Chapter Ten:
As Samantha and I tried our best to dance the night away, we both could not help but be broken of what was about to come. She was leaving for Oxford to pursue a medical degree, while I, on the other hand, will be spending every single day of my life on my knees, praying that I won’t miss her too much—yeah, right. Who was I kidding.
I’ve never fallen in love with anyone before. I have never even given anyone a promise that big. And I’ve certainly never trusted someone as if my whole life was depended on it. So I can just assure you that what I felt for Samantha was something very real. I cried buckets the day she left. I drove her to the airport and my eyes followed her every step as she boarded the plane to London. With my hands tightly clutched on to what she gave me, every breath I took that day was like a piercing knife forcing its way to my soul. She looked back at me for a second and before I knew it, she was already gone. A mixture of agony and pain haunted me on my drive back home.
Anyway, summer was surprisingly fun after that. Despite the lacking presence of the love of my life, I really tried my best to make the most out of it. And I did! I’d have late night basketball games with the boys, we’d go camping, swimming, recording, road trips—which was a must do thing for us—and more. It was so good to do all those things. Especially with them. And the best part of it was that I get to talk with Sam every day. We’d always wait for each other, that was the original plan right? So, that's what I'm going to do. Wait.
A few months later, school began to start again, and I had to go back to the Philippines to finish my two more remaining years of high school. But then again, the moment I went inside those halls, I knew in my heart that school will not the same without her.
I missed Samantha. I missed seeing her lovely face every day as she would always brighten the room up with her smile. I missed seeing her hurriedly walk—run—along the corridors, with her hair going all over the place. I missed the serious look she would have on her face whenever Mr. Harris—the school principal—would talk to her. I missed her laugh, the sound of her voice, her concern towards the other students… I even miss how I would always watch her as she gives the student body her famous ‘pep talk’ every now and then. I mean, seeing somebody else take the stage to greet the school on our first day didn’t feel different…it felt wrong.
I miss how I’d look at her during my basketball games, knowing that her cheers were especially for me. How she would smile at me, how she would land a comforting hand on my shoulder whenever I couldn’t take things anymore. How she would tutor me in Physics. I tell you, I honestly learned to love that subject because of her.
Not having her around was hard. Not having all of them was hard. Samantha, Skylerk, PJ.. I was even starting to miss Audrey and Jane! I honestly couldn’t focus for days. It was hard, not having someone, something to motivate you. But then again I knew that I had to discipline myself. Academics were also a must you know, especially in my family and Samantha was valedictorian, so, I want to be able to follow her footsteps.
One night, towards the end of my junior year, Sir Canfield, my history teacher—and also the student council advisor—tapped me on the shoulder telling me that I should run for student body president. And I immediately thought how weird it was.
“Me? What? Why me?” I asked him. Almost shocked that of all people, he chose to talk to me about it.
“Why not you?” He said,
“Uh..Well,” Touché, Canfield, I thought, “Hold on! Why not Cole, or Hannah? Or Mark? Yeah! Mark’s good. He’s head of a lot of teams and is in most orgs than I am. Plus! He’s like President of the Chess Society. And we all know that there’s nothing really better than being the President of the Chess Society! I bet he would rock the Student Council!”
