Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Bestfriend’s Brother Is My Tutor: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

JEROME Lisa and Stacy appeared in front of me as I was paying for my drink. Lisa tapped my shoulders and plastered a smile on her face when I turned. Stacy was just joining us. “You found me,” I said. “Yeah, we found you. No biggie.” Lisa stared ahead of me. “Did you get something for us?” “Do you guys want something?” Lisa gave me an out-of-mind stare, like her answer to that wasn’t so obvious. It was. But person I wanted to hear from was Stacy. Her face was bare, brows matted with little droplets of sweat, thanks to the humid temperature of the day. As soon as she walked in, she was easily the person I had looked at the most in the last five seconds and when she casually glanced up, she tried to smile. I knew she was trying because she failed terribly at it. Perhaps she wasn’t even trying, only wanted to look like she was trying to be okay. She must have a lot she wanted to say. She always looked that way and the only time I can say we’ve had a proper conversation, one that

STACYFirst day of school. I could totally do it. I only had to act like I was confident and not be afraid to talk my shit. One thing that would really help me face this day properly would be running into Jerome.The chances were low and it was very unlikely, I think Lisa even mentioned that he had something to get to outside of school.I wasn’t going to run into him. He was nowhere in the flood of bodies that swarmed through the halls and pathways. He wasn’t the boy who skated past me and blew a ‘sorry’ my way when he whipped through my right. He wasn’t the girl with two swinging braids who bumped into me when she was calling to her friend. He wasn’t the group of guys whose laughter managed to be the loudest and the one distinct sound that existed at the moment.My bag was strapped around my shoulders and I held onto the strap, needing something to be with me as I faced the day. It was something to hold, something that didn’t make me feel alone.Why did Lisa’s faculty have to be away

JEROMENattie was the first person that called me when I was just opening my front door. Never had anybody been on such perfect timing but then again, who was I kidding? We had a connection like that.“Mr. Jeremy, my favorite teacher.”I didn’t realize I rolled my eyes until I did. Unable to hold the laughter from spluttering out of my lips, I stopped trying.“Your favorite teacher?” I asked.Nattie made a sound low in her throat and the blood shot down to my stomach. I almost forgot how good she sounded and I wanted to fault myself, to look at me with pity for getting turned on just by a mere sound.I would have done that if I didn’t know that what she did was intended to get to me in that way. Why else would she just moan unprovoked, into my fucking ears.I pushed my door open. “What do you want, Nattie?”She started to laugh, light soft giggles that reminded me of a million nights.I wasnt proud of the relationship we had, of all the things we had done to each other, on each other,

JEROMENattie’s house smelt like roses and citrus. The familiar scent of the place washed over me as soon as I stepped in and just like that, I had lost to the thoughts. I had forgotten to stop my mind from crossing the dangerous waters, from tethering on the edge of what we used to be, what we weren’t meant to be anymore.Nattie walked around her center table and stuck something on her bookshelf. It was a setup that housed more photos than books.Natalie took a lot of trips during the summer break and she lived to take pictures of the scenery she faced. It didn’t matter if it was a simple beach photo, something as magical as seashells or something as haphazard as her load before she stuffed them into the blue box. She always captured them in ways that made you stop and stare.There were about five of them, pictures. Two were on the lowest shelf level, one on the middle and the remaining at the edges of the highest shelf level. Nattie turned on her television. A sitcom was playing and

JEROMEStacy’s message buzzed my phone. The sound was short but loud enough that it got my attention, vibrating the desk on which I had dropped it. It was back in the room while I was on the balcony, staring at the darkening blue-black clouds.I don’t know who I was expecting it to be. Maybe Nattie, maybe Kingston. They were after all the last people I had spoken to before I got home and met Stacy and Lisa lounged on my couch, snacking on popcorn and watching a reality show. I also thought it could be someone from school, someone from the movie makers and because of all these maybes, I had forced myself to get up and check who was texting me at ten pm in the night.It wasn’t anyone of them, to my disappointment and also to my relief. It was Stacy. The last time Stacy and I texted…I couldn’t even remember the last time that happened.I found myself standing in the middle of my room, a soft breeze pushing in from the balcony doors, a light switch illuminating me and the rest of the room,