The Simple Things

by John Cabales

  “I’ll break my relationship with my girlfriends”.

  “I hope you do”

  “Yeah, I did”

  Everyone in the classroom became hush.

  In the middle of silence, Mr. Ross the school principal knocked on the door. I can see a strange girl in uniform. Her books are in her hands. Mrs. Nille excuse on us and left us a while as she talks to Mr. Ross.

  Mrs. Nilleget in with the girl. She’s beautiful and I’m not lying. But there’s something on this girl. She looks strange familiar into me. Really. Mrs. Nille introduced the girl in front of us.

  “Everyone I guess we have a new student. A transferee.”Said she.

  “Come on and introduce yourself.” Mrs. Nille Whispered on her.

  “Hi! I’m Yhanna Rose” Her lips is pink and now she’s having a dazzling smile. Her voice is sweet. Her eyes are gold as mine. And I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what adjective perfectly describes this girl. But I don’t like her anyway.

  “Hi Yhanna!” Everyone greeted her. I was losing my mind that moment.

  “Ms. Rose, you seat beside Mr. Coin.” Mrs. Nille Commanded.

  “But...” I quick object but Mrs. Nille Cut my words.

  “What Mr. Coin?”

  I can’t do anything else.

  “Nothing.” I breathe hard.

  Yhanna Rose sat beside me and gently smiles at me. I gave her a little smile, too.

  Chapter Three: RED PIECE OF PAPER

  Miss swift our P.E teacher entered the classroom. She has a blonde curly hair. Always wearing an eyeglass. She is the only P.E teacher in our school. She is beautiful and teenage guys adore her always. She’s not married. She doesn’t have any boyfriend. In other words a maiden.

  She sat on the teacher's table and laid her things on the top of the desk and say hello to us. She’s never been bad to us.

  “Hello everyone. How’s your Wednesday” she always starts her class asking us how’s our day.

  Everyone in the class say “Fine.”

  “We have our new lesson.” She said. She took a chalk from the drawer found under the teacher’s table and wrote on the board.

  DANCE.

  I feel the drop of my sweat, falling. I hate dance I hate it. Usually I’m not listening to the topics that I’m not interested.

  “Okay. Who can tell me the definition of “DANCE”?”

  No one raise their hands. Except for my seat mate Yhanna.

  “Yes Ms. Rose?”

  Yhanna stood silently and the small noise has been shattered and gone.

  “Dance… is a type of art that generally involves movement of the body.”

  “Very good Ms. Rose, you can have your seat.”

  Yhanna look at me for a seconds and I just turn my sight against her. I don’t like the moment our eyes met.

  Miss Swift wrote on the board again. And I know what that is different kinds of dance. Ballet taps, Rumba, Jazz, Jive, Lyrical, Lindy hop, Modern Polka, Tango Theater, Hip-Hop, Ballroom, African Folk, Contemporary Samba square, Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha-Cha, and Salsa.

  “Now, I want you to find a partner for this.”

  Oh? I knew what she talks about. We will be dancing. Oh lord! Help me! I don’t want to be involved in this.

  Please, let me out of it.

  For a moment, everyone’s busy for finding their partners. I am just sitting in my seat like there’s nothing. I don’t want to find a partner. I’m not joining, I’m not interested. But suddenly, I saw Yhanna in her seat just like me. Just sitting beside me like there’s nothing else happening around us.

  I can’t take my eyes of her. I don’t know why. A few minutes of staring at her, she caught my eye. And she gave me a little grin.

  “Partner?” She said. There’s no person.

  I realized for a moment in time Yhanna Rose is talking to me. And she wanted me to be her partner.

  “Sure” I said hushly.

  No! I should have said no. I am not interested for these dances to perform or anything. I didn’t know why that word splits out of my mouth. I think my tongue has a problem.

  “I think everyone has a partner.” Miss Swift said.

  I can see a small piece of papers in fold, papers in different colors.

  ”Every pair should pick up one.”

  We did.

  I let Yhanna Rose to pick up one. She chooses the red paper in fold. I don’t know why she chooses that color. Maybe it’s her favorite color.so Am I.

  “Now everyone let’s open it together!” she clapped her hands twice.

  When Yhanna opened it, I saw: BALLROOM. Printed in adobe Garamond Pro font I think.

  “You are required to perform what had you picked. You need to perform it well, perfect as you can!. Because I am not giving an examination anymore, this is now your exam I want you to perform it on Friday next week. So good luck.” Miss Swift quickly grabbed her things on the table and said her goodbye.

  Ballroom.

  I’d seen this dance already. Because Mammoo and Pammoo, my grandpa is dancing this in their anniversaries before Pammoo passed away. I know this dance but I am still not interested to it.

  FRIDAY

  After our class in the afternoon ends, Yhanna asked me when well lets practice our dance performance. It’s only seven days left before the performance. And I don’t care about it.

  “Uhhh… maybe tomorrow or Sunday I think” I said

  “Well, I think it’s better if we do practice now.”

  “No. I am busy by now. Tomorrow perhaps.”

  “Alright”

  “Ahmmmn… Where?” I asked her.

  “Maybe in the house if you don’t mind?”

  “Fine, no problem” I said with a smile.

  She gave me their home address and left me.

  “Take Care!” she said lastly and walked away.

  As I walk into my car I saw Francis.

  “Hey” he greeted me.

  “Hello!” I Said.

  “I think you are falling” He opened the door of my car and put his things inside.

  Falling?” I don’t know what he wants to emphasized.

  “Yeah” He said.

  We get inside of my car and suddenly before the engine are on. I knew what he meant.

  “No!” I said in my high gentle pitch voice.

  “Really huh? He laughed at me while I drive the car.

