CHAPTER 14

It was cramped the next morning when Robert woke up. It was still dark outside. He couldn't get much sleep. His friends decided to stay over and all six of them now scattered in his room. He opened his eyes and groaned, his legs feeling sore. He tried to rise up but Matt's leg lay across his chest. He pushed it aside and turned to his left. He was face to face with a snoring Kenny. He couldn't move his legs too for Mic lay sprawled on top of it. Robert grumbled and went back to sleep instead.

Back in the Bartholomew residence, Angela is currently having breakfast. She wanted to go next door as early as possible, but she and her sisters had to go to church first. It was almost 6 in the morning and they were getting ready to leave. She slumped into the car and frowned. Her father was still away in a business trip in Davao.

"So what else is new?"

Two hours later, Angela left the house wearing plain clothes. She brought a can of paint and went to the house next door. She was about to ring the doorbell when she noticed a tall boy standing in a corner, trying to look inside.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing there?" she called out to the queer boy. The boy jumped and turned around to look at her. It was that tall kid who showed up the other day when Robert and her got into a fight. The one she hit with the tin can. "What are you-"

Before Angela could finish, the boy suddenly bolted out of sight.

"What's his problem?" she asked herself. She placed the paint bucket down and rubbed her hands together. It was beginning to get heavy. She then rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door.

It was opened awhile later by tita Glo. She was wearing a suit and looked like in a hurry.

"Come on in." she said, motioning her to enter the house, "I'm afraid the office just called me up," she continued excitedly, "we have this new client who just came in from Paris, he wants to meet me in person, said he loved my designs!"

"Really, tita?" asked Angela just as excited, "That's great! You may even get to go to France!"

"I know, honey, it's a dream of mine to visit that place one day!" she was beaming. She poured some coffee in a mug and handed it to Angela. "Here, drink up, I'll go wake Robert and the others..."

With that, she rushed up the stairs and banged at his son's door before opening it. "Ei, Obet, time to get up!" she called. "Same with you guys! C'mon, get-up, get-up, get-up!!!"

Angela could hear mumbled complains as the boys were rudely awakened from their slumber. One by one they came downstairs, rubbing their eyes and scratching their heads. Ken was the first to reach the kitchen and was about to pour himself some coffee when he saw Angela. His hands stopped in mid air.

"Wha-!" he said.

"G'morning, Ange..." said Mic, stiffling a yawn, "You're here early."

"Yeah, got to paint the room today." she replied. Ken backed away and ran up stairs.

He went back inside Robert's room and saw him in the bathroom brushing his teeth.

"She's early." he said, "She saw me looking like this!" he bumped Robert aside and looked at himself in the mirror, then washed his face.

"Ey mob ober..." said Robert with a brush in his mouth.

"Why is she here so early anyway?" said the other, ignoring him, "I've never let a woman see me so early in the morning, I'm afraid they might fall head over heals in love with me when they see me so refreshed..." he heard something snap and saw Robert dumping his toothbrush in the trash can.

"I'll pretend not to hear that." he said, spitting. "...this early in the morning..."

When they went down, the others were already having breakfast. They were sitting around Angela, asking her questions, each holding a mug of coffee.

"12 sisters?" said Matt, "And here I thought that the 9 of us was too much!"

"He's got 8 sisters you know." said Mic.

"Sometimes we wonder about him..." said Jon.

"Ei, we're 7 in the family, I've got 4 other siblings, 3 older brothers and 1 younger sister." said Ricky, "but she's such a brat, I'd like to kill her one of these days!"

"Yeah, take it from the guy with a sister complex!" said Danny.

"He saw his sister playing with a boy once and almost scared the poor kid to death!" said Mic laughing.

"And his sister's only 5 years old!" said Matt.

"Hey guys any coffee left?" said Robert, joining them. Behind him, Ken is still busy fixing his hair.

"Here," said Danny, handing him a mug, "your mom just left, said you get to cook us some breakfast."

"Yeah, she told me 'bout it." he replied.

"Robert here's good at cooking." Matt told Angela.

"Yeah, almost as good as tita Glo." said Mic.

