Chapter 2

"Hell?" I asked. "Okay? I need more of that."

"Well, during my grade 7 year..."

Before he can continue, our classmates had entered the room causing him to stop mid-sentence.

"I'll tell you later." he whispered, not wanting anyone to see us talking.

"Alright." I replied

We didn't have much to do during class since it's the first day so the teacher decided to let us out early. As soon as he declared that, Zary quickly got up from his chair and walk towards the door. I quickly followed him which somehow shocked him. We can see that the people around the halls were talking about us. Zary speeded up his pace, I guess to protect me, but I just followed him. I smiled to assure him that I don't care about what those people think. I can hear their whispers questioning why I'm following him but I really don't care. Now I know that it wasn't just the class who hated him, even the people from other sections glared at him as if he was so sinful. 'What happened to you here?' I thought. As we made our way out of the campus, I can sense all eyes were on us. We walked home since the school was just a walking distance. From ours that is. I'm not sure if their house was the same as before but if it is, it'll just be a few blocks away from ours as I remembered. While walking, I decided to bring up that topic from earlier.

"So... aren't you going to tell me what happened?" I ask curiously.

"Later." he said dismissively.

"But our house is just around the corner." I reasoned out.

Instead of answering, he just showed me a chat from his messenger. It was from my mom, saying we're back and that he should come to our house. I thought for a moment. 'How did mom know what his social media account is?' When we got to our house, she was shock why I was with a boy. I explained to her that he's Zary. She embraced him as if finding a long lost son. I chuckled at the thought.

"You've grown a lot. How's your mother?" she asked.

Zary looked down. I was gonna askes him that too but I forgot.

"I messaged her earlier that you and her should come by." she continued.

"She... she's dead." he said as if not wanting to cry.

We were shocked about the news. My mother was sad to hear it. They were very close not to care for each other. They treated each other as sisters even though they weren't. She just smiled and hug Zary as if to assure him that everything will be alright and that she's there for him. She told us to go upstairs while she prepares the dinner. Before we can go up, I asked her about how she find his account considering we haven't contacted them for so long.. She showed me her messenger and all I can see are her messages to at least ten people with Zary's mother's name on it and about three people with the same name as Zary. Some of them replied with 'who are you?' or 'what are you talking about?' and mom replied with 'sorry I thought you were my friend' or something. Zary and I went upstairs like mom instructed. Ever since we were young, Zary had always been very obedient to my mother. I'm just glad that he didn't change that one side of him. We went to my room and sat on my bed. I opened my xbox and offer him the other controller while the others mine. We used to play like this with my nintendo. We played a few games before I asked him again.

"Will you believe me?" he asked before answering.

"Of course I will." I replied reassuring him and smiled.

Zary's POV

"It was during my 7th grade. I was part of the football team. I became the ace player in just two months, which made the upperclassmen mad. I mean, who would think someone younger than them would be in the starting and became the ace player. But they can't do anything about it at first. It wasn't for them to decide. I thought they were cool about it too. They always smile to me when we talk. But one da I heard them talking about me. About how I didn't deserve the role of being an ace player, and how they should have been picked. Moreover, the head cheerleader of the team suddenly got fond of me for whatever reason. She was the girl who approached me earlier. She clings to me as if we were close and that create a huge misunderstanding to the team. They thought I was flirting with her even though I wasn't. I haven't mentioned that she was one of the campus crush and all, and that the rest of the team really liked her. But I don't feel anything for her. I told her that and she went mad. She brought me to one of the hidden places in school. She tried to make me go naked but I refused to do so. Also, I'm not supposed to hurt a woman so I can't just shove her away. So she tear down her clothes and accused me of harrassing her, she said I attempted to **** her. Of course the whole school believed her because she was popular. The team took that opportunity to kick me out of the football team. But before that they beat me up and I can't go to school for a week. Because of my absence they spread a rumor of me not being in class because I was guilty of harrassing Jenny. My mom find out what happened and had a heart attack which leaded to her death. Since then, everyone hated me. They even blame me for my mother's death. I tried to kill myself but I just can't bring myself to do so. I had nothing else to do at that time. I lose to an accusation I never did. I decided to finish my study. That's why I still keep on going to school. My mother would want me too. She left me the house and some inheritance that I doubt I would last to if I haven't got my scholarship. I almost lost it before though, when the rumor reach the school admins. Good thing the dean was friends with my mother when she was alive and so she let me keep my scholarship. So... that was it. My life was a mess while you were gone, and I was pretty pathetic to trust them." I said.

"They were pretty awful too you too." she replied.

"You're the only one I talk to about this." I said.

"It's good to know you trust me." she smile wholeheartedly.

"Do you believe me?" I asked.

"I do. I've known you since before and you helped me a lot since we were kids. I know you are not capable of doing that."

She then hugged me tightly. 'I knew I can trust her' I thought. Five minutes later, her mom called us to have dinner. We descended from the stairs and sat on the dining table. Her mother cooked sinigang, I guess for me and It felt like I haven't tasted it in ages. I forgot I really haven't eaten one since 7th grade. I scooped some of the soup and shoved it in my mouth savouring its sourness. That's it, I can't stop the tears from falling from my eyes. I missed my mother so much, and this was her recipe. I remembered that when I was young, they used to share recipes for different kind of foods. It was their bonding. Tgis wqs tge exact taste of how she used to cook it. I missed her so much. Mysth wipe away my tears. She smiled at me saying it'll all be okay.

"I promised I will help you. I'll stick with you till the end." she said smiling at me. "But first, we're gonna let them have a taste of what they did to you."