Althea (So She's a Mafia)

Chapter One Coleen drops the last of her bags with a heavy sigh. Sa wakas ay naakyat na rin niya ang lahat ng gamit niya sa 5th floor ng apartment. Her own apartment. She sighs for the tenth time that day as the thought of having to live by herself for the next three years resurfaced in her mind once again. She takes a quick scan of the place. It's not that much, really. But at the same time already more than enough for an incoming second-year college student, too. A kitchen connected to the living area. A bathroom. One bedroom. A Small terrace. It's a simple life. Discarding her phone on the countertop, she plops down on the nearest couch, doesn't mind that it's probably the dustiest thing she's ever come in contact with, and tips her head back to stare blankly at the ceiling. She's tired. And she's nervous. But she's fired up, too. There's a different kind of excitement that thrums through her veins kapag naiisip niyang papasok na siya sa Great Southeast University sa susunod na linggo. Ang pinakamalaki at pinakaprestihiyosong unibersidad sa bansa. Hindi mayaman ang mga Abella, pero maituturing na silang may kaya sa lugar nila sa Batangas. Maswerte lamang siyang nakapasok sa naturang paaralan dahil sa isang scholarship, and that is how she's found herself in Manila today. Coleen is broken out of her trance by the sudden ring of her cellphone. She smiles, it's her mom. With an even wider smile she thinks, she can do this. She will finish this semester, this year, and all the other ones after. She will graduate from the country's most esteemed, most famous university and make her family the proudest they've ever been. She rises to her feet with a newfound vigor. Time to start her second college year magnificently. (Oh, dear.) ..................................... Week 1 So people weren't joking when they said SGU was HUGE. "Woah," nakatangang pumasok si Coleen sa multi level garage ng paaralan. Even the parking area is unbelievable. All those pictures and videos on the net didn't give this whole architectural masterpiece any justice at all. And she is proud to be originating from a middle class family that can afford at least most of the things they want, but man, does her Impala pale immensely in comparison to these Bentleys and Ferraris surrounding her and—is that a freakin' BMW M440i Coupe near the exit? She shakes the daze off on her way out. She has to stop getting dumbstruck by about every single thing in this campus if she wants to make it to her first class on time. Twenty minutes later, however, and Coleen swears the school must be the size of a goddamned city. She's almost gasping for air by the time she reaches the ground floor of the Political Science Building. Desperate to end the hunt for the department faculty office, she sets a goal to just ask a random student for help. She passes by a couple of classrooms where lectures had already started, and passes by a couple more but this time they're empty. It's the room at the far end that catches her attention. Habang papalapit siya roon ay naririnig na niya ang mahinang tunog na tila nagmumula sa isang mini stereo speaker. Classical music. Nakaawang nang bahagya ang pinto kaya't hindi na siya nag-abala pang kumatok at dahan-dahan na lang sumilip sa loob. The second-year student terribly fails to notice the sign that had been put up on the door, DO NOT DISTURB. Coleen's sort of shocked to see that it isn't really a lecture hall like she initially thought. Just a blank lecture board in front, some few tables and chairs on the side, and a girl by the window. Having a smoke. It takes her back a little. Dahil kahit nakatalikod ay sigurado siyang kapwa estudyante niya rin ang babaeng ito. She's wearing a jean jacket over a yellow sundress, wisps of long, black hair moving along with the wind. "Smoking is not allowed inside the school premises," Coleen has blurted out before she even had the chance to catch herself at maging siya ay nagulat din sa boses niyang bumasag sa katahimikan ng silid. The other girl swivels round looking startled at first, but manages to pull herself together on the very next second. Now it's just a mildly annoyed expression on her face. And a half-smoked cigarette in between her fingers. "It's a school rule! And you—I mean," Coleen scrambles, for some inexplicable reason she actually feels embarrassed in front of this stranger. She barely suppresses the urge to just slap herself right after saying, "I mean, it's bad for your health anyways." Said stranger raises an eyebrow, "Don't you know who I am?" Coleen responds by raising both her own in confusion. There's a lull and as it clears she swears she almost catches a gleam in the girl's eyes. "Let me guess, you're one of the transferees?" She perks up at that. Para bang sa wakas ay bigla niyang naalala kung sino ba talaga siya at bakit siya nandito. "Oh, you're right! And I'm actually heading for the faculty right now. I was just looking around trying to see if maybe someone could help direct me there. Wait, how did you know that?" Stranger doesn't give her an answer, and Coleen watches on as she takes one last drag of the fag before finally stubbing it out in an ashtray on the windowsill. She rolls her eyes then, in that way most school divas do. But there's a soft smile on her lips that makes it all significantly less intimidating. And okay, she's even prettier up close, Coleen thinks when they finally meet head to head. She figures they're probably of the same height. "Give me that," stranger