Meriedeth Salazar
"No 'thank you'?"
I looked at Kuya Marcus. He is standing in front of me as I checked my uniform for my new school.
"Thank you, Kuya."
"You better be good, Deth."
"My grades are good, Kuya."
"Yeah, but your socializing skills? Tss."
"I promise I'll make friends! Even if I'll bring the whole class to you!"
My brother shook his head.
"Friends, not the whole class."
"I told you, I'll make friends."
"Well, since, it's a school of your choice and it's far from my office. I cannot drop you there."
My eyes widened because of what he said.
"The school you chose is too far away. But, in the first day, I'll give you a ride and later on, after your classes you're on your own going home. It's what you want, right?"
I gulped because if what he said. I just nodded.
"Prepare your things for tomorrow and sleep early."
"Goodnight, Kuya," I said and went inside my room.
The next day, Kuya Marcus woke me up early. I have no choice but to swallow my pride. I don't want to be in the same campus with Marjorie!
"Did you sleep late last night, Deth?" my brother asked.
"Kind of, I had trouble sleeping last night but, I'm fine."
"I prepared your lunchbox. Make sure that you don't forget about it."
"Opo, Kuya."
"Maybe Mom will call later at the evening. You should go home early later."
"Noted."
My brother drive me to school, as we are on the road I can feel my heartbeat beating fast. I'm nervous, I think I made a wrong decision on transferring to a different school.
But, this is much better than to be around with Marjorie.
I'll do everything just to maintain this distance. I want to cut ties with all of them. Tss.
"Why are you wearing a jacket, Deth?"
I'm wearing a black jacket. Well, I'm wearing my new school uniform, I just want to wear a jacket. I don't want to feel the hotness of the sun, the sun is too hot.
"I just want to."
"We're here," he said as the car stopped in front of a gate.
I took a deep breath before removing my seatbelt. I opened the door and went off the car. Kuya Marcus called me causing me to look at him.
"Take care."
I just nodded and wish him to be safe, then he left.
There are some students that went inside the school. I looked at the sign that is placed above the gate, the name of the school is there.
Edward's East Highschool Inc.
I fixed my red skirt and my jacket.
It's now or never.
I went inside the school. My brother said, I need to go to the Principal's office to get my form. I'm glad I was able to fine it immediately. I knocked three times and went inside.
I saw a teacher inside, she is talking with the principal. They smiled when they saw me.
"Good morning," the principal greeted.
"Good morning po, uh, I'm here to get my form."
"Are you Miss Salazar?" the teacher asked.
"Yes, po."
"Great timing. I'm Miss Freeda Rios. I'm your adviser."
I just nodded, they talked about a few things and a few minutes passed by we went out of the room.
"I have your form, Miss Salazar."
"Okay, po."
Miss Rios told me a few things while we walk our way towards the classroom, like every student should enter a school club. The school campus is huge and they have compete facilities.
We arrived at the third floor of the building. There are no students in the hallways, classes have started. We stopped at the last classroom, the students inside are very noisy.
"I'll call you inside, Miss Salazar," Miss Rios said and went inside the classroom first.
Hays.
A few seconds passed the students inside went silent. Miss Rios called me. I went inside the classroom. I can hear them gasped or what, normal reactions, I guess?
"Please introduce yourself, Miss Salazar."
I looked at the students inside the classroom. I can see girls that are wearing make-up, their blush on is too thick. There are also boys at the back that look like gangsters. But, there are normal looking students here.
"I'm Meriedeth Salazar. Sixteen."
They look like they are still waiting for me to say something else. I looked at Miss Rios, she seems not comfortable, and she look like she is going to say something.
"Previous school, Miss Salazar? Any Hobbies?"
I looked at my classmates. I mentally rolled my eyes.
"My previous school was Farren High Academy. My hobbies are surfing the net and listening to music. That's all."
"Any questions for Miss Salazar?"
"Why is she in this section, Miss Rios? Is she that smart?" one of the girls asked.
Miss Rios was about to answer when somebody asked again.
"What's your average grade, Salazar?"
"My average grade is ninety-five point six."
Their reaction was "ohhh", I just shook my head sideways. Geez, is it a big deal?
"You can seat the vacant seat, Miss Salazar."
I found an empty seat near the window, it'd located at the second to the last row and somebody is sitting behind me. I sat there, Miss Rios announce a few reminders. Then we are electing for the class president.
I'm just going with the flow. I want to read. I'm reading a comics and it's inside my bag. But, my classmates are not doing anything. They are listening to the speaker in front.
Miss Rios suddenly went out, she told us that she need to do some things. Then, the class became wild. I just shook my head because I saw how some of them chatted with each other even if somebody is still taking in front.
"Guys, you can talk to each other later, let's finish electing the class officers, please!" the class president begged.
Some of them gave a few comments. I wore my headphones and listen to some songs.
