Zipping my bag close, I was finally done packing my stuff for the weekend at home. I've recently learned that Olympian High students could arrange a weekend break out of the campus to meet with their families every month. For me though, I had to wait for a couple more weeks until my excuse slip was approved by the principal's secretary.

"So what time are you going to get here?" Ben asked on the other side of the phone.

"Well, um, I'm packing my stuff right now," I answered. "Maybe I'll get to the museum in a couple of hours."

"That's great!" Ben said. "Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up? The museum's pretty far from school."

"Yeah," I said. "I've read that the school will provide the transportation and stuff, so it's fine."

"Okay, then. Take care."

"Bye."

As soon as I ended the call, I tucked my phone inside one of my bag's outer pockets.

At the other side of the room, Athena was hastily packing up a knapsack with clothes and other stuff without breaking a sweat. She got rid of her cast a few days ago and she was already using it like it didn't just get fractured.

Out of curiosity, I questioned her about it when she was in a decent mood a while back, to which she replied, "It's none of your business.".

So much for me trying to be casual to my roommate.

"What's with the rush?" I asked, attempting to strike a conversation.

Fortunately, this time she bothered to say, "We're going somewhere important."

"Oh," I paused. "So, like, you, your brothers, and your mom will go?"

She didn't look up as she continued putting things in her pack. "No, it's just me and my brothers. We have a. . . field trip of sorts that our mother arranges for us."

"That's nice," I said. "So where do you go on this field trip?"

Athena shrugged. "The location changes every month." She glanced up at the analog clock in our room. "The car should arrive any minute."

Placing her bag on her shoulder, she headed to the door.

I tilted my head. "So soon?"

She turned around. "It's always like that. Mother informing us at the last minute and all," she grumbled, then smiled a little. "Anyway, enjoy your weekend."

I smiled back. "Yeah, you too."

She absently nodded and went out in a hurry, leaving the door wide open on her wake.

I carried my backpack and took a deep breath. "Time for me to go too."

Exiting the dorms a minute later, I took my sweet time walking to the school gate, passing by some students. Several moments later, I saw the huge metal gates looming in the distance.

As I walked closer, the ground changed from brick and concrete to stone and gravel. I spotted Pierre staring at the gates. Hearing the gravel crunch beneath my feet, Pierre slowly turned around and met my gaze. He had a twinkle in his eyes, and his lips were curled into a soft smile.

"Hey, Amelia," he greeted.

"Hi."

Pierre glanced at the bag I was carrying. "I guess you're gonna go home for the weekend too."

I nodded. "I wouldn't miss the chance to get out of the school."

"Me too," he said. "So when will your parents arrive to take you?"

I raised a brow. "What? What do you mean?"

"You know, like, your parent or someone you know is coming to get you," he said slowly. "In my case, my mom will get here soon. Though the time totally depends on how fast she drives. And she loves driving past the speed limit."

"Wait, what?" I gaped at him. "You mean the school doesn't have a bus or something to bring us to our houses?"

Pierre laughed. "Unfortunately, that's a no. Why would you think that?"

I felt heat rushing to my cheeks. "I-I swear I read it in the pamphlet."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's not the case," he said.

Oh great. This is just so embarrassing. I shouldn't have rushed on reading the damn pamphlet earlier.

"Me and my mom can give you a lift if you want," Pierre suggested.

I shook my head. "No, no. It's okay, I'm just gonna call Ben to come."

"Hey, it's fine," he insisted. "It won't be a big deal for either of us."

"A-Are you sure?" I asked. "I really don't want to be a bother. . ."

"I'm sure, sure." He took out a slip from his pocket. "Let's get our slips signed first while we wait."

We both headed to the guardhouse which was located beside the gates. There, a lone guard was engrossed in a basketball match played on his tiny phone while munching on a bag of chips.

Pierre knocked lightly on the house's window. The guard didn't look up, his attention still focused on the game. He didn't hear us, so Pierre knocked again, this time harder. It finally made the guard look up. Grumbling, he paused the video and slid the window open.

"What do you want?" he said, his gaze uninterested.

"Could you sign our slips, please?" Pierre and I showed our slips to him. "We're both leaving soon."

"Fine," her rumbled. He snatched the slips from our grasps and signed on them hastily with a pen from his table. The guard soon handed the slips back, not before giving us a weird look. He then took out a set of keys from his pocket and went out to unlock the gates.

As he slowly heaved one of the gates open, we saw a car approaching a few miles away from the horizon. And it was coming in hot.

The car was advancing at a high speed, a trail of dust and wind tailing behind it. It was so fast that the loud roaring of its engine reached from where we were standing.

I looked at Pierre with disbelief etched all over my face. "Is that your mom?" I pointed at the incoming car, which was already halfway here.

He sighed loudly. "Yeah, that's definitely her. She used to participate in races when she was younger."

"That sounds cool."

The car skidded to a halt a few feet away from the gates and from us, leaving rubber marks on the road. The door of the driver's seat swung open, revealing a petite lady with long jet-black hair and brown skin.

The woman spread her arms wide. "Pierre! I missed you!"

Smiling wide, Pierre jogged towards her and hugged his mother tightly. "I missed you too, Ma," he said. "How are you?"

She patted him on his back, her eyes closed and her lips smiling. "I'm fine, anak," she replied. "How about you?"

