Under the Shades of Sky

Chapter 1

"Seb! Let's go to the library!" A girl said, whispering outside our room as she was signaling to me. I signaled her to keep quiet as the teacher still hadn't dismissed our class yet, making her roll her eyes on me. I heard her grunts before leaving the window that made me chuckle.

"Ms. Romero, are you listening to me?" Ma'am Clara asked, strictness was on her voice.

I was quite shocked about her question, that's why I couldn't answer for some seconds. We had eye contact and I can see her asking me within my soul.

"Y-yes po, Ma'am." I answered.

Not gonna lie, but I haven't listened to her for almost half of our time since her class started. I was hungry and I regret not eating nor drinking anything during our recess time just because I was fixing and editing my group's presentation for tomorrow. My tummy growls countless times. Napatulala na lang ako habang nagsasalita siya kahit wala na akong maintindihan sa sobrang gutom. Drain na drain na siguro ang braincells ko dahil pagkatapos ng math, science subject naman.

I'm hungry...I want to eat.

"Sad to say but none of you passed. The highest, doesn't make it to the 75% of the passing grade. I'm not saying this because I was expecting more from all of you, I am saying this to all of you because I don't want to see you crying because of your parents. Yes, you are all open to me about your situation with your parents and I want to help you." Ma'am Clara announced, making me shocked, knowing our section always ace at the tests.

What the freak!

I studied for a week and I didn't even bother to eat 3 times a day and sleep 7 hours a day just to make sure I will perfect the test and I will not pass?! The scope of the exam was different from what was in the test! How come the school is expecting us to pass?!

Ma'am Clara called each one of us.

"Ms. Romero..." She called me and looked directly at my eyes. Based on how she looked, I know how shocked she was. "15/30."

"Told you, Celest was the highest." my classmate, Diana, whispered to his twin brother, Dylan.

"Told you..."

"Not surprising."

"Not new. Deia was smart."

I looked at the ground, trying to stop my tears. I felt my classmate and seatmate, still Diana, hold my hands to comfort me. "Pres," she said but I managed to smile at her.

"I'm okay, Dia." I said, voice sounding the opposite on my face.

For others, half score is enough. Then for me, a half score that can't barely reach 75% means my best isn't enough. I'm not used to failing my acads and once my parents knew this? It would be the end of my happy days.

"Ma'am, sorry to say but the scope you gave us wasn't the one that is included in the exam given by our proctor." Dylan said, which all of us agreed to.

Ma'am Clara was shocked, "Really?" Then she presented a word containing our exam. "These are not your tests?" she asked and we all shook our heads and now she looked problematic.

"We haven't discussed it yet, ma'am. I mean we aren't the same intelligence as Deia but we think there's really a problem. Right Deia?" My classmates looked at me because of what Iris said.

I saw how Diana rolled her eyes and I nudged her slightly. "Dia, stop it."

Diana's blood always boiled when Iris was mentioning my name. She knew that whenever Iris mentioned my name, she was planning something against me.