THIS IS HOME

CHAPTER ONE

I woke up with a weird feeling; knowing I've had enough sleep but still feeling dead tired. The morning rays shone upon my face. It felt warm while it embraced a part of my head, like all the flaws I have on it is forgivable... if that's even possible. I took the sheets off of me and sat up. I still didn't get off of the bed. I squinted my eyes and took a firm look on the clock, 5:20 AM.

"Fuck." I quickly grabbed my bag and took whatever clothes I can pickup from the closet. What I had to wear didn't matter. I was goddamn late. I ran straight to the shower and turned it on. "Fuck!" Second one for today. It was cold. It ran from my spine through my brain and froze everything.

Today has been starting to be a bad day. I didn't know what lies ahead. I wasn't scared. Pissed off, maybe. I fixed myself and said goodbye to my mom who was almost finished preparing the breakfast. "You're going without having anything there in your stomach?" she asked with a motherly tone. "You didn't wake me up. I really got to go now, mom." I said kissing her on her cheeks and giving her the usual hug we've been doing for over a decade. "Hoy! I did," frowning over the blame I put her in, "yet you were still going back sleeping like a log." I just let her speak because I know it will take me a lot of time to argue with her, and also, she was partly right. I still slept, thinking another five minutes would get me anywhere.

I walked faster than before and crossed my fingers, wishing I could still catch up on the shuttle service we've always had on the school. It leaves exactly 6:15 AM or earlier, depends on how fast it gets occupied and depends on how badly I want to arrive on time. It was 6:10 AM when I was still riding on a jeepney, heading to the place where we should all meet up if we want to get on the shuttle. "Come on," I said to myself with utter frustration. I frequently looked into my phone, checking every minute that passed by as if it would make a difference, as if it would help me get there on time. Luckily, it did. Almost didn't.

It was a 15-minute ride to get to the school. We arrive always half an hour earlier before the class starts so I still had time to burn. The room was on the fourth floor, some of my classmates were also there too. I went to the nearest available table and got a quick rest on the chair. I slouched down and checked my phone.

No messages.

Socializing isn't really the thing I get easily. Yes, I have friends. Plenty. But I think the new age had used friends so often that acquaintances become considered one. It shouldn't. Well, at least for me. You know my name, I know yours, we exchange hi's and hello's whenever we meet, but that's just it. We don't know what our eyes mean when they look from afar. We don't know what our laughs mean whenever they feel like they were running out of air. We don't know what our smiles mean when they almost reach our ears. We just find ourselves with the word 'acquaintance', we are so damn afraid to admit that we barely know them so we rounded it up to being friends, and felt okay with it.