June, The Perfect Perfect Time To Be A Junior

Part 2 : Junior Takes Two

Here's a rough recap of this week :

1. Monday - Schoolwork day. All work and no play makes school a dumb place. Nothing is worse than the word 'schoolwork' but 'schoolworkS'.

2. Tuesday - You-Make-Me-So-Crangry day. Cranky + Angry = Crangry. Lacked hours of sleep due to the caffeine the night before, I was certainly not in my best behavior.

3. Wednesday - Stomach-Flu day. I had a mean stomach flu the whole day. Promise I didn't gas up the room! Honest!

4. Thursday - Class-Elections day. Missed 3/4 of the double period Chemistry in the morning. The note-catching-up part, not my thing.

5. Friday - Sbarro-Starts-The-Weekend day. My brother and I decided to spend all the money we saved up that week for a huge slice of pizza. We deserved it.

MONDAY - SCHOOLWORK DAY

It was as if the teachers were making up for the time they lost in giving us some over-the-weekend schoolworks that Friday when we were all sent to go home due to the storm, we were having a taste of the post-cyclone attack. If I remember it right, in every subject, we had to do something school-related. There was something to do for Chemistry. And for Geometry. And Computer. And Filipino. And History. And English. CLF and Chinese. Hello? Overload? I was hyperventilating after I took down each task in my assignment notebook. Seatmate Camille told me I was overreacting and that there was no pressure. I disagree! I should really start bringing a paper bag in case that happens again.

TUESDAY - YOU-MAKE-ME-SO-CRANGRY DAY

I am usually a very happy and positive person. I always tell people how wonderful and beautiful the new day is and on some days, I even feel like I'm a walking bowl of sunshine. But on those days, my classmates and friends just think I'm in school high instead of high school.

Not in my best behavior on this particular day, though. So I'm really really really sorry. I blame it on the caffeine the night before.

WEDNESDAY - STOMACH-FLU DAY

I saw the world from behind a washing machine. Everything was spinning. My ears were ringing. And my stomach was hurting like crazy. That was the day I realized how bad a stomach flu was. The same one Mike Newton had in The New Moon. Only he was too much of a wimp so he had to puke. And puke and puke.

Despite all that, I was in a better mood. It was a good thing I didn't let it get the best of me because our group leader, Camille, had to be absent and we were having our CLF phantomime play on the Washing of Feet that day. It was a success. Minus the time I spilled water. It was Kenneth (aka Jesus) 's fault! Naw. Who cares? It was hilarious. Oh hey, why don't I tell you about it right now? Flashback flashback flashback >>>

Monday afternoon, Brother Chester, our CLF teacher, grouped the class into two for the first class role play of the year. We were assigned for the Washing of Feet while the other group was assigned for the Last Supper. Lucky for them, they had until Thursday when we had to have Wednesday. Pressure pressure pressure. Camille took the role of the leader, me the director, Rae took down the very important notes and volunteered to bring the minimal props needed. Character assignment time. William became our narrator so we had to have Nacey be one of the 12 apostles. She was John the Beloved. James played James and Campo played Thaddeus (his second name's also Thaddeus). The main stars were Simon Peter and Jesus Christ. I suggested that Jared should be SP and Lucero be JC. They took the roles promptly.

Thankfully, the music and the props were ready by Wednesday but we needed a dry run on the presentation on Wednesday recess. Only 20 minutes and it was the first real practice we had. More pressure. God blessed us so we finished. Until CLF time came, I was crossing my fingers. We were give 5 minutes of preparation. I filled the pitcher with some water and we helped out in arranging the chairs and setting up the music.

SUCCESS! There were positive reviews from our audience. Lucero didn't feel very comfortable making hand contact with Jared's feet. I was his assistant. Not that Jesus needed an assistant. We had to raise up Jared's foot a little for the audience to see clearly. There were 2 parts I loved the most. Abigail playing devil and seducing Gerard (Judas Escariot of course) into temptation while the Pink Panther theme was played. And the introduction of the apostles while Mariah Carey's Touch My Body played. I was so happy.

Stomach-Flu day has got to be my favorite day of the second week of school. I loved all the goofs and minus the mean stomach flu, it was actually pretty awesome.

THURSDAY - CLASS-ELECTIONS DAY

All members of the Student Council was given the 'privilege' to miss the first period of class in the morning. But I didn't think it was a privilege at all. I love Chemistry. Or at least, I don't want to miss a single discussion of it in case I miss something important. But a year rep's got to do what a year rep's got to do.

William and I teamed up for facilitating the class elections of the freshmen year and Piccola and Chad in the other wing. It was my first time and it was quite interesting. William did the talking and I did the writing. And the mispelling. After that, I got to help tally up the results. One freshman section and my own section, Kostka.

In case you were absent for the week, say, Jethro, pay attention to our classroom official results. President Kean Prudence Romero, Vice-President Rhea Leanne Patalinjug (and possibly first lady hehehe), Secretary Rae Sharlene Legaspi, and Treasurer Walton Royce Tan.

FRIDAY - SBARRO-STARTS-THE-WEEKEND DAY

There's nothing like a gigantic slice of pizza to start the weekend you so well deserve. And you know it. For some reason, I get to save up more quickly than my little brother so I agreed to lend him some money to buy a pizza. But we didn't have enough for drinks so forget about that. I looove the pizza there! Who doesn't?

That's a wrap! Second week's over and I'm anticipating the third. I just hope that it won't be thrice the pressure. Thrice the mess-ups. And only about a month to go until the Breaking Dawn Philippine release date. Pressure much?

June 16, 2008, Monday.

I couldn't sleep. I couldn't breathe.

I was too hyperactive, overenergized, and overexcited.

