Maybe This Time

Chapter 18

-Caleb’s Time-

Semestral break came and went. Now, after checking and knowing the result of the exams, the third grading for this school year started.

“Seriously, they need to make our breaks longer,” I heard Eric complain near me. The day dragged on. We will be busy again this November, since the last week of the month will be the celebration of the English Week. Like the Linggo Ng Wika, there would be different contests that will use the English medium. Another round of competition like declamation, one act play, essay writing, extemporaneous speaking, two person improvisation, character impersonation, verse choir, and the like would have to be prepared. Good thing there will be no pageants now. It’s actually sickening already.

And so, while we’re busy with school work, we’re also trying to spend some time that we have left to help the contestants will their needs and make props for them. We practically juggled school and extracurricular activities. Ah, the life of a high school student.

Before we knew it, it is already the last week of November. Everyone is practically busy with all the preparation for the contests. Despite calling it the English Week Celebration, we only celebrated it for two days.  With all our efforts though, we didn’t bag the first prize trophy. The third year dominated the English Week this year. They’re probably making a comeback after we’ve made them eat our dust for the past events. Now, we’re pretty much hyped up not to let any group win over us for the Christmas presentation, the next activity to look forward to.

When we came back to school the following week, we removed the month of November from the Calendar and so December officially starts. Come to think of it, it’s been seven months since I came back here to the Philippines, and I have adjusted so well already. After all, this is my motherland. There’s still no other place like home.

Jazzryl went in front of the class after we returned from the flag ceremony. “Everyone, you know what we should prepare for when December comes.”

“Christmas presentation!” most of my classmates exclaimed.

“Christmas presentation?”

“It’s like a choral singing contest, Caleb. Only that the songs are relevant to Christmas. It’s one of the most competitive contests here and one of the most looked forward to. We would be singing by class, and for the record, it is always a section from the fourth year who wins it for the past ten years. This year though, we have to be careful. A sophomore section last year won second place. And so we need to defeat them now by winning the first, second, and third place for the Christmas presentation,” Jonathan answered.

“Wow, so we really do need to defend the title this year,” I commented.

“I need everyone to agree with me. We need to win this one! This is our last, and so we should leave a legacy. There would be a twist for this year’s Christmas presentation. Instead of just singing one whole song, we could make a remix with a maximum of three songs, of course with a time limit of six minutes.”

Excited murmurs were heard from us. Then silence befell on all of us when ma’am Degrasto entered the room.

“Good morning, class.”

“Good morning, ma’am Degrasto.”

“Please sit down. Getting feisty for the Christmas presentation, aren’t we?”

We gave our shouts of approval. She held up her hand to silence us. “It’s good that you are getting excited and planning already for the contest. But remember, your third grading examinations fall on the same week as the presentation and the Christmas party as well.”