Shooting Stars Excerpt

Excerpt from Chapter 7. Contains Tagalog words, loose translation can be found in the footnotes.

“Who are you and why are you calling me?” Hope wondered out loud as she reached for her phone. When she read the name that was flashing on the LCD screen, all the thoughts ran out of her mind and she just stared at it.

It was, obviously, Paul.

What the…why is he calling me? Why doesn’t he just text? She thought frantically. The butterflies that always accompanied thoughts of Paul were back and were throwing another party in her stomach. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was past ten already, which gave her even more thoughts. Why call at this time? What does he want to talk about? Maybe it’s just for an assignment? But that’s impossible! I mean, we’re not classmates in any subjects! Maybe he’s calling because he has nothing to do…but WHY ME?!

Hope jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up and saw Jane, who was staring at her in a weird way. “Uh…aren’t you going to answer that?” She pointed to her cellphone. It’s been ringing for like, two minutes, already.”

“Oh…” Hope said, looking at her phone again and snapping out of her thoughts. She pressed the send button and put the phone next to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hey Hope,” Paul said. Before she could say anything, he talked again. “Am I disturbing you or something? Ang tagal mo kasi sagutin yung phone eh.¹”

“Oh…sorry,” Hope said. She groped for the quickest excuse she could give. “The phone was in our bedroom, that’s why I didn’t get to answer it immediately.”

Jane, who was settling down on the seat across Hope on the table, gave her a look and said, “Yeah right!” Hope smiled at her roommate and put a finger on her lips.

“I see,” Paul said on the other line.

“Wait a sec,” Hope said. “I’ll just go out to the balcony, the signal’s clearer there.”

“Okay.”

She stood up and walked to the balcony, opening the lights on the way out. Czarina glanced at her curiously then looked at Jane, who shrugged. Hope waved at the two of them, signaling them to not pay attention to her. She closed the balcony door and sat on one of the chairs.

“So what’s up?” Hope asked. She was kind of nervous in talking to him on the phone because she wasn’t a phone person. She has the uncanny phobia in having phone conversations. She’d rather text and chat than talk.

“Not much,” Paul said. “We didn’t see each other today.”

“Yeah, we didn’t,” Hope said, then realizing how flirty that comment seemed to sound, she added, “I spent the afternoon in the condo, sleeping.”

“I see,” Paul said.

“O, bakit ka tumawag?²” Hope asked.

“Wala lang…³”

“Wala lang pala eh,” Hope said mockingly. “Mag-aaral na lang ako kung wala lang pala.”((Oh, it’s nothing then? I shall just go back to studying if it’s nothing.))

“Ah…nag-aaral ka pala…sige, sa sususnod na lang tayo mag-usap,⁴” Paul said.

“Ha? Hindi, joke lang yun,⁵” Hope said quickly, wondering if Paul was actually serious with what he said.

“Ano ba inaaral mo?⁶” he asked, and Hope was silently relieved that he wasn’t serious.

“Religion,” she replied, watching the lights flicker across the city. She hesitated, and then added, “About Matrimony. Kasal, in other words. Symbolisms and such.”

“Ahh…madali lang yun,” Paul said. “Tapos na kami dyan eh.”⁷

“I see,” Hope answered. “Sino ba prof mo dyan?⁸”

“Si De Leon.”

“Hindi ko siya kilala. Kay Fr. Villareal kami eh.⁹ He’s the one who conducts the morning masses in the chapel.”

“Ah, you attend mass?” Paul said. Hope said yes, and he replied, “Banal mo talaga.¹⁰”

“Hindi noh, whenever I can make it lang. The morning mass is too early.” Hope said. She was starting to feel comfortable in the conversation. She leaned back in her chair as a light breeze made the lanterns sway gently. “Why, do you consider it holy already when you go to mass? Don’t you go to mass as well?”

“Yeah I do,” Paul said. “But you do not only go to mass regularly, but you are also active in your youth group. You’re like, up there.” Hope couldn’t see him, but she could swear that he’s pointing up to the heavens.

“No I’m not,” Hope argued.

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, this is so childish,” Hope said, stopping their mock-argument with a laugh. Paul joined her in laughing. Suddenly, it occurred to Hope that they were talking to each other over a cellphone. “Hey, isn’t this quite expensive? Hindi ka ba mauubusan ng load?¹¹”

“No, it’s okay,” Paul said. “Okay lang sa akin.”

“Promise? If you want I’ll be the one to call you instead, just so we’re quits.” Hope offered, but Paul declined again.

“Trust me, it’s okay.”