"Well, for bottomless pits like you, anything will taste good." replied Robert smiling. He opened the fridge, taking out some eggs and a pack of hotdogs.

"Hey, let me help you out with that." said Danny, standing up from the table. Angela watched as the two went to the kitchen together.

"Those two are always together, you know." said Ken beside her. Angela looked at him. He gave her a dashing smile. "They've been friends since kindergarten."

"Yeah, 'coz Danny's an only child, and Robert looks after him." said Matt.

"Robert looks after Danny?" asked Angela, "Looks like it's the other way around."

"Oh that was after the accident." said Jon absentmindedly.

"Accident?" she asked again, "What happened?" The rest looked at each other, uncertain.

"Obet... lost his sister." Ricky finally said.

"Half sister." corrected Mic.

"He nearly killed himself." said Matt.

"Hey that's enough!" said Ricky, silencing the others.

"Anyway, he's back to normal now." Ken assured her, still smiling, "Nothing to worry about."

"Is that so...?" Angela asked thoughtfully, "When did that happen?"

"Few months ago..." said Ricky.

"Yeah, he took his mom's sleeping pills and..." said Mic

"Ei, what you people talkin' bout." said Danny. They didn't notice him standing behind them.

"Nothing, nothing!" said Ricky with a laugh, "Just trying to know Angela better, right Ange?"

"Ah, right!" the other replied.

"So he did try to kill himself..." she thought as Danny went back to the kitchen, "and his sister... is she the girl in the photograph?" Angela remembered the day Robert went to the clinic.

"She was someone very special to me..." that's what he said.

"Okay, food's ready." said Robert, entering the dining room. Angela jumped at the sound of his voice. She took a piece of bread and nibbled at it, watching as the others fought for their share. She looked at Robert, so happy with his friends around him.

"Doesn't look suicidal to me." she found herself thinking, "A wimp maybe, but not suicidal."

After breakfast, the boys went straight to the pool carrying mops and buckets of water. There was a thick layer of scum on the pool's bottom making it slippery. They were determined to clean it out. Danny rolled up the legs of the jeans he wore and called to the others.

"Oookay, Mic, Matt, you two at the deeper end," said Danny, "Jon, Kenny, on the other, Ricky and I will clean the sides."

"What about me?" asked Robert.

"You go up stairs and help Ange in that room." said his friend, "You don't expect her to paint the whole room by herself, do you?"

"But she said she wanted to paint the room by herself." he argued, "Said something about it being personal."

"Just go there and help her out." replied the other, "Remember what happened before with that box?" Robert looked at him with a frown.

"Okay, okay..." he said, giving up. "Just call me if you guys need anything."

With that, Robert went up the balcony, leaving his friends in the pool.

"Ei Danny!" called Ken, "Hurry up and help us here!"

"Coming!" the other called back. He watched as Robert entered the room then went to the pool to help the rest.

"What are you doing here?" asked Angela. She didn't notice him enter the room since she was busy placing old newspaper on the floor to keep the paint from dripping. It wasn't until she turned around that she noticed him watching her from a corner.

"Decided to help you." he said smiling. He approached her and took some newspaper, squatting by her side to spread it.

"I'm okay here, get out and help your friends in the pool" said the other.

"They're too crowded there." said Robert, "I'd rather help you out."

Angela was quiet. She rather hoped Robert would help her, though she was too proud to admit it to herself.

"Okay..." she said after spreading her last newspaper. "You stay here and finish with the newspaper, I'll go get the rest of the paint back home..."

"Paint?" asked Robert looking up at her. "Let me help you."

"It's okay, I can do it..." Angela stepped out of the room. Robert followed her. "I said I could do it on my own."

"Yeah, right, like that box yesterday?" he said with a chuckle. Angela punched him and missed. Robert laughed as the two of them went down stairs.

"Come in! Come in!" said Ria opening the door. "It is so good to see you again, Robert!"

"Thanks ate..."

"Ria!"

"Right, ate Ria!" said Robert.

"Dad home yet?" asked Angela.

"No, I'm afraid not." replied her sister. "Are you planning to sneak a boy in?" Ria said, laughing mischievously.

