In partial fulfillment of the requirements for Literature 13

1. Rain or Shine
by Jamie Catanes, Juaneo Fernando, and Dalzy Mendoza
Rain poured down on the city streets as Adam, a 14 year-old boy, walked to his high school.
Although he had an umbrella, his sneakers were gradually soaking up the droplets of rain. Thinking
of the stench it would create later, Adam quickened his pace. Finally, the school gates came into
view and coincidentally, so did Nica.
Nica. Just the sound of her name made his palms sweat and his knees weak. He had known
her ever since that fateful day in the school playground, and had liked her ever since. The problem
was, Adam was the epitome of average. He came from a middle-class family and had no special
talents whatsoever. Nica, however, was that girl who every guy wanted to be with and every girl
wanted to be. He knew just as much as everyone that she was out of his league.
So, Adam settled on walking behind the girl he was in love with, not bothering to talk to her
in fear of being shot down.
Suddenly, an arm grabbed his shoulders, making Adam stumble a bit.
“Hey, Adam!” The owner of the skinny arm greeted loudly.
“Hi, Chris.” Adam replied, shaking off the boy’s arm.
“Haven’t talked to her yet?” Chris asked, having the tact to lower his voice. Adam just
shrugged.
“You really should.” Chris advised him, before walking ahead to the class room.
--
“Adam and Nica, please stay after the lesson,” their Filipino teacher said.
Adam’s pulse jumped. The thought of being alone with Nica made him excited, as well as
nervous. He hang back as the rest of the students filed out of the classroom for lunch, tapping his
foot against the concrete floor. Miss Guzon, their Filipino teacher, was talking quietly to Nica at her

2. desk.
“Adam?” Miss Guzon called. “Come over here for a minute.”
Adam did as she asked, mindfully putting a distance between Nica and himself.
“Let’s get straight to the point.” Miss Guzon said, clasping her hands together. “Nica is
having a hard time with Filipino at the moment, and Adam, since you are one of the best students in
my class, I want you to tutor her.”
Nica looked embarrassed at Miss Guzon’s bluntness, while Adam was still processing what
Miss Guzon told him.
“Just the two of us?” Adam asked slowly.
“Yes. Start by preparing her for the quiz next week.” Miss Guzon said. “You can both go
now.”
Adam and Nica stepped out of the classroom, with Adam scrambling for words to say.
“I’m really sorry you have to do this,” Nica said, looking sincere. “If I wasn’t so hard up in
Filipino, I wouldn’t have-”
Adam, sensing her discomfort, cut her off. “It’s fine. It would be like studying together.”
Nica grinned. “Okay then. Let’s meet up tomorrow?”
Adam smiled, too. “Sure.”
--
It was raining again the next day. Puddles appeared here and there, but Adam took great care
not to step in any of them. After all, it was his first time spending a whole hour with Nica alone and
he didn’t want to smell like Chris’ occasional rotten lunch food.
Walking along the hallway felt like an eternity to him. Countless thoughts ran through his
mind as he took each step. He was getting closer and closer to the room where Nica must be waiting
for... him.
“Do I look alright? Wait, I can’t be looking just alright. How will she ever notice me like

3. this? Ahem. Good morning! Good morning. Hi! Hi, Nica! Have you began reading? Do you mind if
I sit beside you? Should I sit beside you? May I–” BAM! Adam’s head spun as he barely managed
to keep his balance and held on to the doorknob. “She should have certainly heard it! Nice way to
start your day, Adam.” He became a little frustrated at himself for he would now need to explain
how he bumped himself into the door, instead of remarking on whatever accessory she was wearing.
He hadn’t made up his mind on what excuse to say when he accidentally twisted the knob open. He
made a quick glance at the right side of the room expecting Nica to see his face flushed red, but her
seat was still empty.
His watch read 06:42. Because Nica always arrived on time, he had exactly three minutes to
collect and straighten out his thoughts, forget about the incident earlier, and pretend like he had
been keeping himself preoccupied. He sat behind Nica’s usual seat, took out his Filipino notebook,
and skimmed through the pages. He tried reciting kinds of adverbs, the topic of the next quiz, in his
head but his train of thought never failed to lead back to Nica and how the next hour would be. He
was lost in thought when he heard the door open and Nica stepped in.
His eyes followed her as she headed to her seat and walked with a slight bounce that swayed
her hair. She placed her bag under her desk, turned around and with a smile–that made Adam’s heart
skip a beat–greeted him. “Good morning.”
He could smell the scent of her shampoo whenever she leaned over and took a closer look at
his sample sentences. He could say in a quiet whisper how beautiful she looked not today but
everyday, and surely, she’d hear his words perfectly. Every now and then, when Nica would write
long stretches of paragraphs, he’d find himself staring at her eyes. She was pretty, but more than
that, she was inspiring.
--
Days became sunnier after the first session. Nica found herself looking forward to their
meet-ups every morning. Once, she even arrived ten minutes earlier than usual. Little by little, she

