Nights And Lights

II.

"Ma, after exams ko pupunta po ko kayla Sheejay.  Wala raw siyang kasama bumili nang gamit para sa vlog niya. So baka medyo gabihin lang ako nang kaunti. After exam, didiretso na ako dun." Sabi ko kay mama bilang paalam. "Ikaw muna kay AE ha?" dagdag ko. AE is the nick name of my daughter, short for Aryana Eurielle.

"Sige, ingat ka anak. I love you." Sabi ni mama habang nagsusuot ako ng block heels na itinerno ko sa black high waist skirt, at fitted baby blue ringer tee na suot ko para sa araw na ito. 

"I love you too ma. Nag-kiss na ako kay AE, i-text mo na lang po ako kapag nagising na siya." Pahabol ko kay mama bago ako lumabas nang gate at dumiretso na sa sakayan ng tricycle para makabyahe na papasok sa school ulit. May last two exams pa kasi ako today. 

Malapit na sana ako sa school nang may muntik makabangga sa'kin kaya napaiwas ako ngunit para lamang bumangga sa ibang tao. "Sorry po." Sabi ko sa aleng naatrasan ko gawa noong pag-iwas ko sa nagmamadaling estudyante kanina.

"Good afternoon po Ma'am. Good luck sa exams!" Bati ni Kuya Ron sa akin. Isa ito sa mga ka-close ko nang guard sa tatlong taon kong pananatili rito. 

"Thanks Kuya!" I said before heading straight to the tapping machine and placed my I.D above and waited for the gates to open.

I walked straight to the faculty room to take my remaining exams. I knocked on the faculty room door before opening the door and showing myself hoping Mr. Dadae and my other professors are already there waiting for me. 

Luckily, Mr. Dadae is already there in the rectangular table together with pieces of examination papers. It looks like he's checking the exams of his students from other year since he didn't bothered hiding it to me. "Good afternoon Mr. Dadae." I greeted him as a sign of my arrival.

"Good afternoon Ms." He said after glancing at me and continued looking at the exam paper as if he's so confused with the student's answers. "Upo ka na sa tapat ng exam mo." And then that's when I noticed a piece of examination paper 2 chairs away from him. I sat on the chair and placed my bag beside the chair on my left. Mr. Dadae is on my far right side and my things are on my left side.

"What happened to you Ms. Dellam?" Napatingin ako kay Sir noong sinabi niya ito. Napatulala ako habang iniisip kung anong isasagot ko sa tanong niya na medyo hindi ko masundan.

"Po, sir? May problema po ba sa grades ko?" Sabi ko habang iniisip saan ako nagkulang. Ang alam ko ay kumpleto naman ako lagi sa mga ipinapasa ko.

"No, about your situation. What happened? I know it is a family matter, pero sayang. You do very well in class, you never missed any paper. If much, you are even ahead of the deadlines. We already passed you during prelims, midterms, but the office can't let you since it's finals already. That is why you are taking special exams from me, us your professors." He said with a tone laced of concern, and pity. He said that while still checking the examination papers. 

I just heaved a deep sigh and said, "I'm sorry Sir. I did not know too." Because truthfully,  I didn't know too why they haven't prepared for this pero it has already happened, and if I won't be able to find a way to pay all my balances, I cannot enroll for the next academic year.

"Okay, I'm sorry for prying. You may now start your exam." Sir Dadae said before he stood up and went straight outside the room.

I scanned the examination papers first looking for corrections and such, before I wrote my name at the top of the sheet. Well, best of luck.

Phew,  I looked at my wristwatch to check the time how long I answered the exam. It was okay since I had enough days to review for this but the essay part made me think carefully of what I was gonna write down. It took an hour and a half to finish this.