Summer was here. The grass was crisp and brown. The wind whispers hot breaths on my skin. The sun was unforgiving as the math test I failed last week.

I hated summer. I could list all the reasons down and a whole yellow pad wouldn't be enough.

The heat that cooks you better than your oven.

The light that washes the roads in a blinding glare.

Ice cream melting down between your sticky fingers.

The sweat that clings to you like the guilt from losing your mother's tupperware yesterday.

But most of all... school was ending.

You may think of me as mad. But it's my last year of junior high. I'm afraid to leave the small cramped classroom filled with the people I thought of as family. Lastly, this was my final chance. Be brave, me.

"Hui! We're the cleaners today," someone slapped my shoulder from behind. I turned, it was Delilah - Deli for short. I could pick out her voice from a crowd, let alone from the school choir she performs with. It was cool as a tall glass of iced tea but loud like waves crashing against the rocks.

"Coming from, you? Are serious? Tell me, how many times have you ditched cleaning duty, hmm?" I gave her a dark look.

I couldn't keep it. We started laughing.

"Alright, alright. I promised to help out today, okay? I won't leave," she said raising her hands with wrists dangling with all kinds of bracelets.

The classroom slowly emptied. We then pulled out the cleaning supplies from the back of the room, and headed to the the sink near the gym to clean the mops.

"Yuck"

"What? Oh shit..." The mop hadn't been cleaned for days. It was black and had hair clinging to it.

"Okay, so who's gonna... uhm... hehe" she hands it to me with a sly grin.

"You still owe me one from ditching me last time."

"Ugh, fine. Give me the soap."

I watched her battle with the grime and hair silently. Deli and I had been friends since grade 7. I met her when we were grouped together during the school's annual math camp. I even had to share my thin folding bed with her, because she forgot to bring hers. In a cramped classroom of 40 sleeping people, we shared stories until daylight broke. Sadly, our group won last place, because Deli nodded off during the math relay.

"Hey!" she called.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I said, where do you plan to study next year?" Not this question, please.

"Manila..."

"Wow, that's pretty far. I'll probably enroll somewhere in the province though," she replied as she wrung the mop dry, "All done." Deli handed back the mop.

Deep breaths, Julie. Deep breaths. I told myself. I didn't want to have any regrets. It was after all the end of the school year. We pushed back the wooden chairs and swept the tiled floor before we started mopping.

"You take that half. I'll take this," I said to her. As we mopped, I tried stealing a few glances from her. Beads of sweat trickled down her temples to her neck. Her skin like aged Narra wood. Dark and smooth. Her hair a mass of dark waves that she refuses to comb. I used to tease her, bruha, witch, as I braided her hair. I even bought her tiny hair ties called sanrio so I could wrangle the beast above her head when I had the time.

"I'm finally going to be free from these skirts," she suddenly said.

"You never wore them in the first place," I joked, "You wear the same PE pants all week."

"Well, at least I don't have ankle-length skirts."

"Hey! I can't do anything about grandma and skirt lengths, y'know."

I finished with my share of cleaning and draped myself over one of the chairs. "You missed a spot"

"I know, I know. Sheesh"

I turned to the window trying to calm myself a little. The sky was painted in hues of pink and yellow. The satan's bastard son, called the sun, was finally sinking into the horizon. It was a shame that the infernal heat was still here. I wiped the sweat from my brow. Here it goes, "Deli I-"

"Where in Manila?" she asked, her back to me.

"UST"

"Scholarship?"

"How else can I enroll there?"

"True. Then you'll be staying in an apartment?" she continued asking. Her back still against me.

"Most likely. But I'll come home every wee-"

It was too sudden. My mind went blank as she wrapped her arms around me. My nose filled with scents of sun and shampoo. "I love you, Julie."

She held me tighter.

What... my mind blank like that essay for history class.

Deli lets go then rushes out of the room with her bag in tow. Gone.

Breathing large gulps of air, my head up in who-knows-where outer space, I tried to remain calm.

Tomorrow, I swear, I'll be demanding a lot more payment other than for ditching me again.