THE CURSE

Chapter 1

I love you, baby."

Mama kissed me on the forehead before handing me my bag. I smiled sweetly at him before I finally walked out the door when I saw him across the street. I stopped on the first rung of our stairs when our eyes met.

"Good morning, Isha!" Mama greeted him. I blushed when he suddenly smiled and waved at us.

"Good morning, Auntie Lisa!"

He first looked to his left and right before he crossed to approach us. I immediately bowed before we even met. I just looked at the shoes he was wearing because, until now, I really have a hard time staring him in the eye.

"Is Seth going to school? We're together!" He said cheerfully while holding my hand.

My cheeks got even hotter because of what Isha did but I didn't moan. I really like it when he holds my hand. I just hope that next time I will be the first to hold his hand. I'm cooler then, aren't I? He’ll like me more because I’ve been cool!

I heard Mama's weak laugh maybe because she noticed my reaction. She knew I liked Isha because I told her. Mama doesn't want me to keep a secret, she said I wish I could tell someone else but nothing.

"Yes. Be careful," he replied.

I secretly looked at Isha. Our school uniform really suits him. Look at the softness of her shoulder -length hair and it looks like she didn't even notice the reduction in her bangs because it's hanging again.

He nodded enthusiastically to Mama as she turned to me. I bowed again but this time he touched both my cheeks to face our faces. I'm sure my ear is red now.

Isha fixed my tilted mirror then she stroked my hair. I am deafened by the excessive noise of my heart! Isha might hear it!

"Are you alright?"

He stared at me worriedly causing my heart to beat even faster. Mama laughed at me and pushed me closer to Isha. I kept looking at him but he just winked at me.

"You're late," he said.

"Ay!" Isha took my hand and politely bowed to mama. "We're leaving, Aunt Lisa."

He walked over to me first while holding my hand tightly. I just smiled as I looked behind him. Isha is taller than me so I feel safe every time I see her back.

I first met Isha when I was Grade-1. I don't know what Lola Carla, the owner of the house in front of us, is like, but she's lived with her ever since. Suddenly he came to our place in a white car and the first time I saw him I liked him.

Isha is easy to get along with so maybe it's her first time in class, she immediately became many friends. It’s not like I’ve been attending for two weeks, still nothing.

"Are you still ashamed of me until now?"

I stopped walking because he asked why he also stopped. He immediately turned to me so I quickly looked away. Even Isha's look was very beautiful to look at. No! Everything he does is so beautiful to watch!

"Seth ..." I swallowed when I felt him release my hand.

I'm embarrassed. We are in Grade-6 but until now I still find it difficult to get along with other people. What's even more embarrassing is that Isha came to me to be my friend, she's still having a hard time because of my shyness. I heard him sigh.

"You know Seth you have to fight your shyness. I'm just here, ok? Look at me closely until you're comfortable with me. Don't bow down because you can't really see me like that," he laughed softly at me.

I remained silent. I didn’t know what to tell him.

"I won't leave you, ok? I, Annaisha Rosales, promise to watch over Seth Carlos until he has other friends."

I will never forget the look on Isha's face when she said these words. He smiled at me and reflected in his eyes that he would really keep his promise.

After our conversation that day, I did my best for her. I tried to socialize with my classmates while Isha was by my side. Until I got to the point where I was the only one talking to them.

I thought he was right. I really need to fight my shyness because if I can't fight it, how can I tell him how I feel?

But things started to change when we entered high school. I don’t know where I went wrong. Where I was lacking. But I feel like he is avoiding me.

He still greets me when I precede him. And he still talks to me sometimes but differently, eh. I feel like one day I can't really approach him anymore. So I tried to reach out to her before the entrance started.

We took a different strand so we were farther away from each other. I don't want to lose our friendship because of this. Even I can no longer say how I feel to him. Even if we just stay as before. Even if it's just that. But it looks like Isha doesn't want to approach me anymore.

