That afternoon, the group of teens, including Sancho, gathered near the gate to discuss their plans for visiting Mrs. Sanchez after school. As they wait for the gates of the school to open, Sancho glance over at the girls that will be coming with him and Razzy.
There are four of them and two of them are what Sancho would consider as friends while the other two are just acquaitance. Not a friend but not a stranger either.
The first one and one of the first female friend Sancho had is Marie Perez. She is what many people call as the "nerd" of the group due to how she wears thick rim glasses though in reality, she isn't that smart and just wears glasses since her eyesight is really bad.
Even if Marie is not smart, she is quite friendly and in terms of leadership, she is a born natural leader which makes her one of the students that are always appointed as a leader during group activities due to how well she controls the flow of a group.
The second one is Amy Cruz and is the best friend of Marie. After Marie befriended Sancho back then, Amy got acquainted with him and soon enough, they became good friends.
Unlike Marie, Amy is what you call the "Tomboy" of the group. She always likes to hang out with guys and partake on guy hobbies. That said, she is straight and likes guys. Not only that but she is quite sporty and is always a good athlete which makes many boys at school consider her as an attractive girl that they wanted to date. Of course, for Amy, that is a big pass as she wanted to focus first on her studies.
And since being an athlete also became a hindrance to her regular classes causing her grades to fall behind, she is one of the students who hopes that doing this visitation helps improve her grades in the process. Its not a surefire way but it does have chances.
As for the other two girls, they are Samantha and Elisa. They are the popular girls of the schools and are considered as the muses of the school. Sancho doesn't have much impression on them aside from the fact that they are a kind of hard to approach due to how they always seems to do overreaction at times and they are so focused on fashion that one would think that they only came to school just to flaunt on their new brands or their gorgeous makeup.
And since they are also coming, that only means their grades are quite low and they hoped to also get the favor and leniency from Mrs. Sanchez.
"I didn't know you also have low grades, Sancho for you to be here. Aren't you quite smart and has big grades?" Amy asked, puzzled on why Sancho is coming with them.
Before Sancho can answer, Razzy pat Sancho's back and put his right arm on his shoulder. "Nah, Sancho is more like an offender of tardiness. His grades are good, his tardiness was just the problem. Heard he also got a little lecture from her before she took her maternity leave, yeah?"
Sancho removed Razzy's arm and glared at him with irritation on his face. "I should have not joined on this one if you are just going to keep babbling about my circumstances.
" Woah man, chill. You are way too hotheaded. I mean I am technically correct so why get angry?"
"Haah..." Sancho sighed. "Alright, fine. I am joining in since it might help lessening the bad reputation I have built upon for being tardy."
"That still works. Can't let this matter taint our report cards, yes?" Marie nodded like she understood.
Elisa and Samantha approached them as they continue to speak.
"Hey guys, are we the only ones who will be going?" Samantha asked.
"Jenna would be also comi- oh, there she is. It seems she is done with everything."
The newly arrival girl is the honor student of their section, Jenna Salazar. Although she is coming along with the group that are trying to rack some positive points for Mrs. Sanchez, she didn't join in to also do the same. She was there to hand over a few things for Mrs. Sanchez to look at as this was something that was meant to be done personally by her.
"Have you guys been waiting long? Sorry about that. The teachers were still talking a lot which made me take too long to come here," Jenna said as she wipes of her sweat.
"Nah, not really. So, are we all ready to go?" Amy looked at everyone.
"Sure, let's get going. Everyone has their extra fair fee right? We will have to ride a tricycle to reach Mrs. Sanchez's house. Just tell if you don't have any extra fee and I can lend you some, of course you pay me tomorrow," Razzy said as he looked at the girls.
"Thankfully, looks like no one needs it. We should get going," Marie nodded.
Everyone also nodded and they called tricycles to reach Mrs. Sanchez's home. And a few minutes of travel, the tricycles arrive at a big house. It isn't a mansion but it is big enough that one can tell the person living here is quite wealthy.
"Wow, I knew Mrs. Sanchez is wealthy but seeing their house just solidifies things," Razzy commented as he admires the house structure.
"True. Being a teacher rakes in a lot of money I guess," Elisa commented.
