I don't know if I should feel sorry for Sir Walter during that time. When I saw how much he loved his girlfriend, it made me think how fortunate Ms. Samantha to allocate that much time for her. However, she rejected Sir Walter's proposal. Maybe that's just how it is, sometimes not everything we desire becomes ours. God doesn't grant us everything, no matter how hard we try.
I am one of Sir Walter's students who volunteered for the surprises in his proposal to his beautiful girlfriend. Sir and I are not close, in fact, I'm often the cause of his headaches in class. If you think I'm one of the brown-nosers in class, FYI, you're mistaken.
I'm also not part of his Fans Club on our campus. Yes, I admit he is very handsome, and there are a lot of girls have crushes and fall in love with him at school, but I will never join them, ever! (And I never dreamt of it, by the way.)
Now, if you're wondering why I'm here today as one of the volunteer students, it's for practical reasons, especially since I'm failing his class. So here I am, needing to work hard and radiate good vibes towards him. Otherwise, I'll lose my scholarship from Father Jowie, a priest and who happened to be my godfather.
So, even though it goes against my will, I will just close my eyes to do it in the name of a pitiful grade, it is for my scholarship. I will swallow the mockery of my friends rather than be greeted by Aunt Alma's weapon-like mouth when I am summoned to school again and told that her supposedly good step daighter has failed once more. Aunt Alma is our wicked stepmother.
I saw Sir Walter being approached by his mother while he was sitting at the table where his girlfriend left him. His mother quickly embraced him, and his two siblings also came to support wholeheartedly on that occasion.
At that time, I felt envious of Sir Walter. He is lucky to have a loving mother, while my sibling Oteph and I consider ourselves fortunate if our stepmother treated us the way Sir Walter's mother did. As for Dad? He's worthless. He often takes the side of his second wife more than protecting us from the mistreatment we endure from them. He inflicts more physical abuse on us than the days of peace in our home.
I don't know why Dad turned out like that since our real mother passed away. If it weren't for Oteph, I would have left home a long time ago.
During those moments, I didn't know whether to sympathize with our teacher. It feels like my heart has become as hard as a stone and don't even care what happened. That's why I'm sitting in a corner of the kitchen, taking advantage of the opportunity to eat. Yes, enjoying the food prepared by sir Walter's family for that special occassion. How can I not eat? I've been famished for so long. I didn't know that his seemingly primadonna girlfriend would arrive at that hour. It's almost nine in the evening, who wouldn't be starving at that time?
My only best friend, Gem Ver (yes, his name is unique), was staring at me and shaking his head as I happily indulged in the delicious dishes prepared for the occasion. He approached me and sat beside me.
"Dude, eat with me while the food is still hot." I invited him while savoring every bite of the crispy chicken skin. "Here's the Chicken McJoy, try it, it's incredibly well-cooked and delicious." I offered him a piece of fried chicken.
"Wow, Drew, I'm impressed that you managed to eat in that state." Gem Ver said, trying to insult me with his mockery tone.
"What's wrong with eating when you're extremely hungry?" I retorted, taking a bite of the chicken thigh. "Besides, wasting food is a shame. Look, they probably won't even eat." I added, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
He handed me a few tissues, shaking his head while looking at me.
"Don't talk while your mouth is full. Manners please?" he said and burst into laughter.
I shifted my gaze on him with a piercely look which made him stop from laughing.
"Thank you," I said. "If I were you, I'd just eat." I stood up, grabbed a plate and utensils, then got some food for him. "Here you go, sir, please eat." I offered him and placed the plate full of food on the table in front of him. Then I sat back down on my chair. He just stared at me smiling.  His smile holding some meaning.
"Is something funny, dude?" I asked, in a firm tone.
"Nothing," he replied.
"Then why are you smiling like that if there's nothing funny?" I asked again.
"Really? Well, I find your actions amusing," he responded, his smile seeming to tease.
"Oh, come on, there's nothing funny about what I'm doing. I'm just being real, you know? Look at them." I gestured towards our classmates still sympathizing with Sir Walter.
"Well, what's wrong with them? They're just showing sincere empathy towards our teacher," he asked.
"Playing the loyal ones to Sir, suck-ups. I'm sure once they get home, they'll start saying all sorts of things. Like how embarrassing it must have been for him, blah blah blah."
"You're so bitter, Drew. Seriously? Maybe they genuinely feel for him in their hearts," Gem Ver said, taking a bite of the fried chicken I served him.
"See, you can't resist hunger either," I chuckled. "Don't pretend."
"Just tasting it. Besides, like what you have said, I'm being real," he said, grinning but his intensely expressive eyes fixed on me. I don't know why, but I feel uncomfortable under his gaze.
"Okay, you said it. Alright, don't be shy since it's free, dude. It's also good that we go ahead and not join them later. At least we won't get involved anymore." I glanced at the back and realized that Sir Walter's brother was there. I didn't know how long he had been standing there and if he overheard the conversation between me and my best friend Gem Ver.
"Looks like you both got hungry, huh?" he said with a smile, but irritation was evident on his face.
"Good evening po," both Gem Ver and I greeted almost at the same time. I felt my face heat up and couldn't look at Sir Walter's brother.
"Let's eat," Gem Ver shyly invited him.
"Let's eat po," I replied, feeling nervous at that moment.
"Sure, just eat. I need to attend to something important inside," he uttered with a serious expression. Gem Ver and I exchanged glances and chuckled when he walked away.
"Damn, I got nervous there, huh? He looked really serious," all I could say. "Alright, let's continue eating," I invited Gem Ver again.
