Oh at last, after the long wait, which is about two grueling months, it is now the start of the school year at last! Boy, I was excited! I have prepared everything that is available, and I have practiced my English grammar this summer. I have been dreaming of my classmates, and my classmates-to-be, my adviser-to-be and my teachers-to-be.
The last night of the vacation came, and I have enjoyed the last longest sleep that I’ll have the night before. I have been planning of bringing the Hole in the Wall dance craze to our classroom, and to socialize quickly with the transferees. I have been wondering who our adviser will be. A rumor has it that it will be Mrs. Dungca, our second year adviser. I have also been thinking about the impression to us by our teachers, and I wonder if the March 25 tragedy will greatly affect their attitude on us.
The sunrise of June 15 arrived, and I was already fast awake. I have already eaten my breakfast, which makes me ask myself, am I too excited? My heart is always jumping a beat, for excitement really fills it up. I miss everyone in our III-Gold class, and I’m sure that the first day will be a reunion to all of us.
I’m a senior now, and I am expecting that we’ll win most of the contests in the school, including the long-coveted Intrams Overall Championship. I can’t also forget our defeat last English Week on our Speech Choir. Argh. Those seniors really are experts.
After taking my bath and brushing my teeth, I’m now into wearing our epic uniform. Woot! We are famous for this, the uniform, I just don’t know if that fame is positive or negative. I wore my very long socks, which reached some five inches above the ankle. I was disappointed upon seeing my polo shirt. What the hell is that red circle doing there? What is that “G”? Our year-level patches are now color-coded, and now comes on letters, not on Roman or Arabic numerals.
By 6:15, I was already set, 45 minutes in advance of our Flag Ceremony, (and take note that the Flag Ceremony still does not start at exactly 7:00, maybe at 7:05 or 7:10?). I was noted to service my mother’s friend’s daughter – in short, my “friend”. She is an incoming freshman in my school.
Waiting for the jeepney was such a pleasure. I enjoy seeing the morning sunshine and the bustle of the community in the morning. I miss seeing those full, greedy and smoke-belching jeepneys, and those enthusiastic student-commuters.
The first jeep that passed was full, so we waited for the second jeep. The second jeep was half-full all throughout the trip, as the first jeep had already sucked up the remaining commuters. And there, I said the lines that I missed so much… “bayad po!” I was happy on the jeepney, as I am happy anywhere. I saw the façade of the Mt. Arayat contrasting with the sunrise-tainted sky. I saw the distraught face of the driver upon seeing the hefty P100 bill. I saw the homeless around Main Gate sleeping on the grass. I heard the never-dying screams of the terminal barker, using his unclassified charisma in getting commuters. Oh, how I missed the urban scene.
Upon unboarding the jeep, I saw that traffic enforcer again. He is the exact traffic enforcer that we have played a Christmas carol on our caroling night at Windchime (our drum and lyre organization). As usual, his face looks like he has eaten twenty calamansis. He stands on the middle of the road, amidst all the turtle-paced jeepneys and DIY-looking bicycles, and his face is being blocked by the black smoke.
And towering the clouds is our new building, the IT (Information Technology) building. The glass windows, the blue theme, the revolving cube, the air-conditioned lobby – they are all said to be a part of it, but I only see a few of them. That building is five months delayed, and who knows, it might even be unfinished after this year’s third year batch have graduated. The rotating cube is still not rotating, and the logo is still on fabrication at the ground floor.
I noticed that there was a great crowd of students on the gate. As I drew nearer, holding the hand of my little female companion, I also saw the face of Mrs. Dungca, our adviser-to-be-in-rumors, standing and seemingly observing the whole student mass as they cross the pedestrian lane. What does she have to do with it? Is she waiting for someone? Err, I decided to just move on.
And what the hell was this again? A long line on the very first day? As I can remember, this was also the scene last year, when the swiping and swiping of IDs were still available. Some transferees maybe are not used to the swiping that’s why they made the line long, not to mention the clumsy elementary students and the some fatuous high school students.
This year, the scene was different. The swiping stations were absent, and it is not us that swipes, we are now the ones being swiped at. The A(H1N1) really scared the cats out of the schools, and here we are, being injected with some weird looking temperature measuring devices in our ear opening. I was thinking if they are just transmitting the virus, this time, ear-to-ear transmission. I can’t imagine a yellow mass of mucus from a stranger to be inserted into my ears. Thinking of it, I asked my freshman buddy to be in front of me, applying the rule of “Ladies First” opportunistically. At least, if I got H1N1, I know where it came from. (oh, evil!). I really forgot to clean my ears that day, unlucky for the woman behind me.
Here I go again, walking the same pavement that I walked three years ago. Back then I was a freshman, but today, I am a senior. I have changed a lot, from being an uncivilized shame bag, to a *no comment*. It is like watching the evolution of man in years. Wow. This insititution has changed me in all aspects of my life. :D
I was surprised to see our new “Kubo”. Actually, it was kubo (hut) before, but today, it stands on steel and is roofed on steel. Even the kubo got its technological makeover. The stalls are different, and it looks more organized and cleaner than what was in the past years. I wonder what the new treats are.
I asked my “friend” on what was her top when she graduated elementary. She said he graduated with honors, and I said she should be on Access, the star section in the first year level. I went directly to Access, as what I did when I was in first year. Back on first year, I graduated a valedictorian, and upon coming to school, I expected that my section will be Computer (the first section on that day), and my expectations were right.
I looked at the list of the students on the first year level. I did not see her name. I checked her ID card to verify her name and reviewed the list again. Confirmed. She was not in the first section. That would be heart-breaking for me, I don’t know if she felt the way I felt for her. Looking at Byte’s list was another disappointment. She was not also there.
I assumed that if not Byte, she should be in Cobol, a section named after a programming language. I checked her name, browsing to the letter M of the girls’ names. She was not really there. I jokingly said that they forgot to type her name and she should just go home and wait until they have typed her name.
Err. Of course, after searching the first three sections, I’ll go down to the last four section. And there I saw the window with a sticked bond paper, “I-Desktop”. Scanning through the names, I quickly saw her name, and I said that this is her room and she could enter. She did not said a word. I don’t know if she was disappointed by her section or not. Not a word. She just entered a new chapter in her life – her high school life. Joy was to me for being a part of her first day in her life’s new chapter.
Now, time to begin my new chapter,
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