Chapter 3

It was quite a miracle for Danielle that she was up as early as seven in the morning. She had never been up like this before since she had this kind of weird sleeping habit that caused tardiness most of the times. As we knew, love really had a great role for an individual to change the usual lifestyle. And Danielle was one big example. From being dispirited to inspired. From being impatient to patient. From being tardy to early. Or maybe she was just too excited to be enrolled at Burkely.

"♪ I have this feeling inside me that I've always tried to hide. I can't help myself but falling for you. No matter where you go, I will always follow you ...♪ " the excitement incited her to sang her very own song while taking a shower.

Well, that was true! She just couldn't simply hide her feelings for James. Many people believed that when you're in love, you can do things beyond expectation. And because of that, she wrote a song for James.

She was all prepared as she went downstairs to eat breakfast. Her mom was still preparing the meals when she got to the kitchen.

"Wow! For the record, you're so early honey..." her mom exclaimed in amazement.

"You're not that excited, right?" her mom still could not believe her unusual changes.

"Nah! I just realized that I really have to be more serious this time, mom," she grabbed a seat and sit while waiting for the food.

"Oh really! Honey, we will just go there for the enrollment and not for

a class. Anyway, that sounds great! Besides, you're now a teenager..." her mom handed the sandwich and milk to her.

"You have to know the word responsibility as early as now. Alright, I'll just take a shower then we'll leave, okay?"

"Copy that, mom."

She felt sorry to her mom. Despite being busy, her mom was very supportive to her in many ways. She was a friend, a sister, a doctor mother and sometimes acted like her father since her dad was working abroad. She didn't mean to be ungrateful to her mom but she had no choice at all.

"I'm really sorry, mom. Just this once, I promise," she said bitterly while watching her mom heading upstairs to take a shower.

She could hardly bite the sandwich because the guilt was overwhelming her whole being. She lose appetite to eat so decided to put the sandwich on her bag.

It was passed eight in the morning when they stepped on Berkeley's admin building. They headed directly to the transferee section and passed some requirements. But the admin staff shook her head while scanning the documents.

"Mrs. Torres, I'm very sorry to inform you that your daughter is not qualified to transfer."

Pardon? Did she heard it right? She was not qualified? Danielle couldn't help herself but let her jaw dropped in shock.

"I~I'm sorry?'' her mom practically asked.

"We have rules here that we need to follow. Unfortunately, her grades didn't meet the qualification for a transferee. So, I'm very sorry Mrs. Torres.''

No way! That couldn't be! Danielle was not stupid for Pete's sake. She was just inattentive in the class because of James. But she knew she could do better than that. She already invested a lot of lies and alibi just to came that far, so she couldn't simply allow that poor grades to hinder her love for James.

Great! It seemed her brain was working perfectly as she needed it. It worked several times, so why not use it? She slowly walked toward the admin staff, tears were starting to fall with her pathetic look charm. She kneeled down before the admin staff. Seeing her acting like that won't make any surprise if the people around her, including her mom would be caught dumbfounded. To their shock, they weren't able to say a single word. They couldn't help but let their jaw dropped, frowning, and wondering what's was going on.

"Do you have a daughter, miss?" Danielle started to be dramatic.

"Y~Yes, why?" the staff looked puzzled thinking how it had something to do Danielle's assessment issue.

"Has she ever been bullied at school?"

"No."

"So, meaning, you never know how does it feel to be bullied. I've been bullied since kinder. It's really hard for me to concentrate on the class while my classmates are tugging my booty, throwing garbage on me, and smack me down," she sobbed.

She was so exaggerated! Yes, she had been bullied but not that bad. Her mom was gesturing to interrupt but Danielle didn't let her to.

"Please, give me a chance to live my school days happy and be a normal student like others here. I can make a better grades if can concentrate in the class. I'm not stupid and mom knows that, right mom?" She winked at her mom hoping to get a sympathy. Her mom wasn't able to agree right away, so she was mouthing toward her mom.

"Oh...Yes, that's right! So please, give her a chance," her mom had finally uttered some words.

"Alright! Alright! Alright! You got me, but prove it that you can excel or else I'll kick you out of here. Are we clear on that?" the staff started to process her papers.

"Count me in, Madame! Thank you," Daniel replied.

Great! It was always effective. She could be dubbed as drama princess or princess of exaggeration. On their way home, her mom couldn't simply settle her mind about what had just happened.

"What was that?"

"What is it?" as always, Danielle tried to be naive.

"Oh come on! The 'smack me down and tugging my booty'' stuff. Are you serious?" they stopped walking.

"Mom, I'm desperated so I made up that thing. It works, right?''

"Honey, who taught you to be a liar? This is not you anymore."

"Mom, I'm not lying. It's exaggerating. But exaggerating is far more than lying. Please, don't be upset, I really need to enroll here," she insisted.

"Fine! Just make sure you're not messing up with me or else I'll be the one to pull you out here. You got it?"

"I got it. Thanks mom. You always got my back."

"Of course! You're my beloved daughter. But...but I don't tolerate foolishness,okay? her mother warned her. She's a great mother that she could ask for. Not just being a very supportive mother, but she strict when it needed to be strict. Just that she hadn't found Danielle's craziness at the moment. Hopefully, everything would be fine or else her doomsday would be coming on it's way. Well, she made it but that was just the beginning of her exciting life.