I'm watching outside when somebody pulled my headphone.
"Fudge," I whispered with a hint of annoyance in my voice.
I looked at the person who just pulled my headphones. I raised a brow at her, she seem scared because she jumped when I did it.
"M-Miss Salazar, no using of gadgets during class hours."
I just nodded and keep my cellphone inside my bag. I usually don't care about what people say but, she was on the verge of crying. That's why I just listened to her.
Time is very slow. Hays.
"Where are you from, Miss Salazar?"
I looked at my seatmate again. She has short hair and her skin complexion is kind of fair white. She seems like the nerdy type student, or maybe it's just my imagination.
I don't want to talk.
"Far away."
She just nodded. I usually don't talk to other people, but it's okay. As if she is going to be my friend.
"Alright, who will vote for Meriedeth?"
"What?!"
I looked at the white board, my name was written there with another name of our classmate, and she only got six votes.
"She's not listening," the girl with thick make-up said.
"For the position of muse," the class president said.
"Can somebody else do it?"
"She's the last candidate, majority wins. She'll be the muse."
I looked at behind me. There was a guy who is sitting there and he smiled. Tsk. I looked at the class president and the class president wrote my name at the white board.
Muse: Meriedeth Salazar
What does a muse do? Tss.
"Alright, the board is open for the class prince charming, any nominees?"
"Hey," the girl who is sitting beside me looked at me, her brows went up.
"W-Why, Meriedeth?"
"What's his name?" I asked while pointing at the guy sitting behind us.
"Oh, that's Eryx?"
"Why do you sound like you're not sure of it?" as I raised my brow.
"Eryx Carter Fuentabella."
Oh? She knows the full name. I hardly remember somebody's full name. I raised my hand, I called the class president.
"I nominate Eryx Carter."
Our classmates seem happy. In the end, he became the prince charming. Miss Rios arrive and class president submitted the list of class officers to her.
Time passed by, its lunchtime. Some of our classmates went out, there are some who eat here. I want to eat alone.
I wonder if there is a rooftop here.
"Excuse me," I said to the girl sitting beside me while she is having her lunch.
"Y-Yes?"
"Never mind."
I grabbed my bag and put it over my shoulder. I went out of the room. Where should I eat? Damn it. Hays.
I wore my headphones. While I was walking through the hallways I'm listening to some songs. Is there a rooftop here? Garden?
There are a lot of people.
I found myself walking towards the door, leading to the rooftop. When I opened it a gentle breeze welcomed me. It's not that hot today because it's cloudy. I should quickly and finish my lunch.
I went to the corner and took out my lunchbox. While eating I looked at the person standing in front of me. I raised my brow.
"Miss Rios told me to give you a tour around the campus. Hurry and finish your food."
"I can do it on my own."
"I usually don't care about what people say. But, I don't want to be against our teacher," Eryx said.
I did not speak a word and I just quickly eat my food.
"In our building only the first years up until third years are using it. The fourth years are at the other building," he said as we went down stairs of our building. "We also have a small canteen in our building, at the ground floor. They only sell snack and drinks," he said and pointed at the canteen.
"This building is where our seniors are, they usually use the third and fourth floor of this building," he said as we are in front of the second building. "The cafeteria is also in this building, it's a bit crowded right now because its lunch."
We went to the second floor where the library and computer laboratory are located. Then we proceed to the third building, there are some students there. It's a building used for clubs and the other laboratories are there.
"The last destination is the gymnasium."
It's connected to the third building and it's huge.
"Well, we have the field for the other athletes," and he pointed outside. I noticed some earlier there are lines at the field this morning.
"Let's go," he said and went out of the gymnasium. I noticed there was another building beside the gymnasium.
"What's that?" I asked Eryx, he looked at the direction that I pointed.
"Oh, you want to take a look over there?"
"I'm just asking."
"That's the indoor swimming pool."
I blinked because of what he said.
"Only swimming club members are allowed inside."
I was able to breathe in relief because of what he said.
"Do you want to take a glimpse of their swimming pool?"
"Nope. I was just asking."
"Well, they also have an outdoor pool. We can check it, it's located outside," then he walked towards the building.
"Never mind it!"
"I want to check it," he said as he turned his back at me.
I don't have any choice but to follow him. He told me that we are not really going inside of the pool area because there was a fence so, we are just outside.
"The water is beautiful," he commented.
I looked at the pool water. It's clear, you can really see the bottom of the pool. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Only club members are allowed, right?" I asked.
"Yes, that's the club rules. But, it is also allowed to use it during class hours."
"Huh?"
"During our physical education class, I think we will tackle about different sports."
"Why are we going to use the pool?"
"Swimming is a sport."
"You mean we are going to use the pool?"
He nodded.
The fuck.
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Opo or Po – is used in talking to someone older in the Philippines as sign of respect.