Patrick woke up from the smell of pancakes. He saw me and Sam happily eating together, like we’re a newly wed couple.
“Hey, old lady, can I have some?” He asked.
“Go ahead.” I said. He pulled a chair and sat beside Sam, who was facing me. He got a pancake and flooded it with honey. As he munched on his food, he kept on looking at both of us.
“Did you guys kiss or something?” He frankly asked. How can he ask those embarrassing stuffs so easily?
Me and Sam didn’t say anything, we just blushed.
“Old lady, you have a hickey on your neck. It’s so clear. Someone might see it and misunderstand.” He laughed as he finished his pancake and went back to his room. “Thanks for the food.” He smiled.
“A hickey?!” I panicked. “What if my officemates sees me like this?” Patrick laughed, even harder. “Poor you.” I heard him say.
“Oh my. Sorry, Ella. I guess I was out of league.” Sam apologized.
I said its okay. I’ll just hide it with a scarf. I hurried and went in my room and showered. While I was taking a bath, Patrick confronted Sam. Of course I’m not aware of this.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED:
“Hey man. Are you old lady’s new boyfriend or something?” Patrick asked.
“Well, actually no but—“Before he was about to finish what he’s saying, Patrick continued his sentence for him.
“—you made out in the sofa, didn’t you?”
Sam froze. It made him remember what happened earlier. “Yeah. That’s what happened.“ He said, a bit embarrassed.
“Anyway, are you here to visit her or something?” Patrick asked as he sat beside Sam.
He nodded. “I’ve always wanted to see her.” He simply said.
“You’re her high school friend, right? Can you tell me more about her high school days?”
“Didn’t she tell you?”
Patrick shook his head.
“I guess she can’t. It’s a past she’s always wanted to forget.” Sam frowned. “I witnessed it all. It was the worst.”
So Sam narrated whatever happened to my high school days, “Ella has always been the most beautiful girl on the school. She had a long, silky black hair which everybody would fawn about. Her eyes were very mysterious as well, they’re misty blue and they really stand out. She has a tall and thin structure, but the weirdest part of all is that she never smiles. Of course she would smile at her classmates when they greet her, but she never gave a smile that came from the bottom of her heart. So basically, her smiles were fake.”
Patrick was listening very quietly as if he was imaging the details Sam has been giving him. “So how did it become so miserable?”
“Here,” Sam continued. “So since she was pretty and young at that and BTW she accelerated three times.” He smirked.
“Whoa, whatta smarty-pants!” Patrick interrupted. Okay Patrick I’m gonna kill you for calling me that. Argh!
“Anyway, everybody, no, every guy likes her. While every girl was jealous of her, they despise her. So you can’t really say that Ella has a gossip girl friend. She was always alone. She never had a group of friends. There was this gang of jealous, ugly-ditzy girls who always wanted to destroy Ella’s so-called ‘cool’ reputation. They always bully her when she’s in the bathroom or when she’s in a place wherein guys aren’t around.”
“That’s pretty cruel.” Patrick sighed. “Details, details, please.”
“Hmm..” Sam paused and thought for a while. “There was one time wherein Ella was in the bathroom, washing her hands. And then these girls went in and said many damn things about her and they got a hose and poured water all over Ella. Ella was powerless. She couldn’t fight back. She can’t go to class when she’s wet so she just went home and didn’t go to school for about a week. All those gang of girls were such bitches they kept on bullying her. There was also this time wherein Ella was framed as a sex-crazed maniac who goes to a hotel every night, which is totally not true. It was announced to the whole school, so everyone, even guys ignored her like she was invisible. Her image of becoming ‘cool’ was destroyed. Those girls already got their wish, but they’re still not satisfied, they continued bullying her.” Sam got his bag and out came my pictures when I was in highschool. I was in uniform. He showed them to Patrick. “Here.”
“Amazing!” Patrick gasped. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but she’s really pretty here with her long hair. Are you her stalker or something? How can you shoot all these photos unnoticeably?”
“Well, I’m an aspiring-photographer, you know?” Sam proudly said.
“Yeah, he’s a darn stalker-slash-photographer, I was annoyed with him back then,” And that’s where I entered the scene, in my bathrobe. “I heard everything.” I whispered.
“Sorry, Ella, it’s just that—“ I heard Sam say.
“I asked him to squeeze the details from your highschool days, I’ve always been bothered by it.” Patrick said, covering up for Sam’s big mouth.
“It’s fine.” I muttered. “You can tell him. I’ll just go to my room.” I quietly walked away and banged my door shut. I pushed my ear over the door to hear what they’re talking about.
“Argh! It’s all my fault.” Sam said.
“Don’t worry, she says its fine. I know its fine. She told us so.” Patrick convinced him. “Anyway, tell me more.”
“She really loved her hair back then.” Sam started narrating again. “Those bitchy girls I’m talking about, they asked her to cut her hair so she won’t stand out. Ella was shocked. She never wanted to stand-out, she doesn’t wanted to be bullied either. She just wants to be a normal high school student with a lot of friends. So she got a scissors and cut her hair, herself. After that, she ran away and cried. She has always wanted to grow her hair long and beautiful. But because she thought that having that kind of hair would make her stand out, she never grew it like before. It has always been short—until now.” Sam handed him the pictures. “Here are Ella’s highschool pictures. You can have it.” He smiled.
“I can hear her crying.” Patrick whispered. “She listening and she’s crying…”
How can Patrick know that I’m crying. I am crying. Really crying. Crying so hard that I can flood this room with my tears. And to think I was listening to their conversation as well. It was sad. Remembering all those times, I feel like dying. I know it’s history but when I think about it I feel scared as if I’m alone with no one by my side. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to end up being alone…
