, Nay. We'll just tag along with the neighbors heading that way — the people out there are kind."
They left the next morning with one backpack between them, packed with a few changes of clothes, because they both knew from experience that a short visit to Marta's never stayed short.
"Nay! Tay!" Princess broke into a run the moment she spotted them bent over the vegetable rows, Prince trailing a few steps behind.
"Anak, we missed you so much." Marta and Pedring folded them both into a hug at once.
"We missed you too."
"Prince, don't just stand there — come here, anak." Pedring waved him closer. "No need to be shy. Your sister talks about you to us all the time."
"You too, po. She talks about you both to us, too." Prince looked around at the bamboo groves, the modest garden, the quiet — the same wonder Princess had felt the first time. "It really is this beautiful here."
"We'll take you around properly this time," Pedring said, already grinning.
"Come inside first," Marta said. "I'll fix you both something to eat."
They stayed a full week. Princess and Prince helped in the garden, learned which vines needed staking and which vegetables were nearly ready to pull, and fell into the unhurried rhythm of a household that had never once raised its voice at them. When it was finally time to go, Tatay Pedring walked them all the way back to the mansion himself, a bag of mangoes in hand as a gift for Sioning, who lit up at the sight of them both, safe and sun-browned and clearly well-fed.
The next morning, Princess was wiping down the sala table when the twins wandered in.
Mega reached up without warning and yanked the hairband straight out of Princess's hair. Princess grabbed for it on instinct — a short, clumsy tug-of-war that ended with Mega stumbling backward and landing hard on the floor, crying before she'd even finished falling.
The sound carried straight to the twins' mother.
Betrish came around the corner already furious, closing the distance in three strides. "Hoy! You little guttersnipe — what did you do to my daughter?!"
The slap landed before Princess understood it was coming.
"Get in there," Betrish snapped, dragging her by the arm toward an empty room down the hall. "You don't eat, and you stay in there all night!"
"Please let me out! Please let me out!" Princess was already crying, already pulling uselessly at a door that wasn't going to open.
Betrish only laughed on the other side of it. "Ha! Go ahead and die in there for all I care."
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