The B-gang

More than five years ago, there were 10 girls (half of them were actually boys) who made the rundown theaters in the downtown part of the city as their nightlife hub.

Their story started at the Eden theater. You heard me right, these 10 adventure-hungry individuals trooped to this theater, to “investigate” (as part of their Investigative Journalism class) if there were really illegal drug dealing inside the theater. But the group did not see any illegal activities involving drugs instead they discovered the place being used as a sexual haven for homosexuals and their “boys.”

Bitok: OMG! Liv, ari diri nay nag-blow job!
Liv: GRRR! Ayaw intawn sangpita ang akong sagrado nga pangan, utang buot!
Bitok: Bitaw noh, basin naa imo mama diri. Hehe. (Bitok sending an sms to Liv that read: ari ba!na’y nag-blow job!)
Liv: (reply to bitok: yup yup yup!)

Thus, when the group went out from that theater they decided to use pseudonyms.

Bitok- (real name:grace) she already called her self that even before the b-gang was formed. And later on, she changed it to veetoak. Funny..with her “chinese-chinese” language, and her other antics. Smart (cum laude), and a ghost hunter. Now she’s hunting money at Convergys
Multo-(cherryl) because she was like a ghost (hehe). No, actually in at least one of the group pictures she just stood at the back-- expressionless (mura’g multo). Tigkatawa sa jokes ni Bitok. Now, she’s scaring her workmates in Sykes.
Anod- simply from her real name Donna. Talkative. The number 1 enemy of Sir Teoddie Dumam-ag (STD) because she talked and laughed while the teacher Dumam-ag was lecturing. She’s now in Bohol teaching her two kids how to talk. She married her long-time boyfriend, Taniel, immediately after graduation.
Bodoy (Laarni)- I named her that after a kid friend of mine. The tallest among the group. STD’s number 2 enemy. I think it was because of her tactlessness. And I think she was heard by STD criticizing his grammar. Budoy is in Leyte, where STD can’t find her to tell her: “Yo! I am now a dean. Bleeeh.”
Jaiot- a combo of jackie (real name: jackilou) and bayot (she was also bayot-y in a way). She spoke Tagalog even if she had been living in Cebu since age 9. She’s kind of liberated and a spoiled brat. For the last couple of years, she changes job practically every month because either the people she worked for could not get along with her, or she to them.
JT-(juana tamad/Bless) she’s simply lazy…wanted to stay at her office (Forward, where she was the eic) to “rest” even if she had classes. Everything about her is lavender. She loved her photographer but ended up with her childhood friend. Now she’s working for People Support. And she's a new mom now.
Fetus-(jihan) she had (until now) that babyish face, but thinks beyond her age. A poet and a lover of boys (hehe). She’s currently working at the CCSCST as its President’s assistant, while finishing her master’s degree in literature. She also teaches English 3.
Onyx-(joan) formerly “Kuan” (khwan) because she always had “kuan” (ku-an) in almost anything she said. Well, it’s because she is not a native of Cebu. Right now, she works for a pawnshop in Davao, where she lives.
Fuzi coy-(Arlyn) because she was “fuzzy” (like a cat, according to bitok) and the coy was from her surname-Yucot (tocuy). Bogoy and palahubog. She was the one who taught the rest of the B-gang to smoke one Students’ night. She just arrived from Taiwan and right now she’s working in MEPZ.
Vatski- (apil diay ko? ahehe) the full nick was supposedly Livatski. Bless Bless, as she invented that name while writing it at the box of a pizza pie, and everyone in the group saw it and agreed I should be named such. GRRR, but I had no choice...I submitted, but with modification-I omitted the Li.

B-gang- the group’s name, taken from bahakhak. Because we loved to laugh out loud when we're all gathered at the fifth floor of the school's Biology department, where we consumed packs of Japanese cornick while our classes were going on somewhere.

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And yesterday, after 10 years we met again. Multo is healthier, Jihan girl-ier, Fuzi Coy-the same, and the rest are busy with their respective lives so they are whatever.

But nothing’s changed, surprisingly. We still enjoy riding bump cars even if the ticket price is twice as much the last time we were in SM's WOF.

And the shooting games! I did not know you had to duck to save your ass from getting hit by the enemies’s bullets, so in less than a minute I was shot dead! Virtual reality.

We are practically the same 48 years ago. Well, there are some changes though such as Multo's becoming “visible” now because of her excess fats (piz multz :P); the Fetus's wearing “high-heeled shoes” (dalaga na ang kid), Bitok (who was as bogoy as I was/am) is already sporting “syinyampo-ko-lang-‘yan” hair, and some who are like cellphone numbers that are sometimes you can’t reach, while others have become mothers. Ang me…mao japun kaon jabas.

But I miss those days. I miss Eden, Cinema Theater, and all those strange places we’ve been to.

I miss being STD's number 3 enemy. WAHAHAHA!