I Get What I Want

Kabanata 16

Gok's POV

Labindalawang taon ang nakakaraan..

"Welcome to Hillside Academy, Mr. Reye!" Masayang bati sa akin ni Sir Nick Spot.

"Thank you, Sir!" Tugon ko sa matandang principal.

I am now in my second year in high school. Galing ako sa isang exclusive school for boys ngunit napilitan akong magtransfer dahil sa family business namin dito sa Tagaytay. Nais itong pagtuunan ng pansin nina Daddy lalo na't kakasimula pa lamang namin sa real estate industry. Marami kasing promising projects dito kaya nagdesisyon silang dito muna manirahan.

Maganda naman ang Hillside. Tahimik at sobrang close to nature. The school itself is nature. Nakakatuwang isipin na ang mga estudyante mismo ang nagtatanim ng iba't-ibang klase ng mga bulaklak at halaman.

"Good morning, class! Mr. Reye will be joining us starting today. He is a transfer student so be good to him. Please introduce yourself, hijo." Panimula ni Sir Erwang sa klase.

"Hello! My name is Gok T. Reye. I am a transfer student from Northside Academy. My family moved here for business. Nice to meet all of you." I introduced myself.

"Nice to meet you, Gok. Welcome to Hillside Academy!"

Nagulat ako sa sabayang bigkas nila. Kakaiba nga talaga ang eskwelahang ito.

"By the way, Gok, magkakaroon ng eleksyon ng Student Council officers so pwedeng-pwede kang lumahok, okay?" Anunsyo ni Sir.

"Ahh, okay po."

Sabi ko nalang kahit wala naman na sa isip ko ang lumahok sa mga ganoong activities. I had been a student council president sa dati kong school and somehow, I felt relieved na lumipat ako dito to enjoy a break from such huge responsibilities.

"I've heard that you were a student council president doon sa Northside so I am hoping that you can also lead and serve the students here in Hillside. Wag kang mag-alala, mababait naman ang mga estudyante dito." Nakangiti pa si Sir.

"Thank you po. Pag-iisipan ko po." Sabi ko na lamang.

Syempre hindi ako sumalang agad sa "pulitika" sa unang taon ko sa bagong paaralan. Ginugol ko ang aking unang taon sa pag-oobserba sa lugar, mga tao at sa pagkakaroon ng mga kaibigan.

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"This is the last round ladies. Please listen carefully. The first one to press the button will be given 1 minute to support her answer. Now here's the question: Can a fire have a shadow?"

Hmm.. Nice one.

I smiled upon hearing the last question. We are here at the school's stadium to watch the Annual Physics Quiz Show. The participants are interestingly smart. Masasabi kong lahat sila ay nag-aral talaga ng mabuti. Then I looked at her. She's amazingly good to make it to the finals. She is my classmate but we are not on speaking terms because she only talks to her best friend. She's very fast in pressing the button. I wonder if she can give the correct answer.

"My answer is yes. You can form the shadow of a fire, but perhaps not for the reason that you are thinking. A shadow is formed any time a part of a light beam is blocked or redirected. The shadow region is the region in the light beam where there is less light than in the rest of the beam. This dimmer region tends to take on the shape of the object that is blocking or redirecting some of the light, so we tend to think of a shadow as something that is cast or created by the intercepting object. With this concept in mind, in order for a fire to have a shadow, the fire needs to somehow block or redirect part of another beam of light." Confident na sagot nito.

I was in awe when she was done explaining her answer.

"Wow. That was fast." Aaminin kong napabilib ako sa sagot nito.