  “Yes!”

  I don’t know what kind of food did he ate on his launch. “Yhanna Rose is a beautiful. I know there’s a growing population of the senior boys in school adoring her. But she is not the one that I would fall. She’s not the kind of girl I want to say August”. He laughed at me “if you really don’t have feelings for Yhanna Rose you know how to prove it. “I know what my best friend mean. Like what I did to my girls. I will make her my girlfriend and then break her. In other words hurt her. I’m good at that, I think I was born to hurt every girls feelings. I was born to break their hearts. Because my mother also breaks me.

  It’s already 10 in the evening and I still cannot sleep. My ears hurt because of my headphones. Because of the rock music I’m playing, I think my window is still widely open. I can see the moon shinning bright and a moment later I saw Yhanna Rose in the moon. The beautiful YhannaRose, and I never knew that I already whispered her name over my pillow. Then I’ve hear a knocked on my door. I knew it’sMammoo.

  “August?” said she on the other side of the door.

  “Come in, Mammoo. The door is open”. I welcome her.

  Mammoo entered my room w/ a glass of milk. She sat on my bed.

 
“Why you’re still awake?” she asked.

  “Maybe I’m suffering insomnia”.

  “I’d brought you a glass of milk”. She put it on my table. Beside the dimming lampshade.

  “Thank you. How did you know that I’m still awake, Mammoo?” I asked her.

  “The music you’re playing over your headphones are too loud. It makes me feel like I’m suffering an insomnia too”

  “I’m sorry, Mammoo” I apologized to her.

  She turned her gaze over the lampshade. And I hear the word she whispered “BALLROOM”.

  She saw the red paper with signs of line folds near the side of the lampshade where she put the glass of milk, she handed the red piece of paper.

  “What’s this?” she asked me.

  “It’s our examination performance in P.E” I said.

  “Oh? I’m good at this. I can teach you”.

  “Mammoo…” I Muffled.

  “What?”

  I stayed in silence.

  “By the way who’s your partner?”

  “A transferee.” I rolled my eyes. She saw it.

  “Is she beautiful?”

  “Mammoo… please I want to sleep now I have a practice for that kind of dance tomorrow.”

  “Uhh… I think it’s a better idea if I will be your ballroom mentor, if you don’t mind.”

  “Ah…Maybe, I think next time!”

  SATURDAY

  After my lunch I drove to Yhanna’s house it’s not really far from the school. I parked my car into a space lot. Their house is not so big. It is only made up of wood. I found a garden in front of their house. I can smell the sweet scent of myrtles. I guess she loves myrtle. Then I’m in the door way, I knocked. A woman opened the door. I think she’s Yhanna’s mother. Like her, beautiful, she has a golden blonde hair her eyes are like mine and I feel something strange familiar.

  “You are August, right?” She asked me.

  “Oh Yeah. I am.”

  Just a few seconds Yhanna entered the conversation.

  “Hey! You’re here!” She said over me.

  “Mom, this is August. And August this is my mom Annie”

  Her mom gave me a smile. We shake hands together. And I feel a strange familiar feeling again. But I ignore it.

  Yhanna and I were sitting on their table. Annie served us a combination of strawberry and apple juice. I take a sip to taste what’s the flavor of the juice and to tell you, I liked it.

  “My father is working in the farm. He’s always home late at night” Yhanna Said.

  I don’t care.I think.

  Suddenly a kid appeared. He’s familiar to me I already saw him. But I don’t know where, Yhanna too.

  “This is my little brother Michael.” She said, but I don’t care. And I don’t want to know a lot of things. I am here to practice the ballroom dance. I think I am wasting my time with this girl.

  Chapter Four: GRATITUDE

  We had our first day of practice in Yhanna’s garden. Near the space lot where my car is parked. Different scents of flowers are all that breathe. I can see her mother looking on us.

  I am holding Yhanna’s warm hands. But she took it off quickly. And her arms are now hanging in my shoulder. While mine were on her hips. I feel this awkwardness to a girl I don’t like and I would not.

  “Why?” she said and looked at me.

  I feel some heat behind my ears. “What?”

  “Your checks were turning red”

  I feel so obvious. Really. Why I am red! “Ah..maybe because of the heat of the sun .”

  I shrugged.

  “I see.”

  Her eyes turned into a direction where her mother was standing. Looking on us and she turned back her sights on me again while me still dancing. In the middle of the garden.

  “I think you’re mom would like to help us about this thing” I caught the scent of myrtle. It’s sweet. She shook her head “She don’t dance” She whispered.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t find it interesting as you do.”

  We laughed for a moment.

  “Maybe someone should perfectly teach us about this.” She said when she already notices that we’re dancing the few steps again and again.

  In the back of my mind there’s only one person who know’s ballroom in heart. It’s Mammoo.

  SUNDAY

  In the morning, Yhanna and I went to church together. I don’t want to go to church but she pleased me and begged me. And I can’t tell a lie anymore. My tongue is tied up. Yhanna brought her little brother. Her mother got sick so she didn’t had herself with us to pray. After the mass I drove them home with my car. When we are arrived in their house she thanked me.

  “Thank you for driving us home, August.”

  She thanked me. Holding her little brother’s palm.

  “You’re welcome, Yhanna” I smile and I get inside the car. Micheal is already inside their house but she still remains standing watching me over through an open window of my car. I looked at her. I see her lips smiling.

  “I’ll pick you up in the afternoon for our practice” I said.

  “Okay. See you soon and take care!” she replied over the open window.

  When I open the door of our house I scented a sweet smell of chocolate cake. I went into the kitchen and saw Mammoo baking a chocolate cake. My mouth starts to salivated. And I feel hunger.