The Boyfriend App
“It all started one night. I was maybe fourteen years old, in second year high school but it was summer break then. I was startled awake by a voice calling me from the basement – of all places. The voice was teeny. The way you imagined ants would sound if they could talk.
“First, the voice made the sound of pssst-pssst like a typical Pinoy calling a stranger’s attention. Then, it hissed: ‘Raphina! Raphina! Wake up! Come out and play with me!’ ”
Raphina was Kate’s ma’s first name. Her friends and co-workers called her Fina. Unlike American kids, Filipino kids never called their parents by their first names.
“I groaned awake. At first, I thought it was one of my friends who, for some reason, f