Only a week ago did we have our Student Council LTS and I have gathered enough information to last me a lifetime. So Mdm. (dot dot dot) is a really nice person but don't you dare cheat in her class. Fine. That's cool. I don't cheat. Unless it's Math. Sometimes ...

The following Friday, I was forced to go to Ayala with younger brother Lyle and our helper (we fondly call her yaya) to help them with the purchasing of school supplies. It was not really as tiresome as I'd thought. I just kept on picking on Lyle and how long it took him to pick a pencil case, an eraser, and everything else. And you know what, the day turned suddenly brighter.

I used up the last hundred bill in my wallet for a plate of Dip n' Nachos at Don Henrico's, with the knowledge that we still had enough spare change for a jeepney ride home. That was when I got the message that I was still going to have the same set of classmates. I swear I almost threw the bowl of cheese on yaya's face. Lyle thought I was just overreacting but in my defense, I love my class. I love my classmates. And I so much loved the misadventures and misforturnes we'd gone through last year. Who wouldn't want another set of those again this year?

Kostka. Got it. My admission slip was safely buckled in my assignment notebook's plastic cover and my new pink pencil case never failed to fascinate me. Everything nice and new always fascinates me. Typical teenage girl, you might say. I hung the most recent keychains I got on my minnie mouse bag and everything was ready that Monday morning.

I woke up at 3. Which brings us back to the very beginning again.

I couldn't sleep. I couldn't breathe.

I was too hyperactive, overenergized, and overexcited.

Since cousins Rhea (who's now in La Salle) and Mark (Lord knows where he is) have graduated from Sacred last school year, the last of the second generation Legaspi's left in Sacred Heart are me, fellow Junior year cousin, Rae, and sixth grader Lyle. I don't think anyone else would dare wake up early for education's sake in this generation.

So it was between Rae's dad and my dad to decide who'll bring us to school every morning. And the usual M-W-F T-Th schedule was followed. Dad managed to convinced Rae's dad to bring us to school on the first day. Unfortunately, we got late. Because the transpo run out of gas in the middle of that jammed and blasted flyover area. It was terrible. We had to ride a cab and the traffic was absolutely unbelievable and so was the meter. In the end, all 3 of us arrived in the campus at 7.45 giggling and joking about how we made history and how beautiful we decided to start the school year.

We took the ramp right across the kindergarten building and help Lyle scan for his section in the list. He was a Gonzaga-n this year. After that, Rae and I marched to the hallways and into the classroom, only to be welcomed with a great applause. It was not in the least embarrassing. Even a little flattering. Familiar faces were smiling and waving and whooting and everything was just as it should be.

Our III-St. Stanislaus Kostka-n advisor is Mdm. Villacrucis and she's also our Chemistry teacher. Chemistry. Pssh. The real scary thing about third year is Geometry. And not even Mr. Dumasis' grim humor can lighten up the subject. His advice is to 'visualize' everything before coming up with an answer. Sounds easy but it's not. Geometry, as early as now, is a mean and hellish subject.

After 2 periods with Mdm. Villacrucis, we met Mr. Dumasis who made us choose partners for the usual first-day-introduction. Margreth and I had no idea what to tell the others of our special abilities so we settled for cooking. Me? Cooking? Yeah right. At least the others bought it. Recess followed shortly after that and everyone filed out of the room and into the hallway outside.

Everyone was exchanging pleasantries and we tried to bond as much as we could. The people who joined the educational tour to Xiamen all had interesting stories to tell us. Rumors flew and were verified true and false and the bell rang. We all went in anticipating the next period. Filipino. And it was still going to be our golden girl Gng. Panares teaching us this year.

We welcomed her with a huge round of applause. Our second year class advisor! And she was still going to be our teacher! Sure, Gng. was not the saint-iest of all teachers last year because we certainly were no angel students but we liked the idea of having her again. At least, I did. I'm not a fan of big changes anyway. After Filipino was Social and again, a second year teacher was rejoining us this year. The crowd favorite Mdm. Torres. If she was fun last year, she's fun-er this year. Window shopping-'mamalit ug bintana'. Lolz.

I had lunch with the usual lunch people I went with last school year and for afternoon classes, we had Bro. Chester, our CLF teacher and also SC moderator. He was not as crazy as he was in the LTS training-pretending to be his female alter ego and sporting that freaky laugh that gets stuck in your head for days, though. Mdm. Mananay! Mdm. Mananay! Some guys in class wanted Miss Toledo to be our English teacher this year but Mdm. Mananay was also our English teacher last year and she was pretty cool. So glad to have her back again this year.

And Lin Lao Shi is our Chinese teacher this year. She was okay. She loves speaking in Chinese really fast and she loves to not call me and Camille (who happen to be seated in the very front of the class) to answer her questions. But that's okay. I always get nerve-wrecked when I have to speak in Chinese. I'm so bad at it-don't you make me speak it unless you understand English or the dialect itself! Hmph!

Ending the week was rather blissful. The typhoon called Franc or Frank or whatever came Friday morning cutting off the afternoon classes. A lot were pretty happy about it and I was one of them. Not entirely blissful but 'rather' blissful. I had a whole Friday afternoon to sleep and with the beautiful stormy weather, I was just sooo happy to catch some time to sleep.

Rae's mom, Aunt Shirley, picked us up from school at around 1 or 2 yesterday with young Renzo and Ralph with her. After Ralph caught his short afternoon snooze, he was all about getting off his sister Rae's lap and playing with me and Lyle. He drooled in the empty Mentos plastic and played with my bag keychains and talking about nonsense. No. They made sense. Kidding. He's a smart kid.

That's my first week of school. In my POV. Heh.