takes a look at the 8" by 5" white form, and then proceeds to walk ahead of the second-year newbie without sparing her another glance. "Follow me." Something's odd about this whole situation, Coleen can feel it in her gut. First, she was led through the emergency stairwell instead of the main staircase. Second, students that happened to pass them in the hallways either gave them the weird look, seemed truly shocked, or whispered god-knows-what amongst themselves. All of a sudden she becomes a tad bit more conscious of her appearance. She has on a favorite gray tee under one of her denim jumpers, plus boots to pair. And well, the thing is she doesn't look half bad. But appraising merely the back of this girl she's closely following right now, she just can't help but think she's utterly beautiful. Biglang nanlaki ang mga mata niya, Oh, wow, did I just meet the cheerleading captain or something? They reach the 4th level of the building and that's where the pretty stranger pauses, looks back at Coleen and points towards the next hallway ahead. "End of the hallway. Second door to the left. You should be able to spot a huge signage on one of the bulletin boards there." Several more students give them the same treatment from the three previous levels but Coleen decides to pay them no mind this time around. She has long learned the art of not caring too much about public opinion anyway. "Thanks a lot for your help, I owe you big time," she makes a move to take her white form back but to her surprise the other girl swiftly maneuvers it out of her reach. There's something Coleen cannot fathom with the way she's looking at her. She chuckles nervously, "What is it?" "So you really have no idea who I am?" There really is no point in asking because, "Um, I really don't." She really doesn't. And for whatever reason it actually brings another smile to the stranger's lips. She hands away the white form, purring, "It's Althea, sweetie." And Coleen Abella is a real clueless kid but she beams right back despite the confusion. "Oh, alright, nice to meet you, Althea. And thank you once again." "You're welcome." There's a beat. "Cadence." And it catches Coleen off guard. Matagal na nang huling beses na may tumawag sa kanya gamit ang pangalang iyon. It's been so long since that person, she realizes. "Ah, no, you can just call me Co—" "You'd better hurry up, by the way. Saw your schedule and your first class actually starts in ten," Althea flashes a full-on grin then. More like a cheshire's. She starts taking a few steps back, slowly, then waves a small wave. "I have a feeling we're going to see each other often." And just like that, she's finally gone. Coleen blinks in the direction of the stairwell. Now that is one weird lady. .................................... Making friends has never been Coleen's strongest suit, but she miraculously gains three new buddies on her first class alone. Dianne Silva, fellow scholar who claims she's practically (and legally) blind without her thick glasses. Matt Dylan Castro, lanky computer expert from the IT Department na naligaw sa Political Science Building para sa mga elective subjects niya. Arjo Perez, sturdy guy whom she honestly thought was a frat dude at first. He's nice and cool though. "We'll see them later at lunch," Dianne had told her when the boys had walked the opposite direction for second subject. It's 11:30 and the two second-years are currently making their way to the cafeteria. They're in the middle of a discussion about Dianne's older promiscuous sister when people around them begin muttering under their breath some long strings of expletives and other incomprehensible clauses, and they both look on to see just what is cracking. Up ahead the students part in the middle like Red Sea, seemingly clearing a passage for a group of fellow undergrads na papalapit na sa kanila. "Shoot, here they come," Coleen is dragged quickly to the side by a restless-looking Dianne. "I almost forgot to tell you about them." "What's going on?" "See that girl in front?" The newbie follows her friend's line of vision and that's when she eventually sees her, girl in floral print dress, the one who broke the no smoking policy! "Oh, the one in a yellow sundress? Yeah she—" "She's the daughter of NCR's biggest mafia leader!," Dianne half shouts, half whispers in the space between them and Coleen just had to do the biggest double take of her life. "Everybody knows, but no one's really dared say a word about it. She basically rules this whole school, she can make the rest of your life a living hell if she wants to, and there've been countless of victims in the past couple of years to prove it." Tahimik lang si Coleen habang nakikinig, to be completely honest she's still in the process of taking in that first sentence. In hindsight, she thinks it actually makes perfect sense. Great Southeast University is a school for the elite, after all. Oblivious to the latter's internal crisis Dianne continues to blabber on about the what-to-dos and what-not-to-dos of hopefully avoiding Althea Verino's wrath in the foreseeable future. The gang of aristocrats have long gone by the time she reaches the end of her speech. "So there, bottom line is: just pretend you don't exist at all whenever she's so much as in the same 500-meter radius as you. Stay lowkey no matter what, and we won't really have a problem." She turns to the newbie with a smile, "I mean, she can't target you if she doesn't even know you, right?" Coleen feels like throwing up. "Oh, crap."