"Just go ahead, I've lost my appetite," he said, still looking at me. I really enjoyed his gaze at me, but I couldn't look back at him. His chinese eyes had such expressive expressions, especially when he smiled. He has a smooth face that I would love to gaze at, and a far-from-perfect body that I would love to playfully pinch. (Good thing I have a BFF like you Gem Ver.)
"Why are you staring at me again?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing. I just really enjoy looking at you," he nonchalantly replied.
"You know dude, if your looks could melt, I would have vanished long ago."
"Well, I just like looking at you. Is that wrong?" he asked.
"It just makes me conscious. And your constant staring won't gain you anything dude! If staring could make me rich, I would have been wealthy a long time ago." I grinned. "And remember, we're best friends," I added.
"Sure, we're best friends, if you say so. But, you know, why haven't you accepted me as your suitor yet?" He suddenly tickled my side and stood up from where he was sitting.
"You idiot!" I exclaimed, as he chased after me like a child trying to catch up. I stood up and about to hit him with my hard fist when I accidentally hit my plate, causing it to fall and shatter on the floor. The two of us froze and locked eyes.
"Andrea Jean Agustin, oh no. You're in trouble now," he said.
"Trouble? I didn't mean to. It's because of you," I said, concerned. I glanced behind me, and luckily, there was no one in the kitchen.
"Quickly, pick it up before someone notices," he said, hastily grabbing the broken pieces of the plate. Without wasting a moment, Gem Ver helped me pick up the shattered fragments. "Be careful, you might get hurt by the glass shards," he reminded me.
"Yes, Daddy Gem Ver," I playfully replied. Swiftly, we disposed of them in the trash bin outside the kitchen.
We let out a sigh of relief as there were no remaining shards of glass where the plate had fallen. We hurriedly left the kitchen. Once we were outside, I playfully poked him and burst into laughter.
"Ouch! That hurt, you know? Why did you do that?"
"Well, serves you right! Beh!" I stuck out my tongue to provoke him.
"So now you're the one getting mad?" he asked, his face was very serious.
"Oh, so now you're suddenly angry? If you hadn't flirted with me earlier, the plate wouldn't have broken. Luckily, nobody saw it, otherwise, I might have had to pay for it," I said boldly.
"Well, no one saw us, right?" he replied, seeming to act cute, squinting his eyes and winking. "Come on, let me just kiss you to cool down," he added.
"Why don't you kiss your bald grandpa? You'll be kissing my fist if you don't stop," I said through gritted teeth, showing my clenched fist.
I noticed that Sir Walter's sister was looking at us, so I fell silent. Meanwhile, Gem Ver continued to poke fun at me, laughing at every glance he took at me.
"You'll taste this later," I said, showing my trembling fist due to my anger towards him.
"Take it easy. You can't even take a joke," he teased.
I ignored him and walked towards the garden. Sir Walter was no longer there. He probably went home with his family.
"Best friend, I'm sorry," Gem Ver said apologizing, then following me. "The situation was getting too dramatic, so I just tried to make you happy. I'm sorry, please?!" He pleaded. I didn't want to look into his eyes as I knew I would be swayed by those glances again.
"Whatever. Just don't talk to me!" I shouted at him.
Sir Omar overheard our heated conversation, so he immediately approached us. I purposely walked away faster to avoid him as well.
"Guys, what's happening here?" Sir Omar asked, while approaching to us. He was serious and not laughing.
"Good evening, sir." Gem Ver replied. "It's nothing sir. We were just joking around," he explained to Sir Omar.
Our Math teacher nodded and looked at both of us, leaving a meaningful smile. "Get ready, guys. Pack up. It's getting late, we should go home now. You two—" He pointed at us. "Ride with me. You can go home with me since our route will pass by your place, Andrea. Gem Ver, I'll drop you off at your house, your dad might go looking for you with me if you go somewhere else," Sir Omar said to us.
"Sir, I'll just take Andrea home myself," Gem Ver pleaded with Sir Omar.
"No, that won't do. I want to ensure that both of you safely arrive at your respective homes. The others will be picked up by their parents."
"Sir is such a killjoy..." Gem Ver whispered to me.
"What did you say, Gem Ver?" Our teacher asked, seemingly having heard him.
"N-no-nothing, sir. I said everything's okay," Gem Ver quickly replied, scratching his head.
He looked at me, and I stuck out my tongue at him playfully, like a child.
"Well, serves him right!" I laughed at him.
"Andrea, Gem Ver. Get your snacks from Jerley, take them home so we can go home right away," Sir Omar said as he walked towards the group of students gathering flowers and balloons for the occasion.
"Hehe!" I chuckled, giving my best friend a mischievous laugh while he looked at me.
I noticed his eyebrows furrowed, and his face turned serious, so I decided to hold back and avoid irritating him further.
"Did you feel pity with what happened to sir Walter? I felt sorry for him," I said. I deliberately changed the topic to avoid further arguments.
"I thought you didn't care about Sir Walter?" he asked, his voice slightly annoyed.
"I don't," I replied.
"So why do you suddenly feel sorry for him?" he asked, sounding irritated.
"Oh, come on!" I said, feeling frustrated, and I walked out on him.
I left him and went ahead to Jerley for the food that Sir Omar mentioned. Oteph also had food, and I knew he would be delighted when he sees the delicious meal.
I looked back and Gem Ver was still there, standing and staring at me. I took a deep breath, but I felt a pang of guilt for what I did. I knew I also got annoyed with our teasing. But I decided it was better to get in Sir Omar's car first.