Ten Months Ago
Jake Mendoza stood in his room, reluctantly packing his things. He was entering his sophomore year in college, and he was actually dreading to go back to school. After the traumatic events the past year, he couldn’t bear to see the same people again.
“Your stuff isn’t going to pack itself, you know.” His mother said, leaning on the door frame. “We need to be at your dorm soon.”
“Tell me again why I have to go back to school, mom?” Jake asked, grudgingly placing a folded shirt inside his luggage. “I could always do home school.”
“And where do you think that’ll take you?” Mrs. Mendoza countered. “Besides, Mr. Santos promised to keep a closer eye on you, and you do have additional security. You’d go crazy being all alone here. You’re actually much safer in school, anyway.”
“How am I going to last the school year?” Jake half whispered. “I doubt they’ll even let me in the team again.”
“Well there are other things that you could preoccupy your time with. You’re smart, creative, I’m sure you’ll find other ways.” Mrs. Mendoza encouraged. “So, how about we finish packing so we can get Manong Gerry to carry these things to the car?”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Andi Galang marched through the halls of her dormitory, keys, phone and lease papers in one hand, her luggage in the other. She was taken aback when she found out that her dorm was co-ed – she just transferred from an all-girls exclusive Catholic college, and she was kind of still in that mentality.
“Ms. Galang!” Mr. Santos, the dormitory’s administrator called out from his office. “I forgot some other papers you need to sign. Drop by the office when you can, okay?”
“Sure, no problem, Mr. Santos.” Andi replied before entering the elevator. Her room was on the seventh floor, one of the few single rooms available. It’s not that she didn’t want to share, but given the situation that occurred in her old school, she couldn’t bear to share a room with anyone else.
Andi started unpacking, organizing her stuff around her small studio type room. She had initially thought that her dad would disapprove, but with the current circumstances, she was allowed to stay in a dorm, after her dad had a one on one talk with the dorm administrator. It was also a relief for her that all of her subjects had been credited – she wouldn’t have to retake her first year in College. That meant she had enough time to explore the school and catch up on the curriculum.
* * * * * * * * * *
Andi knocked lightly on the administration office’s door, pushing it open. Stumbling upon another meeting, she sheepishly excused herself and started to retreat back into the hallway. “So sorry. I’ll come back later.”
“It’s ok, Ms. Galang. We were just finishing.” Mr. Santos said, standing up. “Right, Mrs. Mendoza?”
“Oh yes.” Mrs. Mendoza agreed. “Best that I must get going. I still have a lot of patients to tend to.”
“I’m Andrea Galang, by the way. Andi to everyone else.” Andi offered her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Rosalie Mendoza.” Mrs. Mendoza accepted the proffered hand and shook it. “This is my son, Jake.” Jake merely nodded in greeting. “Well, we better get going. Jake here still has to unpack. It was nice meeting you, Andi.”
“Same here, Mrs. Mendoza.” Andi gave an easy smile. “See you around school, Jake.”
Jake merely nodded and went out of the room.
