My heart was still hammering inside my chest; I kept on holding it as I went back to our classroom.

Some of my classmates continued on teasing me with Marvin as I return on my seat. They kept on asking me when will I date him.

My brain couldn’t process their inquiries because I was still astounded with my “close encounter” with Ervic a while ago.

I couldn’t deny it that beyond those mocking eyes were his penetrating gaze that made my both knees trembled. His orbs that were looking intently on my lips made my mouth dry.

Was that his way of attracting his girls? Well, I’ll make sure that I won’t be a victim of his trap. I’m pretty much wiser than his dumb girlfriends.

“Is Marvin started to text you?” Liza intrigued me. I got distracted from my trail of thoughts because of that.

“No he hasn’t. Maybe he’s busy at the moment.”

My lips slightly parted as I spotted Ervic entering our classroom. I casted a deep sigh as I diverted my attention to my three friends.

***

During our Filipino subject, our instructor grouped us with eight members each. Each group needed to present the assigned topic to our whole class for the rest of the semester. It will be graded based on how entertaining and how comprehensible our presentation would turn out.

We spent the remaining hours of the subject brainstorming about our group presentation. We formed our armchair into a circle. That’s when I realized that Ervic and Mariah were my group mates; we were group number two. I wandered my eyes around to search for my three friends. Liza and Geraldine were in the same group while Carol belonged to group number one.

“I nominate Anna to be our group leader!” said by Jim. We heard no contest with his suggestion from other member thus Anna started to discuss her plans.

“Since we are the second group to present, I suggested that we do our PowerPoint presentation this coming Saturday on our house. You can also bring your own laptop. It would be better if we can research altogether about the importance of communication in different engineering field.”

While Anna was busy discussing about our group’s plan, my eyes unintentionally shifted on the brute that was sitting opposite to my chair. I caught him staring at me. My heart kept drumming inside my rib cage. I didn’t know on how long he was looking at me. I started to recall my “close encounter” with him at the locker area. I just looked away to escape from his gaze.

After our class I ate snack at the cafeteria with my friends before I headed to the parking lot. I already informed our driver that we had an early dismissal. I sat on the nearby bench.

There were only few students that passed by on this area. I was only surrounded by empty cars and SUV.

The deafening silence in the atmosphere was broke by the giggles that I heard from the nearby car. I quickly stood up to see it.

The window of the black Toyota Vios car was opened. Soft murmurs coming from the passenger seat became clearer as I came near.

“E-Ervic you’re giving me hickeys!” I was astounded after I hear that statement following by continuous moans coming from a female voice.

“Aaah! Make it faster, we might get caught!” I halted on my step.

Good Lord! What I heard is enough! I didn’t need to witness it with my two eyes. I was one hundred percent sure that they were making out inside that car! I ran as far as I could to reach the farthest bench from their car.

I was catching my breath as I sit on the concrete bench. I’m not sure if Ervic was doing the deed with Jasmine. Given his reputation, that girl could be any of his girl toys on this campus.

Minutes passed, still Julio hadn’t arrived. I really wanted to go home to take a cold shower. My mind was still clouded by the scenes that might take place at the moment inside that Toyota Vios car.

I couldn’t believe that Ervic had the guts to do his sexual activities inside the school premises. Was he not afraid that they might get caught by school officials?

I thought I saw a ghost when I spotted Ervic walking briskly towards the gate of the parking lot. My hands trembled as I met his gaze.

I didn’t know why I’m the one who felt uncomfortable towards him. As if I was the one who make out with someone inside a car. He ran his finger on his messy hair. I also noticed his crumpled polo. I just shrugged and looked away upon seeing the evidence of his promiscuousness.

To made it more interesting, I saw Farah-the cheerleader of our school came out from that mysterious black car. I heard the locked signal from the car as she pushed the button on her car key.

It wasn’t surprising anymore to catch the two of them together. I knew that Ervic-the number one manwhore of this campus will not miss his chance to date the sexy cheerleader of this school.

The hem of Farah’s miniskirt danced as she walked confidently towards the gate. She held her head high as if she hadn’t done any illicit activities a while ago.

She brought up her hand mirror and pressed her lips tightly in front of it. She contoured her lipstick properly. Her brown hair with big curls bounced as she sashayed her way towards the school gymnasium.

***

Saturday approached as quickly as I could imagine. Some of my group mates agreed to meet me at the town’s plaza at one o’clock in the afternoon. We decided to use our car so we could go to Anna’s residence altogether.

