It was Den's debut later that evening, in a quaint little restaurant called Barbara's in Intramuros. It meant that I had to borrow my dad's trusty old pinstripe blazer again, since I don't have any suits in my closet.

To my surprise, only a few of my blockmates --- Tristan, Erik, Angel, Anna, Leia, Chab and Rachel --- came to the event. I was pretty sure Den invited more of us. I suppose it really didn't matter; we were there for her and that's all that mattered. We were one noisy table, mainly dabbling with Chab's relationship with her boyfriend and what the girls planned to say during their turn at the "18 candles" part. Erik kept his phone company. He was lonely for some reason. I'd rather not get involved; he might just feel worse.

At the debut I finally got to meet Sean, Denise's "infamous" brother (all I knew of him before was based on her squabble stories), and he was responsible for the video presentation that evening. That was my first glimpse of Den's childhood. Knowing her bubbly and naughty personality, I wondered why most of the pictures used in the video never showed her smiling as a kid. Hmmm...

Later on Den's mom made her impromptu speech. Her relationship with Denise reminded me of my own relationship with my mom...but no, my mom and I don't get along that well. I also got to meet some of Den's childhood friends from CSA through Mel...but I don't think I made much of a good impression on them. I was tired by then, and great as the debut was, I despised the "dance" music played by the amateur DJs. (Sorry.)

Midnight came and I had to leave. For something Denise called a haphazardly planned debut, it was fine for the most part. Happy 18th birthday, Denise.