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Chapter 5: Flip side!

It was Founder’s Day celebration. There was a gleeful spirit in the air. Everyone was excited. No class for the day, and it was okay not to wear the school uniform. Nicky donned on their class shirt, a blue cotton t-shirt with the word senior printed at the back and the logo of the school at the front, a pair of jeans and sneakers. She noticed most of her classmates were not even wearing their class shirts. They weren’t even wearing any blue. She should have told them to wear some blue shirt especially that all the other year levels were wearing theirs, or at least wearing shirts according to their year level color.

The first thing she did that morning, after the parade, was went to Mrs. Calunod to pass her essay. She wasn’t surprised most of her classmates had not made theirs. They thought it should be submitted on Monday even though they all heard Mrs. Calunod said, “Submit it tomorrow.” Only few had made their homework. Others had the dance practice and preparations as their alibis. Nicky was not anymore included in the dance number. She had not joined in the practice due to the walkout drama last Monday. Only half of the class had even joined the dance. It was John Michael who took over the lead. He was also the class vice-president.

“Nicky, what can I do for you?” asked Mrs. Calunod as Nicky walked inside her classroom. The sophomore’s adviser and the English teacher as well, spoke with a forced American diction. She was tall, gaunt and old, but she wore a lot of make-up to cover the wrinkles and lines on her face. She put on a floral loose-fitting blouse-dress over a pair of dark smart pants.            

“Good morning, ma’am,” Nicky responded enthusiastically. “I’m here to pass the class essays.”

“Oh! I didn’t realize. Was it due today?” Mrs. Calunod was pressing on some foundation on her already powdered face. She looked at Nicky over her compact.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are those all from the seniors?” Mrs. Calunod looked at the few papers Nicky held on her hand.

“No, ma’am. Some had not made theirs. They thought it was due Monday, or so they like to think.”

“Silly me. I forgot yesterday that we had the founder’s day today. I actually meant to say it’s due right after founder’s day. You know, me, dear. When I say tomorrow I actually mean it to be Monday.”

“Yes, ma’am. We understand it to be Monday if you say tomorrow on a Friday. But it was yesterday—which is a Thursday—when you said tomorrow. We assumed it was really today that we should pass the assignment.”

“No, dear. I got confused. I appreciate that you did your homework. But you know what? Why don’t you return the papers back to your classmates and pass them to me on Monday morning. This time, I want it encoded, and not hand-written.”

“Why couldn’t I just pass it today?”         

“Well, most of your classmates had not really made theirs. And I’d be busy this day for the founder’s. I can’t check your paper until Monday.”

Nicky was grimacing as she headed back to their room. She did what she told and returned the papers back to her classmates. Most of those who hadn’t made their essays said, “I told you so.” And she tried really hard to ignore them and not be pissed off.

Nicky had not noticed earlier she had Iggy’s paper with her to pass to Mrs. Calunod all along. It was when she was shuffling the papers to return them back to their owner that she spotted his name.

His paper was clean and neat, his penmanship small and crisp, and he wrote in all capital letters. YNIGO JUMALON. He stared at his name for a moment. Then, her gaze dropped to the essay itself. She knew she shouldn’t read it, but she couldn’t help herself. It was about the bad and good effects of social networking. He mentioned something about Facebook. I can’t believe we weren’t friends in Facebook, yet, Nicky thought. She hadn’t added him up, yet. She wished he’d add her instead. She figured he wrote okay, but she thought he could have elaborated more on his points. Yet, she still was impressed. She liked the way his paper sounded—so straightforward, concise and blunt.