Lorenzia opened her pouch and brought out the luxurious liquid lipstick she bought the same day. She touched up her lips and re-knotted her bow tie partnering their white blouse uniform. Naomi sprayed a Gucci perfume in herself and tied her mid length curly hair into a messy bun. Her hair is flowy with big curls suiting her small face. Her curly eyelashes do not need efforts to be applied with a mascara.
Lorenzia looked at the mirror and started gossiping about school matters. “You know, I feel awful that Luke just won a second option compared to JL” she said while tidying up her make-up kit. Naomi looked at her while closing the lid of her blush on. She asked, “So you are concerned about Luke more than your cousin?”.
Lorenzia answered, “Nah, blood is thicker than water. Besides, Luke is only a crush to me. Nothing else”. Naomi gasped, “You’re into Luke! Luke Fuerte the fourth-year soon to be sea man? I would not ask for more” she said while wearing her black skull earrings.

Her black school boots stepped forward; all boys glancing at her. Her scent attracts them as she walks past the school halls. Lorenzia looked at them with much sophistication. Boys in their school are divided into three – the commoners, the rich ones, and the handsome ones. JL is usually labelled as a commoner but inside, he is one of the rich ones; typically, the elite who pretends to be nothing in front of the public’s eyes.
A box of chocolates was handed to Lorenzia by a cool guy with an emo hair. She looked at him, “Thanks but… I’m on a diet” she said and walked with Naomi on their way to their classroom. JL approached them from a distance, “No need to be that harsh. Don’t you love chocolates?” he asked while his eyes are focused on the book he is reading. Lorenzia scoffed, “Yeah I love it but I will love it more if a handsome guy will hand me some” she answered.
JL tsked and shrugged; he knows his cousin very well. Lorenzia made her way to the administrator’s office to hand over her paper works. “You two… Go without me. I have some papers to submit” she said and left the two walking up to the building. Naomi walked continuously, feeling that time stopped upon staring at JL and his thick-lensed eyeglasses.
“Can you spare a glance at your way to the building? You might trip, you know” Naomi said with concern. JL didn’t manage to give her a glance but he replied, “You sure you won’t trip while your eyes are focusing on me?”. He closed the book he is reading and looked at her eye to eye; he went closer and closer to her. She kept stepping backwards until she felt the wall in her back.
Their faces are almost close to each other. JL uttered swiftly, “Remember, I got your words placed in my mind that Saturday morning” he said and left her behind. She touched her chest. Her heart is beating uncontrollably fast. She can’t differ nervousness from the uncanny beating of her heart. She gasped and breathed in air. She looks so startled and it is the first time she saw JL up close.
He smells so nice, his face is free from blemishes, his thick eyeglasses magnified the thick eyebrows hidden in his bangs. His lips are pinkish red and it looks soft. His height is far towering compared to her. His broad shoulders almost owned her. He grooms so well and if not because of the way he behaves, he could pass as a heartbreaker.
Naomi cannot sense JL in her sight already. She’s all alone in the hallway and she’s free to let her emotions flow. She walked to every step while thinking of what passed. She doesn’t know what to feel but JL on the other hand thinks nothing but a casual conversation. Naomi grabbed Lorenzia’s arm. She whined and complained, “Oh come on Naomi! I just finished applying my moisturizer!”. Naomi rolled her eyes and replied, “I have something to tell you”.
Lorenzia leaned closer. Nothing beats a latest hot issue for her to gossip about. “What is it?” she curiously asked. Naomi is hesitating but she said it eventually. “I think… I already like your cousin” she said. Her eyebrows raised when Lorenzia didn’t show any interest on what she just said. “Aren’t you surprised?” she asked.
Lorenzia shrugged, “From the start I already knew. That’s why I’m not surprised” she replied. The school alarm rang again and it echoed in every classroom. “A week and four days to go Phoenixes! The student council government is grateful that all sections handed in their contributions for our Valentine blast event happening exactly on the fourteenth of this month! You should all be excited because I will be announcing now the proposals who got accepted. I have it in my hands right now” JL announced cheeringly.