“Wow! Your car is the latest model!” Jim uttered excitedly. I opened the door of the passenger seat for them. My other two classmates followed him inside. Our driver-Julio started the engine.

“Ervic said that he will be late because he has part time jobs on Saturday,” Zandra explained as she gazed on my direction.

“Lyn advised me that she will just head straight to Anna’s house.” I creased my forehead upon hearing Hazel’s statement.

“Who’s Lyn?” I asked innocently. Hazel made a short laugh.

“Oh, Mariah Whitney Celine Hilario!” she replied.

Everyone inside the car started to giggle.

“I thought her nickname is Whitney!” Jim said mockingly.

I bit my lower lip to prevent a smile. So her nickname was not Mariah! Okay, now I know that I should call her Lyn!

We arrived at Anna’s house at around quarter to two in the afternoon. Their front yard was wide. I saw ornamental plants like roses, bougainvillea and orchids on the garden nearby. Trees like mangoes, coconut, narra and acacia surrounded the area.

They have a two-storey house. The first floor was made of concrete while the second floor has a combination of wood, concrete and marble. I saw a car in a nearby garage. I could say that Anna’s family was well-off.

We started doing the presentation after all our group members had arrived. Hazel and Lyn made PowerPoint and illustration board presentation while our other group members do the research. Anna and I started to construct our presentation script on my laptop.

“Sorry I’m late!” I was distracted upon hearing his baritone voice. I looked at Ervic impassively. I tried to compose myself in order to avert my thought of him from that incident in the parking lot that happened two days ago.

“Excuse me Kat, can we show the script to Ervic?” Anna requested. I handed to her my laptop.

“Maybe you can add some lines to make the presentation more interesting!” she explained to him.

Ervic quickly nodded. I couldn’t help but to notice his damp hair. He wore plain white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His manly cologne attacked my nostrils as he sat on the stool chair beside me. I couldn’t deny it that he was handsome. It’s too bad that his attitude was the opposite of his good appearance.

“It’s good. Maybe you can add this dialogue at the middle part.” He pointed using his index finger the said line to Anna. They were both focusing on the screen of my laptop.

Hours passed, we decided to eat our snack before we continued on our presentation. Anna’s mother prepared hotdog sandwich, spaghetti and lemonade.

“We heard that your father’s latest project is the construction of a shopping mall on our town. Is that true Kat?” Jim asked eagerly.

I quickly nodded. “That’s what I heard. Since there is only one shopping mall on this province. My grandfather already approved the business permit of the said establishment.”

Everyone seemed delighted from what they learned except from Ervic. I creased my forehead as I focused on his serious gaze. He diverted his attention towards Anna’s father who asked about his father whereabouts

If my observations were accurate, Ervic seemed to change his mood when the topic concerns my family. As if he kept a deep-rooted anger towards “the Josons.” I really wanted to confront him about it but I didn’t have enough courage to do so.

After we ate our snacks we continued with our presentation.

“Do you want to visit our pineapple farm before we ate our dinner?” Anna asked our group after two hours of making the Powerpoint.

Everyone seemed delighted and agreed to her invitation. I think we also have pineapple farm on our hacienda but I didn’t want to spoil the fun our group. I gladly join them on their brief tour on the farm of Anna’s family.

We started to walk few meters away from Anna’s house. Hectares of rice fields and vegetable farms surrounded the area.

My Christian Loubotin pumps caught mud as I made few steps on the boarder of the rice field; it made me walk slower. I was the last on the line. All of my group mates were already near the nipa hut; it was few feet away from where I stood.

To make my situation worst, I slipped on the small pond nearby. My buttocks hit the pool of mud.

“Aah!” I screamed loudly. So loud that it could broke an eardrum. I caught everyone’s attention.

My dress was totally wet. It was soaked on tons of mud and dirt. I was about to ask help to my group mates when in one swift move, I felt an arm holding my waist. I could smell his familiar scent of manly cologne.

“You’re going to a farm and you wear high heels!” He uttered sarcastically as he shook his head.

Loud cheers suddenly erupted from our classmates.

“Woohoo!”

“You looked like newly wed!” they shouted excitedly. They were all looking amaze to me and Ervic.

I thought my face turned red as a ripe tomato.

“Put me down!”I yelled at him. A low chuckle rose from his throat.

“If I put you down you’ll slide again at the pond. You don’t have any slipper, it will take fifteen minutes before we arrive at the pineapple plantation,” he explained conscientiously. I kept on shaking my head.

We remained in silence as he brought me towards the direction of a nipa hut. I could thoroughly hear his heavy breathing. My heart started to beat erratically as he looked down on me.