Dara’s POV

I sighed heavily while standing in front of the class, waiting for the professor to finish telling the tragic tale of Bridge Rose University’s abrupt closure which is the reason why a block of transfer students are here in InterSAT.

It is quite obvious that nobody is listening to him since the entire class is busily gawking at me as if they’re expecting me to burst into a holy light and possibly cure all sickness. I have an idea why they’re acting this way – Jiro.

Gangs? I didn’t know Jiro is in a gang until today when I overheard the other students talking about it. Well, I don’t know a lot about him in the first place because he seldom tells me anything. And I don’t have the right to ask since he’s not my boyfriend nor my relative. He’s just...err…someone whom my deceased father helped one rainy night years ago and someone who promised my father that he will protect me. Why he made that stupid promise and why he’s taking it seriously is beyond me. He once said that he owes a lot to my father; he did not elaborate after that. All I know is that ever since my dad passed away a year ago, Jiro has been constantly checking on me and has been a regular visitor in my house – sitting on my balcony silently while smoking a cigarette.

Perhaps he’s just sympathizing with me since we’re both orphans... I don’t know. Producing fire by the power of my mind is probably easier than understanding the elusive Jiro Montecillo. One would expect that the two of us should be good friends by now but unfortunately, we’re not. I tried to befriend him, and I’m still trying, but he’s just too detached with everyone.

“Miss Ramirez?”

“Huh?” I turned around at the source of the voice and saw the professor looking at me quizzically.

“Please introduce yourself”, he said. The noise inside the classroom increased in volume as my classmates began yelling their questions at me simultaneously. Questions about my relationship with Jiro. Is he that famous in InterSAT?

“Hello”, I started and cleared my throat. “I’m Dara Ramirez.”

***

As soon as the class bell rang, Dara bolted out of the room to avoid the bazillion of questions being thrown at her by her classmates. Everyone is still curious as to who she is because of what Jiro did a while ago. She was walking along the hallway looking for her next class when someone suddenly draped an arm on her shoulder, startling her.

“HELLO!!!!” Dara whipped her head sideward and saw a girl with long straight hair and with a playful smile.

“I’m Namee Cheng, a Creative Writing and Literature student just like you! We have almost the same classes so you’ll be seeing a lot of me”, she beamed at her, her cheeks pushing up and her tiny eyes squinting.

“Hi”, Dara said timidly and smiled back. “Uhm, I’m looking for the Audio Visual Room for my next class, Social Studies.”

“The class is canceled so just follow me.”

“Where are we going?” Dara asked while frowning. Namee is dragging her towards the dark corner of the hallway and she is fairly certain that her body will never be found after she kills her there.

“An InterSAT student needs to know all the gangs in school”, Namee replied simply.

***

DARA’s POV

I can feel the mother of all headaches threatening to split my skull open as I try to understand the quantum physics behind InterSAT gangs. Namee is making it sound like we have the entire underground society here in our school and Jiro is the strongest of them all. ‘Feared by thousands, respected by many.’ I mean, seriously? This entire thing just shoots up to a whole new level of crazy.

“The three prominent gangs are the Fire 39, The Claws, and Black Dragons. Jiro Montecillo is the head of the Black Dragons”, she looked at me and continued, “You have just been protected by the leader of the strongest gang in InterSAT, Dara. Even I am curious why.”

“Why is the school turning a blind eye on all these gangs?” I hastily asked to divert the topic.

“Have you seen the professors here? Do you think they can do anything?” She said. I remembered the professor in our class a while ago who looks like his bones will break if somebody sneezes at him.

“Besides, they can’t turn away students because the school needs the money. I mean, look at what happened to your school”, she continued. True.

Namee continued with her InterSAT Gangs 101 lesson as we roam around. “Gangs have their allotted ‘hang out’ place or ‘turf’. You should never cross their turf unless you know someone there or else, who knows what might happen.”

Wow. They have ‘turfs’. This madness knows no bounds. The thing that will make this insanity complete is the presence of fangirls.