Lorenzia and Naomi’s class started looking at each other. None of them are mindful that their class had a proposal except for the president and the vice president – Naomi and Lorenzia. The two sat back and waited for JL to announce the list. JL tapped on the mic and started to announce, “The top 5 accepted proposals are… the work of class 1-B, work of class 2-C and D, class 4-A, and…” he paused for a while.

Lorenzia and Naomi did not have hopes for their work. JL announced again, “The last class proposal accepted is the work of class 3-A by Miss Nievez and Miss Tiueco respectively. For the classes who did not get in this event, you will be given a chance to submit an idea again for the end of the school year. Sincerely yours, Prez”. The school announcement ended with the second tuning of the alarm.
Lorenzia and Naomi looked at each other. “Did I hear it right? I mean, our proposal is lame to begin with” Lorenzia said. Naomi smirked and started sorting out her notes for their next class.
Luke tapped on JL’s desk to confront him once again. “So, you really pushed that proposal in” he said. JL replied while fixing the student council budget, “I see no problems for it to be unpublished”. Luke suddenly pulled his shoulder and pushed him to the wall. He grabbed his collars and faced him with gritting teeth. “You know what I hate the most? I hate it that someone encompasses me. I am the greatest and well honored student here before you came!” he said and made JL’s back compressed to the wall.
He endured the uncomfortable pain the force gave. Luke kept talking while patting his shoulder. “You know, you’re just a weak and a lame guy here in the school. No one would like you anyway. Just because you’re smart, that doesn’t mean you can take what I have” he said and left the recording room. JL knew about Luke’s school records. He won three times a row in the presidential elections in their student council government while he, just started learning in that university two years ago.
Luke is the teachers’ favorite. Aside from the luxurious gifts he gives in the faculty, he has multiple connections and he manages to escape every offense he can execute inside the school. Luke bullying JL is not scary at all for him. His dad is a lawyer and his mom is a juris doctor. He fears nothing; he is spoiled and he always makes sure to get what he wants but he failed to get the presidential position because of JL.
Lorenzia drastically placed down the coffee container in the table. They are currently in the school cafeteria and JL just finished venting out about what happened in the recording room. Lorenzia ranted, “Duh, he could’ve known that this school is tired of his face already! For three consecutive years he got the presidential position and guess what, nothing in this campus improved! Even him endorses bullying!”.
“Keep you voice down. Someone might spy on us” JL calmly replied. Lorenzia rolled her eyes while taking a dose of caffeine in a broad noon time. She sighed, “You know, you can let your parents know about this. I mean, they can fight for you” she suggested. JL shrugged, “Mom and dad are busy. Besides, I don’t want to make things bigger just because of Luke’s words”.
Lorenzia snapped, “What the hell did you just said? Those words coming from Luke’s mouth aren’t just plain words. Can’t you feel any sense of insecurity or maybe anger?” she said. JL looked at her, “I am annoyed. I am deeply disturbed by him. But I don’t want our family to be involved. You know, the whole legacy thing will be affected” he replied.
“You really love the legacy, don’t you?” Lorenzia asked. “I do. It is the only place where I can see and share my worth. In that place, I can make our family proud. I proved that I am not just a weak coward bookworm they can see in the house” he answered. “You should change for the better” Lorenzia said. JL’s eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t need to please every person. I just want to be plain. My plain me” he replied.
JL stood up while holding his notes. He walked up to the building. Consequently, Naomi is heading to the same path destining to the school’s cafeteria. She saw JL coming to her way also. She hid in a corner and tried to cover herself. JL walked past her and she was relieved that she wasn’t noticed. To her surprise, JL looked back and talked, “I saw you” he said and continued taking his way.
