Simon

Kliara Start of the school year, 2012. Third year of high school I was walking through the corridors of the second floor as I was looking at my enrollment slip and my section assignment. Surprisingly, I still made it to the first section even though our headmaster was disappointed about me quitting the summer camp. It was a summer review camp and when we pass the examinations, we shall be granted a full scholarship throughout college. “Aww” I grimaced as I fell on the floor. I look up to see who bumped me. “Sorry, miss.” A boy in a blue jacket said. He offered his hand to help me get up. I didn’t take it and I stood up on my own. “I could’ve hit my head on the floor, you know that?” I asserted. But he just smirked at me. “Did I say something funny?” I examined. And again he just shook his head without that smirk wearing down his face. There wasn’t any use talking to him. “Beast!” I dismissed him at hinawi ko sya para makadaan ako. I don’t know why I said that, it just popped up in my head and blurted it out. “Bee.” My friends all greeted me as soon as I entered the classroom. I walked up to them and said hi. “How’s your dad doing? Is he okay?” one of my best friends asked. “He’s recovering.” I answered. My dad recently suffered a stroke. The reason I had to quit summer camp. He thought he was going to die from that stroke so he called up his children to see them ‘one last time’, but thank God he didn’t. “He’s undergoing physical therapy.” “Kawawa naman.” They said, I just smiled at them. Me and my dad just met last year, so, I never really had such a strong relationship with him, but last summer, it’s true, naawa talaga ako sa kanya, and as much as I don’t want to leave him, I had to because my life is here, and my grandparents are here also. Soon, our Adviser came in and welcomed us. Not later, she asked us to introduce ourselves to the class one by one. When it was my turn, I stood up and I was about to speak when someone barged into the classroom door. It was that guy earlier wearing that blue jacket. “Good morning, Ma’am, sorry I’m late.” He told our teacher. He turned his gaze on me, probably wondering why I’m standing. “Beast,” I uttered without a sound to his face. He passed by and sat in the last row. I then started to introduce myself. “Kliara Del Valle, 16, residing at San Joaquin. A member of Math and Science Club, Journalism Club, Book Lovers, Scholars Guild and the Marching Band.” “You did not mention, you are the reigning Miss Maple Hills High.” my adviser said. I didn’t expect she’d remember me and that title so I got so shy and even more when everyone made this ‘woohoo’ sound and some even chanted the ‘Queen Bee’ word so I paused to laugh then continued.. I am not a Queen Bee, I do not hold that title in school, it’s just what my friends started to call me when I won Miss MHH. I am so far from being Regina George of Mean Girls. “Anyway, –my expectation in this class would be that we can make this year the most fun part. Thank you.” I hurried and returned to my seat immediately. During the self-introduction, I noticed we have new classmates, one was a woman and she has this pretty and friendly face, the other one was a guy who apparently was her cousin. Yung kaninang beast, he wasn’t a transferee, I finally recalled. He’s the brother of William, who is our batchmate. I guess this guy here, his brother, is repeating the year. “My name is Jim Simon Sturgess, 18, at nakatira sa Concepcion. Di po ako kasali sa kahit anong Org. Ang expectation ko po sa klaseng to ay sana maging magka close tayong lahat.” Sabi nung lalaki kanina nung siya na ang nag introduce sa sarili nya. Umirap ako ng maligaw ang mga mata niya sa direksyon ko. His smirk annoys me. “Okay ka lang Kley?” tanong ni Abigail sa akin. “Yeah, may lamok lang na dumaan.” Tatawa-tawa kong sagot. One week later For days, my school life has been fun. However, not today. It’s Friday, and every Friday, our class have decided that we do General Cleaning which will give us merit points too. This guy Jim Simon, ewan ko kung anong pumasok sa utak niya but he and his friend approached me habang nasa classroom ako ang naglilinis ng mga bintana. “What?” I asked him. “May ibibigay daw sya sa’yo” Sabi nitong si Simon. Tinuro nya yung kaibigan nya. He told me na ilahad ko ang mga kamay ko kaya ako tong tanga, ginawa ko naman. Before I knew it, may maliit na daga na syang binigay. Napasigaw ako sa gulat at dali-daling inalis yun sa kamay ko. Before I knew it, I started hyperventilating. Yes, I would hyperventilate kapag nagugulat ako or natatakot. I couldn’t quite catch my breath kaya napakapit ako sa lalaking nasa harap ko. I noticed the horror in his eyes when he saw me struggling to catch my breath. Some of my classmates who were there started to notice as well and they started hurdling over me and asking me what happened. Because of that commotion, even though I did not want to cause it, I was not able to stop it. Someone had already told my adviser what happened and I was brought to the clinic. When I came back to school 2 days after the incident, Simon, Daniel and I were called to the headmaster's office and they were given sanctions. Nag sorry naman sila sa’kin and I know it was sincere so pinatawad ko din sila. Honestly, I don’t think he really meant to attack me or something, I just happened to be there and the one they saw so I became their target. And although I was unable to breathe properly that time, but I noticed na nag-alala din naman sila kung na-pano ako that day, Especially him. Simon. I find that guy quite mysterious. He wasn’t exactly a bully. He just likes making fun and mostly yung mga girls ang napapagtripan niya or nila ni Daniel. I also heard he decided to quit school last year, because he caused an accident towards the daughter of one of our teachers because he pulled the chair she was supposed to sit on but due to that she hit her bottom pretty hard, that she was brought to the hospital. Sometimes he’d just sit snobbishly in class, but sometimes he can be pretty talkative and opinionated too. I observed. But mostly, he’s really, really just sarcastic. But he wasn’t ‘bad’, bad. He just looks kind of sad and lost? Like, he looks as if he thinks he doesn’t belong. But he was pretty hard working. He does whatever was asked of him in the classroom. And he did the strangest thing ever. The day later, he called me out of the blue and may binigay sya sa aking cupcake, the ones you can buy sa mga stores, and apologized to me. I was shocked by his gesture because I never saw him as the type to do that. Nakita yun ng ibang classmates ko kasi ginawa nya yun sa classroom in between class break and for whatever reason they started teasing us na bagay daw kami. What an unexpected turn but as for the latter part, Hell no!