From the author: Here, Vinnie is seen alone at home, preparing for an org event. She leaves for the neighborhood convenience store to get food because she's hungry and there's no cooked food in the fridge. In the store, she encounters Cholo, the college prefect / org leader who she always thought to be stuck-up and unreachable. He turns out to be more likable than she made him out to be, and she decides she likes him better in ratty shorts and worn-out slippers.

I stayed up late that night. Finishing all of my homeworks (and some parts of my term papers) early, I went straight to making the event poster after eating dinner. As it was a Friday, I thought I could just catch up on sleep after - I just wouldn't be able to rest if I didn't finish it.

At 2:30 AM, my eyes were bloodshot, my head heavy from exhaustion, and my stomach was rumbling from hunger. I had wolfed down my supper (rice and reheated beef salpicao) four hours ago and now my tummy wouldn't shut up. I tried to continue but I couldn't think straight.

Stupid tummy.

I grabbed my door keys, phone, and wallet as I got out of the house. There was a convenience store four streets away. They served instant noodles with yummy, sodium-loaded toppings complete with equally salty broth, which was just what I craved.

I had no choice. There wasn't food at home. Well, none that didn't require cooking or preparation. Dad was in an accountants' conference in Bohol. Cris and Liana had gone on a road trip with their side of the family, so I was home alone. I had no idea how to cook and I didn't want to set the house on fire. I thought having the house to myself would be great, but it pretty much sucked. Didn't think I would ever need them, but I guessed there was a first time for everything.

The cashier looked up once and went back to his reading when I entered the convenience store. He was far too used to me walking in here wearing ratty shorts and worn-out slippers anyway. The chimes continued banging against each other after I came in. I found the noise strangely calming.

I got a paper cup and opened the hot pot toppings' lid. The noodles were arranged in a stack beside the hot container, so I grabbed one and opened the wrapper, emptying the contents.

"Kumakain ka pala n'yan?"

I recognized the voice, but I had to double-check just in case. I didn't know if it was because he sounded different in Tagalog, or because my village was around forty kilometers from Dresden, where I normally saw him.

When I turned to look, Cholo was already making his way towards me, looking just as sloppy as I did.

"Oi," I said, resisting the urge to give him another once-over. His hair was sticking out in every direction, eyes sleepy but alert. The flip-flops on his feet were just as depressing as the ones on mine. "What're you doing here?"

"I needed an energy drink," he said, raising the thing he was holding to eye level. "Had to finish my Rizal term paper. Ano 'yan?"

"Hot pot," I answered, scooping up broth into my bowl, then proceeding to take all the squid balls in one go. "Wait, you live nearby?"

"Are you kidding me? I wanted one of those!" he said accusingly, which was amusing. I never thought I'd ever see him acting like a kid.

"Well, ask them to refill it, I'm sure they have more behind the counter," I said, laughing at him. "Saka ayan o, ang dami pang kikiam. Brat."

"Are you going to eat here?" he asked.

"Malamang, eh di kung inuwi ko hindi na hot pot," I snapped. Cholo shook his head and got his own noodles, clicking his tongue all the while.

I walked away, put my hot pot on the counter, and got myself a chocolate milk box from the ref. I added a pork bun in for a good measure. After paying, I proceeded to my favorite table in the corner, checking my reflection in the adjacent glass panel. My straight hair and full bangs were thankfully in place, but the bags on my eyes were huge, making my eyes smaller than they already were.

Cholo joined me less than a minute later, his eyes on my food.

"Gutom ka talaga, 'no?" he commented.

"Shoo," I snapped, stabbing a straw through my chocolate milk carton. "I didn't say you could join me."

He rolled his eyes. "Sa'yo 'tong table?"

"Hindi, but 'yung convenience store, oo," I answered, taking a long, noisy sip that seemed to gross him out. "Alis."

"You wish," he snapped and he opened his energy drink. "You live near here?"

"I asked that question first."

"Fine. I live two streets away, but stay in a dorm near Dresden on schooldays. Are you still in that two-story green house?"

"What the fuck, totoo ka ba?" I sputtered, my tongue burning as I took the first sip off my noodles. The guy knew where I lived!

"Ikaw 'tong weird, don't you remember me?" he asked, laughing. His eyes were doing that adorable crinkling-at-the-sides thing again. "We had the same school bus in first grade."

"Seriously?" I said, unable to believe it. I would have noticed if my college crush (ew) was in my yearbook, right?

"Yeah! You always wore this pink headband with a bow at the side. Your watch was... Barbie, I think?" he said, waving his fork in the air as he narrowed his eyes at a point over my shoulder, as though trying to remember. "And your bag had a Sailor Moon design."

There was a picture of me in my room, wearing the exact same things he had described. It was getting really creepy. "You remembered that? Even the bag?!"

"Of course, you wouldn't stop hitting me with it!" he said, now laughing openly. "Sapul pa lagi mukha ko."

"Should I say sorry?" I asked. "If I had been aiming at your face, I must have had a good reason."

He snapped his fingers so suddenly that I jumped in my chair. "Alam ko na!" he said, eyes wide, all traces of sleepiness gone.

"Alam mo na what?" I asked, sufficiently annoyed. This guy either was manic-depressive or ADHD, the way he jumped from one mood to another.

"Ang uso kasi noon first and second names, buo," he said, sounding excited. "That's why you don't remember me. You all called me Charles Paolo."

My eyes widened. He was that scrawny, chinoy kid who made fun of my name. The reason why I became Lavinia the villain in every single play!

"You!" I said, gripping my fork as though to stab him. "I hated you!"

"Chill!" he said, holding both palms up, eyes focused on my plastic fork. "Seriously, Lavinia Magdalene-"

"Do you really want to get skewered?!" I demanded as the son of a gun was laughing his head off.

"You haven't changed one bit," he commented, stirring his noodles. I could see his dimples making deep gouges on his cheeks as he grinned. "I was surprised you didn't recognize me in the disciplinary prefects' office."

"Kaya pala ang lakas mo agad mang-asar!" I seethed, taking a bite off my pork bun and chewing on it furiously.

How come I didn't recognize him? Sure, he had better arms and an even better wardrobe nowadays, but I should've known it was him the moment he impishly suggested that I needed checking. The thought of me crushing on a childhood bully (the same one whom I had vivid dreams of drowning in a pool when I was little) was just so infuriating!

"Some things just never change, no? I still find it really cute when you get pikon," he reasoned. Taking his own fork, he spooled his noodles and ate them with a loud, gross slurp. "Wait, why do you eat here? Don't you have food at home?"

"Hindi ko pwede kainin pagkain ng amo ko, magagalit 'yun."

Cholo laughed and choked hard on his noodles. I watched in amusement as the broth started coming out of his nose. I shook my head and handed him some tissue, which he gladly took.

"Ayan kasi," I said with a nasty smile. "Karma!"

He glared at me and gulped some of his drink. Even his eyes were red from so much coughing.

"Do you ever stop being mean?" he demanded, and I gave him my best smile.

"Does the sun ever stop shining?" I asked sweetly.

"Ewan ko sa'yo," he said, stealing the rest of my tissues.