Chapter 04: Allisana, Allisana, Allisana, Allisana…
While Alice was ordinarily a very, very calm and coolheaded person, there were rare moments when she did not do the first rational thing she could think of but what she felt like doing.
So at that moment, despite knowing that it was not the logical solution to her problem, she screamed.
“Oh, God, Lisa, you big idiot! No!”
Everyone else at the jeepney stop suddenly stopped talking, and they stared at her.
“Oh! There you are, Alice!” Lisa exclaimed, running over to her. “I was really worried. I thought I wouldn’t see you again! I got lost, you see.”
By this time, Alice had already recovered her composure, and she managed a shaky but sarcastic “Really?” as everyone else continued to stare at both of them, open-mouthed.
“Yes,” Lisa said. She looked on the verge of tears again. “But at least you’re here now. See all these wonderful people!”
Alice was still mortified at having let her feelings get the best of her, but she realized that her screaming was in fact the right thing to do, for most of the people at the stop were now crowding around Lisa. They demanded, “What was your name, Miss Cherry? We didn’t hear you because this woman suddenly interrupted us—”
“You were very rude to Miss Cherry,” said one of the men. He glared at Alice.
“Please don’t be mad at Alice.” Lisa hugged Alice protectively. “She’s actually a very nice person. She was just really glad to see me—”
“Who is she, anyway?”
Alice took a deep breath, and held her chin up, hoping that she looked properly dignified, despite not feeling like it. “I am Miss Cherry’s agent,” Alice said. “Really nice to meet all of you, and I’m glad that Miss Cherry has such a solid fan base. But unfortunately, we do have to get going.”
“But we still have so many questions—”
“Please, just a few minutes—”
“I’m really sorry, but we have to go,” Alice said. She pulled at Lisa’s arm, for the other girl had stopped to pose for a picture with an old woman who looked as if she was about to collapse in a heart attack. “We’ll be late for the show. You do want to watch her sing at the concert today, right? We promise that she will try to answer your questions after the concert with the press.”
“But we don’t want—” Alice ignored them all and pressed on out of the crowd, not-so-gently elbowing many of the men out of the way.
A particularly huge man planted his foot down on the ground, and stopped their progress.
Alice gulped involuntarily, but she looked up to meet his gaze.
“Just one question,” the man said, his voice coming out squeaky, not matching his bulging biceps and towering height at all. “Please.”
“I said,” Alice said, trying to hold back her laughter, “no more questions.”
“Miss Cherry,” the man said. He turned to Lisa. “Will you again be in the nude in your next movie?” He smiled. “It would make a lot of your fans happy.”
Alice’s mouth dropped open, but Lisa looked puzzled.
“Well,” Lisa said, “If that will make all of you happy, sure!”
The man gave a cry of glee, and let Lisa and Alice pass as he jumped up to hug one of the other men in sheer joy. It was now Lisa who was dragging Alice, for the other girl had gone limp, her face turning blue as she struggled very hard not to breathe, so she would not burst out either laughing or crying.
———-
He wondered how he could speak to her, how to properly warn her, without scaring her. Of course, she would be scared—who wouldn’t?—even he did not like what he was doing, just watching her everyday, when she did not even know him. Or even have an idea that her life was in danger.
There was a note slipped inside one of his books, and it fell to the ground as he flipped it open.
Whatever you do will be pointless. You cannot keep her safe from me forever— or from you.
You are wrong, he muttered. He crumpled the note in his hand, and stuffed it inside his pocket, hoping he could make it disappear from his sight and memory, forever. He would make sure she would stay safe.
———-
“Don’t worry, Alli,” Neil said, “I’m sure he loves you too.”
Alli snapped out of her reverie, and she looked up—straight into his eyes. Warmth spread over her cheeks, and not knowing where else to look, she focused on the ceiling instead.
“What?” she managed to mumble to Neil.
