Secret Valentine

Chapter 1 : Accidentally on Purpose

"Ms. Genever Ford!"

I slightly jumped. I opened my eyes little by little and saw my classmates laughing at me. Shoot. I was sleeping again. 

"Wake up. This isn't nap time, Ms. Ford." Mrs. Sienna, our math teacher, said.

I stand up, alarmed, flushed and a bit ashamed of my routine every now and then.

"I'm sorry. I slept really late last night and ---"

"I don't care Sleeping Beauty" she whispered, cutting me off, "Sit down. One more and I'll have you on detention. Understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

She silently returned to the board and discussed a bit more about the Quadratic Equation she loves to use. "Beautiful" she would claim.

15 minutes. Sitting here and listening and solving equations and finding "x". It felt like forever yet in reality, only 15 minutes have passed. "Uhhh" I scoffed.

What's with the "x" anyway? I won't use this in real life. I've always been wondering what these stuff is for. I won't be an engineer, and accountant or something. I want to perform. To be on stage. To sing. That kind of stuff. Not this. 

Such a wonderful thought. Me. Doing what I do. Doing what I love the most. Doing what I'm good at. We have this Chorale Club here in SSH and I'm proudly a part of it. I'm usually the soloist. Whenever I have time, I'd also help out in the Fine Arts Club. You know, with all the props and costumes and paintings and stuff for different plays. I enjoy this very well, too. These gave me the ultimate passion in the different fields of art. 

*RINGGGGGGG*

At last. it's lunch. Just after Math. 

Time for work.

I run down the hallway and secretly pass through the staircases leading to the main gates. The lady guard stationed in that area, Ms. Neli Jocson, has always been supportive of what I do. "I know how it feels" she'd say. I run pass her and gave a wink. 

She has always been so nice to me although the very first time I cut class, she scolded me and made me cry. That was when I was 14, an 8th grader. I explained and told her my family's situation and in the end, she let me go. 

My shift goes on during Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I told her that so she'd be prepared whenever it's lunch and I had to go. The teachers? Oh don't worry about me. During Tuesdays, the subjects after lunch are just Home Economics for the girls and Craftsmanship for the guys, and Computer Education on Java and HTML. On Fridays, it's just Swimming. Saturday's a weekend so I'm free to go. Our teachers for HE and Swimming know about this, too, and they understood. Thank God for these kind human beings. 

Unlike Mr. George Perkins, our Computer Ed teacher.

Oh god that dang teacher. He thinks his subject is so important. I won't do IT when I grow up, please get a grip. "I want you to take up Information Technology in college, Ms. Ford. It's your calling. You're really good." he'd say "I've been allowing you to cut classes for months now and with regard to your special projects and tests, you're doing quite well."

Oh please. The special projects he gives are just HTMLs on how to do buttons on the website and stuff. That isn't so hard at all. There's this special website where I usually go to and read to catch up with the topics in our Computer class. I can even practice those lessons on that website and flawlessly do it when he gives a special test or project. Guess he expects me to flunk because of my absenses, but I don't, so perhaps that's why he's impressed.