"Kristel Martha Regacion, please stand up," our professor said while I was still rubbing my eyes.
"Yes, ma'am?" I replied.
"Since you were sleeping, I guess you can answer my question. What do you call the flowerless plants that produce cones and seeds?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at me.
I swear I read this last night—something that starts with the letter G. Gymo? Gyno? Gymno? The terms are all jumbled in my head.
"You don't know?" she asked, and I was about to shake my head when I saw Arwen scribble something beside me.
"Gymnosperm, ma'am," I answered confidently, even though I wasn't totally sure.
"Good. Next time, don't sleep in my class. And let me remind you, you're already in second year, so take this seriously." She turned her back after saying that.
I immediately sat down and pulled out a notebook—just for show. Time felt like it was crawling; we'd been in class forever.
"See you in our online meeting," she dismissed us, so I stood up and packed my things.
When I stepped out, Precious and Lauviah were already waiting for me, chatting with one of our classmates.
"Where are we eating lunch?" I asked them.
"Want to go to SM?" Lauvy suggested.
"Sure, we still have a long break anyway—our next class is at 5 p.m.," Precious replied.
At the mall, we ate at McDonald's with Precious's boyfriend, who studies at another school.
"This week is exhausting," I complained, but those two idiots just laughed.
"You're tired? All you did was sleep during evolutionary biology earlier," Lauvy teased me.
The opposite happened when I got home though. I was still awake past midnight, but it was fine since my class was in the afternoon the next day.
I woke up around 10 a.m.—thankfully, my alarm worked or I would've been late again for my 1 p.m. lab class.
At school, I saw Precious and Lauvy talking to someone I wasn't really close to. We had over 60 classmates, so it wasn't surprising.
"I thought you'd be late," Precious said.
"Nope, I set an alarm," I replied quickly without looking at the person standing in front of me.
"I think you already know each other since the four of us are classmates," Lauvy said awkwardly.
"But I'll introduce you anyway. This is Aerol Jazper Macaraig. And this is Martha—single, a good listener, and always the one communicating." Precious grinned, so I pinched her lightly. The guy in front of me chuckled.
Dear ground, please swallow me whole right now. First day back at school and this happens.
Then Kaiden showed up.
"You girls are at it again," I told them, laughing.
"We're just helping you so you can finally have a love life," Precious defended herself.
"I can handle myself, girls. Don't worry about me," I said confidently.
But honestly, after that day, something felt different. Not me, of course—it was just that we always seemed to bump into him. Anyway, midterms week was coming up, so this was the last day of classes for now.
"Shoot, I forgot my lab gown," I muttered to myself.
"That's why you should always keep it in your bag. You know how our professor hates it when someone doesn't have a lab gown. He even deducts points," Lauvy scolded.
"I'll just figure something out once we're inside," I said, though I wasn't sure how.
Inside the lab, I did my best to avoid being noticed by the professor. After Precious's gown was checked, I quickly borrowed it.
"Start working on experiments 10, 14, and 18," the professor instructed, leaving us all stunned.
"How are we supposed to finish those?" Almira asked.
"The procedures are so long," Angela added.
The six of us divided the tasks, but we only finished two experiments. Then we had another lab class right after, so it was exhausting. We all walked together through the underpass until we reached the LRT.
"I'll study early for analytical chemistry," I said.
"Oh right, the exam's on Thursday—same day as ecology," Precious reminded us, and we all sighed in unison.
"Bye, take care! Message when you're home," Lauvy said.
When I got home, I ate first, cleaned up, and texted that I was already home. Since it was already night, I decided not to study yet—there was still tomorrow anyway.
I actually had two Facebook accounts: one for family and one for my "other personality," so no one could report me. I shared a post and people flooded the comments with teasing, so I just turned the comment section off.
"Ate, Mommy's calling you," my sibling said, so I turned off my phone.
I washed the dinner dishes, took a bath, then grabbed my phone again. When I opened Messenger, there it was—an unexpected message.
Aerol Jazper Macaraig:
Aerol Jazper Macaraig sent a photo.
Aerol Jazper Macaraig:
Why did you turn off the comment section on this?