Chase and Courage (Youth Series #1)

09

#CAC09

"We are so happy to announce that the school has raised a total of almost ten thousand pesos for the fund donations!"

We were all gathered at the gym for announcement of the Student Council about their fund organization event. Lahat kami ay nakaupo sa monoblock chair habang nakatingin sa mga miyemobro ng Student Council sa stage.

"Unang una, nais po naming pasalamatan ang punong guro, Ms. Elena Concepcion and sa mga administrators ng paaralan. Thank you for supporting our first project."

Isaac Garcia is the one who's speaking in front as him being the President. I never thought he'd be a great speaker and I'm really impressed. He used to be a shy sometimes weird boy in class but seeing him now, he improved a lot.

"And most importantly, a big thank you to the students who participated and donated money for our organization. Malaki man o maliit, malaking tulong na iyon sa mga estudyante na nangangailangan ngayon."

Tumingin ako sa likod niya at nakita ko doon ang mga ibang Student Council. They were wearing a shirt and has the school logo on it together with their position.

"The main reason as to why we proposed this project is for the students who are in need. I always believe that education is not a privilege but a necessity. No student shall be left behind. They shouldn't be deprived of education."

He's right. Hindi lahat ng katulad namin ay nakakapag-aral. Some of us were born in a silver spoon. Kahit na hindi ako mayaman ay masasabi kong maswerte ako dahil nakakapag-aral ako sa magandang paaralan.

"As a student I must say that I'm priviledge as well all of us because we have access to education, nakakapag-aral pa tayo and that is already a priviledge considering that we also study in a private school."

Tumingin ako sa katabi ko at nakita kong may kinakain si Kurt. I stared at the bag of chips in his hands.

"Gust mo?" he offered.

I looked at him and shook my head. He just shrugged and continued to eat.

"Ang haba naman ng speech, nakakaantok," bigla niyang sabi.

"Oo nga pre, para tayong nasa simbahan."

Tumingin ako sa tabi niya at nakita kong si Ethan iyon.

Wait, bakit sila nanaman katabi ko? Seatmate ko na nga sila sa classroom, pati pa naman dito?

I don't even know how that happened.

I simply looked around and saw some of students are...sleeping? Nakapikit ang mata nila at nakayuko.

Paano sila nakakatulog sa ganoong posisiyon? Hindi ba yun masakit sa leeg?

Ang iba naman ay nagdadaldalan. Mangilan ilan lang ang mga nakikinig.

Narinig ko ang mahinang tawanan ng katabi ko kaya agad akong tumingin sa kanila.

They were laughing at something. Kumunot ang noo ko at tinignan kung saan sila nakatingin. I saw them looking at our classmate in front. Hindi sila direktang nakatingin sa kaniya, they were looking at his back pocket. Nakita kong nakalawit doon ang phone niya.

"Huy, anong balak niyo?" I asked

They were hiding their laughs and looked at me.

"Shhh," si Kurt habang natatawa habang si Ethan naman ay ganun din, sinasakayan ang trip ng kaibigan.

Nakita kong unti-unti nilang kinuha ang phone ng aming kaklase sa bulsa. Tumingin naman ako sa kaniya at nakita kong natutulog siya. Nakahalukipkip siya at nakayuko sa kaniyang upuan.