The English Boy

Chapter 1

Last Day of School! Like, Finally! School's been driving me extremely crazy like hell for the past few days because of finals and now, everything's finally putting to an end! God! Like, I've been drinking cups of coffee almost every night just to keep myself awake and study more. And then the bell rang...everybody screamed in excitement! High-Pitched screams, since we are all girls in this school. That's right! I go to an all-girls school.

My name is Johanna Ricci Navarro McCarthy, but everyone calls me Joe. I was born and raised here in Manila, Philippines. Well, I did spend a year and a half in the states when I was like 4 months old and I go back there almost every summer. I am 16 years old. Again, I go to an all-girls school. Precisely, Maria Magdalena High School, which is exclusively for girls.

So, I don't really have a lot of friends. Just a few. Okay! Fine! Few, as in like, I only have 3-7 friends. Most of the girls at school think I'm weird. But in my opinion, I'm just, in some ways, tomboyish. I play a lot of video games since I was 8 years old, I love skateboarding, wearing Chuck Taylors with dresses and most of all, I love WWE! I've been watching WWE with my mom since I was 4 years old, and I became a crazy fan when I was 9. That's why I wanted people to call me "Joe" instead of "Hanna" or "Anna" or "Annie", etc.! I also hate it when people call me "Johanna". For me, my name sounds too long. So, I go with "Joe". Originally, people called me "Annie" when I was like younger. But then I grew up and got a little bit boyish, I wanted people to call me "Joe".

My best friend is Jenna Massaro. Jenna and I have been best friends since 1st Grade when she moved here in Manila from Sydney, Australia. Actually, her parents are both Filipinos, but, yeah. Her dad is half-Italian. Jenna was just born and raised in Australia along with her brother and came here six years later. When she came here, she had this really thick Aussie accent with her. But like two years later, that thick Aussie accent of hers vanished into thin air.

Besides Jenna, I have another best friend: my mother. My mother is also my best friend. We're more of like sisters, to be honest. When I was little, she and I used to wear the same clothes all the time like in church, whenever she was wearing a yellow sundress with a black accent, I'm wearing the same thing: a yellow sundress with a black accent. Sometimes, she, Jenna and I would go shopping together. That's because my mom has a teenager's mind, if you would put it that way. My mom spoils me a lot though, since I am her "favourite person in the world" and her "Little Angel". But out of all the terms that she refers to me, I prefer "Little Sister".

So, my last day of school went perfectly fine. First of all, Jenna carpooled with me in the morning when we were on the way to school and we were both going crazy because...last day of school? Inside the car on the way to school, we talked about our summer plans...

"Hey, are you going back to the United States this summer?" Jenna asked me.

I couldn't answer her question. I honestly don't know if I am going there for a vacation this summer or something.

"Mom" I said "Am I going to the States this summer?" I asked, and it took her long enough for her to answer

"Your Aunt Jessie's busy at the moment. Most probably, you're not going to the States this summer, but-" she turned to me "You will go out of the country this year".

I shrugged.

"Cool" I said.

When we arrived in school, we were surprised by some of our friends. I just learned that almost all of them are going out of the country this summer, and that's when I felt a little bit of jealousy inside of me since I am not going anywhere out of the country this summer, according to mom. But, she said this year. How would I even know when this year?