“ How’s School, Danica? “ I was shocked when my dad asked that. My dad never really cared about my studies or me. “ It’s going good. “. He only cared for Janice, my older sister because she passed the bar and is now a lawyer. I don’t think he even recognizes me as his child.

He didn’t ask anything else about me and started asking my sister instead,  “ Excuse me “ I couldn’t stand hearing my dad praise my sister infront of me. My mom was always there for me but when she left us, everything changed, even I changed.

The next day, we had an activity at school and I was part of the people who needed to organize it. I was incharge of fixing the stand and gathering other students for the open forum part. When it was my turn to ask someone. " Hi! Are you willing you answer some questions for our proje- " I stopped when someone walked past by me. " Oh sorry, Excuse me. "

Was that really him? The guy I liked 3 years ago? I didn’t think much of it since I didn’t really see his face well. I continued to ask other people regarding the open forum and it went well. we got the highest score in our section. I started packing my things to go home when I suddenly saw him again, but now I saw his bare face. It was him. It’s Anthony. Why was he here? 

Our eyes met and he looked surprised to see me but didn’t seem to care, did he really care about me all those years? “ Danica!! “ I turned around and saw pat running towards me. “ Congrats on winning!!! Your booth was amazing, you should join again next time!! “ Patricia was always there for me since we were kids, she was like a sister I never had. 

Days, Weeks, and months has passed and I didn’t see him. He probably just visited our school or something since, his family is rich and could afford anything I couldn’t. “ Dani, we’re going to the beach, do you want to join? “ Angela really wanted me to come with them since it is her birthday and the beach sounded like a great place to relax. I didn’t even bother asking my parents if I could go because all they would say is “  Is that what you are doing now? You're always wandering around.  How's your studies going? " I couldn’t resist being with my friends, they felt like home to me and I couldn’t imagine my life without them. 

“ Happy birthday, Angela!! Please don’t leave me even if we’re 55, okay? “ We were all having fun and playing games until I saw him again. I didn’t know he was close with Angela since she has been my friend since high school and never mentioned him before. “ Why is he here? ” I couldn’t help but ask her. “ Oh Anthony? He’s my brother’s friend so I decided to invite him, why? Do you know each other? “ I froze when she asked that. I didn’t know what to say since she didn’t know anything about me and Anthony's’ past. “ No, just asking “

“ I’ll just get something to drink, don’t start any games without me! “ I excused myself to get something to drink since we’d been playing for hours now. I was about to get the water I saw on the counter when a hand suddenly touched mine. I looked up to see who it was. It was Anthony. “ Oh sorry “ Why was he being like this? Why was he acting so awkward around me? Did I do something wrong? “ Anthony “ I called out to him. “ Hm? “ His voice lit up when I mentioned his name. “ I haven’t seen you for awhile now, what’s up? “ I felt so awkward asking that. I just really wanted to know how he was doing.

“ I’m good, I saw you a couple times when I went to PSC, Are you studying there or what? “ So he did notice me, why didn’t he say hi? Was something or someone stopping him? “ Yea, I transferred last year. How about you? I saw you there months ago, what were you doing there? “ He looked at me confused and laughed. “ Wow you really don’t know? I’ve been studying at PSC for years now and you don’t know? I guess you forgot about me. “ I was confused when he said that. He’s been studying there for years? How come I never saw him? And what does he mean about ‘ forgot about me ‘ ? 

“ Wait, really?, I didn’t notice. What section are you anyways? “ He couldn’t answer because Angela and our other friends called us since we’ve been standing there for minutes. We started singing karaoke and dancing ‘till the sun settled. We started saying our goodbyes when Anthony came up to me and said “ Are you going home already? Do you want me to take you home? “ I wasn’t busy that night but declined his offer. I still felt awkward around him especially after what happened at the past.

I went to the nearest convenience store to buy some snacks because I was planning to stay at the beach and just wait until the sun rises. We had no classes tomorrow since it’s our semestrial break. I stayed at the shed near the sea and watched the sun rise. Every time I go to the beach during midnight, all I could do was cry and talk to myself for hours thinking where did I go wrong. Was it my fault my mom left us? Was it my fault my dad wasn’t recovering with the divorce? Was it my fault he left? All those came across my mind every night. Was I not enough for them? 

Weeks past after that incident and it was our Christmas party. We were setting our classroom up for fun activities to do with our other classmates and our teacher. I keep stealing glances at Anthony at the other room since our rooms were beside each other. I keep seeing him with I girl I think I saw before. She had brown silky hair, glasses, and she was about 5’6 in height. I wish I was that tall. We started taking pictures as a remembrance of this years Christmas party since we will not be seeing each other for a month.