“Whu-hu-hu-Who gave you my phone?” Kate repeated the question.
“Whu-hu-hu… Are you an owl?” her ma mocked. “Speak properly and clean up this mess. Don’t think for a minute that you can play hooky today. Now that you’re here, for once can you please make your bed and pick up these things? Honestly, how can you live like this? And how is it possible that all your stuff is on the floor!”
“Ma!” Kate cried out. “This is important! What did the boy look like?”
Her ma was a bit stunned by the urgency in her voice.
“Like I said, a good kid but not so neat. A bit of an average Juan. Definitely polite. Why? What does it matter? Is he your boyfriend. Huh? Huh?”
“Maybe,” Kate answered, then corrected herself: “No. I’m back to being single.”
“Is this the reason why you’re at home and not at school, Rapunzel Kate Lapuz?”
Kate didn’t answer.
{Here’s the nub,} Mrs. Lapuz thought to herself.
“You haven’t introduced your boyfriend to me yet and you’re already broken up?” Mrs. Lapuz said, sounding more sensitive and changing the topic. “Why, when I was your age I had long courtships and relationships before I ended one. And I had plenty of suitors, too. There was this one guy who…”
“Ma!” Kate whined. “I don’t wanna hear about your past relationships again. I just wanna think pa is your first and only love, OK?”
“Well, I gotta be honest that he wasn’t. I was popular,” her ma said. Then, seeing Kate’s half-disgusted expression, she said: “Oh all right! But honestly! Did I raise you in a barn? When was the last time you cleaned this room? There could be snakes crawling in –”
“Was he tangible?” Kate asked in a whisper.
“What?” Her ma heard the question perfectly but she just had to ask. She had known for a long time her daughter was sometimes weird, but it could be very taxing. And today was not a good day because earlier her husband had talked her into letting Kate be absent from school. She felt as though her daughter had pulled a fast one on her and her patience was wearing thin.
“Tangible,” Kate repeated. “Did you touch him?”
“OF COURSE NOT!” Mrs. Lapuz screamed. “Why should I? Do you want me to go to jail for child molestation or something? What’s gotten into you? Did you hear a word I said?”
Kate became tight-lipped. Her lips were literally a thin slit on her face, which was still as white as a sheet. Her eyes were saucer-wide as they took in the unholy vision of her resurrected phone. But her stomach spoke for her. To be precise, it growled.
“Harump!” her ma interjected. “At least your stomach has a brain. Get changed and have lunch with me. Your uniform’s four days early for school.”
Mrs. Lapuz left the room and stomped down the wooden stairs. Lunch sounded – and smelled – like a great idea. Kate thought she’d put off getting changed till after lunch. Partly it was because she was starving but mostly it was because her closet was at the head of the bed and near the ghost phone.
She slowly stood and walked to the door, not taking her big eyes off the gadget and making sure to give it the widest berth possible. In case it leapt up to her face or something. She already had one foot out the door when her phone beeped to notify her of one spam SMS.
Kate screamed and ran down the stairs.
****
After having lunch and taking a shower, Kate felt rejuvenated and was back to her sane, or at least reasonable, self. The first thing she did was boot up her laptop, which was blue and whose lid was smothered with puppy, volleyball and witty stickers. Before it, she had a clunky PC but she saved up working part-time at the diner where her ma also worked. Every day after school, for most of her junior high years, she bussed tables and washed dishes. She also bought portable Bluetooth speakers from CD-R King with her hard-earned moolah.
The second thing she did was start 7 Rings on Spotify before moving on to Fasebook, the most enduring socmed platform in the Philippines. She had a ton of PMs from Lor, Dion and the Bali Girls (which was what her besties called their small clique who had bonded over volleyball). She avoided these private messages because once seen, they couldn’t be unseen and, if left unanswered, tended to acquire the urgency of a live grenade, especially between couples and girls. She just had to content herself with looking at the notifications and previews while taking care not to click them. They were prolly all the same anyway, just asking how she was and were superfluous clones of the text messages on her phone.
Speaking of which, she had made peace with her back-from-beyond-the-grave phone. In fact, it was now getting charged on her bed after she had picked it up like a radioactive mutant fish.
