By: Ace
CHAPTER ONE
My first day at high school.
I have completely no idea why my mom transferred me here, at a private all boys school. Don Bosco.
The entrance was a tall white gate with a little side way where the guard stood. I only came here twice. To take the entrance exam and to get enrolled. I didn't wander around too much. I had things to do.
I headed to the quadrangle or something that doubled as a basket ball court.
Some random guy was holding a sign, showing the year and section I was assigned to. I just lined up, not caring who was in front of me or who was at the back. It was shaded by the building at the back, they must have positioned it away from the sun it wasn't hot early in the morning, but I could just imagine it at noon.
Here come the boyscouts.
"Ang mamatay nang dahil sayo..."
"Panatang makabayan, blah blah blah"
Morning prayers soon followed. More time wasting rituals that could have been spent sleeping. Which in my opinion, is more productive. Why do they have to start school so early just so that we could attend all these formalities. Traditions that remind us of a past no longer relevant to the present. A waste of time in my opinion.
Then a welcoming program was set for first year students. As if I needed any welcome, I felt right at home at this jungle of gnarled old trees and basketball courts.
The constant drone from priests and teachers made me sleepy. All serving the same purpose of welcoming us to our new spiritually guided education. Bullcrap. I couldn't fight my conciousness slowly slipping away from the monotone drone of a priest telling us jokes when he suspected half of his audience was falling of their seats.
Seriously, how creative can boys get? There were dancers, who were fast and furious. Some obviously gay guys doing some sort of artistic rendition of a song which usually is presented during buwan ng wika. It was a dramatic dance that looked so lousy and it wasn't a bit artistic. Someone sang as well everyone went silent for the duration of his powerful rendition of a song about unrequited love, hopeless romantic. It had emotion, control and passion.
But to me It felt awkward, as if an all boys school could relate.
My ass was hurting from sitting on a white plastic monobloc. Is this some sort of mental torture? In between monotone speeches and introductions of teachers and faculty, my mind was drifting. I was still on my seat, without talking to my seatmates. I'm generally the apathetic type. I don't care as long as it doesn't affect me. I've been cold and distant since I was young.
"RINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG" WTF ! The first day of class and they have fire drills? What kind of school does that. I looked around returning from my half sleep. With my powers of observation I realized.
"No dumb ass its recess."
I wasn't even familiar with the whole campus and didn't even introduce myself, not that I want to.
What the heck is happening. Everyone's standing up going all over the place picking out which of the three canteens will serve the least crappy food. To be likable you don't have to be the best option. I didn't even get to talk to the classmate beside me. Not that I had any slight interest at small talk. All I remembered was that he had a bright yellow bag. I tried to follow that color knowing that person will lead me to my damn room. Did I say tried? Because he was just as lost as I was. Crap.
I asked a hobbling old guy who seemed like a teacher. "Excuse me, but might you happen to know where 1-A is at?" I asked.
"Fourth floor second room from the left to the staircase." Was his quick reply.
I didn't even say thank you. Well that's just me. The coldhearted, introvert. Who has no manners as well.
I followed his direction and walked in huge strides.
As I arrived, I noticed that the guy with the yellow bag was already lined up outside of the room. (he has nothing to do with the story by the way, sorry if you had crazy ass presumptions)
We were not allowed to go inside the room not unless our class adviser arrived.
I was standing still by the corridor, leaning on a ledge that overlooked the courtyard. I looked
at my classmates talking like long lost friends who got reunited by a short summer.
They must have been from the same elementary class.
Couldn't help but notice. "Why is everyone in my class cute or charming? Am I the only new guy here? Seems like everyone is close." Or maybe it was because I had this foreboding aura of silence and coldness. I made it obvious earlier that I do not want to talk.
I was just standing there looking at my new classmates feeling like some sort of superior being watching over mortals living their normal boring lives. I'm definitely smug and full of pride. Because I think I'm the universe's greatest gift to mankind. My very presence in this world is enough to give it peace and stop global warming. Yeah I've got tons of pride at my back. I'm way all over my head. If I knew what love was, I'd have definitely fallen all over me.
I heard heels slowly walking towards us from somewhere close to the staircase.
Here comes our teacher a woman in her late twenties. Short and slim, with sharp black eyes and jet black hair the look on her face was formal and business like, no extra make up except for clearly red lips.
"FORM YOUR LINES PROPERLY! and arrange yourselves according to height and form three rows before I let you enter." She was ordering us around. I was somewhere in the middle because I wasn't that tall yet. She looked at us with her hawk like eyes. She looked at every row, as if measuring the lines with lasers, to make sure we were freaking straight.
I thought "I have a teacher with an OCD" this school year is definitely going to suck. She just made that official.
We were permitted inside and allowed to sit on chairs with tables in front. I mindlessly went to the back part of the room to the last seat close to the corner with windows at my left. My favorite vantage point, where I can see all these beings interact with each other. All the while, amused at how their daily lives are so mundane. I was lost in my deep thoughts and I did not notice there was someone sitting beside me. He was the tallest guy in the class. He was drop dead gorgeous. Obviously part of the basketball team, since the only thing he carried was a bag where his blue jersey protruded out of it.
Does he even carry paper at all? Did he come here to study or just to play?
