ALPHA

Back in my freshman year, I was once in a small group of friends who all had some common interests. One of these friends is a girl who I never got as close to as anyone else. She was alias Alpha. Long story short, she thought I was hitting on her. Reason is because I often called her cute. She wasn't my type, though. I just thought that she was cute in her own way. Nevertheless, she doesn't like being called that. At least not by me. I creep her out and she hates me for that. Knowing that, I apologized and promised to stay away from her. There was a long term effect on my ego and I thought it was for the best if I just left the group. I never talked to her or anyone from that group ever again.

It wasn't until such time in my sophomore year that Alpha was in the same group as me in a group project. The project was for us to create a film based on a given play. We were assigned to do Summer Solstice by Nick Joaquin. The play had a few daring scenes to it. One of the scenes was a group of women in white bathing in a river while dancing to tribal music. Most of the girls in our group were assigned to do the part, excluding Alpha and a couple more who were assigned for the camera work.

We began shooting the scene under a bridge somewhere in Trece, where there was some sort of mini-resort. Of course, the actresses had to get wet because they were literally bathing in the river. Alpha was luckily out of this group of people and just stood watch. I was assigned for the film's music so I brought my pair of Kali with me as drumsticks to provide the beat while the women danced to it.

We began shooting the scene and the actresses danced to the beat. It was difficult for the cameramen to get some good shots because of the river's strong current. Regardless, the shooting seemed to be going smoothly.

Unfortunately, there came a delay. After a few shots of the dancing scene, a strange old man carrying a small digital camera suddenly came walking along the banks. When the dancing resumed, he took out his camera and shot a few pics of his own. I wasn't sure if he was a staff member of the resort or just another customer. But I knew for sure that what he was doing was wrong. The dancers suddenly became conscious and uncomfortable about the old man filming them. A fellow group member came and reprimanded the stranger from filming. The stranger, in defense, told us that it was for a souvenir. Our group-mate explained that we weren't there on vacation and it was for a group project. The stranger was quite persistent about filming.

Seeing that the stranger wouldn't budge, I held my Kali and approached the old man. I calmly said, “Sir, you mustn’t do that. It's forbidden” while I readily held my Kali for attack. Afterwards, the old man apologized and put away his camera. He briefly told me that he understands and shook my hand.  After that, he went back to his pavilion with his homies.

I didn't like him. He creeps me out. He creeps us all out. Perhaps this is how Alpha felt about me back then. The very thought of it disgusted me. I was disgusted of myself.

When we resumed to our filming activities, we felt more conscious than ever. We decided to take a little break for a while. I sat on my post with my Kali, keeping watch if that stranger or any of his friends approach us. Then Alpha stood behind me. I didn't look at her directly because I was afraid I might creep her out again.

“It's a good thing you brought your Kali with you” said Alpha.

“Yep” I replied.

“You protect our groupmates now, got it?”

“Sure”

She stood there for a while. I enjoyed the fact that she actually thought I was the group's protector. It made me feel noble and mighty. As she walked away, a smile wore itself on my face. I never felt as great as I did back then.