Eighteen

I was so happy.

With all that work I did, all the reviews, the time I spent reading the books, having coffee for more than like 2 cups a day, it was all worth it. I passed the test and to top that, I got a perfect score!

I expected that I'll get like 70% of the grade, but instead, I aced the exam. Irish also did get a perfect score. She's a real valedictorian.

Yesterday we got the results for the exam, but today, we will get the result for the honors of the class. As I said, I am currently in the last place. Now, I'm hoping that I would at least rise up from the bottom. Again, today I am still nervous.

"Man, I'm jealous." Justin said, lying down in the bench and making his arms as a pillow.

"At what?" Agatha looked at him.

"At all of you!" he shouted. He sat down and face us. "I really envy your ability to memorize shits. Like, what the hell? How can you just read an article and memorize it?"

I laughed at him, "Dude, it's not memorizing. It's understanding." I patted his shoulders.

Cristina then cut in while eating a salad. "True. It's no help if you just memorize the lesson. You need to read and understand it."

"Yes, bitch! Emphasis!" Maddie busted in, also eating the salad that Cristina is holding.

"What we are saying is, you don't need to spend a lot of time to memorize a lesson or a topic. It's a waste of time. As long as you understand the lesson that is given, it will stick into your mind." Mika explained while eating chips.

Justin scoffed and pointed at me, "Well, jokes on you. Asher did spend a lot of time reviewing a lesson."

"It's because I need to study hard now." I nodded. "And also, I am really truly sorry that these past few weeks I don't hang with all of you. It's just this manager thing that I'm in."

Irish smiled at me, "We understand you, dork."

"Yes, to be honest, we didn't even expect that you're gonna be a manager." Agatha added.

"Me neither." I also added, smiling. We went silent for a minute then we stayed and just watched the view of the field from our place.

The team, my team, has been playing basketball since I got here at school. They play non-stop until satisfaction turns to them.

"We only have 6 months left." I sighed, still watching the basketball play.

That made them feel down and they all stopped watching and turned to each other, forming a circle. Cristina pouted, "I'm really gonna miss this kind of moment."

Okay, now we're being dramatic again.

We all nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I never thought I'm gonna meet you, all of you." Mika softly said.

"You know, transferring at this school," Irish joined while staring at the ground and looked at us. "I never regretted it. I mean I only know you for 3 years and you guys know each other for 4 years at least. And I'm just really happy that I got here because, at first, I wanted to go back to my previous school but, someone made me stay. Someone made me think that 'I should not leave'. Someone made me think that 'I should stay and be with my friends 'til the last moment here in this school.'"

"And that someone, is all of you." she stated.

Irish is a silent girl. That she would only talk if you talk to her, except if she has something important to say. And hearing that is really a meaningful moment for us. She's been a good kind of friend. She never disappoints us.

This kind of moment stays with me forever. I'll never forget the times like this. It's very touching and meaningful to me.

After we spent the break, we agreed to go back to the classroom. When we got back I excused myself to rush back to the bench because I left my earphones.

Yeah, classic Asher.

Running made my right side trigger pain. So, I have to run with my right hand on it, holding and trying to endure the pain.

I got to the bench, catching my breath. Panting, I sat down with my knees in front of me and tried to breathe normally. I was good at this back in the days. I have no problem with running. But now, this bloody pain is making me weak. I'm still catching my breath and inhaling and exhaling heavily.

"You look like you're dying." someone said.

I quickly glanced at the tree near the bench, because that's where I heard the voice, and saw the locker bastard leaning on the tree and looking at me with both of his hands in his jacket's pockets.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him, still catching my breath.

"No, what the hell are you doing here?" he asked me back. I glared at him and stood up.

"I came here for my earphones and you?"

He didn't answer anything but a shrug.

I shook my head and grabbed the earphones. He started walking towards the bench and took a seat. Then he stared at the field without talking. I was surprised by his behavior.

"Have you learned manners or something?" I sarcastically asked while grinning. He then glared at me and I glared at him too.

"What?" he confusingly asked.

"You're not acting like a wannabe king now."

He broke his gaze from me and looked back to the field. "I still hate you."

"I'll take that as a compliment." I sarcastically said.

"But, you're on our team, and especially you're our manager." he said then looked at me again. "So, I have to be nice with you." he said, having that completely obvious fake smile. I chuckled and said nothing then I saw Candice walking to us.

"Hey, Asher!" she called while waving her hands. I responded to her immediately. "The results are out. Wanna check it out?" she offered. I didn't think of any answer and just agreed to her, "Yeah, sure." I answered and started walking to her.

"Bye, Asher!" I heard that locker bastard said and I looked at him. He was waving his hand and still wearing that completely obvious fake smile. I just shook my head and continued walking with Candice.

