Overlooking

“Okay…kita kits nalang tayo bukas! Be here at school 2:00 pm okay? Don’t be late!”

My batchmates dispersed, all carrying their white togas and discussing their plans tomorrow. I watched them with a smile on my face.

“O, ano, di ka pa ba uuwi?” someone asked me.

“Punta muna tayo sa rooftop…di pa ko nakakapunta dun.” I said.

“Ha? Ba’t naman ngayon mo pa naisipan yan?”

“Wala lang…sige na…malapit naman na graduation eh.”

In the end, my friends agreed, and we asked permission from our advisers, who were packing things up. Then we went up, carrying our things and chatting animatedly. Well, actually, they were talking, while I remained a bit silent.

We reached the rooftop, and we laid our things on some clean tables that were there. We all leaned by the side, facing the busy street, facing the sunset.

“Grabe…bukas na.”

“Oo nga eh…”

I listened to them, while I gazed off into the horizon. It was like a dream — a dream that has now come true. I remember waking up on the first day of prep, then commenting, “Siguro panaginip ko lang na papasok na uli ako…magigising din ako uli, bakasyon pa.”

Now I’m here. The end of my high school life. Four years of being here, four years of being together with my friends. Four years of generally being labelled as “high school”. It was four years of bliss, four years of fun. Now we’re at the end.

Unbelievable.

I looked up and closed my eyes, listening to my friends’ voices as they talked. I felt the wind whip my face gently, and then I opened my eyes and saw the sun set slowly. Memories flashed in my mind. The Ibong Adarna stageplay. The Florante at Laura film. The Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo stageplays. The debate. The prom. The retreat. The Intrams. The bivouac. The CAT graduation. The times we stayed at our house to do projects or just to hang out. The food trippings. The times we just laughed ourselves silly. The lessons. The teachers. Even the fights and the simple moodiness I get.

It’s just so unreal.

I realized that my friends had gone quiet. They were looking at the same direction I was looking to. They were all looking at the sunset.

“Mga tsong, graduate na tayo…”

Then we started to cry. Actually, I don’t know who started the crying, but all of a sudden, we were all crying and hugging each other like we’ll never see each other again.

“Tawagan tayo ha…”

“Walang limutan…”

“Grabe, mamimiss ko kayo!”

“Uy uy! Bukas pa graduation!” I said, laughing a bit as I wiped the tears. “Bukas na tayo mag-iyakan!”

“Eto naman o…panira ng moment.”

“Hindi…bukas na lang tayo mag-iyakan! Aga pa eh. High school pa rin tayo ngayon. May gabi pa tayo hanggang bukas.” I said.

“Oo nga…” one of them said.

“O ano…tama na!” I said, nudging one of them jokingly. “‘Li na kayo…baba na tayo. Kain tayo ng itlog ng pogi.” I added with a smile.

“Kaw talaga o!” Then we all hugged each other and made our way downstairs.

But before I descended, I looked one more time at the sun setting over the horizon at the rooftop. It’ll be a while since I’ll be seeing that here.

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