“You were staring off into space,” he said. “I figured you were thinking about someone.” He grinned. “Don’t look so sad. I’m sure he loves you too, okay?”
“You… you think so?” Alli said before she could stop herself.
“Of course, Alli,” Cecilia said, wandering over to them. “Because you’re really nice, and whoever it is would be stupid not to like you.” She smiled at Alli while twining a hand around his own, and though Alli knew she shouldn’t, she felt a sharp stab of jealousy.
“Wanna bet?” Stella muttered. Alli discreetly sent a glare in her direction, and stepped on one of her toes.
“I was only thinking about Mister Montana,” Alli said, furrowing her eyebrows. “I was trying to figure out what I did wrong. He really did seem to hate me.”
“I can’t believe he accused you of cheating,” Stella said. “I don’t know much about him, but I already hate him. I hope Miss Belen gets well soon.”
“So do I. If Mister Montana does that to you again, the whole class will be behind you all the way, you can count on that.” Cecilia nodded sympathetically, and leaned over to Alli.”By the way, Alli, what was your answer in problem number 2? Was it 12.5 meters per second squared?”
“I tell you, Cessy,” Neil said (making Alli flinch at how he addressed her), “It was 18.5.”
“No!” Reinabelle walked over to them, and pushed past Neil. “It’s 24.5. I’m sure.”
“I got 18.5,” Alli’s voice faltered.
“I don’t believe you,” Reinabelle said. She raised an eyebrow. “How did you get that answer?”
Alli knew what she was implying from her tone: I’m at the top of the class, and you’re one of those at the very bottom. How dare you correct me? Alli wanted to back down from the discussion, afraid that she would just be embarrassed later (besides, what right did she have anyway?), but she brought out her notes and her pencil anyway, and with a sigh of resignation, scribbled her solutions on the paper. When she finished, she looked up at them. She saw Reinabelle’s expression turn from contemptuous to flabbergasted, Cecilia’s from curious to sheepish, Stella’s from merely encouraging to proud, and Neil’s from merely hopeful to sincerely impressed—at her, she hoped.
“You are right,” Reinabelle said. She sounded as if she scarcely believed what she was saying. She took a deep breath, and hurried to her table, her lips quivering.
“I think she’s crying,” Stella whispered.
Alli nodded, not feeling the least bit guilty. “Are you sure I got the other questions correct, too? The ones I asked you about?”
“Number 3 and 5, right?” Stella nodded.
Alli sighed in relief. “So if that’s true, I think I passed the exam—”
“Hello, students!” a cheerful voice called out, booming across the room, almost knocking Alli off her desk as she jumped up, startled. Their English teacher, Sir Al Moran, bounded into the room. “Sorry for being late. I went out for lunch, and there was a most interesting spectacle at the jeepney stop outside—anyway. Pop quiz, everyone!” As everyone gasped, he grinned. His expression matched his appearance: his hair stuck out wildly in different directions, and unlike their other teachers, he was wearing sneakers with his uniform, and his shirt—which Alli knew was supposed to be a respectable navy blue—was now covered by a thick, multi-colored layer of chalk dust. “Just kidding!” he added. “You should have seen your faces—My God, what’s that, Allisana?”
Everyone jumped again, and Alli stared at Sir Al as he walked to her desk. He got the box of her birthday cake from underneath her desk.
Alli laughed nervously. “It’s only a cake, sir. It was my birthday—”
“Your birthday?”
The whole class clapped their hands over their ears as Sir Al kept shouting. “Birthdays! Cake! Fun! Happy Birthday, Allisana!” He grabbed her hands and shook them violently. “How old are you now? Ten?”
“Fifteen, sir,” Alli stammered.
“Oh! Right—this is a high school class I’m teaching. I remember now.” Sir Al let go of Alli, and she collapsed on to her chair, out of breath. “Well,” Sir Al said. “Would you mind terribly if I helped myself to a bit of your birthday cake? I did give you a very high score on your last report by the way.”
