The Time You Held My Hand

Theo III

2018, I am 17 years old now. Fourth-year in high school. After the examinations in 2017, I made it into the third class, which provides every subject that I absolutely suck at.

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Accounts. I can't even do simple math and now I have to learn even more complex subjects.

I wrote a letter to have my class changed but it wasn't approved. It wasn't approved, I slowly took a little interest in the new subjects I was learning and I got appointed as a Class Monitor...again.

Unfortunately, after the first week of school, I was hospitalized because of my Eczema acting up and I couldn't perform any of my duties as a Class Monitor. It was pretty sad because my parents thought it would just be a checkup. The doctor then said it was pretty bad and immediately had me hospitalized.

The experience of being hospitalized? It wasn't that pleasant. The room was intensively cold and I didn't have the courage to point it out until the second last day of my stay. The food served was very limited but surprisingly tasted delicious. The nurses also come into the ward at the most random times to check your temperature and to make sure you're doing alright.

"How are you feeling?" My mom asks as soon as she enters the ward. "Feeling a little cold,"

Without thinking twice, my mom went to check the temperature of the air-conditioning. When she couldn't figure out how to adjust the temperature, she called the nurse to help. My mom has always been supportive of everything I do. She would try her best to cure my Eczema and I'm really grateful for it.

My friends Iman and Adam came and visit me as well. They brought along my other friends; Timothy, Shahril, Guo Yang Ke, Adam.M, and Mun. Their visit made me very happy. Shortly after they left, my friend Ronan came.

Ronan and the others didn't particularly get along very well but they were all in the same class.

After a week of being hospitalized, I was finally discharged and I returned to school immediately. Most of my classmates were worried and showed their concerns for me in which I appreciate a lot.

The rest of the year became a hectic and yet very fun experience. There was an annual school camp for the leaders and committee members of the clubs and societies. I didn't want to go because it ended on my birthday and I'd have to miss my Sunday School class.

I didn't have a choice, unfortunately. I was the president of the Catholic Student Society. I had to go to the camp. It was a 3 days and 2 nights camp over at a mountain trail resort. The resort was pretty decent, we had to sleep in tents. We had to hike up a mountain at 4.a.m while protecting one egg. One egg!

Upon reaching the peak, everyone just threw their eggs out into the wild. I didn't even want to be there because I would rather be at home celebrating my birthday. I was expecting my best friends to wish me the very first thing in the morning before we hiked up but it didn't happen.

Iman said to me upon reaching the peak "Theo! Guess what day is it? It is your birthday!"

I smiled reluctantly because I wasn't feeling in the mood to be happy. I wanted to go back home immediately.

That was just one of the annual camps of the school. The same year as well, there was an international program to train students to be smarter and more efficient. According to the teachers, the students are chosen by some representative all the way from France or something. I got chosen as well for it.

What fortunate luck I have!

The selected students were given special classes and you get the picture from here. No pressure, am I right?

We had an online exam to do. We were told of our ranking amongst all the schools that were selected and honestly speaking, it only gave us students more pressure and stress. We were competing against one of the most prestigious schools in Petaling Jaya; not to mention having to attend a whole camp with them.

The camp was fun; there's no lying about it but it was more of a study camp so there's a downside to it. I made a lot of new friends there as well. Aside from that, there is also this really nice program that was brought to our school. It was meant to help us improve our studying methods and score well in exams.

The program was led by a bunch of youngsters that have already achieved success in their own field of specialty. The mentors took time to talk to us and understand us. They taught us various methods to solve our problems in life such as changing our views on the world. They taught us to set goals in different aspects of our life such as education, passion, happiness, and health.

The program was actually held six months long and they came back every month to catch up with us and teach us new things. Along the way, I started working with them and I realize that writing was my passion all along. I formed a new group with the other youngsters involved and we worked together to promote the world of art.

I was happier because I was doing something that I love. I went out almost every Tuesday after school alongside my friend, Jaren to attend meetings and we would come back around midnight. My parents were definitely a teensy bit worried because I was going out a lot but my grades were actually improving.

When my mom came to my school to collect my report card, my teacher actually complained that I was always missing in action. I was always absent from class because of all the events and camps that I had to attend.

My 2018 was full of camps, new experiences, new friends, and literally my whole view of the world changed.

Seeing the world in a different light wasn't easy because I'm so used to how the normal routine would be. I kept questioning at times, why wouldn't this method work but what I've been doing wrong was that I only kept it in mind but never actually decided to do it.