Chapter 2
I don’t know how the world expects me to go through Ma’s ting hun and then sit through chemistry class on a Wednesday morning.
After graduating summa cum laude from Ateneo, Achi was offered jobs at all the top companies in the country.
What did my sister decide? She chose to go back to high school and be the senior high guidance counselor.
It’s not enough that she monitors my every move at home—with her job, she can spy on me during school too!
She gave me an emergency key to her office during the times she’d have to stay late after dismissal so I can still be productive and catch up on homework.
I’d argue that this alternative to chem class also counts as being productive.
“This movie always makes me cry.” Kayla hugs the couch cushion tighter while the couple on-screen starts having a dramatic conversation in the rain.
“Ky, every movie makes you cry.”
You know what I love most about Kayla? She always supports me 100 percent.
Whenever I declare someone my new nemesis, I don’t even have to explain myself, they automatically become Kayla’s nemesis too.
She even did something that’s totally out of character and agreed to skip class with me, and it only took slight persuasion.
I mean, we’re nearly halfway through senior year and it’s just a few weeks until Christmas break.
Realistically, are we even capable of retaining information at this point?
What sold Kayla on my brilliant idea is my suggestion that we could use the projector in Achi’s office.
Kayla is obsessed with movies. Her lifelong goal is to watch every movie that’s ever been made.
She fell in love watching the actress Kathryn Bernardo when we were kids and has watched every movie of hers since.
Kathryn and her on-screen partner, Daniel Padilla, broke up years ago, but Kayla still hasn’t moved on.
“And what makes that sorry different from all your other sorrys before?” Kayla chokes up when she recites Kathryn’s line along with her.
While Kayla and Kathryn Bernardo are having a moment, I focus back on my achi’s evaluation reports. When I was setting up the projector, the midyear student evaluations for Ms. Jacqueline Ilagan were on her desk, ready for anyone to take them!
Every time I see a student score my sister with less than a five, I cross it out and circle the higher score she deserves.
Ms. Ilagan can be pretty intense.
Can’t believe Dani Bautista had the nerve to write this and rate Achi a two in classroom engagement. Maybe my sister would be more engaged if Dani wasn’t bothering her so much about whatever’s going on with student council.
I mimic Dani’s handwriting and improve on her comment.
Ms. Ilagan can be pretty intensely helpful!
“Nooooo!”
I look up to see a black screen and a code that it’s having trouble playing the current title. Kayla tries reloading the movie, but it keeps on flashing the same error message.
“Ugh.” Kayla slumps on the couch. “And they were on their way to getting back together.”
“They should’ve stayed broken up.”
Kayla gawks at me like I just slapped her in the face.
“Kathryn wasted so much time on the guy! She could’ve been a doctor already without her boyfriend getting in the way. It’s just like how Dr. Derrick keeps getting in the way of Ma’s life.”
“Auntie Beth wanted to be a doctor?”
“No … But she could’ve! Maybe she would’ve discovered more options without Dr. freaking Derrick.”
“True,” Kayla says, grumbling along with me. “Dr. freaking Derrick.”
Love it. One hundred percent support.
“What’re you busy with?” Kayla looks over at Achi’s desk and I cover the folder with my arm. Skipping class was already a stretch for Kayla’s conscience. She might spiral into an existential crisis if she becomes a witness to me forging evaluation forms (albeit, forging them for the better).
Thankfully, she gives me the easy way out. “Are those club registration forms?”
“Yes, yes they are,” I say, lying my butt off.
Kayla’s whole face lights up. “Which clubs are you signing up for?”
Another factor that bonds Kayla and me: I have no interest in joining any extracurricular activities, while her parents don’t let her join any extracurricular activities.
Auntie Grace and Uncle Walter are super religious and super active in their church.
Kayla once asked if she could join the school paper and Auntie Grace asked, “Isn’t it more important to spread the word of God? ”
“When Achi Jackie gave us that talk about how we only have a few months left to be involved in the Saint Agnes community, I started thinking,” Kayla says.
“As a student who’s been going here for twelve years, you’re already involved in the community.”
“It’s senior year and I don’t want to feel like I’ve missed out. There’s a chance my mom might allow me if we join together.”
I groan when I see how much this means to her. “Which club?”
Ever since Dani became student council president, our high school has exploded with the most random clubs.