“It’s all right, sir,” Alli said, smiling, still a little dizzy. “You—you did? Thank you.”
Clapping his hands, Sir Al pinched off a large piece of cake. He walked back to the front of the classroom. “Mmm, wonderful cake,” he said, not even attempting to wipe off the icing on his lips. “But really, Allisana, your report was exceptionally good, you know. Well, off to business, then! No distractions this time, I promise.” The class laughed, because the day Sir Al was not distracted by anything would be the days pig flew, or hell froze over, or Reinabelle ever stopped being competitive.
“I’ll be assigning your parts for the skit I was telling you about last week,” he said. “About Professor Dimaculangan’s book — you know, my former teacher and one of the most famous figures in our literature today—” (At which the class began to whisper among themselves, and Stella said to Alli, “Who is he? I tried researching him and I still don’t know who he is!”) “Ephemerality and Eternity. By the way, if you want to be just like Professor Dimaculangan, I would like to invite you to join our writing club, The Papyrus—anyway, Cecilia, you shall play Carmen in Chapter 25, the death scene, you know. And Allisana, you shall play Carmen in Chapter 15. I’m sure you girls will do a great job.”
Alli looked up at him, unable to believe it. “But sir, Chapter 15 is the scene where… ”
“One of my favorite scenes,” Sir Al said, his eyes going misty. He sighed, and placed a hand on his chest. “The dance on the terrace.”
“But sir. Wouldn’t Cecilia be better for that role? I—”
“Oh, you have much fewer lines, don’t worry,” Sir Al said, smiling. “Is that what you’re afraid of? Cecilia will have the monologue. Really, based on your essay on Carmen in Chapter 15, I’d say you were the one who understood her most, so I think you’d do just fine.”
Several of the class looked at Alli in surprise, and Alli knew why. “But sir—” Alli’s mouth had gone dry. Maybe Sir Al had just finally gone insane (if he wasn’t already, after all), and was laboring under the delusion that she, Allisana Silvano, could even remotely play such a big role. There were a lot of other people he could choose from; she was not even at the top of his class. Why not pick Celena? Or even Reinabelle? She was no good at these things. At anything, for that matter.
“And you won’t be alone, in any case,” Sir Al said. “It takes two to tango—well, in your case I mean it literally.”
“Tango? But I don’t know how—”
“You will teach her, won’t you?” Sir Al said, looking away from Alli. Alli turned in the direction he was looking and felt butterflies suddenly erupt in her stomach.
“That’s right, Neil,” Sir Al said. “You will be Allisana’s partner.”
———
When Alice had finally recovered from what had just happened that morning, she turned her mind to thinking about how they would get inside school grounds. She and Lisa first headed away from the school, promptly lost the Lovely Cherry’s fan club members in a busy intersection, and finally headed towards St. Catherine’s. She had a hundred plans, which mostly consisted of Lisa distracting the guard and her sneaking into the school (and beg for Alli to send Lisa home, hopefully), but all of her plans proved unnecessary in the end. Lisa only smiled at the guard on duty, and said, “Hi! This place looks really nice. I hope you don’t mind terribly, but we’re going inside to meet a friend,” looking sincerely guileless, that the guard could not help but smile back and step back to let them pass through.
Stunned, Alice allowed herself to be dragged by Lisa again. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” Lisa said, puzzled. Alice gave up, and only looked around the school, then at her watch.
“We’ve already missed Alli’s lunch break,” Alice said. “She’s in English class now, and PE is her next class. I think we can go see her before then.” She turned to Lisa and said, her tone sharp, “Please, Lisa. This is important. Do not talk to anyone else in the school. Understand? Not Alli. Not even me. Don’t say a word at all. Please?”
Obediently, Lisa did not speak, and only nodded, a smile on her face.
“I can’t see her from here,” Alice continued, shading her eyes from the sun. “But I think her class is there. Let’s go check.”