“Talaga ha?¹²” It was actually flattering that he was calling from a cellphone, when they could have just…well, since they have no landline at the dorm, they could have just sent text messages to each other instead.

“Promise,” Paul assured. He paused, and Hope heard him talk to someone else. Then he said, “Uy look! Did you see that?”

“What? What am I supposed to see? How can I see that when we’re not in the same place?” Hope asked.

“The shooting star! Didn’t you see it?” Paul asked excitedly.

“I didn’t,” Hope said, disappointed. “Darn, I have never seen a shooting star in my entire life!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! And trivia! When I was young, my friends and I used to wait for the first star every afternoon - around five to six - so we could make a wish. Sometimes, our parents would call us inside na, but we won’t go in until we see the star. Kaya noon, sobrang uso yung Star Light, Star Bright na poem.¹³”

“So what do you usually wish for?”

“Uh…ano ba? What I can remember is that I wished that I dreamed of Cinderella.” Hope laughed.

“Cinderella? Bakit yun?¹⁴” Paul asked, confused.

“I don’t know. Hey, I was just a kid then,” Hope said defensively. “Hmmm…I realized that I haven’t been looking for the first star anymore. That’s why I want to see a shooting star…diba sabi nila when you see one make a wish? I want to try that. Loser ba?”

“No. But wait, what’s the difference?”

“Wala lang. It’s the probability of seeing a shooting star is like, less than seeing the first star. I mean, I could always wait for the first star, but the shooting star is once in a while.” Hope said. “Teka, did you make a wish?”

“Ay oo nga ano,¹⁵” Paul said. “Wait.” A while later, he said, “Done.”

“You’re so lucky,” Hope said wistfully.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I wished for?” Paul asked.

“Hello?” Hope said. “Why should I? It won’t come true if you tell me. Eto talaga parang hindi naging bata.¹⁶”

Paul laughed. “Sorry ha. Ngayon ko lang nalaman eh.¹⁷”

“Baduy mo! Haha…Okay lang,¹⁸” Hope said.

“Pero eto, I’ll just make a wish for you,” Paul said. “I wish that you see a shooting star of your own.”

Hope could feel her heart melting in spite of herself. That’s really…well, nice. She didn’t want to use the word sweet, even if it is sweet of him to do what he just did. She just did not want to say that. It was nice of a friend to do that. A friend.

“Hello, Hope? Are you still there?”

“Huh? Yeah, I am,” Hope said. “I’m touched with your wish. I’d make a wish for you, but there’s no shooting star over here.” Paul chuckled.

“It’s okay,” Paul said. “Hey, what time is your class tomorrow?”

“My first class is at nine,” Hope replied. “Philippine Tourism. By the way, you are going to the trip right?”

“Yeah,” Paul said. Hope broke out grinning. She could not stop it and she was thankful that Paul wasn’t there to see her. Though she would not admit it to herself, she knew her sudden excitement was about being able to hang out with Paul for the whole length of the trip, which was one week.

“Cool! I just paid earlier. Lhye made me pay immediately, because she thought I might forget.” She smiled as she remembered what she and her friends did earlier.

“I see. Sige, it’s getting late already,” Paul said. Hope glanced at her watch and saw that it was almost midnight. So we talked for two hours? “Baka hindi ka pa magising. See you tomorrow na lang.¹⁹”

“Oo nga ano, late na,²⁰” Hope said, trying to ignore the sudden disappointment she felt. “Okay…see you.”

“You want me to wake you up?”

“Uh…nah,” Hope said, her heart fluttering ever so slightly. Though the idea appealed to her, she told herself that she did not want to. “I have three roommates to do that for me.”

“Okay,” Paul said. “Sige, good night.”

“It was nice talking to you. Good night too.”

“Bye.”

1. You took a long time before you answered the phone [«]
2. Why are you calling? [«]
3. Nothing… [«]
4. Oh, you’re studying? Let’s talk later if that’s the case. [«]
5. Huh? No, it’s just a joke. [«]
6. What are you studying? [«]
7. Ah, that’s easy. We finished discussing that already. [«]
8. Who’s your prof in that subject? [«]
9. I don’t know him. Our professor is Fr. Villareal. [«]
10. You’re such a holy person. [«]
11. Aren’t you going to run out of credits? [«]
12. Are you really sure? [«]
13. That’s why we all like the Star Light, Star Bright poem. [«]
14. Cinderella? Why? [«]
15. Oh yeah. [«]
16. It’s like you were never a kid. [«]
17. Sorry. I only knew about it now. [«]
18. You’re so out of it. Haha, it’s okay. [«]
19. You might not wake up on time tomorrow. I’ll see you. [«]
20. Oh yeah, it’s late. [«]

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