I always wonder why people are so worked up about Friday the 13^th; it’s just like any other Fridays.

“It’s the day of bad luck, man!” a club member told me during the break from our early morning practice.

“So?” I said, skeptical and they started explaining the history, yes, the history of that doomed day. After all that I still remained a skeptic.

“STOP!” someone yelled and I felt someone pull me away from the ladder I was about to pass under.

“What the?” I snapped and turned towards the stranger.

He looked younger than his age tells. I thought he was a junior if it weren’t for his uniform which was similar to mine; only the logo was different. He specialized in photography as the logo implies.

“It’s bad luck to pass under a ladder especially now that it’s Friday the 13^th.” He said, his eyes wide from fear, I guess.

“Why does everyone believe such stupidity?” I exasperated and shook his hands off.

I thought it was the last time I would see that guy but he keeps popping out from nowhere keeping me away from ‘impending doom’.

“Don’t you know that when you break a glass that’s seven years of bad luck?” he lectured when he caught the glass that slipped from my hand but I just rolled my eyes.

When I was going to the gym, a black cat passed in front of me.

“No!” I heard that annoying voice again. He pulled me away from the cat’s path. “Black cats brings bad luck, step away.” He said. I was at the brink of my patience. I yelled at him. “I DON’T FRIGGIN’ CARE ABOUT YOU’RE SUPERSTITIONS?! Can’t you tell how annoyed I am? Friday the 13^th my ! Leave me alone!” I fumed and walked out on his stupefied, pitiful face. I felt sorry for yelling at him but he made me do it.

“Don’t you think you were pretty harsh on the kid?” a classmate told me.

“He deserves it.” I grumbled.

And since that morning’s encounter I never saw him bother me again.

Do not step on cracks – bad luck.

Cause I’m a non-believer, I stepped on a crack and no annoying guy came to stop me.

A broken mirror equals seven years of bad luck.

And to prove to everyone that these beliefs are false I purposely broke one.

“Throw it somewhere far! So bad luck can’t reach you.” a classmate said. I just laughed at them and threw the broken pieces in the classroom garbage bin. I did all the possible ‘don’ts’ and ‘no’s’ but never experienced the consequences. At the end of the day I proved to everyone that they have all been duped by that Friday nonsense by showing to them that I’m still alive.

The dance practice for the afternoon ended. I saw that cat from this morning again and we stared at each other, he, I assumed that it’s a boy, looked away first. Another thing that I’ve always wondered is how cats can walk so y and mysterious but that has been left unanswered still. Practice in the afternoon always makes me hungry so I turned towards my favorite burger joint.

I’m a skeptic to all superstitions but somehow bad luck came to me one after the other. As I was on my way to the burger joint a car dashed pass me and splashed dirty puddle water on me. I burned my tongue when I drank from my coffee. When I got up from my seat, a gum was stuck to my pants?! Luckily I still had a spare. My wallet was taken from me in the bus I rode home, that’s merely because I fell asleep. Good thing it didn’t have anything anymore. The bus then had a flat tire; fortunately, my house was just blocks away.

Somewhere from my peripheral vision I saw something move from the grasses near the river. It was that annoying boy. It took me awhile before I approached him.

“Lost something?” I asked. He looked up and smiled.

His face was covered in dirt. “No. I’m looking for something.” He answered and went back to bending.

I just stared at him. “Aha!” he exclaimed and ran up to me. He showed me what he has on his hand. It was a four-leafed clover. “This is to keep some of the bad luck away.”

I was too tired to argue with him and just received the clover and stuffed it in my pocket. “Thanks.” I bluntly said and silently left.

I don’t believe in bad luck, but amazingly all unfortunate events stopped from happening. Maybe because Friday the 13^th was over? The next day, after the early morning practice I saw him again, clean and angelic in his white shirt rolled up to his elbows. He was religiously taking pictures of the scenery outside.

I might have been spacing out because a fellow trainee nudged me and asked, “Do you know that guy?”

“More or less.” I replied.

“He’s a weird one. I saw him picking something from a trash bin. I think those were shards of broken mirror.”

That’s when I saw the bandages on his fingers. Then I felt guilty over yelling at him again.

I never believed in superstitions but his silly actions moved me. I saw him again this afternoon, this time taking a shot at the sunset. His album and other pictures were scattered at the bench and I took the liberty to take a peep. His pictures looked grand but there were a few pictures that got my attention. There were two pictures of me dancing and one sleeping under some tree.

“You’re pretty awesome.” I said softly which took him by surprise.

He really didn’t realize I was there. “Um… thanks.” He humbly said.

“How much trouble did you go to keep me away from trouble?” again he looked surprised.

“Looking out for the person I admire is never trouble for me.” He answered, now I looked surprised and a flash blinded me for a second.

“I’ve caught your passionate dancer side, the relaxed you and now the surprised you.” He said with a smile.

I never believed in superstitions or in destiny but I’ll have this one as an exception.

I only love two things – dancing and eating but I think I’m beginning to love him too, more than eating and maybe as much as dancing.

“Can I have your camera for a moment.” I asked and he obliged.

I walked beside him and began to angle the camera at different directions.

“Look this way.” I said.

“What for?” he asked but followed me anyway.

There was another flash from the camera. He backed away from me, blushing lightly.

“Now you have a picture of us smacked.” I said.

I never believed in superstitions and I'm glad I never did because of my skepticism I found him or he found me?

THE END *u*

A/n: and i just noticed that this friday is actually going to be a Friday the 13th. it would probably be better if i uploaded this on friday itself won't it? hehehe... hope you enjoyed it and comments please <3