2001 was the first time I stepped foot in my high school life. With a new environment even though there were familiar faces, I was nervous. I was excited to meet new classmates, not hoping my elementary classmates would be the same. To my surprise, there was my neighbor Ronel outside the classroom but in a different section. I was not good in the crowd so I stayed silent in my chair as I sat nodding.
I was afraid, no, I was uncomfortable with the new environment.
"Okay, class---"
I heard the teacher talking in front of us and in front of the board. As I heard the chalk making a sound when the teacher wrote her name. I didn't have the choice but to look up what's written on the board. I didn't think of anything because I was still not used to that feeling, high school life.
"Is there a student named John here?"
I didn't know who that person was but I was guessing she's not a teacher.
"Students?"
Our teacher seconded and I stood up as I raised my right hand. She told me to bring my bag because I was supposed to be in the first section. I was happy after hearing it, my friends and neighbors were in that section.
"Hey, John-" Pio my neighbor said.
"Hey, John-" Jake, my neighbor, called me too.
There were a lot of them in that room who were my neighbors. I began to feel at least slightly comfortable seeing them.
Fast forward when I was in my second year in high school. Our bonds grew stronger as I met new friends that were my classmates and some of them were from other sections. I thought to skip the details because the second year of high school was the year that my high school started to become awesome.
I was not a good student nor bad. I didn't study at home but I never failed. I was absent once a week but I never tried cutting classes. Yes, I was one of those students who thought cutting classes was cool sometimes.
"Hey, did you know that Miss Anocop was looking for you guys?"
I heard from our classmate when we went back after being absent from that one subject. Of course, it would be fishy since there were 7 of us overall who were cutting classes. I was afraid because that was my first time doing that but it was exciting.
"Israel, let's go to your house to study."
One of my friends said to my friend Israel. Israel's parents were always out for their work. They left at 8 in the morning and went back at 5 in the afternoon. We knew because my classmate Jason was his neighbor.
"Okay", Israel replied.
The day of examination came but we would examine in the afternoon. We went to Israel's house that morning to study the subject that would be examined in that afternoon examination.
All the seven of us who were always hanging out together arrived at Israel's house. I was bringing a notebook with me, of course, I was there to have a group study.
"Is your CD component playable?"
My friend Bernard asked Israel and just replied with a yes.
"Let's watch porn."
"Wait--what?" In my thoughts.
Since Israel was curious about that kind of movie he agreed.
The movie was being played and of course, all of us were being silent. Perhaps all of us were too focused on watching that movie. We made sure to lower down the sound because there were neighbors nearby. Again, it's like the house of our friend felt like there was a ghost roaming around. It was so silent that I thought I could hear the sound of the wind blowing.
"Knock-knock"
All of a sudden someone was knocking on the door.
"The Marines"
"The Marines"
All of us said it together with the title of that movie The Marines to replace the porn that was played. Our sweat was out because the one who knocked was the mother of Israel. We forced ourselves to smile and forced ourselves to talk about the movies because Israel's mother came in.
I wonder if she didn't suspect us when all of a sudden the loud noise of gunshots from that movie bombarded their house. We stayed calm as we greeted Israel's mother. Israel just told his mother in advance that we're doing a group study.
Luckily, Israel's mother didn't stay longer because she just forgot something and left. We made sure she left already before we burst into laughter.
After checking it, we laughed and kept saying the title of that movie.
"The Marines"
The Marines"
Fortunately, we didn't study but kept on laughing because of it. It was such an embarrassing moment but at the same time, it was fun that even now I couldn't forget it.
END...
mrnightmare