That Scandalous Year

6. The Worst Part

I saved you a seat, Clead typed and pressed send, then quickly hid his phone before a teacher noticed.

To his surprise, and perhaps delight, the room was nearly full. He never expected that this kind of stuff was also interesting to this number of his schoolmates. He thought maybe everyone would flock over to the room with a real pilot as the guest of honor.

It was Career Day for the Seniors of their school. In the morning, they had career talks. And in the afternoon, a general assembly.

The senior batch officers invited alumni from different fields of interest and careers to deliver talks to them. Each room had one guest speaker. Every senior student was free to attend any of them.

Clead, of course, chose the former editor-in-chief of National State University's collegiate publication. He knew he can never reach the same heights, but the fact that their guest also went to the same primary school made Clead feel both nostalgic and hopeful.

Linda already introduced their speaker when Richelle joined Clead.

"Are you okay?" He asked his paler-than-usual girlfriend.

"I'm fine," Richelle replied without meeting his eyes. Her face was also slightly red.

"Are you sure?" Worry was imminent in his voice. "You look sick or something."

She dropped her arms on her thighs. "Clead," she hissed while holding her head down. "Just shut up, okay?"

Clead obeyed.

He stopped talking to her for the rest of the morning activity. Even after it was over when the crowds dispersed and went back to their respective classrooms. And even at lunchtime, because she didn't join them.

"Where's Richelle?" Vlad asked as they were walking out of the high school building.

Clead shrugged. "I think she's mad at me for something."

"Dude."

"Just forget it," Clead said with an impatient sigh.

Whatever it was, and he knew something was up, didn't concern his friends.

*

With the back of his right hand, Clead brushed off the crumbs that stuck on his pants. The boys in their school wore black slacks, so the contrast was obvious. He was too preoccupied to notice that earlier after they had their lunch.

The three of them stayed longer than usual at Happy Wok. And when they got back to school, they went straight to the function hall.

The hall was old and the acoustics weren't excellent. But the three hundred or so students fit in there, so that was where they had the Seniors Assembly.

Clead was with his classmates from section Compassion this time. They were still waiting for the program to start. He heard it was supposed to be about preparing for college admissions and tests. Not like he still needed the help, but a little guidance would do.

Everyone around him was talking about something. The hall was filled with all sorts of sounds, but it registered to him as white noise.

Marcus, their batch president, climbed up on the stage and picked up the microphone. An unpleasant loud feedback greeted everyone's ears. There was a synchronous reaction of surprise, distraction, and irritation. Some people covered their ears. Marcus walked farther from the speakers. "Sorry," he said with a bearable amplified sound this time. He asked for everyone to settle down as they were about to begin.

Clead couldn't stay put. He was deeply bothered by Richelle's extreme moodiness. He had been for the past month.

He searched for her in the crowd, but section Wisdom was at the back of the hall. And they were at the front, near the stage. She should be there, behind all of those other students, but he couldn't see. He sighed in resignation.