Sunset at the East
Distance makes the heart grow fonder they say. Well it's true. Especially if you were so close with each other before you need to be apart.
It was my first day of being a junior high student and I stepped inside the classroom late. All eyes were on me, not minding the teacher talking in front of the class. Some are familiar and some are new faces. And because I'm late, I sat at the vacant seat on the front row beside an unfamiliar pretty girl.
The discussion went on as I settled on my seat. I was so nervous with no particular reason that I can't focus on what our adviser was talking about. All I think was I need to make friends and enjoy my high school life while trying to be good on my studies and at school.
As days passed by, my aim wasn't really hard to achieve. Thanks to my talkativeness, I eventually made friends even after just a few hours I spent with my new classmates, that I didn't know will be my family too. Even with the personal differences and even if we differ in what we believe, we still managed to get along.
Then there are these girls in our class that I often talk to and whom I shared my experiences and problems with. We are from different schools and class way back in elementary but that doesn't hinder us to unite and become bestfriends until this time.
But of course, friendship without quarrels is not friendship at all. We strode on a road full of backstabs, bad gossips about each other, and worst of all, not respecting each other as individuals. Yet, we are still intact as friends, as sisters. Maybe our love and how we treasure our relationship are stronger than those issues trying to destroy our bond.
Actually, those hardships we've been through, made us learn a lesson, helped us grow as a person, and taught us to be independent regardless of having the people we're with that will surely be with us in the future and who will support us on whatever good path we take.
The moments we've shared, the memories we've made, and the smiles and tears I heartfully gave to the people I met on my teenage years will, no doubt, always be kept in my heart and be missed even if they leave for senior high and be miles away from me. Away from the place we first met. Away from the East.
But I'll say, this is not a goodbye for us. For they may start their day in the West, North like in Manila, or central Visayas, they will still end up witnessing the sunset or the end of their day here in the East. Oddly, the sun sets at the West but not for us. Because we are willing to trade something just to see how the sun will set in the east and for us to not forget looking back to our past. A past that includes all of us, my second family.