The results are located on the bulletin board at the hallway. When we got there, students are already gathered and the hallway was full of chattering noises. "Wow, I thought we were early." Candice spoke, tiptoeing and trying to take a peek at the bulletin board.

"Yeah, I thought so too." I responded also looking around.

A not-so-tall woman walked out of the principal office with papers and tapes on her hands. It was Mrs. Cenerie. That one teacher Candice mentioned last Friday.

She is really a freakin' strict teacher and you don't wanna mess with her.

She walked towards the bulletin board, "Alright everyone, settle down." she ordered. The students stepped back from the bulletin board, pushing me and Candice.

She was about to fall, but thanks to my fast reflexes, I quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her close to me. "You alright?" I asked her, still the students are taking a step back. She nodded and smiled at me.

I took my eyes back at the board to see Mrs. Cenerie taping the papers she was holding earlier. The pushing then stopped. I removed my hands from Candice's waist.

After Mrs. Cenerie taped the papers, she left and that is where we took our chance to go to the front and have a better look. "Come on!" she said and grabbed my wrist to pull me along with her.

"Sorry." I apologized to the students I accidentally hit because I'm being pulled.

We stopped at the front and took a glance at the board. At the corner of my eye, I saw Lea and my other classmates. They are here as well. I went my eyes back to the board to see if my name will appear at the honor's list.

I hear the chattering slowly fading away, and when I looked back, some of the students are leaving. They must have seen their names or not. Nervousness crawled through my body again as I began searching for my name.

There are at least 6 papers on the board. I can't find my name in the first three, but my hopes didn't go down and I continued searching. I got into the 4th and the 5th paper, but still, my name is not appearing.

I stood in front of the last paper. I searched it by putting my finger in the paper and slowly scrolling it down in each of the names. My finger went down and stopped into the last name.

But, that was not my name. It was my brother's name.

Sevron Alexis Elcarpe. 8th place at the honors' list in the freshmen section.

That somehow made me smile, he is a dork sometimes but he is really good when it comes to studies. He's just lazy.

"Hey, Ash." I heard Agatha calling me. I looked into her and walked towards her.

"So?" she started. I chuckled nervously and take a look again at the papers before looking at her.

I shook my head, "Nope. It seems that today is not my day." I said forcing a smile.

She sighed and held both of my shoulders, "You'll get it soon, Ash."

"Yeah, I hope so. Well, my brother is on the list. So, at least mom won't be disappointed."

Seeing my ridiculous forced smile made her punch me in the stomach and made me grunt in pain. "Argh!" I grunted.

We both chuckled for a moment before sighting Mrs. Cenerie walking towards the bulletin again. I noticed that she has papers on her hands again and that is when I realize that it's not yet done!

My eyes widened as my hopes got up. She taped the papers on the bulletin board and turned around to face us, crossing her arms in front of her chest, giving us that scary look.

"This is the list of the honors for this grading period. If you don't see your name on the list, you know what to do." she stated. "Study hard until your butts are satisfied."

"I'm not wasting my time putting my name on that list." one student whispered.

"Now take your time to look at the list, again." she said and started walking away. "Mr. Boulevard, if you think I didn't hear that then you must be dumb."

I looked at the student whom she mentioned and it was the boy who whispered earlier. Then I looked back at the board again. I stepped forward to search my name again, but this time I searched in the new papers that Mrs. Cenerie has placed.

Halfway through the searching and my finger automatically stopped.

Lucas Asher Elcarpe. 5th place at the honor's list in the senior section.

I scoffed and looked at Agatha, wearing a wide smile on my face. She proudly looked at me too. "I got in." I mouthed, pointing my name in the paper. She jumped cheerfully while I was laughing, looking back to the paper and to Agatha.

"I got in!" I repeated and went to hug her. Candice were there and I hugged her too, wearing the same expression as Agatha.

Justin suddenly appeared in front of us. "Alright, what's happening?" I pulled back from hugging Candice and pointed out to the paper, the list.

Justin went to look at the paper and I saw his eyes widened. He chuckled and looked at me. "You got in!" he joyfully said.

"I got in!" I repeated, chuckling.

He shouted like a man going for war and went for a hug too. I hugged him back while we were both laughing. I then saw Candice walking towards us, also wearing a wide smile on her face. She was checking on the papers.

She pressed her lips before speaking, "I also got in!" Again, joy filled the place.

Seeing my name not on the list earlier made feel sad. I lost my mood for a while, but I'm happy for my brother. Then having another chance to look at the list and after I saw my name, my feelings got up.

So, I'll say this once again. All those stress and hard studies I did encounter, it was all worth it. Never stop believing in yourself. You might feel disregarded. You might be really stressed and anxious, but never stop believing in yourself.

Never ever give up on what you want to achieve.