They ran up the stairs, careful not to look at anyone else passing by. Lisa, to Alice’s relief, did not say a word. They reached the second-floor classrooms. Though the corridor was deserted, she did her best to look as if she was just passing by Alli’s classroom. Her rubber shoes did not make a sound as she inched her way nearer to the door. Alli was indeed still there, so Alice decided that they could wait for her near the women’s dressing room, where she was sure to go before her PE class.
She was just about to turn to Lisa, satisfied, when there came a muffled cry from the other girl.
Another student, a young man with light brown hair and gray eyes, stood before them, looking sheepish. “Oh, sorry I bumped into you,” he said to Lisa, helping her up. “I didn’t see you.”
Alice’s eyes widened as she stared at the young man, then softened. “Oh! Um, hi,” was all she could say, feeling suddenly like an idiot. Lisa’s eyes brightened, and looked about to throw her arms around the young man, but Alice held back the other girl in time. “We apologize for bumping into you, too.” She thought Lisa was mumbling “I’m sorry,” with her lips still closed, but she could not be sure.
The boy looked puzzled, but smiled at them, a bit sadly, she couldn’t help but think. “It’s all right, really.”
Alice pulled Lisa away. She felt a faint blush rising on her cheeks, and when she and Lisa had finally reached the women’s dressing room, she broke into a smile, despite everything.
“That was—” Lisa began, and Alice nodded before she could finish.
“I know,” Alice said, smiling from ear to ear.
———-
Sir Al dismissed the class early, and Stella and Alli separated from the rest of the class before heading towards the women’s dressing rooms, because Alli just had to speak to someone after what had happened. They found one classroom empty, and there, with much relief, she exclaimed, “I still can’t believe it!”
“I know,” Stella said, grinning. “Could this day get any better? Well, except for Mister Montana, of course.”
“Is it really possible?” Alli said. “I mean… me. I’ve always been a failure. But in just one day, everything suddenly started going right. Can you believe it? I passed the Physics exam, got a question right that even Reinabelle and Cecilia got wrong, and now, I’m assigned a very nice role—”
“With your long-time crush, too!” Stella cried out happily.
“Oh, yes,” Alli said. “With Neil, too! Who would have thought that Sir Al would pick me over Cecilia in that scene—” Alli’s smile suddenly faded, and she looked away from her friend, looking worried. “Wait. I thought I heard something.”
Alli stepped away from Stella, and she headed towards the door.
“I’m really happy for you, Alli,” Stella was still saying. “Imagine that. You must have some lucky charm with you or something—”
Alli stopped in her tracks and stared open-mouthed at Cecilia, who was standing just right outside the door. Neil was right behind her, still holding her hand. They both looked uncomfortable, as if—
As if they had heard everything.
“Hi, Alli,” Cecilia said, her words coming out more like a mumble. “W-we followed you since Neil wanted to, um, ask about the play.”
Inside her head, Alli was already spewing forth a number of expletives, and she glanced at Stella, who shook her head desperately.
Alli had to think fast; she wasn’t sure whether Cecilia and Neil heard what she and Stella were talking about, or if it really would affect how they both treated her now, but she couldn’t risk the consequences. She frowned, imagining Cecilia never letting Neil speak to her ever again, out of irrational jealousy, perhaps; and Neil avoiding even just looking at her after all this…
She brought out the ring. I wish Neil and Cecilia didn’t hear anything, she thought. Not a single word of what Stella and I were talking about. She covered her hand with the other, but she could see faint traces of its blue glowing.
The expressions on Neil’s and Cecilia’s face suddenly changed, and they both smiled at Alli, all discomfort vanishing from their faces. “Hi Alli,” Cecilia said, and Alli stepped back, startled, for Cecilia’s voice was abnormally loud. “Neil was just about to talk to you to… ” Her voice trailed off.
Neil looked puzzled, too, and he shouted, “Alli, I wanted to talk to you…” before trailing off.