“…and yes, the gangsters have a line of girls waiting for their attention”, Namee remarked knowingly while smiling at me. “Be very careful. Your boyfriend has the most number of fangirls.”

“Jiro’s not my boyfriend!” I exclaimed quite loudly. There was a sudden silence within the vicinity, making my skin crawl. I heard murmurs around us as the students began gossiping about what I said. I looked at Namee helplessly but she just chuckled at my mortified face. Gah! Namee!

“Let’s go. It’s almost time for our next class”, she said and dragged me away.

***

“That’s the girl.”

“So, is she his girlfriend?”

“No. Relative, perhaps?”

“Ice Lord does not have any relatives…”

“Who is she?”

Dara kept her head down as she hurriedly exited the college building. Fortunately, her classes are over and it’s finally time to go home. The entire day has been very tiring for her. Never did she imagine that her association with Jiro will catapult her to such fame. And what’s with the nickname – Ice Lord? The heck.

“Look, Ice Lord’s waiting at the gate! Did anyone cross Black Dragons? Is he going to beat someone?”

“Whoah! I’m excited! Whenever Jiro’s fighting, it’s like watching a movie!”

“Maybe Jiro’s waiting for me! Kyahh!!”

“Move away, bitch. Jiro’s mine!”

“What the…What the hell did you say?!”

“He threw his cigarette! I think the person he’s waiting for is already h-… wait, isn’t that the transferee?”

Dara lifted her gaze and saw Jiro leaning on the school gate, seemingly waiting for someone. When their eyes met, Jiro straightened up but did not even acknowledge her. He then averted his gaze and draped his bag lazily over his shoulder.

‘He’s not waiting for me, is he?’ Dara thought. She doesn’t know whether she should stop and greet him or whether she should just walk ahead. But when she was a few strides away from him, Jiro turned his back so she opted to continue walking and head home.

Dara let out a heavy sigh while watching her feet take every step. Aside from the fact that InterSAT is the nearest school to her place, she chose to transfer there because…well, because Jiro is there. Her mother died when she was young and when her father passed away a year ago, Jiro is the only one beside her when she was almost crumbling. Jiro is her strength and her safe place.

But their relationship is really vague. She remembers the first time they met. It was a rainy night years ago and her father brought home a wounded boy. There were bruises all over his body and her dad instructed her to tend his wounds. She did and as she was taking care of him, the boy was just blankly staring at her. He did not utter a single word. His stare was making her conscious but she just smiled at him.

That was not the last time she saw her, though. Her father helped him in getting a part-time job at the hardware store and Jiro would sometimes drop by their house and have a talk with her dad while drinking beer at the front lawn. But he never made any effort to befriend her. He’s just civil to her. Plus, he’s always calling her by her surname.

After Dara’s father passed away, he still regularly visits her but their relationship is still as distant as before.

Dara let out another heavy sigh while walking with her head hanging low. Her mind was filled with so many thoughts that she didn’t notice the light pole directly in front of her. She shrieked in fright when someone yanked her backpack, preventing her from hitting the pole. Dara glanced back and was surprised to see Jiro.

“Watch where you’re heading, Ramirez”, Jiro said flatly.

“Are you dropping by my house? I thought you were waiting for someon-“

“Keep walking. I’ll be behind you”, he muttered. Dara shut her mouth and complied. Jiro is always like that. Whenever she tries to engage him in a friendly chit-chat, he’ll just instantly dismiss it. But since she has no one to talk to, Dara continued talking while Jiro is slowly walking behind her.

“…and then Namee told me that InterSAT has three prominent gangs. I didn’t know you were the leader of the strongest gang. Seriously, other students are talking about me wherever I go because they thought you’re my boyfriend-…uh... I mean…” Dara stole a glance behind her to look at his reaction but Jiro’s impassive expression did not even change.

“Tell them you’re just a kid I have to protect because I owe a lot to your father”, he said.

“Oh. Okay”, she mumbled. A kid he has to protect? Somehow, his words bring a bitter taste to her tongue.

Writer's Note:

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huntress