I surveyed his actions and his overall impression "He looked so lonely and his eyes are just begging to cry any minute." Though he was cute tall and hunky. His head was down, always silent. He was like part of the background, just as I was. I'm sure he had his elementary years here. Otherwise his uniform would have looked as new as mine. Which by the way isn't the usual polo. We wore white shirts tinged with blue folds at the neck and at the arm holes. With our schools logo at the upper left and we had navy blue pants paired with any kind of sneaker you'd like to wear. We had a pretty much casual get up. This school was all about simplicity I would guess. This guy beside me was the embodiment of that. Not making a sound, making casual smiles at the familiar classmates he must have had during elementary. Still he seemed lonely, I don't know him that well but from the looks of it. He is extremely shy, looking like a wallflower, frail and meek, but you just can't shake of the fact that he is the tallest guy in the room with the best body build clear under the fitting white shirt.
I was surprised when he raised his head and was about to say something. He was staring at me which I could feel from my peripheral vision, but I did not look at him directly. I had no interest in human interaction, other than using them as my test subjects. I noticed his mouth forming, as if trying to tell me something. When I turned to my side to look at him, his face drained of color and he resumed his usual position. Staring at the floor.
"Is the floor really much more better to look at than me?"
I thought, "This guy will be a perfect test subject, someone I can study to validate my thoughts on human interaction and the lack of it."
So I continued to stare at him with my eyebrows raised. He must have noticed, since from looking at the floor he now stared at the opposite window. He looked like he had a permanent stiff neck. I was secretly amused with this person. But the introvert that I am, I kept that to myself. I never said a word to him.
"Everyone, settle down. ONE! TWO!." Looks like everyone knows this woman's attitude. She just counted one and everyone was silent. They must be familiar with her teaching style. Brutal. She had the reputation of an old maid. The strict type. Like a woman who had a never ending period. Unpredictable, moody and "brutal". I had to say it twice. It will be justified with her later actions.
"From now on, this will be your permanent section until you graduate." Was her fist imperial decree. Yes, she acted like an emperor.
"What the? I don't even!?" Was all I could mutter in my head. Really odd. I always thought that sections were shuffled every year so that everyone would know each other. This wasn't as I expected.
"Look at the bright side. All the more for me to really know these guinea pigs I was grouped with. I can still live with it." My dark side quipped.
"I will be assigning your seats and it will be changed every grading period."
This was her next imperial decree. Don't worry you'll be hearing more of her decrees as well as her capital punishments. Plus, her imperial majesty will also show you how royalty will act like. Not the humble ones that you hear in fairy tales. The types that have complete disregard for human life. She's that terrible. Maybe I should have called her "der Fuhrer."
I could just imagine how my student life will be under her unrelenting "spiritual guidance."
Reminds me of how former priests taught during the spanish period. Discipline and punishment.
"Great!, first hand experience on spanish period colonial education..." My future looked bleak under her.
She called us up randomly.
"Azure Vanderhan, new student?" I just nodded in acknowledgement.
"Introduce yourself" All I could think of was.. wtf. This is why I hate first days of class. Why do I have to introduce myself every damn time. You don't need to know me.
So I stood up awkwardly hinting my annoyance at this sort of ritual. Scratching my hair and hiding my other hand behind my back acting like a child who had no idea what to do.
I began.
"In lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet allow me to describe to you, the character of my dramatis persona, In view a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate..." Yeah my intro is sounds so smartass. Deal with it.(I copied it somewhere)
That's not how my self-introduction went. Let me revise it to the real version.
"My name is Azure Vanderhan, please refer to me by my last name." (Hey guys, we're not that close for all of you to refer to me by my nickname.) "I like to read(a lot), I'm friendly(ehem?), outgoing(really?), I might not talk much to you (because I don't really give a damn), but I will always be here to listen to whatever you have to say (as i try to give zero shit at what you're saying). Please treat me kindly (as sure as I will treat all of you coldly). Thank you."
I would like to divulge as little information as possible about myself. I am not at liberty to be so open to the public. If I told you know who I worked for, I'd have to kill you.
Kidding.
All other side characters did their own versions of introductions. I didn't pay attention to any of them. I was too busy admiring the ceiling, white and spotless with two rotating fans circulating the humid air. The cieling was less boring than all those self-introductions about their hobbies and interests...
So the queen was already ordering the subjects around assigning seats out of whim and her royal majesty now pointed me to a seat at the other end of the room, at the back, now closer to the door. She let people sit wherever the heck she wanted them to. Then she called up my new test subject "Dantalian, sit beside Vanderhan" I was silently pleased. Did I just feel excitement? I don't know. Hard to tell. I Don't care anyway.
All he muttered was "Yes, ma'am."
He stood up, he looked slightly flushed, but still with his head down. He sat right next to me without taking his eyes off the floor.
So I continued surveying this unusually contradictory guy. Imagine a really huge and tall hunk, with features I couldn't notice too much, aside from fine black hair that had hints of red shine under the sun. That keeps on staring at the floor, doesn't even talk too much. His only reply to the other people in the room was either a quick nod or a shy smile.
Her royal highness continued to pester us about classroom regulations. She has a copy of the laws posted on a board right by the door. So we don't forget them every time we enter and exit her kingdom. While I was trying hard to pay attention to what this woman had to say. I couldn't help but notice that someone was staring at me. Him again, Dantalian.
Since he was seated right next to me, It would just take a quick glance for me to catch his stare. Which I did, but this time he didn't look at the floor as usual. He opened his mouth.
Which showed perfectly even and white teeth. Which drew me to stare at his thin red lips. As I tried to focus at the features of his face. his eyes drew me. Those deep hazel brown eyes were hypnotic and calming but at the same time. It still looked sad.
"Derhan? Right? I think I've met you before..." I snapped out of my delusions.
"I'm sorry Dantalian, but I'm not really familiar with you and if ever we've met before then I would know, I have very few friends. If ever I knew you by any chance, then we weren't close since I do not remember." While I was busy explaining to him.
"BAAAAM", something had hit my head...
To be continued...
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