I was still standing in front of the gates when they let go of their embrace and started talking to each other. I smiled. They looked very sweet, with Pierre grinning at his mother who was barraging him with questions nonstop.

After a few minutes, I saw Pierre's mom point at me and asked something to her son, probably about me. Pierre glanced at me and said something to her. She nodded and gestured him to do something. Pierre smiled and walked back in my direction.

"Sorry for the wait, Amelia. My mom can be chatty sometimes."

"Nah, it's fine. You two deserve to have time," I said. "I also didn't want to disturb you both."

"You waited long enough. Now come on, I'll introduce you to her." He took my hand and pulled me to his mother.

"Hello there!" she greeted in a chirpy voice. "Kumusta ka, anak? Anong pangalan mo?"

I blinked, unfamiliar with the phrase she just spoke, but smiled warmly at her contagious energy.

"Ma, you know she doesn't understand Tagalog!" Pierre said, chuckling. "Anyway, this girl here is my friend Amelia. Amelia, this is my mom Maria."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Collins." I offered my hand for her to shake, but she suddenly hugged me and started kissing me on my cheeks.

I felt very shocked by her sudden and strange act, but at the same time, I felt a bit amused.

Is she always like this? Because I think I want his mom to hug me forever.

When she finally let go, she gazed at me in concern. "I'm very sorry, anak. I got carried away. Are you okay?"

I let out a small laugh. "I'm fine, Mrs. Coll—"

"It's Ms. Salvador, anak, but just call me Maria," she interrupted.

"Okay, Maria."

"Yes, that will make me happy!" She clapped her hands. "Now let's get going!"

It was already afternoon when we got into the city.

There, we were met by towering buildings, bustling shops, people walking on the sidewalk, noisy construction sites, and the worst of them all, traffic.

The car barely moved when we hit the congested highway. It was full of angry drivers, cursing and honking their loud horns. It was so irritating that Maria started twitching and was clenching her jaw tightly to stop herself from doing the same.

I wonder what she's thinking. . .

To my surprise, I started to hear her thoughts, which I instantly regretted. She screamed colorful language so diverse that I didn't have to know what they implied. The intensity of her thoughts began to make me dizzy in no time.

When I flicked my power off, I visibly cringed. Pierre glanced at me and asked if I was okay.

"No. . . I, uh, just thought of something embarrassing." I lied.

"Okay." He shrugged then gazed at the window.

Taking a deep breath, Maria put a hand on the back of her seat and turned to us. "Hey, I just thought of something."

Pierre gazed at his mom. "What is it?"

Maria grinned. "I never got to tell Amelia here about my racing career."

"Not again!" Pierre groaned. "You always brag about that! Plus I've already heard your stories a million times!"

She waved her hand dismissively. "You're just jealous, anak. I'm sure your girlfriend wants to know about it." Maria looked at me. "Right?"

"Sure, why not?" I said, then realized the other thing she told me. "And, um, I'm not Pierre's girlfriend."

Maria giggled. "That's what they always say."

Before I could even ask what she meant, she continued, "So one time, I was the only female racer in the competition. The men would make fun of me just because I was just a girl, but I didn't care. As soon as the race started, I hit the gas as hard as I could and overtook every single car in my way. I raced to the finish line and boom! I won! I held my prize proudly and made boys cry for underestimating me! Haha!" She accidentally pressed on the horn which startled me and Pierre.

Maria chuckled at her mistake. "Oops! I'm so sorry!"

"Ma! Mag-ingat ka nga!" he told her. "We'll get in an accident or something!"

Maria rolled her eyes. "Just relax, anak. We're not even moving. Also, the traffic's worse than what I've experienced in Manila."

"Cool story," I said. "So you're still racing?"

Maria shook her head, smiling sadly. "Those times were long gone. When I had my sweet Pierre, someone had to look for a real job to cover our expenses. And I was the only one who could do that."

Pierre gazed at her in concern. "Ma, you can always go back to racing if you want. I'm already getting some allowance from the school every month."

Maria pursed her lips. "Yes, but I don't want to leave you alone every time I'll have to go to foreign cities. Besides, I don't want you asking me for pasalubong all the time."

Pierre flashed her an annoyed look. "Seriously?"

"I was just joking." Maria grinned, then turned back at me. "So, Amelia, where should we drop you off?"

"The museum will do."

"You mean the Ancient History Museum?" She blew the horn a bit too hard to signal the car in front of us to move forward. "But, anak, it's almost halfway across the city. It'll take at least an hour to get there because of this traffic."

I pressed my lips into a thin line. "Is that okay for both of you? If you want, I could just hail a taxi and go there by myself."

I was about to touch the door handle when Pierre stopped me.

"No, it's okay, Amelia," Pierre said. "We don't mind taking you there."

Maria nodded in support. "He's right, anak. It would be rude for us to just let you go by yourself."

"Really? That's really nice of you," I said.

"Don't mention it, anak." Maria smiled. "Anyway, since it's already lunchtime, I'm guessing that you two are hungry."

As she said those words, my stomach suddenly growled rather too loudly. Maria giggled while Pierre grinned in my direction.

I smiled sheepishly. "Now that you mention it, I am a little hungry."

Maria laughed. "Let's take a drive-thru to that restaurant we passed by earlier."