Since her whole agenda has been getting everyone to “participate,” the apparent solution has been creating a club or organization for every possible niche interest. Saint Agnes now has a karaoke committee, manga appreciation organization, a Taylor Swift crochet club (the Swifties Who Crochet apparently have two-hour-long meetings discussing which stitch matches which Taylor Swift song).
“The prom committee is looking for people—”
“No,” I cut her off before she continues.
“If you’re in charge of music, then you get to dictate the playlist!”
“Ky, what are the things I’ll do before going to prom?”
She sighs. “You would rather get braces all over again.”
“And?”
“You would rather wear a bikini, take a bath in your own blood, then go swimming in a pool of sharks before setting foot inside prom.”
I smile. “Exactly.”
“Maybe I should listen to Ma and volunteer for the socials at church…”
My heart twists when I see Kayla’s face drop. “Hey, what if you start a movie club? I’d join that.”
Still doesn’t lighten up.
“Every meeting can be devoted to a movie and you explaining the lore behind Kathryn Bernardo.”
This makes her slightly intrigued.
“If you can get another movie to work, we still have time to watch the beginning.”
Kayla’s already scrolling through the movie catalog. To my misfortune, the only KathNiel title that plays is Pagpag: Nine Lives, otherwise known as Moseph King’s claim to fame.
Back when we were eight, Seph had a minuscule, teeny-weeny stint as a child actor.
Seph’s dad is an executive at a media company, and one of their film projects was scouting for a Chinese Filipino boy.
Long story short, Seph ended up booking the gig as a guest supporting actor for the horror movie Pagpag: Nine Lives.
The horrific part of it all? Some people actually treat Seph as if he is an artista, and he loves every minute of it.
But since I already rejected Kayla’s prom committee proposal, I’ve lost any right to reject her movie choice.
The movie opens with a girl walking into her boyfriend’s funeral. But once the boyfriend’s mom sees her, the mom kicks her out, blaming the girl for his death. Humiliated, the girl then runs straight home.
When the girl gets scolded by her roommate for wearing red and breaking superstitions, it reminds me of how Ma lectures me about stuff like pagpag.
Pagpag is this Filipino superstition that says you’re not supposed to go home immediately after a wake.
To prevent spirits from following you home, people are supposed to make a pit stop, like at a McDonald’s or a convenience store.
Maybe the goal is to bribe the spirits with chicken nuggets or pancakes so your house looks way less tempting.
Either way, I never really bought into the whole superstition.
Like all my mom’s sayings, I learned it’s easier to follow along and give up finding the logic in her beliefs.
“Oh no,” Kayla whispers, and grabs the cushion. “She didn’t pagpag.”
She covers her eyes when the eerie music starts to play.
Come on. Anyone can predict that a ghost is about to show up.
The door mysteriously creaks open, the girl slowly turns around, and a picture frame with her dead ex crashes to the floor. When she picks it up, his expression changes from smiling to glaring. It’s so obvious that …
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Kayla yells out when a corpse appears, and the school bell rings to signal the next period.
I quickly hit pause on Achi’s computer before more dead bodies appear on-screen and Kayla passes out. “Achi has office hours next period. She’s going to kill me if she finds out I sneaked in here again.”
While we’re busy covering up evidence, Kayla quizzes me on the whole history of the movie. “True or false. Pagpag was one of Kathryn’s first film projects. It is also one of the highest grossing Filipino horror films in history.”
This is how Kayla fangirls over things—she gives true-or-false quizzes.
“Could the first sentence be true and the second be false?” I clarify. “Or am I supposed to give one answer for both statements?”
She quizzes me more while I make sure all the evaluation papers are filed neatly in the folder I found them in.
“Later on, Kathryn’s character doesn’t pagpag, so another ghost named Roman ends up haunting her and her family. But the big twist is—it’s Roman’s wife who’s behind the whole thing! She made a deal with the devil so she can bring her dead husband back to life.”
Kayla suddenly yelps when the office window flies open.
“Relax, it’s the wind,” I tell her, and shut it closed. “Maybe we should stick to the romance movies instead of the horror ones.”
“You really don’t find any of that ghost stuff scary?”
I shrug. “It’s all fake.”
“Still. That doesn’t stop your mind from wondering about possibilities.”
“Guess my mind works differently.”
Before Kayla can grill me with more questions, I ask her to make sure the projector is off and the screen is rolled up.