Robert sighed and shook his head.

He never thought his peaceful Saturday morning would end up like this.

Angela sat between him and his mother, Danny was to his right side, while the rest of his friends were around the big dining table.

There were five of them, all wearing their school PE uniforms.

"That's Jon, Ricky, Matt, Mic, Ken and of course, Danny." said Angela, repeating their names as she pointed at them.

They just finished eating and the guys kept asking her if she remembered their names.

"That's right! You're real smart, aren't 'ya?" said Ricky, grinning. He was the shortest in the group, measuring about 5'1, and has a streak of silver white on his left temple.

"So how long have you two been going out?" asked Jon, another tall boy with retainers.

"We're not going out, okay?" Robert replied hotly. "She's my mom's adopted daughter." He looked at his mother and grinned. "Right, mom?"

"I invited her, you see," said Mrs. Cordero, "we're gonna design that spare room next to Robert's."

"What about the pool?" asked Matt, Mic nudged him in the ribs. They were always together, both were chubby and looked quite simple minded.

"Why don't we help you clean the room, then?" said Ken, he was the most attractive in the group. "It'll make the job easier."

"Good idea, Kenny," said Danny, patting the guy beside him on the back, "then, we can all clean the pool!"

"Don't call me Kenny," the other said flatly, "'Danielle'."

Later, all 7 of the boys were in the spare room while Angela sat in the garden seat outside the balcony.

"Stay there," Robert had told her.

She watched as the dust rose at the other end of the balcony, the boys rummaged through the stuff, messing around as they did. They found the box filled with old toys and were shooting at each other with the water guns.

"Just like little kids," she found herself thinking.

She felt a little envious, she wanted to run around with them too, but Robert told her to stay there, and her leg still ached a bit.

She looked around instead.

Tita Glo left a pitcher of cold water on the table beside her with some plastic tumblers, in case the boys get thirsty. Next to it was the remains of the box she dropped.

The broken glass pieces were in the dustbin now. All that's left were the frames with the old photos still in them. Angela picked them up and looked at them.

The first frame showed the picture of a tall, important looking man wearing a suit and tie. He looked straight out of the picture with a no-non-sense expression on his face.

"This must be Robert's grandfather," she thought, remembering the scowling old man from her childhood.

She went through the rest.

She found several family pictures, featuring Robert's grandfather and his children. She recognized Tita Glo at once, with the beaming smile and bright eyes.

Kuya Glenn's mother was the eldest.

She was pretty, but seldom smiled, though in the picture she had an arm around her younger sister and a smile to match hers. Next to her was their brother Gener. The youngest child.

He looked just as glum as his father in the picture.

"He's that doctor, I think," thought Angela. "Just like Robert's grandfather."

She remembered seeing him once when she was younger, he was a tall young man even then, and gave her a piece of cookie when he saw her, calling her Angel.

"At least he knew I was a girl," said she.

She rummaged through the picture frames again.

She found pictures of Glenn.

Lots of It.

His grandfather was very found of him after all.

She saw pictures of Glenn's parents too and of Gener's young fiancé. There were graduating pictures, baby pictures, christening pictures and pictures of people she has never seen before. She rummaged in the pile until she reached the bottom and tried to look around for more, but there were none left.

"That's weird," she said to herself, "how come I didn't see any of Robert's pictures?"

"Hey Angela!" Robert called out to her.

Angela looked up, a little alarmed. Robert approached her grinning, dust on his face, cobwebs in his hair. He was rubbing his hands on the seat of his jeans.

"We're about done with the cleaning," he said, reaching for a glass to drink.

His dirty fingers left dark spots on the pitcher of water.

"What you doing?" he asked.

Angela was looking at him, her face turning red.

"Something wrong?" he asked again.

"No, of course not..." she replied, looking away. "I was just looking at these old photos."

Robert looked at the picture frames on the table and picked the one with his grandfather in it. He stared at it, the expression on his face unreadable.

"Didn't find me, did you?" he said after a while.

"Huh?" replied Angela, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, I was wondering why..."

Before Angela could finish, Robert threw the frame with his grandfather's photo out the backyard.

Angela stared at him, her mouth open. She watched as the frame dropped on top of the old pool house with a crash, breaking into pieces.

"Always wanted to do that," said Robert with a content sigh. He looked at Angela, grinning, while Angela stared at him.

"Robert!" called his friends. "The pool! The pool!"

Danny and the rest were heading down the stairway and into the pool, throwing their shirts off as they went.

"Hey! That's rain water you idiots!" Robert yelled after them.

"Who cares?" Matt yelled back as they jumped into the water.

"Idiots!" Robert yelled again. He turned and ran towards them, then stopped to face Angela. "Hey, wanna come along?" asked Robert.

"You go ahead, I'll stay right here," she said.

Robert looked at her, grinned, and went after his friends.

Robert took his shirt and jeans off, he was wearing his boxers underneath. 

He ran to the pool and yelled at his friends.

"Hey, you guys! Just make sure you finish cleaning the pool this time!" he called out before jumping into the water with a big splash.

It had been raining in the past weeks, and the pool was half full. It reached to Robert's waist when he stood. The deep end of the pool measured six and a half feet when the pool was full, the other, roughly 5 feet deep. They actually started cleaning it during summer vacation but were messing around most of the time so all they got to do was clean the bottom of the pool.

There were 10 years' worth of filth back then, and it sure was a blessing that the hot summer sun has dried the pool up.

There was still a lot of cleaning to do, though. The mango leaves kept falling in the pool and the bottom was still slippery, especially in the deeper end, plus the rainwater housed a lot of tadpoles and God knows what else.

"Hey, Robert," said Ken as he rose from the water, "Why did you leave your girlfriend all alone?"

