It's been three months since he transferred to this elementary school in the province. Unlike what he was told, the people here were not friendly.
Though not everyone is out to get him. No one had a problem with how he was being treated.
At first it was the schedule for cleaning. It's a popular practice in schools located in the provinces to make the students clean the classrooms and some areas around the school. It helps build character they say.
Vince was assigned to cleaning the classroom either before classes start (Monday) and after homeroom period (Friday). These are the most dreaded times for cleaning as Mondays have flag ceremony and Fridays have physical education.
On Monday, those who have to clean before class have to arrive at least thirty minutes before seven in the morning. That's not what made kids hate the cleaning schedule. What they hate is being sweaty and having their white uniform dirty first thing in the morning.
One can always being an extra set of clothes. But that means carrying extra weight. Which isn't a happy thing for little kids.
The problem with Fridays is that physical education drains most of your strength and stamina. Few had extra energy to stay at school and clean. For the little guys, they hate to have the Friday cleaning schedule.
Unfortunately, the current class president has a thing for those he calls outsiders and made sure that Vince always gets these cleaning schedule.
Vince tried to comfort himself by thinking that he is new to the place and the schedule changes once a month. He only has to tough it up for a month.
Aside from that, Vince would always find his bag on the floor. Whenever he leaves the classroom, someone always throws his bag on the ground. Sometimes they even take out the items in the bag and accidentally step on it. Repeatedly.
Two months of these and some more stupid actions against Vince and he had enough. He reported them to the school principal.
Unfortunately the school principal took the side of the other kids. Mrs Dumdum even chastised Vince. If the kids have a problem with you, she said, then you might be the problem. She then went on and on about knowing those kids for several years now and never hearing one word of complaint against them.
Vince didn't let up and reported things as it happened but Mrs Dumdum ignored everything. She was adamant that her students are angels and it is Vince who is making things up.
The actions of Mrs Dumdum encouraged the other kids and Vince found his notebooks and books shredded inside his bag.
The next day, Vince didn't even bother to bring a bag to school. He just brought a pen and a few pieces of paper which he folded and placed in his pockets. As for lunch, he didn't bring any and just hoped that the school cafeteria had something good today.
Vince sat at the back of the class. He didn't look at anyone. He didn't participate in any recitation or any activity. He kept quiet and tried his best to become part of the background.
During lunch, he waited until his classmates had finished eating before he entered the cafeteria. Most of the food were sold out and only one type of plain bread was available.
It took Vince a long time to eat the plain bread. He tried to not let it bother him and he focused on his task while eating. Since he didn't bring any notebook, he closed his eyes and tried to commit to memory the lessons that morning.
Vince felt like this action is his little act of defiance. By showing that he can function even without a notebook and a book.
His books can still be used as long as he pieced it together. Which he did last night. He spent three hours using a tape to assemble a few pages.
He only assembled and taped together the pages that would be used for today. He didn't even bother bringing it to school and just tried to memorize the pages.
Vince tried to hum the key parts of the lesson while he ate. He did this to make it easier to memorize stuff. A practice which he thought would make him look like a nerd so he hid it from everyone. Because he is the only one left in the cafeteria and he needs to memorize the lesson, he hummed as softly as he can.
He has just finished his bread when Mrs Alrol came barging into the cafeteria carrying an old worn out bag.
Mrs Alrol was clearly mad. Shouting profanities and pointing at Vince. Confused and afraid, Vince can only listen to the teachers tirade to get an idea of what's happening.
Apparently, Mrs Alrols wallet has gone missing so she ordered the students to open their bags. The last thing they checked was the bag in Vince's seat. Seeing her wallet inside the bag, she went to the cafeteria to teach Vince some manners.
Mrs Alrol knew that bag doesn't belong to Vince. She was the one in charge of gate duty that day. When she saw Vince enter the school without a bag, she mocked him for a couple of minutes. But now she is holding a bag and accusing Vince of stealing her wallet and hiding it in the bag.
Mr Calig, the science teacher, was their last teacher before lunchbreak. During class, when he noticed that Vince was not copying the information he wrote on the blackboard, he made sure to insult the kid. But now, he is just looking at Mrs Dumdum accuse Vince.
Mrs Dumdum gave Vince a one week suspension. No one objected to it and some kids even cheered. Vince just stood up and walked out of the school. It is only when he can no longer see the school that he noticed the tears in his eyes.
He cried non stop for hours. When he became numb from crying, he found out that he is hungry. Looking at the time, it's half past four.
His eyes are swollen from crying too much and it was hard trying to read the time. Vince took a bath and it helped ease the feeling in his eyes.
Then he remembered that he had his grandfather's eyeglass. Rummaging through some stuff he finally found the eyeglass and put it on. Surprisingly, he cannot see anything when wearing it.
The eyeglass looked normal. They looked like ordinary reading glass. The kind that one can buy cheaply in the streets. However, when Vince puts it on, all he can see is black.
The eyeglass turned black when put on. It's not shades that is black but doesn't block your vision. This particular eyeglass somehow robs you of your vision when you use it. It's more like a double eyepatch. Vince played with it for a while before he noticed the words written on the frame.
The eyeglass turned to normal after he read the words on the frame. Finally being able to see through the eyeglass, Vince noticed that Mrs Dumdum is walking towards his house. There are some words that he can see floating above the principal's face but Vince ignored it and took off the eyeglass.
Vince didn't bother to welcome the principal and he wanted to ignore her. It's too bad that the principal didn't even bother to knock. She just pushed a letter through the door and left.
Vince opened the letter and it says that if Vince is suspended one more time, he will be expelled. Tears began to drop as Vince began to cry. He put on the eyeglass to comfort himself. He stared hatefully at the departing evil principal. That's when Vince noticed the words above Mrs Dumdum.
He doesn't recognize the words but he knew there is something magical about them. Mrs Dumdum walked fast but no matter how far she is, Vince can still clearly see the words floating above her head. Not only that, Vince somehow knows what those words represent.
Vince took his allowance for the month and placed it near the glasses as he read the words floating above Mrs Dumdum's head. The money disappeared and his mind went blank.