Chapter 8

Chapter 8: I would have heard this name a million and one times, but this is a one.

I am lying on my side, facing my window. I have been awake since 2 in the morning, and all I did was stare at the window, intently watching it as if it’s going to attack me if I let my guard down. It is currently the morning just by the way the sky is changing its color. Red, orange, yellow, all blend perfectly on the clear canvas – the sky. I hug my pillow tightly, cuddling and trying to find comfort with my position as I watch Mr. Sun slowly show itself to the world, greeting those people waiting for him with its undying beauty and no doubt hope. That it's another day, another chance.

An outside noise disturbs my appreciation of the sun. My alarm is going off, meaning it has been past 5:30 am. I grab the pillow under my head and place it over my head, covering my ears, shutting my eyes while scrunching my nose and denying the truth that I need to get up and get ready for school. I grunt, “I don’t want to go to school!”

The alarming sound subsides, maybe snoozed, and later, maybe after 5 minutes, it will ring again. “It’s only your second day.”

My eyes bug out, “Huh?”

I take the pillow off my head and sit up just to see my Pa standing near my desk like a sergeant with his hands on his back. He is already wearing a suit, his hair is neatly done, he simply looks presentable and ready to do business.

I tilt my head to the side, “You up early?”

He steps towards my bed and sits at the other end. “I have things to take care of. Also, I called your Ma yesterday, sounds like they’re doing fine.”

I breathe in and out heavily before I flash my smile and agree with him. “Yeah.”

He stands up and walks to the side of my bed where I am at. He pats my head, “Breakfast’s ready, I asked Manong Joseph’s wife to cook for breakfast. I hope that’s fine with you, princess?”

I take his hand off my head and caress it, assuring him, “Pa, everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure? You just whined about going to school, and that is not like the Hillary I know.”

“Well,” I look up at him trying to be cute, “New school? New people? New environment? Still adjusting, Pa.”

He gives me an astonished scoff, “Fine, Princess.” While I just flash him my smile.

“You should get ready now, I’ll take you to school.” With a fatherly smile, he walks out, and he shuts my door, leaving me that reminder.

After a bit of talking to myself that I can do it, that second day of school in junior high school won’t be that bad. None of what happened yesterday would bother me, none of those that happened yesterday would happen again or maybe worst, I get out of my bed. The first thing I do in the morning is to fix my bed. Ma taught me that starting your day with completing that task will make your day feel a bit more accomplished. Even the little things can give you the biggest impact. Though I haven’t really understood her concept, I still do it because she’ll go ballistic if she sees my bed in the worst state.

After getting ready for an hour, Pa is now driving me to school. Alora High School is not that far away from our place, it’s like a couple of streets away from us that’s why Pa or Manong Joseph has been driving me to get here even when I was just taking care of my enrollment.

“Alora High School,” Pa reads out the school’s name that is in platinum letters above the school gates. He smiles and looks at me from the rear mirror, “A very prestigious school by a guy who fell in love with a remarkable woman, as he describes her.”

I look at him confused, “You know the founder of the school?”

“I personally do.”

I hear the click of the car lock, indicating that I should get off now. My face flashes the most offended face I could make towards my father. “You actually turned the child lock on?” It’s not like I hate it but, Manong Joseph doesn’t do it when I am in the car alone. He knows how responsible I am and knows that I am old enough to not have it activated. Even Ma doesn’t turn it on when she’s driving with me, telling me I am old enough to know that opening the door while she is driving is dangerous and a serious cause of trouble for myself in terms of punishments.

He laughs at me, “You should get off now, Princess.”

I get off the car and jokingly slums the door shut. The loud bang and shake of the car make him roll down his window and glare at me. I chuckle and stick my tongue out before running pass the gates. Once I get inside, my phone pings. I pull out my phone from my pocket just to be greeted by my Pa’s text message.

Pa- Let’s have the final match later at dinner.

His text tickles my tummy, making me laugh at his childishness. In the final match, he does get childish when it comes to teasing his kids. I just hope I am with my brothers right now to team up with him, but that’s not possible as of now. I just text him back saying that I’ll be in full armor later while walking to my respective building.

The bell starts to alarm students that class is about to start, teachers are about to enter with their class records, the individual introduction is about to start for each subject. I put my bag down in front of my chair before trying to settle calmly on my chair. On the cue of me settled on the chair, the door slides open and there the clanking of heels starts and I spot the long hard bind record book – the class record, our names.

“Good afternoon students, I am Ms. Solomon, and I am your class adviser. It is so nice to see all of you.” She balls her hands together and puts them under her left cheek while she smiles with icing on us. Her name doesn’t fit her sweet personality since it screams a bit of gun yet here she is, full of rainbows. That’s just my opinion for being in her class for just 3 mins. Actually, from 7 am to now, 3 pm. I have been putting on my opinions on each teacher that has stood in front of us. Ms. Solomon is the best one yet, for me.

Currently, we’re having a Computer science class. Mostly just introduction about the subject, what to expect and what do we need. Also, before I forget about the feeling of introducing myself, I am now introducing myself in front of the class. I never really thought that zoning out would lead me to a faster death. I walk to the front and again, telling my name, age, likes, and dislikes for the millionth time today. Actually, we didn’t do it in the fourth class because he told us to do an essay on what is earth science. The first time I walked in front for the first introduction got my knees to feel like jelly and my heart working out. I actually feel like I really don’t need to get into working out, since introductions are good to make your heart pump gallons of blood into your system and make you sweat. But, since this is like the millionth time today, it actually feels boring to hear yourself say the same thing and hear your classmate say their name more than once.

“Should we go home together?” Joy who is sitting beside me asks. I nod as an answer as I check my watch to see that there are only 2 minutes left and Ms. Solomon is still talking about what to expect on her subject. I sigh since I also want to get out of here.

The loud ringing of the bell finds its way through Ms. Solomon’s discussion. We all flinch at the loud bell. However, none of us students are standing to leave the room. None of us are making any move. Basically, none of us don’t have the guts to get out of here. Ms. Solomon makes a shalt from talking. She smiles at us, “One last thing, class.” We wait for her to continue, “Class dismiss.”

Joy and I make our way out of the school and to the waiting shed, where we wait for a jeepney. Actually, I go home via jeepney since no one is available to pick me up after school for this whole week as Pa has told me. With luck, I am able to find a buddy to go home with me since yesterday. I have learned that Joy is just a couple of walks away from our house, which means we live on the same street, and we go on the same direction the jeep takes us to get home.

I get home at 5 pm; quickly get change and lay on my bed since there is no homework for the second day. Not only that, but I never really thought that I’ll be doing high school at Alora High School the number one school kids have on their list to try and get in. And, as a student who tried two exams to get into this school, I am now under a special program. As people have said, has a tougher curriculum and system for kids to learn.

I remember the time I was sitting inside a classroom answering the death of me. It was way harder than the one I and Wardon took before it. But, we passed, we both did. Surprisingly, it was me, Xystal, and Wardon who took the exam but none of us were in the same room. But the good thing was that the three of us knew each other.

As I lay on my bed, recalling what has happened these past few weeks, two loud pinging sounds come from my phone. One notification is the equivalent of two pings? I open the notification to read, Joy Tan and one other person sent me a friend request in freebook.

Joy Tan sent you a friend request. I press accept since we decided to stick together for the first day.

Thomas Halton sent you a friend request. Thomas Hilton? This is the first time I hear this name. He is absolutely not my classmate because if he is, I would have heard this name a million and one times but, this is a one.