Alli and Stella glanced at each other as Cecilia and Neil started rubbing their ears.
“HEY CECILIA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?”
“NEIL? ARE YOU SAYING SOMETHING? I CAN’T—”
“What’s wrong with you guys?” Stella asked.
“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Neil shouted.
Now Stella began to shout, “I SAID—”
“WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?” Cecilia yelled, in tears. “I CAN’T HEAR ANYTHING—”
And finally, Alli grasped the situation. She smacked her forehead with her hands, and said, “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” She glared at the ring, and thought savagely, I only meant, I wish they didn’t hear anything a while ago! I wish they could hear again now!
Cecilia and Neil stopped shouting, and Cecilia collapsed to the floor, crying with relief. “That was horrible,” she said. “What just happened?”
“I have no idea,” Stella and Alli said in unison, although Stella was looking at Alli with an eyebrow raised.
The bell resounded throughout the school building, and looking down at the ground, Alli pushed past Cecilia and Neil. “We’re going to be late for PE class, you know,” she called out before going out of the door. “Talk to you later about the play, Neil. Glad you guys are all right.”
She hurried out of the door, with Stella running to catch up. “Hey wait, Alli,” she said. “What did happen back there? Do you have any idea how that happened?”
Alli bit her lip as she looked back at her friend. There was a look of suspicion in her friend’s eyes, faint and barely noticeable, but still, it was there. She considered telling Stella for a moment but decided against it, knowing her friend would probably not believe her.
So, despite how it would be a betrayal of sorts, she wished silently: I wish Stella didn’t suspect anything.
“Let’s get to class,” Stella said, the look of suspicion in her eyes slowly fading. In a few seconds, she was smiling again.
Stella walked on ahead while Alli slowed down, her feet dragging on the floor. She thought she would be relieved at having gotten out of the whole situation with the power of the ring, but instead she felt guilty. She shivered, remembering the fading look of suspicion in her friend’s eyes and the returning of her trust, which was merely her doing, something artificial that she wished on her friend. As much as she wanted to, she could not blame the ring, for she wished for that manipulation of her friend’s feelings. And it scared her.
———-
Alice motioned for Lisa to follow her into dressing room as she saw Alli walk past them, looking pale. They followed Alli inside, and when Stella had finally left Alli to go to her own locker, Alice coughed, tapping Alli on the shoulder.
“Hi, Alli,” Alice whispered.
“Hi,” Alli murmured, distracted, when she realized who it was she was talking to. “Oh God! Al—”
“It’s so nice to see you here!” Alice said, for the benefit of Alli’s classmates who were standing beside them. “How is school, by the way? You have to tell me everything!” And keeping her voice below a whisper, “We’re your cousins.”
“We?” Alli said, then turned to Reinabelle, who was looking curiously at them. “My cousins,” she said. “I think they’ll be enrolling here next year. It’s great to see you, Forsythia.”
Alice raised an eyebrow but said nothing. They hurried out of the dressing room, and out into the deserted corridor.
“Forsythia?” Alice said. “Got it off the top of your head, didn’t you?”
“Sorry,” Alli said, shaking her head. “Couldn’t think of anything. Oh, Alice. You won’t believe what happened today. I passed the exam.”
“Really?” Alice said. She wondered why despite the fact that this should be a piece of really good news, Alli didn’t look as happy as she expected the other girl to be. “That’s good news.”
“Yes,” Alli said. “I got a question right, too, that not even Reinabelle got right. Imagine that. Thank you, Alice. Really, I wish there were more of you—”
Alice smiled at her, and cut her off as gently as she could, “Alli. There’s something I needed to speak to you about.” She looked at Lisa, and Alli finally realized that there was someone else there.
“Oh,” Alli said. “Are you—”
“Another Allisana,” Alice said. “Lisa. I think you brought her here again by mistake.”