"Of course not!" snapped Angela. "C'mon, Robert, don't mind her."

They went behind the house. There was a shed by the far wall and there was where they were headed. The shed was full of different tools and old cans of paint stacked in a high cabinet against the wall. Angela looked at the shelf and took two cans down.

"Here," she said, handing them to Robert, "take these first, I'll take the rest."

"Will you really be needing this much?" he asked.

"Just want to see how the different colors would blend with each other." she replied. She looked at the top of the shelf and frowned. The blue paint she wanted was out of reach. She looked around for something to step on and couldn't find any. She looked at the shelf and decided to climb it instead.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" asked Robert, placing the paint buckets down.

"Don't worry, I do this all the time." the other replied.

"Get down, you might fall and hurt yourself!" said Robert approaching her. Angela looked down at him annoyed.

"I said I'll be fine!" There was a loud snap. Angela looked at the shelf she was holding on to, it was giving way to her weight. "Now look what you've..."

The shelf fell, together with the 2 paint buckets placed on top of it. Angela slipped. She tried to jump down, she have done this before. Her father always told her to stop climbing the cabinets in the tool shed but it was too bothering to look for a ladder. Before she fell on the ground though, she felt Robert catch her in his arm. She looked at him, surprised as he looked back at her frowning. He held her with his left arm, while the other held the two buckets back from falling.

"I told you to get down!" he said still frowning. "You really are such a stubborn girl!"

Angela blushed. She felt her heart racing. She struggled out of his arms and pushed him back. "Well who asked you anyway?" she said, her temper rising. "I could have gotten the buckets down before the shelf broke if you didn't bother me in the first place!" she snapped.

"Well excuse me for worrying 'bout you!" Robert snapped back, "If you weren't such a clumsy oaf I wouldn't even be here!"

"Look who's talking? If I remember correctly, it was you who was looking for a 'scarecrow' to keep the bullies away! And now you're worried about me?!"

"Fine then, go ahead and get yourself killed! Who cares about a crazy sadistic kid like you in the first place?!"

Robert glared at Angela. He was so angry he wanted to pound something to a pulp. If he stayed like this, he didn't know what he might say to the crazy girl before him. He took his arm away from the shelf and was about to go out when one of the paint buckets fell on his head. The red paint poured down on him, covering his head completely.

"Please tell me this is paint." he said after a short silence.

Angela looked at him, dumbfounded. "It's... paint..." she answered back and started to laugh.

"What?" said Robert a little annoyed, "What's so funny?" Angela couldn't speak, she was laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry..." she finally said between gasps, "really, you don't need to worry about me, I've been like this all my life." she continued as she sobered down, "this is how I've been raised up, you know." Angels took a piece of rag from a pile of clothing and handed it to Robert. "Sorry 'bout the paint too." she said.

"Yeah, what ever..." replied the other, smiling in spite of himself. "C'mon, I'll wash myself back home. You got all the paint you need?"

"Yeah, guess so..." Angela said after looking at the mess on the floor. "C'mon, we've still got a room to paint."

The two went back next-door after showing Ria the mess. She called the houseboy and told them to run along. Matt was in the kitchen when they got back. He was fixing himself a sandwich from the food left over from breakfast.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked when he saw his friend. He dropped his sandwich and went to Robert with a worried expression in his face.

"Paint bucket fell on my head." the other replied with a laugh.

"Looks more like you took a dunk in one." Matt was laughing now.

"So how's the pool?" said Robert, changing the subject.

"Still at it. That scum's real tough to remove you know." said Matt, "But I think we'd get it out by lunch time. So you better prepare us a big feast!"

"Okay, right after I get this paint off." said Robert with a laugh.

"See you lunch time then!" with that, Matt left through the back door and headed for the pool.

Robert went up to the spare room and saw Angela. She was already in the room on her hands and knees in front of the paint buckets, busily mixing the paint.

"Hey, I'll just go clean up." he told her.

"Um." replied the other without looking up.

Robert went to his room, took some clean clothes and went to the bathroom to clean himself.