4. began to understand their Filipino lessons and little by little, she began to see Adam as a good
friend.
It was inevitable for their conversations to go beyond topics of pang-abay and talinhaga.
Sometimes, they would end up talking about their favourite TV shows or their pesky but loving
younger brothers, only to realize that their hour is up and that they did not study so far as answering
one exercise. Nica learned so much more of the boy behind the black-rimmed glasses that seeing
tempura and fried rice served at the dinner table made her smile. Every now and then, when Adam
would write a list of points she should remember, she’d find herself staring at his eyes. He looked
average, but more than that, he was inspiring.
--
Nica was just about to return to her classroom after lunch when she overheard two girls from
her class chatting inside.
“I've been seeing Nica with that other guy lately. I wonder if they have anything going on.”
“Oh, Adam? Miss Guzon just told him to tutor Nica for a while so that she wouldn't fail
Filipino.”
“Oh, now I remember. I still can't help noticing them whenever they're together though. I’ll
ask the others what they think about that pair...”
Nica, a bit bothered by how she was being talked about behind her back, decided to look for
her friends first before returning to the classroom. The subjects after lunch passed by uneventfully
but after class, as Nica was about to leave the school premises, she heard two other students talking.
This time two boys from a different class were talking about her.
“Remember that girl you were always talking about? The one from class 2-B?”
“Yeah, her name's Nica.”
“Well.. it looks like she has a boyfriend now! I heard that they always hang out together
before class. I didn't believe it until I saw them myself. They seemed pretty close and the way they

5. look while sitting beside each other and studying... Wow too bad you had a crush on her, huh?”
“What?! No one told me about this. Maybe the guy is just tutoring her or something.”
“Yeah right. It seemed like a serious relationship to me. You lost your chance with her,
man!”
Later on, after Nica got home from school, she continued to think about what would happen
if she and Adam would continue to be seen with each other. While she wanted to let Adam know
that she was grateful for the help she has been receiving, she was also afraid of false rumors being
spread about her and Adam's tutoring sessions. She knew that if she would let these continue, the
rumors would get out of hand and they would both be humiliated by their peers. She had not made
up her mind on what she would do when she fell asleep and dreamt of a perfect day under the sun.
--
The following morning was a dark and cloudy day. Though there hasn't been much rain, the
clouds looked dark and ominous. Adam's heart was racing as the tutoring session for the day drew
to a close. It was the day he had planned to ask Nica out on a date. She had been answering every
one of his questions on the quiz topics perfectly, and he believed that he had earned the right to take
the next step. He knew that any delay could prove to be fatal but any haste could also prove to be
so. As they brought that morning study to a close, Adam placed his pen down and faced Nica.
“N-Nica, after school, would you like to-” Just as he was about to ask her out, Nica, with a
faint smile and trembling voice decided to voice out her growing wish to be away from him.
“Adam... Thank you for everything.”
Nica's hasty words startled Adam. Despite the kindness of both her tone and her words, he
was frozen shut. For a moment, he could not comprehend the meaning of her words. It was only
after she explained to him what she really wanted that he finally understood.
“Because of you, I was able to pull my grades up. I even had fun studying with you. Now
that I'm no longer in trouble with my grades, I won't have to take up your time with these tutoring

6. sessions.” Nica managed to smile as she spoke. She was afraid of how Adam would respond so she
decided to wrap up and leave quickly. “I'm really grateful for everything you've done for me. Now I
guess... we can part ways without any worry, r-right?” Without waiting for any response, Nica
packed her notebooks away and left the speechless Adam.
Adam knew something was wrong. Nica's voice was shaking and she barely looked at him.
Though his heart was crying out to him to try to ask her out anyway, or to at least ask why she didn't
want to be with him, he could barely move or say anything. Once again, Adam found himself
standing on square one, scared of talking to popular Nica. The same fear that kept him from
approaching her ever since they met began to creep up on him. He had always wanted to be her
friend. He had always wanted to get to know her and make her smile. The tutoring sessions should
have been a stepping stone in bringing them closer, and everything was going well until now.
As the bell for the first class rang, all hopes of being together with her faded away and were
replaced by cold and depressing thoughts. His mind was suddenly overcome by the notion that he, a
plain boy with nothing outstanding going for him in life, would never have a chance with Nica, the
beautiful, kind and talented girl of his dreams. Nica had walked out of the room and he was
pathetically unable to say anything. Brushing off the few drops of tears from his eyes, he packed his
things and headed for class.
As expected, Nica's Filipino grades rose and she no longer needed to be tutored by Adam.
The days passed without them speaking a word to each other. A few days later, Chris and Adam had
a conversation over lunch about Nica.
“So... what ever happened to you tutoring Nica?” Chris asked Adam while taking bites from
a chocolate bar.
“No need for that anymore.” Adam quickly replied before biting an apple he had brought
with him from home.
“But you enjoyed being with her didn't ya?”

7. “Well, I did... but now there's no more need for us to see each other.” Adam, slightly irritated
by the conversation's topic, took another bite from the apple.
“Yeah right. Dude, I know you've obviously been wanting to ask her out for ages.” Chris
looked at Adam with a grin on his face.
“No way I could do that. Besides, she's way out of my league!”
Though Adam tried to sound as cheerful as he could, those last few words stuck in his mind.
The gloomy days had come to an end and the weather that day was perfect; perfect for a walk
outside, or for the date that could have happened.