Student's Short Fiction
When a girl just wants to have fun...
What could possibly go wrong?
Shot Glass
By Charmaine Sanchez
"Isabel? Isabel? Where are you?"
I'm miles away from home, yet it's like I can hear Nanay's voice right behind me. All I can see now is a never ending road stretched right before my eyes. I am aware that it is a deadly path that I am taking alone but I do not have the strength to even think about turning back. I was careless. I was stupid. I was wrong. If only I can turn back time to erase all this.
Five months earlier…
"I told you, Nikki, I'm staying here. Can't you see I'm studying?"
"Oh! Come on, Isa! Live your life! You're not in your probinsya anymore. Stop wasting all the fun!"
Nikki was already yelling at me. Ever since we became attached as dorm mates, she has been daily advertising the heaven brought by the freedom of 'college life.' And, she's right, I am a probinsyana. But I'm a lucky probinsyana. Being the class valedictorian in our barrio, I was granted this scholarship which brought me in this city. Getting to study in a 'different world' haven't changed me at all. Like the daily routine I had back home, my life revolved around school- our dormitory- school. That irritated my friends and they all think I'm wasting my young life on too much books and school work.
"Oh! Isa, just this once get the hell out of your shell!"
"All right! All right! I'm coming."
"Finally!" Nikki exclaimed triumphantly.
So I agreed to go out with them one night. All the other girls wore dressed that could tempt any saint while I wore my old jeans and my high school PE uniform. I could read Nikki's mind while she was looking at me but I was glad she was able to keep her mouth shut since I already gave in to her request.
"How much is this night going to cost me, Nik?"
"Don't worry. I got your back."
She smiled and winked. I just rolled my eyes.
They took me to a bar. The very moment I stepped in, I immediately wanted to get out. It seemed like everybody under that roof was drunk and the entire place seemed like a jungle of wild teenagers. I've seen people celebrate around the campfire before, but never have I seen people gone that wild. Then I remembered…this was no barrio. I wondered if all these kids' parents were aware of what they're doing. And, what's in dancing, snogging, and alcohol that made them so happy anyway?
"Here, Isa, take a shot."
"I don't drink."
"This is not going to kill you, Isabel."
Nikki didn't really know how to take no for an answer.
"That looks too much."
"It's just the ice."
As expected, Nikki won the conversation. It was the first time I ever tasted liquor. Besides water, we had unlimited carabao's milk in our barrio, and that's honestly all I had when it came to drinking. The drink tasted some toxic liquid as it went down, burning my throat. It made me thirsty and I do not know why it seemed like I wanted more. My stomach felt warm as I finally emptied the glass.
"What's this called?"
Nikki gave me a mischievous smirk.
"That's tequila only for you, sweetheart."
Little did I know that one shot was about to change my life. I finally got to open my eyes to the real world I was in. I was far from home and it was just there when I realized my parents were never going to find out whatever things I did in college. No more Nanay and Tatay yelling at me what to do and what's bawal. I was not in our sleepy barrio anymore. I was in a real city with all the adventures in every corner. I could still study and have fun at the same time, right? I didn't see anything wrong with that.
"Hey, Nik, mind giving me another shot?"
Everyone else answered in chorus as they raised their glasses.
"To Isabel! Cheers!"
***Now that Isabel had finally got in to the whims and whirl of college life in a big city, how much is the price she’d have to pay? Find out next week as we continue the story.
-Charmaine Sanchez is a Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English sophomore at Tañon College. Sanchez’ interests include reading and writing stories on teenage life.
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