Lisa did not say anything, and only smiled at Alli. “Oh for heaven’s sake, Lisa,” Alice said, exasperated, “You can speak now—”
“Oh, that’s great,” Lisa exclaimed. She threw her arms around Alli. “It’s so nice to finally meet you! I’m Lisa, and Alice told me I’m also you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Alli said, managing a small smile for the other girl.
Lisa looked behind Alli and into the girl’s dressing room. “What is this strange place you are in, Alli?” she said, looking around. “I have never seen one like it before. It looks a lot like our prisons, where they keep the slaves who tried to rebel against the king, but I can’t be sure. Is everyone nice to you here?”
“It’s a school,” Alice said, exchanging a look with Alli. “Maybe you’d like to explore a bit, Lisa? There’s something I want to ask Alli. Just don’t talk to anyone, okay?”
Lisa brightened and promised she wouldn’t, then wandered over to the direction of the classrooms.
“She’s strange,” Alli said. “Prisons? King?”
“I think her world is different from our own,” Alice said. “Very different. Please send her back home.” Alli looked taken aback at the note of desperation in her voice, but she did not mind anymore, for she really did feel it. “She said she didn’t want to go home, but I think it would be best if you somehow convinced her.”
“Did she do something to you?” Alli asked.
“Not really,” Alice said reluctantly. “But she does tend to make my life a bit difficult. I mean—”
“Well, that’s all right,” Alli said, shrugging. “She really does seem like a nice girl, though. Why didn’t she want to go home? Did she tell you?”
“No, not really,” Alice said. “Just that her world was a horrible place.”
“Then maybe she does need us right now,” Alli said. “I really do have to go, Alice. Let’s talk about this later after school, okay? You really didn’t have to go all the way here. See you later.” With a wave at Alice, she went back inside the dressing room, still looking shaken and distracted.
Alice frowned, wondering what was wrong with her. Alli wasn’t even interested about Lisa or how she came to that world at all, or what happened that morning to both of them. She thought that maybe there was just something bothering Alli, but her patience was already wearing thin, and she was beginning to find it really hard to sympathize with the other girl. She glanced at her watch, and shrugged. It’s only a few more hours, anyway, she thought.
She passed Cecilia and Neil on the way back to the classrooms, and Alice slowed down as she noted the bewildered looks on their faces.
“What language was Alli speaking?” Neil asked.
“French, I think?” Cecilia ventured. “I’m not exactly sure, though.” She let go of Neil’s hand, and went into the dressing rooms. A few seconds later, Alice heard her cry out, “Alli! You’re here already? But I just saw you outside!”
Alice began to run, expecting the worst from Lisa. Of course it was a bad idea to let the poor girl go off on her own! An accident just waiting to happen.
But to her surprise, Lisa was just at the end of the corridor, exploring a broom closet. Lisa waved at her and said, “You’re all pale, Alice! Did you just see a ghost? I was looking for one, but apparently your world doesn’t have many of them either.”
“You were here the whole time?” Alice’s heart sank.
“Yes,” Lisa said.
“And you didn’t talk to Cecilia or Neil?”
“Who are they? I didn’t talk to anyone, though.”
Alice ran out of the corridor, and straight to the second-floor classrooms. She bumped into a girl running in the opposite direction.
They both cried out at the same time, in the same voice.
Alice was the one who recovered first. She helped the other girl up. The girl looked very much like her except that the other girl was bald and wearing a yellow jacket that was a shade so bright, Alice thought that this must be what it was like to stare directly at the sun.
“Seray,” drawled the other girl. “Wis ne loo’in weh I wis goeen.”
Alice could only stare at the other girl until Lisa came and pulled at her sleeve.
“There are so many Allis now,” Lisa whispered. “This is wonderful.”
Alice looked around her, and she gasped as her knees finally gave way.
All around them and inside all of the classrooms were about a hundred Allisanas, all looking as shocked as she was.
to be continued