The sun shines brightly on that Monday morning, first day of the week, hangover day for students, time for school again.
Gab’s school is not so big, though it’s a public school; it has only a small population because the students have to undergo several tests and interviews to qualify as freshmen. The campus has only three buildings but they seem to be just a huge one because they are interconnected. Each building consists of three floors each. The first building has the classrooms, the cafeteria and the gym; the second has the library, science and computer laboratories; and the third serves as the building for offices and faculty rooms.
The ground is crowded with students in uniform. Everyone is starting to fall in line at the centre of the vast field, under the heat of the sun. Boys and girls are busy talking about their weekends. In the last line, two girls keep turning their heads in every direction, with their eyes searching the mass.
“She’s late again; maybe her sister took an hour to take a bath.”
“Or worst, she’s walking again so slowly, Liz look.”
“Where? I can’t see her, Rain.”
Rain grabbed Liz’s hands and run to approach Gab. They look at her, stared at her and with that they know she’s sad. They always know the reason, why Gab is sad. It’s always and only her mom that can change her mood into this, lonely, silent and thinking hard and deep. The three of them have been friends since primary school. They even went on the same school in kinder that’s why Liz and Rain knows Gab so well. They know everything that happened to her, every secret, every problem, and every joy. In times like this, they know already what to do and that’s to give Gab time to think alone, and just wait for her to open up. They grab her hand and run as the bell rings, time for the flag ceremony since it is Monday.
As the three girls fall in line, a guy looked at them, and then Rain nudged him. He knew it already, another stormy day for Gab. He knows what to do, to just let it rain for Gab and just wait for the rainbow, and that’s when Gab would start to talk about it. His name is Sam, Gab’s best friend.
Two guys in front of Sam are looking at Gab, trying to catch her attention but Gab is really not in the mood for jokes and fun stuffs. Sam tapped the back of Callan and Luke and as the two turn to face him, he gave them a sign to stop. These two guys are really playful. In ordinary days, they love to make fun of Rain, Liz, and especially Gab. They won’t stop until the three get irritated, but they always fail to make Gab mad ‘cause she’s not the type who gets mad easily.
The bell rang again, sign for the start of classes. They proceed to their room and just sit silently on their chairs. It’s always like this when one of them has a problem, everyone’s affected.
A few minutes only, and their teacher came. Ms. Salvador.
“Good morning class”
“Good morning miss.”
“Today after checking your assignments, we will talk about the art exhibit which will be held in our campus.”
While checking the assignment in Calculus, Gab remained quiet in her chair just looking outside the window. So Liz just grabbed Gab’s bag and took her homework to be checked. Sam sitting behind her just pats her on the back. She didn’t turn to look at him; she just gave him a nod.
After they’ve checked the assignment, Ms. Salvador talked about the art exhibit. She said that everyone in the class is required to submit a piece of art to fill the hall, be it a poem in a frame, a painting or even captured moments put together in a collage.
