From Friendship to Forever

Hi, my name is Michaela Ashley Flores, but you can call me Mica for short. I have a best friend named Samantha Cruz, but I call her Sam. I'm from Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, and I'm the only child in the Flores family, and our life is simple—not rich, not poor, just simple.

“Mica! Wake up; it's your first day of school,” my mom called out.

I had just finished taking a shower when she called me, so I didn’t hear what she was saying.

I quickly got dressed and went downstairs while drying my wet hair.

“Good morning, everyone,” I greeted as I headed to the dining table.

“Good morning, too,” my dad replied.

“Sit down and eat; you're getting late,” my mom reminded me.

I ate quickly, brushed my teeth, and got ready. After fixing myself up, I left for school.

It’s the first day of school, so it felt a bit awkward to mingle with people I didn’t know. I decided to call Sam to ask where she was.

———CALL———

“Sam, where are you?” I asked.

“I'm on my way,” she replied.

“Hurry up! It’s the first day of school, and you’re going to be late,” I said with a soft chuckle.

“Tchh, I overslept, hehe,” she said, making me roll my eyes.

“Okay, just hurry up; I’ll go ahead. See you. Byeee,” I said and ended the call.

———END OF CALL———

While the professor was teaching, the bell suddenly rang, signaling recess time.

“Okay, class, dismissed. See you again tomorrow,” our teacher said and left.

As I was packing my things, Sam approached me and said, “Hey Mica, let’s go to the canteen.” I nodded and followed her.

While we were walking, she suddenly said, “Girl, did you know that there are three handsome guys on campus that everyone has a crush on? But the most handsome of them all is their leader. His name is Caleb. I don’t know his full name, though, hehe,” she said excitedly, but I wasn’t interested.

She kept talking when someone suddenly bumped into me. I let out a soft “ouch” because of the pain.

“What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy? Watch where you're going and stop walking with your head down,” the guy said irritably.

I looked at him angrily and said, “Hey, what’s the use of your eyes if you can’t see someone in your path? With such a wide hallway, why can’t you avoid people? Tsk tsk.”

“Wow, you’re answering back! Don’t you know who I am?” he said angrily.

“And who are you that I should care?” I snapped back, making him pause and stare at me, seemingly shocked by my response.

“Let’s go, Samantha, before I do something to this guy,” I said angrily and walked away.

———CANTEEN———

“Mica, what’s wrong with you? You let your pride get the better of you. You should’ve just let it go,” Sam scolded me, so I just rolled my eyes.

“Do you know that he’s the one I was talking about—the campus crush? Isn’t he handsome?” she said, giggling like a schoolgirl.

“Sure, he’s handsome, but he has a bad attitude,” I said, rolling my eyes again.