Now that she thought about it, it was possible for someone to go down to the creek, get her phone and then deliver it to her ma. It would’ve been extremely hard but humanly possible. It was actually also incredibly sweet. But till she found out who her real-life guardian angel was, the act would just have to remain unsung and ghosty.
{It could either be Dion or Josh trying to win you back, her heart theorized. Those are the only guys who: A. Know who your mom is and where she works and B. Know your number and can ring your phone to know where you dumped it.}
{Seriously?} her brain said. {Just stick to what your good at, heart, and leave all the fact vs. opinion sorting to the pro. Dion I can understand but that jerk Josh is the reason that phone got thrown in the first place and why we’re in this gigantic mess. Stop defending him and putting a halo on his head. He’s never gonna change. Once a devil always a devil!}
{Look,} her heart said gently. {There’s no direct evidence that Josh was the guy Bernadette was macking out with on the call. For all we know, it could just be the Super Glue’s ploy to drive Kate and Josh farther apart.}
{God you’re stupid,} her brain said. {I told you from the start Josh’s no good for Kate. He’s nothing but trouble. A trash wannabe gangster.}
{No, he isn’t,} her heart said.
{Yes, he is.}
{Is not!}
{Is too!}
{Shut up, heart!} Kate screamed inwardly. Her heart sort of deflated while her brain blew a raspberry. {I followed you the last time and look where it got us. God, I just wanna reach twelfth grade and graduate without becoming a social pariah or effing up my future. Now I can’t even step out to the porch without feeling eyes on me. How do you suppose I’m gonna face everybody on Monday?}
Everybody literally meant the entire school. The problem was probably not as serious as she thought, but at the rate of how rumors spread in high school, Kate knew she wasn’t just being paranoid. She heard her speakers go blip blip buzz buzz and thought that her schoolmates’ phones were probably blasting away about her right that instant, but since she was the main topic she was out of the loop. She could almost feel the invisible transmissions zipping past over her head.
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When Kate was in junior high, grades 7 to 10 in the Philippines, students were divided into sections based on their academic performance. First, the sections borrowed the names of the planets in the solar system, then flowers, then chemical elements (or at least the most precious metals) and finally scientists. Luckily, Kate and her friends always managed to land the top sections. And so, she was in 7-Mercury, 8-Sampaguita, 9-Platinum and 10-Einstein. It was certainly debatable whether Mercury was better than Earth by being closer to the sun, or whether platinum was more precious than gold or palladium; to say nothing of there-is-no-disputing-tastes themes like flowers and Albert Einstein. But then again, the practice of dividing students based on anything would raise even more questions, so nobody asked how the school admin came up with the section names. Josh and his gang, who called themselves The Retaliators (original Filipino: Resbakers), mostly belonged to the same sections bac
Josh made many other confessions to Kate; about how he felt as an only child, just like Kate, and his mother being a caregiver in the UK like so many other Filipino professionals lured by greener pastures overseas and driven away by her mother country’s lack of opportunities. She would care for so many patients and children but not the one she missed the most: her own child. She dreamed of someday bringing Josh to the UK on a residence card but with the UK leaving the EU and protectionist politics creeping in, that dream was taking longer and becoming more remote. This explained why Josh never lacked money or material things. He was practically loaded and had the best imported sneakers and comic books shipped on his birthdays. He could afford to eat at restaurants every day, which he did because his father was usually too wasted to look after him. Apparently, the LDR with his wife had driven Mr. Guerrero to loneliness, the bottle and into the arms of a different woman each night. It
Kate had been to the new building’s rooftop only twice. The second and last time was during the incident with the nerd. Kate was talking to Dion Agustin about the prom posters when it happened. In the Philippines, prom was usually scheduled on Valentine’s Day itself. CITS’ theme that year was “Timeless”; a product of Dion’s imaginative genius. The decorations were futuristic and involved giant papier-mache robots, gadgets and Dr. Who’s police box in the middle of the gym. They also planned to put up laser lights and special effect smoke. Kate thought the whole concept was original and that Dion had such good taste. Dion Agustin was the exact opposite of Josh Guerrero. He was the School Council president and all-around CITS golden boy. He always donned his trademark plastic-frame glasses and perfect Edward Cullen hairdo and was impeccably dressed. Although all guys were required to wear the same short-sleeved white button-down shirt and navy blue trousers (P.E. polo shirt and joggin
