First Day of School

June

It's the first day of school and all of the students wake up early because the classes will start at 7:30 AM. And just like what they used to do, Lyka will go to Tammi's house first and they will go together to Blake's house so they can walk together to school. The two lives 2 blocks away from each other while She lives near the border of their sitio (a term for a small community) near the fields and river. When Lyka arrives at Tammi's house, she saw his Mom cleaning outside the house.

"Good morning Inang." she greeted

"Good morning darling." Tammi's Mom greeted her too with a warm smile "Oh you look so pretty." she added, and she answered it with a smile

"Where is Tammi?" she asked

"Oh, you know your brother, always slow." Tammi's Mom said while shaking her head "Tammi, hurry up will you!" she shouted to him

"I'm coming Ma, I'm just wearing my shoes," Tammi answered. They just looked at each other and shakes their head. After a few minutes, Tammi went out of the house

"Let's go," he said "We'll go now Ma," he added and kissed his Mom's hand. (It's a tradition of respect to parents) And they start to walk. They will go to Blake's house and when they arrived there Blake is already waiting for them.

"Hello guys, how are you? Wow Tammi you look handsome." Blake said while looking at Tammi who is wearing a complete uniform.

"Of course, it's the first day of school," Tammi answered

"So cherish it. Tomorrow he will be back to his original monkey face." Lyka added taunting Tammi

"At least I'm not short like you." Tammi taunt her back

"Excuse me." Lyka felt offended

"Lyka! Lyka! Where are you? Can you stand up? I can't see you." Tammi continuously taunts Lyka and Blake knows Lyka is getting pissed off. All of a sudden a gate in front of Blake's house opened and from there a handsome chinito boy comes out (Chinito refers to Half-Chinese blood). His hair is neatly combed and almost as tall as Tammi's. He smiled when he see them.

"How are you guys?" the boy asked, Tammi run towards him and give him a high five

"We're good." Tammi says "How about you?" he added

"You're back earlier than expected," Blake says

"Yeah, Dad lend us his car so Ate Stacey drove me home." the boy answered (Ate refers to elder sister) "Shall we?" he added and they walked together to school.

Yes, they just walked to go to school. The school is located in the center of their barangay. About 20 minutes walk, they live in the sitio which is near the border to the next barangay where the fields and river is. Though they live in a small sitio. There lived most of the rich families in their barangay including Tammi, Stan, and Blake.

Stan came from a family of businessmen. His parents owned a Grocery Shop and Construction Hardware Store. He has two older siblings. Stacey is the eldest and a college student. Stam or Stamfeldt is the second and a graduating senior high student.

Tammi came from a Fish Dealer family. Their family owned a vast fish pond where they raise catfish and tilapia. And owned several Fish stalls in the wet market. He has one older brother named Tommy or Thomas. Same age with Stamfeldt and a graduating senior high school student.

Blake came from a family of OFW. Her mother is a Nurse in the UK and Her father is an assistant chef. Blake has a younger brother named Blaze who is seven years younger than her.

Lyka on the other hand is the only child. Her parents are Rice and Banana farmers. Her mom has a medical complication when she was born that does not allow her to have a second child.

The four of them have been friends and classmates since grade school. They are currently in the Grade 9 first section. They don't compete with each other. Each of them knows their forte and focuses on their abilities and talents. But they always helped each other in the best way they can.

The class started and just like the normal first day, it started with introducing themselves and electing class officers. And same as usual, Blake, Jenny, and Sasha always get to be Muse while Stan, Tammi, and Lyka for Presidency and Vice-Presidency. The last subject is Home Economics and the teacher is their adviser Mrs. Macoy. As usual, Stan is the President, Tammi is the Vice-President, Lyka is the Secretary and Blake is Muse.

"Lyka can we drop by the food stalls? I'm hungry." Tammi asked her while waiting for the others to come out of the room.

"Me too," she answered

"Where is Stan?" the boys asked again

"He still inside," she answered and pointed to the boy who is arranging the chairs inside the room.

"Stan!" Tammi called Stan while placing his arm on Her shoulder "Come with us let's eat in the food stalls before we go home." he added, Stan nodded and gave the keys to her. She takes it and places it back on her ID lace.

