My Ex-Boyfriend From Kindergarten

Chapter 4: Missed You

This is yet to be edited.

A few more minutes and the class would start. Cai should be here by now. This isn’t kindergarten anymore. Ms. Tiu will take notice of his tardiness. I kept clicking my pen while waiting for him to come through the door.

“What’s got you so nervous this early in the morning?” Nairobi asked.

“Nothing, I’m just bored.”

“Nuh-uh. When you’re bored, you listen to John Mayer or sing his songs or hum them. Pen-clicking is when you’re nervous. So?” She rested her chin on the palm of her right hand.

“Really, it’s nothing. You just overanalyze me a lot. Go overanalyze someone else, like Jael,” I knew the mention of his name would draw her attention away from my pen-clicking.

“Argh. Must he always, always, be your ‘Distract Nairobi’ plan?” She faced the other direction.

Before I could say anything to her, the door opened. I glanced right away, hoping it was Cai. Unfortunately, it was Ms. Tiu. It was a fuming Ms. Tiu. She slammed the door close and headed to her table. She dumped her bag on top of the table, making a loud sound. Then she took out a chalk from the drawer and started writing on the chalkboard. Everyone in class knew that during days like this, we should keep quiet and just copy what she’s writing.

As I took out my notebook from my backpack, I couldn’t help but worry about when Cai would arrive for class. Ms. Tiu would probably make him get a tardy slip. I shook my head, feeling sorry for him. On the other hand, it would serve as a lesson for him. He needs to learn how to be on time.

Cai was twenty minutes late. When he opened the door, everyone’s eyes were on him. When he entered the room, everyone was waiting for Ms. Tiu to speak. Instead, she just looked at him.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. The traffic was unbelievable,” he reasoned.

Ms. Tiu simply continued to write on the board. Everyone watched in disbelief as Cai took his seat. We were expecting Ms. Tiu to at least yell at him for being late.

I could hear some people whispering that it was unfair, that he was being given a special treatment. Some of our classmates just went back to copying. I was just watching Cai for a while.

“Looks like he’s got everyone charmed,” Nairobi told me.

“Ms. Tiu’s probably just not in the mood to say anything,” I replied.

“Keep quiet!” Ms. Tiu yelled.

“Yep, definitely not in the mood to say anything,” Nairobi whispered.

The class ended after we were given our homework, a 1000-word paper about evolution. Everyone kept their complaints to themselves until Ms. Tiu left the room. Some were still complaining about Cai not being punished, but most of us were complaining about the homework.

Thankfully, Algebra was our next class. I know most students hate math, but with a teacher like Mr. Santos, you can’t help but like it. He’s the nicest guy ever. Okay, I had the tiniest crush on him during the first few months of high school. Now I just see him as a really cool math teacher. There should be more teachers like him and less teachers like Ms. You-Know-Who.

“What’s with the long faces?” he asked.

“Ms. Tiu,” we answered in chorus.

“I missed you guys, too,” he said.

We all laughed even though he’s said that joke for the nth time. It wasn’t the first time he’d entered the room and seen us with sad faces. He’d always ask what was wrong; we’d often say ‘Ms. Tiu,’ which sounds a bit like ‘Missed you.’ Maybe the school intentionally scheduled his class right after Ms. Tiu’s because they anticipated that Mr. Santos would cheer us up. Well, that’s my theory.