“This doesn’t concern you, Kate,” Josh growled. “Turn around and head back where you came from. You didn’t see nothing.” “Yeah, run on back, Little Miss Sunshine! This ain’t your world,” George sneered. Kate had no idea where he got the moniker or if he came up with it just then. The nickname terrified Kate because it gave her a glimpse of their true opinion of her. It also felt like the group consensus; that she was someone who was whittling away Josh’s resolve. It was a sick kind of jealousy between romance and brotherhood, which were the two futures Josh was torn between. Still, George’s and Luke’s leers terrified her more. It was as though they could probe through her school uniform, all the way to her soul. Kate was so scared she almost did back up. A glance in the nerd’s direction and the pleading expression behind the thick glasses froze her to the spot. The gaze said: Don’t leave me. So Kate held her ground. She literally stomped her school shoes and held her head higher. S
Kate would’ve brought her blue laptop to her bed and surfed the Net on her tummy till her elbows went numb. But this wasn’t one of those days when she’d be in the mood to swing her legs up behind her while listening to the beats. No, today was a time to be somber and reserved. Like when taking an exam whose questions were the exact opposite of what she had studied. So Kate continued to sit at her study table and stare at the laptop screen. She had decided she wasn’t going to think of anything remotely connected to Josh or boys in general. Maybe just check her email or look at some cute puppy pics. Kate had asked her ma plenty of times about keeping a dog but Mrs. Lapuz wouldn’t budge because, in her own words: “Puppies and dogs are two very different things. If you only love the puppy and not the dog, then you’re not ready to own either. Besides, I know I’ll end up taking care of it, not you. So, no.” Speaking of, her ma had already gone to the diner. She had the dinner shift but she
Kate thought the most interesting and touching part of Dion’s email was the fact that, for the first time ever, Dion had communicated with a personal tone. For the entire year they had worked together, often for long hours after school, he had never once sounded to her like anything except a very polite person. Kate just thought he was a genius because he would give her advice about high school and talk to her about cutting-edge gadgets and research that he had read about on the web. He treated her like a younger sister – at least that was how it felt. Whenever he asked her if she was hungry or tired, she had never made anything out of it other than the concern of an older brother. But now that she thought about it, she had probably been too focused on Josh that she failed to notice the times when Dion was actually being tender. Like that one time before she and Josh got together, Kate caught a cold and was sniffing and miserable in first period. When Dion found out, he bought all the
Kate scrolled down to the screenshots below the app description and swiped her thumb to the left. The screenshots featured the same soft artwork and oil pastel colors: a park, a beach, sample chat exchanges, the guy’s bedroom, his wardrobe and a chart of various emoticons. The screenshots announced: | Create your very own customizable boyfriend! Enabled with empathic AI, Your Dream Boyfriend will listen intuitively to you! Travel around the world with him! Purchase upgrades for your stylish boyfriend makeover! | The most suspicious thing was the fact that there were no ratings yet. It just said “Unreleased. This app is in development. It may be unstable.” Kate read the maker’s name: Oishii Des Co. Ltd. {Sounds Japanese,} she thought. It appeared the same company was responsible for creating other apps such as the Personal Companion and Basic Counsellor, which both looked legit. Kate clicked the READ MORE link below the brief description. | Chat with him anytime anywhere.
Over on Lor’s end, Kate could hear a constant background noise of auto rickshaws honking, dogs barking and kids shouting on the street. She imagined Lor could hear the same from her end. But at least Kate didn’t have younger siblings who fought all the time and were as loud as stray cats in heat. Those were the worst (the cats), screaming like Dragon Ball martial artists and running on rooftops in the dead of night. Lor screamed with the scandalous voice of a fish market vendor: “Leonard! Lisbeth! SHUT UP!” Then, Lor’s youngest sister, a 1.5-year-old named Lily, opened the bedroom door and toddled into view. “Awww,” Kate gushed. “Lily’s so cute! I just wanna pinch those rosy cheeks!” “I know, right?” Lor said as she picked up her sister and bounced her on her lap. Lily cooed and laughed and tried to reach Kate through the screen. “I wish teens like us retained their kissability and huggability from childhood.” “What do you mean? You’re still kissable and huggable.” “Oh yeah