I woke up with the screaming voice of my mom. I sat straight up and faced the window next to my bed. "What now?" I muttered. I think growing up in a Filipino household, that's just what you have to face every single day; endless screams about nothing and everyone's voice somehow gets the notion of elevating once another is asleep or tired or doing some work.
I walked to my red door, twisted the knob, and screamed back at my mom, "Ma! What is that?!" She didn't respond directly but I heard her running up the stairs, still screaming something. I sighed heavily. I'm tired...
"Tara?" Somehow, Mom finally softened her voice. She walked into my room as I sat in front of my MacBook Air, turning it on to undeniably check Facebook and Twitter. "Tara, are you gising already?" I turned my head and behind Mom was my two younger siblings, Orion and Olivia.
My eyebrows raised up. "Yes, Mom, I'm awake."
She looked genuinely apologetic, "Oh, I'm sorry, baby ko. Did Mom wake you?"
I changed the subject, "So, what's happening down there?" I turned and next thing I know, 16-year-old Orion was laying on my bed and 14-year-old Via was struggling to unhook an earring from my earring stand. I ignored them because Mom seemed too excited to tell me some news.
"This, here, is your Tita Natalie!" I just noticed that on her left ear was the home phone. I nodded as she pressed a button to put the phone on speaker. Static arose from the phone but was quickly followed by loud voices.
"Mom, there seems to be more than Tita in that phone." I muttered to my mom, but mostly to myself.
"Hi, inaanak! Sorry to keep you awake, pero today when Evan was checking for his name sa Ateneo for who passed the ACET, he saw na nanduon ang pangalan mo!" There was a slight sneaky pause, I'm thinking it was staged so I can take a look at my mom's ecstatic face, I did. She looked drunk of adrenaline. "Did you understand that, Tara?" I understood every word.
Before I could answer, Mom said, "O okay na, I will tawag nalang later because Atara looks like she's going to pass out na!" Mom hung up. She was kind of right. I was going to pass out na because this means that I'm going to move to the Philippines. How. Fun.
YOU ARE READING
Finding Your Roots
Teen FictionAtara was just in such a good place after finding out her acceptance in Ateneo de Manila University. The thing is, she's half way around the world. The thing to do now is move to The Philippines away from her family and start to get comfortable with...
