A piece of the past…

They were having their lunch together, just the three of them, while listening to the school radio inside the classroom. They didn’t like spending lunch outside, especially the canteen unlike everybody else. George and Jackie always had packed lunches from their homes and they shared their food with Dannie most of the time.

Dannie knew her friends noticed the bruises all over her arms, George most especially because her friend’s jaw clenched every time her eyes hovered her arms. But since it was lunch time and it was one of the precious moments they could have for themselves without the presence of teachers or classmates, her two best friends chose to let it slide.

Their lunch hour was usually spent talking about fun things such as school gossips, most often involving teachers being too difficult and of course, the latest news on students. And at that time, the hottest news was about another girl from another class who tore another girl’s bag with a razor because of a guy and that guy was no other than Troy Brady.

Jackie’s ecstatic narration of the event immediately stopped when Troy came in all of a sudden with his two new friends, Miguel and Lee. They had unbuttoned their white uniform shirts, revealing their white plain shirts inside and the three of them were smiling as they approached.

“Hey, boys,” Troy greeted.

Jackie frowned. “Boys?”

“George, Jackie,” Troy said their names one by one, looking at each of Dannie’s friends with a wicked grin and then finally at her, “and Dannie. Your names sound manly so we decided to call you boys.”

“Yep. We just talked about it during lunch, actually,” explained Miguel.

“And we thought it would be cool to let you BOYS know before the whole school does.”

Jackie did not like the news because her nostrils were flaring with anger. She was too feminine to be called a boy. George just looked at the three guys standing before them with a bored look on her face. Dannie chose to stay silent.

“Hey, Danica,” Troy said, moving to stand before her.

“What?”

“Can I borrow your homework on Statistics?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I don’t do charity. Go away.” When she looked up at him, she caught his eyes studying her arms. “Go away, Brady.”

He blinked and his grin came back. “Sure. But we’ll be back. See you later, boys!”

“’Bye, boys!” Lee and Miguel echoed before they walked out the door to spend the remaining minutes of their break with other girls from neighboring classes.

PRESENT DAY

“Are you okay?”

It was Troy who dared to ask the question first. George and Jackie were looking at her with concern, ready to jump and catch her if she fell over her chair. Jordan and Dean were looked on without a clue of what just happened. Lee and Miguel were still guarding the door as if expecting the woman to return any moment.

“I’m fine,” Dannie finally managed to utter. She began to stand up and Tory immediately reached out to help her but stepped back when she shook her head. “I think I need to rest for a while.”

No one spoke even after she closed the door behind her.

*****

The woman was heavy around the hips and she walked with a limp. Her face appeared to be older than her age and had obviously been neglected for years, but there was no doubt that she was Dannie’s mother. Sorry for the word, but I wanted to kick the bitch when I realized who she was. She had been knocking on the apartment door, looking over her shoulder from time to time and when it finally opened and Dannie’s friends came into view, it was apparent that Dannie was not coming out to see her.

Why would she?

That woman should not be walking the streets of Bacolod at all! She should be rotting in prison where she belonged!

My anger slowly ebbed down because Tata and Vicky were there to talk to me until the lady was forced to walk away from the premises by George, Jackie, Miguel, Lee and Troy.

Tata was the first to ask who the woman was as she walked away with heavy steps. I decided to tell the vics the whole story of Dannie’s past because—well, no one outside the world of vehicles would really know I broke the code of silence.

Vicky and Tata almost emptied their gas tanks because they started crying. They were both angry and feeling sorry for Dannie baby.

As the evening went on, the tables turned and I ended up consoling them, telling them that Dannie baby was not hurting anymore—that she had been through all those things and survived. Because that was what she really was: a survivor.

*****

Dannie walked out of her bedroom and discovered that everyone was there, including Troy, Miguel, Lee, Jordan and Dean. But they all acted as if last night did not happen. If anything, Troy was the only one who looked a bit different because she would catch him looking at her over breakfast.

“Really, this place is cramped. Won’t the five of you go home?” George asked before she turned at Jordan to add, “It’s the bridal shower later so don’t look for me.”

“I didn’t know it’s today,” Dean asked, looking at Jackie.

“Why? Are you the bride? I didn’t know the men have a say on this,” Jackie shot back.

The men looked at each other strangely that Dannie, Jackie and George immediately picked up the meaning.

“You’re having the bachelor’s party tonight, aren’t you?” Jackie asked.

There was a moment of silence among the men before Dean finally answered with, “So? I didn’t know the women have a say on it.”

Jackie narrowed her eyes at him.

“Troy did the planning,” Jordan informed them with a smile of excitement.

George and Jackie snapped their heads toward Troy who was suddenly on his feet as he threw the remaining piece of his pandesal into his mouth. “I have to go.”

“Troy, what did you plan for the party?” Jackie demanded.

“That’s for the boys to know,” Dean told her with a wicked grin.

“Need to know stuff, Jackie,” Jordan added.

“Did you invite strippers or something?” Jackie asked Troy again.

“I really need to go now. I forgot my dad asked me to come by early today,” Troy said, not answering Jackie’s questions. He turned to Miguel and Lee and asked, “Aren’t you guys coming?”

The two immediately jumped off their seats but Jackie grabbed Miguel’s shirt, stopping him from the escape.

“Let go of me, Jackie,” Miguel begged.

“Tell me where the party is.” Jackie’s voice was full of warning. “I know the three of you are up to something.”

Dean and Jordan chuckled harder as Troy and Lee went back to pull Miguel out of Jackie’s grip.

“Let her go, Jackie,” the two of them said.

