Teacher's Farewell Present

I had not been able to sleep well that night, anxious about Monday's class. I knew that I will be seeing Brenda, Lizzie and Molly, and of course Aaron, James and Brent.

When I went down in the dining room, grandmother had eaten her breakfast and was already in the garden for her morning walk. Meanwhile, I was conjuring plans on how to avoid confrontation with Aaron and my three best friends' constant nagging. Definitely, I would be interrogated like a hardened criminal when I appear in school.

I glanced at the clock in the dining room. I still have time to get to school on time. But being on time would give my friends and an opportunity to annoy me. If I come to school late, I would have to stay at the office of the prefect of discipline for an hour, which would have been a perfect reason to avoid them. However, getting a tardy slip and being detained for disciplinary purposes would affect my conduct grades thereby jeopardizing my position in the honor rolls.

In our school, conduct and discipline were taken seriously. Even if a student was excellent academically if his conduct did not meet the required rating, he could not be included in the honor rolls. Such strict grading system had been the bane of smart students who enjoyed causing trouble in school.

Walking to school would take around twenty minutes. Each step was difficult to take as I was still weighing my options, to be late or not be late. This must have been the most difficult choice I had to to make.

If I would be dropped from the honor rolls, not only would I disappoint my parents but my grandmother and uncles and cousins would look down on me. Such outcome for my foolishness would be an embarrassment that would forever be engraved in my memory.

Having decided that the first option was more reasonable , I resolved to be indulgent and patient with my friends when I see them. I could never hide from them anyway because it's such a small world.

When I arrived in school, the last bell has just rung which meant that anyone who entered the campus after this would be considered tardy already. I shuddered at the thought.

Everyone was already inside the class when I entered. First period was Science and the teacher, having finished all our lessons and experiments with him a week ago allowed us to use his period for review. As he sat on his chair, the class would occasionally ask him a variety of questions especially the ones that would appear in our final exams.

After our Science teacher left, while waiting for the next period teacher, Molly, Lizzie, and Brenda took me to a corner and simultaneously interrogated me that I could not get what they were actually saying. I was literally cornered that I raised my hands in surrender. "Girls, girls, please speak one at a time. I couldn't understand all your blabbering. Who's going to speak first?" I glanced at them one by one. They signaled to each other who would go first.

Lizzie raised her hand. "Julie, did something happen that you had to hide in Jasmine Gardens?"

"Of course something happened, isn't it obvious?" Molly answered for me. I just nodded my head in agreement.

Brenda spoke next. "Were you mad at me for giving your phone number to Aaron?"

"Of course she's mad, who wouldn't be? We all promised that we would keep her phone number a secret but for some reason, someone gave it away just like that." Molly fumed as she directed her eyes at Brenda as if she was the one offended.

We all queerly looked at her. "Who's being questioned here, you or Julie?" Lizzie and Brenda asked with their arms folded across their chest. "We're nowhere getting a proper answer because of you."

"Well...I'm her spokesperson...unofficially," Molly grinned with shame.

"No, you're not. I'm afraid you might say things that never crossed my mind." I said with pretend fear.

"By the way, I would like to apologize for that oversight. Will you forgive me?" Brenda touched my arm as she looked at me with her pleading eyes.

I gave a deep sigh and pursed my lips. "What was done can't be undone so I forgive you." Brenda jumped with joy then hugged me tightly.

"Chaning the topic, I just received my graduation gift from Dad and Mom while in Jasmine Gardens."I proudly announced. "I missed them so much. How I wish I could speed up time so they could be with me now."

"Hey, they will be here before you know it. And even if they are not here, Brenda, Molly and me were always your family." Lizzie patted my shoulder for assurance.

My eyes became misty from Lizzie's words and the warm and encouraging looks from my three friends.

My friends knew how I envied them living with their parents and siblings together. There were moments when they would catch me looking sullen as I watch them interact with their families whenever I came to visit them.

My own grandmother and uncles and their families were not as warm as theirs. They would only pay attention to me when they needed to scold or belittle me. They would bad-mouth my Dad for being unable to stay longer in the Zapanta corporation, even denying the real reason for it. They simply thought that Dad was not cut for the company and that he couldn't handle the responsibility.

Before we knew it, our class adviser and English teacher, Ms. Luna, had entered the classroom with a handful of papers. Looking at the serious face of our adviser we immediately scampered towards our seats.

"Alright, class, settle down." Ms. Luna placed the papers on the table and stood tall in front of us. She did not speak until everyone had taken their seats and became quiet.