"Sure," Stan answered and remove Tammi's arm from her shoulder. "Don't you see you're heavy and you put your arms around her? You know how small she is," he added

"Aw." Tammi said and turn to Stan and placed his arm on his shoulder "Then I'll put it to yours then." Tammi said and smile at him, he smiled back and tapped his arm. Tammi just laughs and removes his arm from Stan's shoulder. "Shall we?" he said and they start to walk, then she remembers Blake, she stopped and look back

"Where is Blake?" she asked the two, the two stopped as well and looked at each other.

"Maybe she already went home. I didn't see her when I go out." Tammi answered. Tammi always comes out first in the classroom. He said he felt free whenever he is outside the classroom. While She and Stan were left inside because the adviser needs to talk to them.

"Okay," She said and started to walk again.

They arrived at the food stalls and they saw Blake there with Jenny and Sasha. She said she is too hungry to wait for them so she went out first and go with Jenny and Sasha. They started to get food to eat and sat together at one of the tables near the road.

"I'm so hungry." Tammi said "I didn't know I will be much hungrier if I'm not doing anything." he added

"I agree coz it shows how may you bought," Stan says, Tammi look at his plate and smile.

"Well. I'm a big boy," he answered and winks at Stan, Stan just smiled and shake his head.

"Hmph, you are just greedy," Lyka says taunting Tammi again

"Wow is it just me?" he defended "Look at your plate. You have two hotdogs, and lots of kikiam and squid balls," he added

"Well, they are just five pesos each. Yours is twenty pesos each. That is too many." Lyka defended

"But still you are greedy too." he taunted

"Yeah, you both are greedy. Can we eat now?" Blake interrupts them. The two of them nodded and started eating but still pointing sticks at each other. Stan and Blake are just smiling watching the two. When they consume all of the food on their plate they started to walk home. They are happy talking to each other while walking. This will be their normal day-to-day life during the school season.

Blake and Stan arrived first because their house is just near the road. Tammi and Lyka will need to walk inside the sitio. Tammi walked Lyka home as it is his father's reminder every day, that to keep Lyka safe, he needs to walk her home every after-school, especially during the afternoon and evening.

Tammi's father is Lyka's godfather and treated Lyka as his own. She grew up with them and their house is practically Lyka's second home. He and His Brother Tommy treated her like a younger sister. He was born in March while Lyka was born in December. They arrived at Lyka's house and he waited for Lyka to go inside the Bamboo gate.

"I will go now," Tammi said

"Why don't you come in first?" She asked

"No need, I have to go. I want to take a bath," he said and starts to walk away. Lyka enters the gate too. She was met by her two dogs Chu-chi and Cha-cha.

"I'm home!" she said as she enters the house

"Great, I've made banana fries for meryenda" Her mom answered (Meryenda is a snack)

"Oh, I just ate with the guys before coming home. I'm still full," she said and went upstairs to get changed

"Oh, I see. Then I will put it with your fathers." her mom said

"Alright," she answered

After a few minutes, her father arrived with the three laborers with all the harvest crops and vegetables. There we're beans, eggplants, squash, ginger, potatoes, and Chinese cabbage one sack each. Her mother is so amazed to see all the harvest. This is what she is going to bring in the market tomorrow morning.

"There's so many, it's amazing." her mom said.

"Good evening Aling Miling." greeted the men.

"There is more there we will be harvesting them tomorrow," added by one of the men

"Really? That's nice. My clients will be very happy." she said "Come in, I prepared a snack for you." she invited them in

Fried Banana, coffee, and rice cake is the snack that Aling Miling served to her husband and the men. Their house is simple. It is made of wood and woven bamboo with a floor made of concrete. The stairs going to the rooms are made of bamboo and the floor upstairs is also made of bamboo. Their basement is where they put their harvested rice and vegetables. The roof is made of Anahaw leaves.

Outside the house, you will see different kinds of plants. At the front is a flower garden. There are trees too like Mangoe's, Star Apple, Cotton Fruit, and Lanzones that gave them shades at noontime. At the side of the house is where the balcony is facing the field where her husband is always resting. The land where their house is built was given to them by her husband's father. The land is what they called Tumana.

After a snack, the men bid farewell with some crops and vegetables given by her husband besides their pay. Her husband sits on the bamboo couch and turns on the TV. She smiled and starts to make dinner.