Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

Karl enjoys the last moments.

I was not fond of endings, to be honest. When I graduated in elementary and high school, I was suppressing my tears only to be really bad at it. In the end, I had a lot of pictures where my eyes and cheeks were red from crying.

When we were at the last month of the semester, we were scrambling. Candace and Paula were cramming both their SPs to catch up for the last day of presentation. Marvin and Axel, on the other hand, signed up for the last day as per their adviser's recommendation. I, on the other hand, didn't want to be left behind even though I could present on the first day.

That was added time for me to refine my output, check for any grammar error and glaring typographical errors. I found a couple. Thank God.

We camped out on my apartment since it was near the food establishments. We all had our laptops and a large extension cord to fit all our chargers for all our devices. Marvin already cooked a big batch of Pancit Canton so we could just get some if we were hungry.

I tried to help my friends as much as possible, especially Paula. She finished her code a week before the presentation, and she needed to write the Chapter 4, 5, and 6 before 5PM to present to her adviser and let her sign up for the last day. Candace was assisted by Marvin, even though he was struggling as well. Axel was on the corner, talking to himself as he practiced on explaining his output.

Candace took photos on her Instax (in which to the dismay of Paula, because she wasn't feeling pretty that day). We all got a copy. Sweet.

I told them to lift their spirits, "Just think that after all of these, we're free!"

"Girl, we still have exams after that."

"Oh. Right. But at least the hard part's done!"

Because truth to be told, the hard part was getting my SP done. The final hurdle was the presentation and defense.

When the fated day came, we chose schedules that was almost parallel to us. Candace and Paula had the same panels. Axel and Marvin was next to my room where I would present. Among all of our panels, I had the most unfortunate one because it had most of the older professors in ICS.

The five of us wore formal clothes, even though we were allowed to wear a smart casual or semiformal clothes. Axel wore a white long sleeve paired with a maroon tie and jet-black slacks. I matched his tie with my rose-colored long sleeve, rolled up to my sleeves, and brown slacks.

My knees were trembling hard while I kept on reciting my research to keep my sanity. I kept on wiping my forehead and neck due to the sweat from the stress before the presentation and my attire. Keep it calm, Karl. But that didn't work.

Axel was next to me while Marvin was presenting inside. My schedule got delayed by a few minutes because apparently, my panel had a lot of questions.

On the other hand, Axel wasn't looking nervous on the inside. In fact, he was just walking back and forth in front of me.

I looked at him suspiciously, "Care to share your confidence to me?"

"Alright." He put his palm on my back while he imitated a chant. "There. Finish."

"What an idiot," I commented.

"Hey, I'll take it back!"

"It's not effective."

He put his arms on my shoulders instead. 

"Why are you nervous, anyway?" he said. "Out of the five of us, you're the one who's the most confident on your research output."

"I know, but still... my panel's scary!"

"Relax--you got this." He smiled at me and messed my hair. "How about this--we'll go somewhere, just the two of us, after exams and everything. Sounds good?"