The Final Journey [COMPLETED]

Chapter 1: Subtle Continuation

~Already late that night, Jamie and I were planning about the paper sunflowers. I was a bit drowsy at the time because of the gala and I went out for a run earlier that morning too so it couldn't be helped to yawn from time to time. She showed me a video on Youtube, it somewhat complicated at first.

"Half of the materials are easy to find such as the papers and glue. But where do you plan on looking for the PVC tubes?", I asked.

"It shouldn't be that difficult, right Kuya?", she replied.

"Well, I've heard of that kind of materials before... but I never actually found where to get that specific tube.", I said.

"I guess we have to go find it ourselves, don't we?"

"As long as I can maintain my workout schedule and household chores. You know how difficult it is to clean the house everyday while you're always out with your best friends."

"That's alright Kuyaaa. For your reward, you can take 11 of the sunflowers. Give it, keep it, or anything you want to do with it. Deal?"

"Sounds fine by me. Thanks Jae."

"No prob. Time to sleep, Gee Nighttt."

~There's about 3 weeks left before school starts. Aside from me utilizing every second remaining, I was preparing all my stuff for the upcoming Grade 12, First Semester. Normally I would just slack off and let it pass but after this vacation full of intense training and workouts, I also shaped my mind for priorities and obligations. I learned to sharpen my focus towards things that needed to be done. Even I can't believe it myself. Mom and Dad cannot explain how proud they were of me, developing my sense of responsibilites.

I looked at the mirror from time to time to see improvement from my workouts. I balanced my chores, gaming and fitness in every day of those 3 months. Obviously, it wasn't that easy but it was worth it. I gave some time for Jae, we made atleast 2 sunflowers a week so thats some good progress. Sometimes I was feeling motivated, and sometimes I wasn't. It was all about how my mood was in order to continue making those sunflowers. I always thought to myself, "This is a reminder for your past mistakes.". She loved these things, I never thought of buying her a dozen of these because real sunflowers costed more than my whole savings account. Atleast with paper sunflowers, true effort is reflected by every petal in it.

~It was time to go back. First day of becoming Grade 12 and I'm already feeling the pressure in the air. Whole summer I planned everything that I wanted to happen. I had what I needed to survive the whole year: A strong source of motivation, a lot of allies from last year, a better mindset, and a determined perspective. All of it just went down the drain along with my half of my motivation. Now I don't know if I'll enjoy the final moments of me being in this school. And the nightmare began when I arrived at the Gymnasium filled with Grade 12 students and lots of new Grade 11 students. My old classmates, I can only remember the times we all had. But then I felt a slight chill in my back. There she is. Leana with her friends. I felt really confident knowing that I improved and that I'm a better version of my past self. Its time for my revenge; I saw John and Marcus walking towards the Gymnasium. I thought of following them to give myself some breathing room. On the flip side, it felt okay to be back. The atmosphere was easily accepting me because of the many years I have been inside of this school.

"Senior High students! In a few minutes, the orientation is about to begin. Please settle down now.", the MC said.

I approached them both. Marcus was with his girlfriend so John was the only one I could talk to,

"Sooo, how's it going? Is the bond still strong?", I asked.

"I'm still okay. I just can't believe that our vacation is already over. Me and Joy recently had an argument because I didn't reply to her text when I was playing.", John replied.

"I told you too much videogames aren't good haha."

"Good for you, you don't have a girl to worry about."

"Apparently, there is. And she's still mad at me."

"Oh right hahaha. Good luck with that, I'm sure she will forgive you someday."

"Maybe after 5 years haha. She looked normal when I saw her at the mall."

"5 years is a bit overexaggerated bro. We should hangout one day, when Niel returns."

"No prob, its good to be back."

I could already see Blake, Kate, Prince and Brandon hanging out with Julia and her friends. She's still the same and I don't want to comment further. I'm still looking around for Jamie. Maybe this time we could be classmates. However, we were interrupted by a convenient announcement.

"Good Morning everyone! To our senior high students who are now moving up to Grade 12 and to the other new batch of students who will embark their journey through Grade 11. But before we go straight to our respective classrooms, the Grade 12 students will pass their 'torch' to the new generation who will take on their former sections. The old and new students will proceed to the middle and have a picture taken. The new Grade 12 students should think of their signature memento to pass on to the following Grade 11 students. We shall begin with HUMSS 1."

It was a moment wherein we will let go of what we once had. The memories will remain but the title will be passed on to the next generation. HUMSS passed their strong spirit to the new ones. STEM 1 then passed their strong cheer of the title "STEM 1". And we were next. I could only remember a single line from what we used to shout.

"O' Connor, make some noise!!!"

"Yeahhh!!!"

That yell would revive our spirits and unite us, STEM 2, for the upcoming years to arrive. We all went our separate ways and headed to our own classrooms. I don't know what to do. I lost track of Leana. I thought she was still with her friends, Mariz and Daniela. Well, I'll have to restore my knowledge from last year. It was good to know that Blake, Kate and Brandon was still here. A strong backup would provide me with enough breathing room for a while. I saw some old faces, to be exact: Marcus, Randle, Mariz, and even Daniel. No matter what happens, at least they are still my friends.

~After all the torches have been passed down, it was time to head up to our respective rooms. I wonder who will I be grouped with? Will there still be allies to help me in this final year of battle? Will love ever go in my favor? Probably not. But I do believe that, things are going to be different now. Not literally speaking but theoretically speaking.

All right! I saw the room and when I entered... oh gosh. At first sight, its a total mixture of every student from all the 5 STEM sections last year. I saw Marcus, Randle, Mariz, Andrei, Daniela, Kate, Brandon, Blake. They were all gathered in the front. Dominic and Edgel are hanging out with their classmates. I saw some of my old friends like Tony, Janna, Calla and Drew. I'm more focused on who are going to be the rough group in this section. They're probably outside, hanging out at the Gymnasium.

If I can remember correctly, I chatted Leana along time ago. It was about this year's enrollment. Something about a Grade 12 section. That memory was clogged the moment I made that mistake. But why am I remembering this now? I could only see a image of a envelope, and inside of it was a strip of paper. Strange, the paper reads the section's name. My old group of classmates in the front were moving slowly. And I saw that face again. All I could hope for is that I can fix everything... Leana.