14
When I was in junior high school, my whole focus was on how to achieve good grades and how to make my grandparents proud, but that changed when I started slowly realizing that they aren't really the ones who I should be making proud because it should be me first and my parents. My parents don't really care about my grades. They are really happy when it's above their expectations and still really happy even if it's not. Studying harder and achieving good grades is something that I satisfy myself with.
I was studying in junior high school with no other interest in things. I rarely take an interest in things, especially in boys, because I completely understand the concept of teenage boys who should be studying instead of doing other stuff.
But then senior high school came, and Arthfael came, and I realized I was missing out on a lot of things in my teenage years. I almost missed half of my teenage years because I was scared or didn't have the guts to do it.
Arthfael came and let me experience things that I should've enjoyed before I entered the real world of studying harder in college. Because if the word "work harder" in high school means achieving higher grades, the word "work harder" in college completely means trying to not get lower grades, and working harder is not enough anymore. You also need to work smarter.
It was a shredded tapestry of feelings I had when I first got a score of 8 in my quiz. I almost cried that day, and I was thinking that maybe I'm not really for this course. I thought it was just as easy as it seemed, but nothing is easy. Really.
And then Arthfael came that day, telling me that he had also gotten a failing grade like me.
"Sinadya mo bang bumagsak?" I asked him seriously.
He pouted his lips and shook his head. "Bakit ko naman sasadyain, Miss Ma'am? Mahirap kaya yung quiz! Akala ko nga tama na yung sagot ko, mali pa rin pala..."
I just sighed in confusion after he said those words.
"Samgyup tayo mamaya, sabay tayong mag-aral?" He said and sat on the table I was leaning against.
I nodded at him and rested my head on my arms. "Do you think I'll do a great job on this path that I chose?"
"Yes," he answered directly.
I put my cheeks on my arms, still resting my head on them, and narrowed my eyes at Arthfael. "That's it? You won't say more like convincing me that if I didn't pass-"
He cut my words off. "Makakapasa ka, Miss Ma'am, ga-graduate tayo nang sabay."
I stopped, and my eyes were just having a staring battle with his eyes. He smiled at me and put his hand on my face. To see my face clearly, he removed the strands of hair from my cheeks and placed them on the back of my ears.
"H'wag ka nang malungkot d'yan, 8 nga score mo out of 20 tapos yung saakin 3 out of 20."
He didn't tell me that it wasn't a big deal because he knows that it's a big deal for me, so instead, he told me that we'd just do much better next time. Or bibili nalang daw kami ng strawberry cake at sabay na mag-aaral kung bagsak pa rin.
Kahit naman hindi bagsak, sabay pa rin kami nag-aaral.
Arthfael quit working full-time when we were nearly halfway through our first year of college. His mother suggested that he focus more on studying, and his auntie is trying to help them. Ayaw nang pagtrabahuhin ni tita Ari si Arthfael dahil may trabaho naman daw s'ya. Though, Arthfael still gets a part-time job. He said that it's for extra income.
"Bry!" Tawag ni Rastiel kay Bryan nang maupo sa tabi ni Rye, kagagaling lang sa counter para umorder ng pagkain n'ya.
"Put this on your chin!" Rastiel formed a money sign on his fingers, and instead of putting the circle he formed on his chin, he put it on his cheeks, and Bryan copied him.