"Yeah, tell her to join us in the pool!" said Jon.

"She's got a wound," said Robert. "Might get infected. AND she's not my girlfriend," he added.

"What infected?" asked Mic. "Are we contagious?"

"No, stupid," replied Danny, "He's talking 'bout the rainwater."

"Nothin's wrong with the water, right?" asked Matt. "Besides, we used to swim in the village canal when we were younger!"

"That was years ago, dumb ass!" said Ricky, "It was a brook back then."

"Well, I guess we'll really have to clean the pool now," said Ken, "or we'll never get to see her in a bathing suit!"

"Just what I was thinking," replied Ricky.

They were suddenly hit by a sloppy bunch of mango leaves.

"Ow!" said Ken, rubbing his face. "Hey not the face!"

"Yeah, you might make Kenny cry!" teased Danny.

"Touchy-touchy Obet, seems like we hit a nerve!" said Ricky, washing his face. "You sure she's not your girlfriend?"

"Of course not!" their host replied, pissed off. "Didn't I tell you? She's mom's adopted daughter."

"Then I guess that makes her your 'sister' eh?" said Mic with a chuckle.

The others looked at him, turning quiet, then at Robert who was floating on his back, eyes closed. He gave a sigh and looked at his friends.

"Guess so..." he replied, a sad smile on his face, "I guess she'll be my sister then."

"Hey, why don't we drain the water to clean the pool faster?" Danny suddenly said.

"Good idea," said Ken, "the drain IS still working, is it?" Robert sank beneath the water and stood up.

"Yeah, last time I checked," he said, "I'll try it right now."

"Huh, but I still wanna.. oof!" said Mic, Matt jabbing him in the ribs.

"C'mon, cleaning time!" called the rest.

Angela watched as the guys swam in the pool.

It sure looked refreshing, what with the hot weather and all. She gave a sigh and headed back to the spare room instead.

It looked much bigger with all the boxes gone. There were still some dust and the windowpanes were still foggy, but it sure was an improvement compared to what it looked like when she first saw the room.

'Well,' she thought to herself, 'at least they left me something to do.'

She took a broom from a corner and started dusting the windows, coughing as she did. She was still at it when she felt something furry rubbing on her feet.

It was Yang.

There were cobwebs all over his body, he purred as he rubbed on Angela's foot and looked up at her with his big blue eyes.

"Why hello there, Yang," she said as she picked the kitten up. "I guess there's just you and me now, huh?"

She pulled off the cobweb entangled around the cat's body. Yang pawed at it playfully.

"So, you're keeping me company, huh?" she asked the cat. "To tell you the truth, I was feeling a little out of place. I've never been around so many boys before. It really is uncomfortable..."

She finished removing the cobwebs from the kitten.

She raised it up to her face and nuzzled it. Yang rubbed against her nose and purred.

"But to tell you the truth?" she said, "I'm a little envious. I wish I had friends like them."

Angela continued to clean the windows.

Yang saw the broom and tried to catch it, leaping from her arm. Angela laughed as the kitten fell to the ground and leaped at the broom again. Behind the door, Robert stood, smiling to himself.

"Okay kids, time for a break!"

It was Mrs, Cordero, carrying a basket full of cookies. She entered the room with a warm smile in her face.

"It's done already?" asked Angela, placing the broom down.

"Yup," said Tita Glo, "Why don't you go clean up first?"

"Okay, Tita," she replied cheerfully.

Angela dusted herself and went to the bathroom to wash her hands when the door suddenly opened.

Robert stepped out looking much refreshed from his dip in the pool. He had changed into a pair of walking shorts and a loose t-shirt, his hair, still wet and uncombed.

"Let me help you with that, mom," said Robert as he went past Angela, giving her a big grin.

'That's right,' thought Angela, 'the bathroom leads to Robert's room too.'

She was washing when the others entered the room, all wet and hungry.

"Great timing Tita," said Matt, "I was beginning to get faint with hunger."

"You're always hungry!" said Ricky.

"Hey, but Tita's cookies are the best, ever!" said Danny with a mouthful.

"Yeah, better than my mom's!" said Mic.

"Thanks for the compliment!" said Mrs. Cordero beaming. "By the way, how's the pool going?" she asked. "I see you're finished with the room."

"Well, we're still draining it," replied Ken, "make it easier to clean later." Just then, Angela walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey, Angela, come join us!" said Danny with a grin.

"You've just got to try Tita's cookies, they're the best there is!" said Jon, handing her a piece.

"Thanks." Angela replied, taking the cookie.

The others started joking with each other, stuffing their faces with the cookies, while Robert had his cellphone out and was busy taking pictures.

Angela watched them as if from a distance. She then looked at the cookie basket. She took a piece and tried to dig deeper in the quickly diminishing pile.

"Looking for something?" asked Robert from her side.

"Oh, it's nothing," replied Angela. She quickly took a piece of cookie and stepped aside.

"Here, I'll give you half," said Robert.

Angela felt her face burn when she saw what he was holding.

It was the big cookie lump Angela made earlier. He broke it in two and handed half to Angela who stared at him.

"Like I said, it didn't cook too well, see, the inside is still moist." He popped his half inside his mouth. "Still tastes good though," he said with his mouth full.

Angela felt embarrassed.

She looked at the other half and took a bite.

The soft inside actually tasted nice. But...

"I was planning to eat it all myself," she said in a low voice.

"I just wanted to taste your first cookie," the other replied with a laugh.

Angela looked away and drank some juice.

She didn't notice the others quietly watching them, exchanging knowing glances.

Danny smiled as he looked at the two and took a deep breath.

'So, he's finally moving on,' he thought as he took another bite off a burnt cookie.