"Next week is your final exams. You should be using your extra time reviewing. For those who have not submitted their projects and assignments to their subject teachers, please do so now. Also the school will announce the official photographer of your graduation. After your final exams next week which will commence on Tuesday, is your graduation ball. Since the details of your graduation and graduation ball have already been discussed during the last quarter PTA meeting, I'll just be handing you the confirmation letters to be signed by your parents or guardians tomorrow." Ms. Luna spoke continuously looking at each of her students one by one as if trying to memorize everybody's faces. In a few days this classroom will be empty of her students. It was common knowledge that she had been teaching for thirty years and have remained single because of her devotion and love for her profession and to her students. The time left to be with her dear students and appreciate our idiosyncrasies was getting short and few already.

When she finished talking, she gave a deep sigh. As if we felt the deep emotion of nostalgia in that sigh, we remained silent and motionless, waiting for her next move.

However, she lifted the stack of papers from her table and handed them to the class monitor and with a crack in her voice said, "Please pass these papers. They were your writing compositions you submitted in your English and Values classes. I hope you read them again and be reminded of what you have written about your dreams." She smiled, even as a glint at the corner of her misty eye appeared.

"Follow your dreams, class." Immediately she turned to hide the small tear that rolled down from the corner of her eye and stepped outside the classroom. As her frail and narrow back slowly disappeared from our view, I noticed the slight hunch as if she was carrying a heavy burden on her shoulder.

Looking down at the papers in my hand, I reread my own compositions written several months ago. I cringed at the ridiculous phrases and grammar I used.

In several of my past writings, I had never failed to mention that I wanted to become a great and successful businesswoman.

Ever since I became aware of my parents source of income, I had wanted to be in the business world as well. It would be in my best interest if I take a course aligned to my future undertakings, intern in a prominent conglomerate, then manage our family enterprise. I could imagine myself dictating my own income, becoming a boss at a young age, traveling the world, building a network of clientele and business partners... the possibilities could be endless.

My dreams seemed to be far-fetched but it was the only way to challenge grandmother.

She had been degrading Dad and accusing him of disregarding Zapanta Corporation when in fact he was only yielding to Uncle Philip's desire to be the CEO. However, Uncle Philip was too arrogant and stubborn to consider his youngest brother as support and financial adviser, therefore Dad chose to step back and establish his own company.

Dad was very confident of his capabilities. During his stint in a multinational company in America, as a young intern, he was commended for his unprecedented performance in increasing the revenues and stocks of its subsidiary company.

In the two years that he held the position of manager in the Zapanta Corporation, he was awarded as one of the most outstanding young managers of the country. However, his managerial position did not last for long after Uncle Philip threatened him and made his life in the company hard and miserable.

Beyond the apparent greed and ambition and the desire to follow my parents' footstep, there was a more pressing reason to all of these: to be able to love, care and support my parents when they grow old. This was the only way to repay them for their love and care for me.

Thinking about my parents, I was suddenly reminded of the package they sent me. I have yet to visit the bank to deposit the money they gave me. Hence, I planned on visiting the bank near Jasmine Gardens on Wednesday where I had opened a savings account.

Ms. Luna seemed to be in low spirits today which dampened the mood in the room. When she left, we were all wondering what made her so unhappy such that we began to talk about it.

"We should cheer her up with a gift. After all, she has been our adviser and teacher for one year." Rosemary Santos, our elected class president hinted.

"I agree. It should be something that would touch her and make her remember us." One boy suggested.

"How about a picture frame with dedication. We can put a caricature of her in the middle or our class picture and write our wishes for her around it." Brenda proposed.

"That's a good idea. Anyone else?" Rosemary looked around the room.

"We choose her caricature for the picture frame with dedication." Some of our classmates voiced out.

Usually, after a group of classmates would have spoken, there would be others who would contradict them just for the fun of it or to start a conflict. However, silence was a sign of assent.

Therefore, Rosemary stood on the platform in front of the blackboard and said, "It's final. Our farewell present to Ms. Luna will be her caricature inside the picture frame with dedication. Once it's been prepared, we will write our wishes for her around the caricature. This is a surprise so please keep it a secret."

When she stepped down from the platform, she gathered us around to discuss on how to accomplish this mission. Surprisingly, the whole class was considerate enough to listen to suggestions and calmly we accepted our roles and assignments in it.

Without realizing, today was the only time in the history of our class that everyone cooperated and interacted harmoniously with each other.