Naomi faked a smile; everyone’s eyes are looking at her. She looked everywhere and threw a cold look at everyone in the hallway. She walked swiftly to the school cafeteria and sat at the front of Lorenzia. She gave her friend a blank look. Lorenzia asked, “What’s with that look?”. Naomi sighed, “Help me with something ‘coz I am confused with my feelings right now” she said.
“What do you want to do?” Lorenzia asked and tried to open a topic for them to share. Naomi held both of Lorenzia’s hands. “Help me confess to your cousin” she said. Lorenzia burst out of laughter. It took moments before she could respond to Naomi who’s now looking awkward. She doesn’t know how to react; what she knows is that she is already capable of liking JL even more.
Lorenzia smiled and replied, “Are you sure you want to confess? You can like him from afar!”. Naomi frowned, “I am not planning to do it right away. I am still planning on how to express my feelings to him” she said. “And when are you planning to do it?” Lorenzia asked. Naomi thought, “Uhm… on Valentine’s Day?” she unsurely replied.
Lorenzia held back her laughter. Her friend is a wicked woman for boys even though she is always left behind. Lorenzia knows one thing – her cousin won’t hurt her friend for sure. She nodded, “I’ll support you then. Just don’t ever take my cousin for granted”. She saw a wide smile from her friend’s face. “Oh my god this is so exciting!” Naomi replied. “I will help you get closer to him until he develops a mutual understanding with you. I guarantee, before Valentine’s Day, you two will click” Lorenzia said and sipped her expensive coffee drink. For Lorenzia, it is a hard task but she innovates that maybe JL could change if he learns how to be attracted with a girl.
It is already five in the afternoon. JL is currently sorting his notes in his locker when a note slipped from one of it. “Meet me at the rooftop” the note says. He crumpled it up thinking it might be a prank for him but to his surprise, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to the rooftop – the same place where he saw Naomi smoking.
From the rooftop’s entrance, the one who pulled him gradually disappeared with the dark, and without him noticing. He held the door’s knob and twisted it open. There he saw a familiar back, wearing their school uniform and holding a lit smoke stick. The person sensed him and went close to him. “You should already know that smoking is prohibited here in our campus. You are even a school officer” JL said calmly.
The person inhaled the cigarette and exhaled its thick smoke on JL. He swept the smoke away with his hands. “Such a weakling” the person said. JL replied, “Luke, I am giving you the chance. Light off that cigarette stick and don’t do it again here. I can report this to the office”. Luke gave him an evil smile. “How can you report? It’s past the working schedule. I am not afraid of you, Tiueco. I never had any suspension in this school. My parents are taking my side” he said.
“Do you think your parents will still take your side if they know that you are doing this vice?” he said making Luke conscious. He pointed him his pointing finger, “Be careful of what you are saying! You don’t know a single thing” he replied in an annoying tone. For JL, Luke is boastful enough that he cannot already contain.
He grabbed Luke’s ID from its uniform and placed it in his pocket. “You will be charged of using illegal vice in this campus tomorrow” JL said and turned around. Luke pulled him and threw a punch. He missed to hit JL because he swiftly dodged. “So, you’re getting used to it huh?” he asked sarcastically. He pushed JL and it made him fall on the ground.
JL twitched but he managed to endure the pain. Luke knelt down and started hitting JL on his face and chest. JL is trying to stand up but his knees are already weak. His glasses fell to somewhere he cannot sense. Luke stood up and looked down to him. He uttered, “Remember JL, you… are just… a weakling” he said and continued smoking. He left the rooftop leaving JL sensing his eyeglasses.
He tried to tap on his pocket and realized that Luke already retrieved his identification card. He leaned on the wall; small drizzles are starting to pour. He crawled to the nearest shelter and tried to reach someone on his phone. He remembered what Naomi said – that there are no signal receptions in the area. He leaned back and started to feel drowsy with an exhausted and bruised body conquering the cold February winds.