“Jackie, let him go,” Dean reinforced.

“Not until they tell me where the party is.”

“Why do you care? We didn’t ask where your party is, right?” Troy shot back.

“You won’t tell us because you are up to something!” Jackie almost growled.

“Jackie, let him go,” George said dryly.

“Aren’t you worried?”

“Of what?”

“That Jordan would end up in someone else’s bed or something? Like what happens in movies.”

“She’s not worried because she knows I will not do such a thing,” Jordan answered.

“Really? You expect us to believe that?” Jackie asked with horror. “I know you men are easily tempted with girls dancing in front of you with barely anything over their skin!”

“If I do that, I’d never wake up and find myself alive,” Jordan said matter-of-factly.

“Exactly,” George answered, nodding her head as if already thinking of a way to kill Jordan if he ever did such a thing.

“Let him go, Jackie,” Dean said, his voice more serious now.

His girlfriend must have noted the change in his tone and she finally let go of Miguel’s shirt and the guy ran to the door followed by Troy and Lee.

“I was just making fun of him,” Jackie told Dean.

“It appeared to me that you don’t trust me at all,” Dean nonchalantly uttered as he finished his breakfast.

“Come on, you know I trust you. You can go to that party and you won’t even receive a single text from me. Not a call. Not a single Facebook message—nothing. Because I trust you.”

Dannie found it hard to believe but she did not say a word. Now that everyone was slowly walking out the door to spend their day with their own work, she would be left on her own again.

Jordan and Dean left early to go home to change for work and the three of them got ready as well.

“Are you sure you are going to be alright? Be honest, Dannie. Tell us if you are really okay,” Jackie said, her voice almost pleading.

“I can take you to the HQ with me today,” George offered.

“I am fine. I will be going out anyway. Are the two of you ready? I’ll drive you to work. I will go back to church and follow up on some things for the wedding. Then I will go back to that flower shop. And the shower party venue should be checked first, right?”

Her friends looked at her warmly and finally nodded.

She’d be okay, she thought. She’d be out the whole day and she’d be very busy to even think about her mother.

*****

Thinking about the bridal shower was exciting for me. Last night seemed to be just a figment of the past—completely forgotten.

And now, it was time to party!

I spent the whole day with Dannie baby running errands for the bride and groom. I guess she was too busy to even think about her mother’s visit last night, whatever the lady’s agenda was. And I was glad that she could make herself forget last night’s events. I knew it might come back to haunt her in the future, but for now I wanted my baby to be just okay. It was Christmas season and she had to be okay.

We went to the church, the flower shop and finally at the Korean Grill Bar or KGB as how it was commonly called where Dannie managed to book half the place for the night. Though we didn’t know where the guys went, I was sure my boys would have one hell of a night tonight!

Despite me telling the whole truth last night, Tata didn’t tell where Troy planned to take the groom and his friends. If I could take back the stories I shared to them last night, I would. I would wipe their memories clean! I told them a big piece of Dannie’s past and they wouldn’t tell me where the boys were going for a stupid bachelor party? Really? As if I’d tell my boys, right?

But the bridal party still came to play and I was once again in the presence of a lot of colorful, shiny vics.

Oh, I would love to hear what Vicky had to say! And I will not say a thing! My headlights almost went crazy when the vics arrived one by one.

I immediately started talking to a shy wine-red sedan owned by one of the boys’ guests. The vic said it didn’t have a name because the owner didn’t really care for such things. After I had named Vicky, I never attempted naming another vehicle. Jordan later named her Victor which almost ruined my relationship with Vicky. She would still whine and cry about Jordan’s preferred name from time to time and I would be there to listen and bear the agony of naming her in the first place. So the wine-red sedan vic had to stay nameless until her owner decided to follow the trend and baptize her with one.

The night was starting to deepen and me and the other vics could hear the laughter from inside KGB. The place was hidden from public view by logs which served as a wall and we could only imagine what the inside looked like though I heard it was quite cozy.

The vics were starting to get tired of waiting for their owners and I eventually lost interest to any of them. I suddenly missed Tata and Vicky and even Beatle, that old car! Well, I was older by a few mileage but—never mind!

I thought I was hallucinating when I saw the shiny pick-up truck heading our way, blinding me with its headlights, but it turned out I was not. It was really Tata!

How did you guys find us?

She said Troy had been texting Dannie all night and finally succeeded in making her talk. And Troy was alone.

Why is he not with the other guys? Where are they?

My friend said they were still at the party, having a blast, but she wouldn’t say where or who the guys were with. She added it was for me to wonder about until the truth came out.

Why is he here? I asked her instead before my temper got a hold of me.

Tata said she didn’t know either so we’d find out soon.

Troy had already climbed out of her and was working on his phone with one eye closed.

He’s drunk, isn’t he?

Tata said he was only tipsy, but not drunk.

Yeah, right, whatever.

A few moments later, Dannie baby walked out of the wooden door of KGB in her simple outfit of pants, black shirt and flats.

“What are you doing here? Where’s Jordan and Dean?” she demanded from Troy as she crossed the small street toward us.

He’s drunk, Dannie! He’s drunk!

“Are you drunk?!” Dannie asked as she narrowed her eyes up at him.

Of course, he is, the idiot!

“I had a few drinks but I’m not drunk,” Troy said, his eyes looking at Dannie half-closed.

“Then why are you here? As far as I know you guys also have your party somewhere. Are you sure you’re not lost? You shouldn’t be driving at this state, Troy.”

I didn’t know but I knew something big was about to happen.

“I love you, Danica. I still do,” Troy said in a broken voice.