Connection

Chapter 1

/HAEL/

The morning breeze of mid-October air blew my hair as I headed to my classroom. It’s cold but still not cold enough to take away the humidity of this tropical country. It’s kind of confusing, actually. Because unlike the four seasons of other countries, we only have two— Summer and, hmm, not Summer. And it’s the season of the latter right now.

“Good morning, Hael!”

“Hi, Miss Pressy!”

I smile and return the greetings of some of my classmates when I enter the room. Our section, 11-STEM A, is a typical class section which composes of 32 students. Half of us aren’t still around when I arrive and the people who are already here are either just killing the time with their phones or rushing to finish their undone homeworks. As typical as how I described it.

“Hael,” I looked up from reading my Biology book to Ivy who had just occupied the empty seat beside me. “May assignment ka sa Pre-Calculus?”

I raised an eyebrow at her as I figured out where this is heading to, “Kailan pa ako hindi gumawa ng homework?” I said to purposely efface her, at least.

And it always works especially at times like this when she needs something from me. You might think that this gal right here is only a friend in need, but no, she’s not. We practically knew each other since junior high. We are helping each other survive middle school.

Ivy laughed shyly, “Hindi ko kasi nagawa ‘yung akin kasi naging busy ako sa ibang projects ng org. Baka naman? This will be the last time, I promise— or second to last?”

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my Pre-calculus notebook, ready to hand it over, “I hate that I am spoiling you with this, Iverone! Just return it to me when you’re done.”

“You’re the best, Pressy!” she happily uttered as if she just beated me on a Calculus quiz— which is never, by the way.

Given that I am the class president, I am expected to set as a good example to everyone so I don’t usually tolerate any form of laziness or cheating under my watch. But since I am fully aware that Ivy indeed got busy yesterday, I just let her get away with it. It’s just a 10-problem assignment about Trigonometry anyway, didn’t sweat over it.

“Nandyan na si Miss T!” one of my classmates, Christian, alarmed us. Everyone automatically fixed unaligned chairs, picked up every trash they spotted, and shut their mouths like they were chipped in to do those exact things whenever a teacher arrives. But, mind you, they aren’t as well-behaved as this to our other teachers.

Only to Miss T.

She finally entered our room, the ID lace hanging around her neck being the only thing that identifies her as a Senior High teacher. SHS teachers, especially in private schools, don’t usually have a uniform. They are free to wear whatever they want for as long as they will still look decent and presentable.

“Good Morning, Miss Salonga!”

“Good morning.” she plainly greeted us back. Her voice was cold as if somebody just sucked all the warmth in her body. But you have to get used to it. That’s barely level one.

Miss Lea Salonga is our Chemistry teacher for this semester. Unfortunately, she’s also our class adviser so we are stuck with her the whole academic year. You must be wondering why she is Miss T when there is no letter T in her name (maybe there is one on her maiden name) but the T basically stands for nothing but Terror. She’s the strictest, coldest, most fearless, most veracious, most inconsiderate, most passive-aggressive teacher we have. And I’m not even exaggerating.