When we went to senior high, he kept me away and I couldn't even talk to him properly.

I'm really glad that the window of our room is facing the quadrangle. And many, many thanks to my adviser and he just let us decide where we would sit. You really fell from the sky, Mr. Santos.

In other classes, the setting arrangement is in alphabetical order. If that happened to us, my seat would be near the door because the letter C is the beginning of my last name. And because the hallway is in front of me, I can no longer follow Isha's gaze every time she enters and leaves the school. It's good and that's not what happened.

"You're a stalker, Seth."

I grabbed my chest in shock because of Clyde's sudden whisper in my ear. I looked at him sharply in the mirror I was wearing but he just laughed at me.

My seatmate Clyde has been with me for only a month and we met in the most unexpected way.

When the class started, I had only two goals and these were: 1) to study hard because I was only good at Math; 2) follow Isha's gaze until she notices me.

It's so simple what I want to happen, isn't it? But the difficulty is when the two don’t match. That's why when Mr. It was up to Santos to choose where we would sit, I immediately ran to the chair near the window and there I met Clyde. We were both held in the chair I chose.

To make the long story short, he just let me go because my face was pitiful. What he said was true. When I finally walked away from Isha last year, I went back to normal. Again I had a hard time saying what I wanted to say. So when Clyde and I met, I just bowed down.

I don't want to give up the chair I'm holding but I can't fight it. Fortunately, Clyde became my competitor here. He just sat next to me and let me sit near the window.

Since then we have become friends. Like Isha, Clyde is friendly unlike me. But he didn't make me feel awkward with him. So I told him why I really wanted to sit near the window. And when he heard about Isha, I was shocked when he said she know her.

Clyde sat in the chair opposite me and then handed me the yakult I had bought from him.

"Thank you."

"So have you seen Ai yet?" he asked once parting the curtain that covered the window on his side. I was sadly shaken while drinking my yakult.

Yesterday I still did not see him go to school. I didn't want to ask her classmates because they would surely tell Isha that someone was looking for her. When they told me, I didn’t want to see how Isha would react. The length of time since I last spoke to him. I may not be able to speak.

"I told you it's there now in the warehouse," Clyde said.

I turned to her, balancing what she said. But until now I really still don't want to believe what he says about Isha.

Clyde told me that Isha is a gamer. The username he uses is 'Ai' and he uses only one of the hardest heroes to use. How can I believe all this if I have never seen Isha play?

When we were in elementary school, he preferred to read story books and other books that would get his attention. If Clyde told me that Isha is in the library now, it would make more sense. But games? What kind of game did Isha play and did she have to miss class?

"Didn't you say he's your friend? Doesn't it seem like you don't know him?"

I was hurt by Clyde's question but I just didn't feel it.

Maybe Isha really became a friend when I was in elementary school. That's why what I know about him is what interests you from Grade-1 to Grade-6. When it came to high school, I no longer knew what he wanted because I even said, he was slowly avoiding me. What exactly does Isha want now?

"Ah, you're not really friends with Ai, noh," Clyde stared at me.

We're friends, aren't we? Wait, we became friends but not anymore. Maybe it's better to say the second one so as not to cause misunderstanding. Not only to me and Isha but also to her new friends.

"Oh, there's your Isha."

I looked in the direction of Clyde's eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the woman walking into the school gate. Sadly, his expression was not the same as before.

The cheerful Isha I had known is gone and has been replaced by the straight face Isha. I can no longer remember when I last saw him laugh.

"Sh-t."

Clyde touched me but my eyes remained on Isha. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him. I'm afraid it might be a long time before I see him again.

He suddenly stopped in the middle of the quadrangle and without warning looked up at me. My eyes widened as our eyes met. I automatically smiled at him, so thankful that he was finally able to look at me again as well. But instead of returning my smile, he just stared at me without emotion and continued his walk.

"That's Ai for you," Clyde slapped me on the arm while laughing out loud.

TO BE CONTINUED......