RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES

Christine Y. Guinacaran

She was a pretty, quite plump, dark but rosy girl of about sixteen.  She had straight shinny hair.  A  picture of health and youth.  But she looked very  defiant.  Even in the first day of class,  I  could feel  rebelliousness billowing around her like a  cloud   and decided in my mind that if I wanted to be strict, I  should not aim  directly at her.  She was a girl to be left alone or else, she would not think twice about humiliating you.

She was seated at the back, the only girl amid the throng of bullies who had oily faces, long untidy hair and  smelled cigarettes.  They were her allies.  They joked with her, she joked back-  the only people she smiled at in class.  The rest received her scorn.

I sometimes called her attention  for  tardiness   but I was always careful not to look affected by her impudent look.   I tried calling her aside for her attitude,   and she was very angry with me  and  silently sneered at my  advices.  The guidance people were also powerless to do anything with her for she was very arrogant.

Then she  became very irregular in her attendance and  whenever she attended class, she behaved more disrespectfully and  defiantly  than ever. 

Once, her policeman brother visited school and asked me about her.  So I told him about her class performance trying my hardest to sound  very objective,  pointing out  her absenteeism,  tardiness and  non performance. Her disrespectful demeanor , I did not emphasize,  yet  I tried to convey to  him that her total class performance was  very low.  The brother told me that she was their  youngest and the only girl in the family.  They were all professionals already,  and this girl was supported by everybody and she was just a bit spoiled.  He told me to just understand his sweet sister,  because even to  their mother she behaved  that way.  She was just  a little willful. 

During the whole interview, this  girl was making faces  and  giving    treacherous eyes   to   anybody who passed  near our table.   She was bad mouthing somebody in a low voice,  and I couldn’t quite figure out whether it was directed to me or to her brother. Then, when the interview was over, the brother took money from his  wallet, I think  one hundred pesos and gave it to his sister who snatched it from his hand and went away without saying anything.