"Nah, I doubt it. More like this is a combined effort of Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez that they managed to build a house like this," Jenna said with confidence.
On the other hand, Sancho quietly pulls out a little bottle on his pocket. Inside it is oil that is specially used to detect entities that blends in with humans. Seeing it isn't doing anything, Sancho had nothing to worry about.
"Sancho! What are you doing there standing? Come on, they are letting us in already!" Razzy shouted to Sancho to catch his attention.
"Ah, coming!"
The enemy might not be around just yet, but if what Mr. Sanchez said is true, it won't be long before the enemy appear. All he needed to do is remain for a while there and wait until the shapeshifter arrives.
Once inside the gates, the group saw Mrs. Sanchez on their balcony. Sancho still remembers Mrs. Sanchez before she left for maternity leave. During that time, she was quite healthy and her pregnancy is doing well.
But right now, Sancho can tell that she is experiencing something weird that made her look haggard. Not only does she look like she was deprived from sleep, it seems that she is a lot stressed. Her eyes are showing that she has been staying up late. Her bags are quite dark already meaning her sleep schedule is very bad.
Of course there are many things that could factor that and that also includes her pregnancy. But that doesn't mean she can't sleep if pregnant. If Sancho's guess is correct, then he needed to intervene.
"I didn't expect to see visitors here in my humble home. Come in, come in," Mrs. Sanchez smiled even though it is clear that she is very stressed out. Her previous youthful face seems to have aged so much in just a few months.
"Ma'am, what happened to you? You seemed to have gotten thinner and your eyes has bigger eyebags now!" Razzy blurted out his thoughts that everyone looked at him with a wide eye of surprise.
Mrs. Sanchez chuckled at this. "Don't worry, I am okay. It's just that I have been unable to sleep lately. Maybe this is something that first time pregnancy can happen with."
Samantha quickly retorted. "No way that is the case, Ma'am! My sister is also a first time mom and she didn't experience anything similar to you. Perhaps you are sick? Did the doctors have already examined you?"
Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. "I already asked my doctor and they said that perhaps I was just stressed."
Sancho did not join the conversation and is just listening. He is observing the surroundings while also keeping an eye on Mrs. Sanchez.
As the kids continue to chat with Mrs. Sanchez, a woman came and entered the gate.
"Ah, it seems you have visitors," the woman smiled.
"Alina, come in. These are my students."
"Ahaha, its fine, Mrs. Sanchez, I just came here to send some food for you. Since you are already craving for some sour foods, I cooked sinigang for you. This should help stave off your craving!"
"Ooh! This looks delicious! Thank you once more!"
"No worries! Anyways, I won't be staying for long. Enjoy your time with yout students, yes?"
The person named Alina waved goodbye and left the house.
"Wow! The smell is good! I am getting hungry!" Amy wipes her drool as she sniffs the aroma of the dish that was given to Mrs. Sanchez.
"How about we eat this together, the amount she had given is quite a lot for me. It would be great to have someone who will help with this."
Sancho's eyes shifted from the sinigang to the little bottle in his hand. It stopped gurgling after the woman left. Ever since the woman named Alina arrived, the oil began to boil and the closer she have gotten, the stronger and the hotter the bottle has become.
"Found you, f*cker."
Before the others can help themselves on the sinigang and have a sip, Sancho swiftly pulls out a calamansi from his pocket and quickly drop a few squeeze drops to the sinigang.
"Uh bro? Why did you do that? Sinigang is already sour, and I don't think calamansi can enhance the flavor of the dish!" Razzy ranted after seeing what Sancho have done.
Despite the annoyed reaction of everyone over what Sancho did, the girls returned their attention to the sinigang to try and take a spoonful only for Elisa who was about to scoop a single cup of its soup and sip it scream as she released the plastic cup she was about to use to drink the sinigang soup.
"What?!" Mrs. Sanchez 's eyes went wide as she looked at the dish on her hands. Before, it was a sinigang without a doubt, however, the moment Sancho dropped a few drops of it, the true nature of the food reveals itself.
The food looks disgusting and it is now home to squirming insects that many does not even wish to find on their food. Not only that but the smell alone is enough to induce vomitinf due to hoe disgusting it was.
Sancho looked at Mrs. Sanchez and declared. "Mrs. Sancho, you have been marked."