This Unexpected Chapter

Written by: Andrew Natividad

Layout by: Francheska Shieniah Mercado

August 16, 2023 | 6:30 P.M.

“New school year, new me. Pencil; check. Notebook; check. name tag; check. Uniform; check. What else could I be missing? Nevermind, it’s not like my first day at school would be a mess already,” or so I thought. I guess I should just expect the unexpected.

“Hi, my name is Amy Torres. I’m 11 years old. My hobbies are drawing, badminton, lots of origami, writing poems, and most importantly, eating! Since I’m a freshman in high school right now, I expect this school year to be fun and full of new discoveries,” I said as I practiced my ‘introduce yourself’ speech. I’m both excited and nervous for this day. It could be great, it could be boring, I don’t even know what to actually expect.

My class begins at exactly 7AM, and it's 9:30 already. “Have fun on your first day!” my mother said after dropping me off at school. She thought my class starts at 10AM when the truth is I didn’t sleep last night due to excitement and over-thinking. When I arrived at school, I saw familiar faces already. Sadly, my best friend has decided to transfer to another school, so now, I have to talk to strangers and make new friends all over again.

“Good morning, miss! Praise be Jesus Christ! Sorry I’m late,” I said as I opened the door to my classroom. “Good morning, too, miss. What’s your name?” the teacher asked. “Amy Torres, miss,” I answered. “Are you sure you’re in the right classroom, dear? Because I can’t find your name in my class list, this is the eighth grade, just so you know,” then, the first humiliation of the day I didn’t expect happened. “Oh, I’m sorry, miss. I’ll just go.” Oh my, that was so embarrassing.

I went to my classroom, my actual classroom. And there I saw Mary Alonzo, my first grade best friend. We kind of forgot each other since we were put into different classes when we went into second grade so our communication was cut off. To add to the awkwardness, the only vacant seat left was beside her so I sat there. My adviser, Mr. Del Rosario, requested me to introduce myself. Luckily, I recited my speech very well. After I sat down, Mary talked to me. It was supposed to be a good thing, but destiny has planned something else.

“Oh, my. I also like making origami and writing poems. I’m Mary, by the way,” as we shook hands. “I know. You were the one who taught me how to do both, remember?” I replied. “What? We don’t even know each other,” she said. Shucks, she forgot I existed. “We were best friends in first grade. Amy Torres. The girl who had colorful hair clips and ripped her pants during PE class, I mean how could anyone rip their own pants, right?” I said. “Oh right, I forgot,” she said as she turned around and talked to someone else. I really thought we’d be best friends again. I kind of expected that.

“Don’t worry about her, she’s always like that.” I startled as someone from my back whispered it exactly to my ears. I turned around and there I saw Sky Vergara, one of the most infamous students last year. I remember the rumor that he was the one who never flushes the school’s toilets. Or swallows gum. Or has bad breath, which seems to be not true since his breath earlier smelled like bubble gum. Maybe the swallowing of gum is real.

“Why are you so late and brave enough to come to school without knowing if our adviser is a terror or an angel?” Sky asked. “I just want to experience my first day back here,” I replied. “Yeah, but why?” he asked again. “What do you mean ‘why’? Why should I care about my punctuality? Why should I even bother to come here? Is that what you mean, huh?” I angrily said. “Woah, no need to be angry, woman, I just asked a question. Why are you late, though? That’s actually my question,” he responded. “Fine. I couldn’t sleep last night because I’m too excited for this day, which is being ruined by you, boy,” I said as I walked to the cafeteria since it’s lunch time already.

“And I am going to sit here. Hi,” Sky said with a big smile on his face. “Why are you here sitting with me? You have other friends, right?” I asked. “Yeah, but you’re alone and ta-da, I’m your savior!  Since you’re late, I’m going to tell you what happened earlier with the welcome program done by the school’s student council,” he added while opening his lunch box. I guess I could be friends with him.

“It started with, of course, a prayer. And then, we danced. So sad you weren't there,” Sky said. “I dislike doing that zumba dance, so I’m good, thanks,” I replied. “No, that’s where you are wrong. It’s called ‘energizer’ for a reason, and I was energized.” This is what I actually didn’t expect: to be friends with someone like him.

“Oh shucks, it’s 11:55 already. I’ll just continue my story later. I will also tell you about how my dog really ate my homework last year, so let's go back to our classroom.” We went to our classroom and our teacher isn’t there yet. And then, destiny gave me another surprise. 

Sky went to the front of our class and said, “Hey, everyone. Did you know that someone here in our class is the daughter of a bank owner. Let’s elect Amy Torres as our treasurer, okay?” That’s not true, but it seems like everyone believed him and looked at me. I was too shy to say it’s not true so when the election of class officers came, I became the treasurer. It was the last activity we have for the first day of school and we are now going home.

“Hi, miss treasurer,” Sky said as he giggled. “Why would you do that? Now, I’m handling the class’ funds,” I said pretending I was annoyed. “Chill. It won’t be that hard, at least now, the whole class knows you. You can be friends with anyone, while I’m your first best friend. See you tomorrow!” he said as he left the room. Unexpectedly, a smile appeared on my face