The next day, I woke up at about 8:30 in the morning. I looked out the window, and the sun was shining brightly although everything was covered in snow. I saw the parking lot outside our apartment. There were lots of cars covered in snow, but the empty parking spots made me realize that most of the cars probably left for work by now. The next block was a Nursing Home for retired citizens and across the street was a clinic.
The next block was a school.I suddenly remembered that I should call Danica. I asked my aunt for a phone card. We had a telephone already connected because my aunt prepared everything for our arrival, like the sofas, the kitchen, the beds, absolutely everything. I dialed her number and Danica answered.
"Hey Danica! It's Cyndi. I'm in Canada now."I said.
"Oh Cyndi, It's you. I'm glad you made it there safely. My mom told me that you phoned me earlier but I was at school already." Danica said.
"Yeah regarding that, I'm sorry I forgot to call you much earlier. I was tired preparing our luggage and I forgot to call." I said.
"Don't worry, I understand. I miss you already. By the way, you’re our treasurer at school, right? Well about that, our principal, Mrs. Revilla told me if it’s okay with you, I can take over your place as treasurer?" Danica said.
"It's okay if you take over for me. We're best friends after all. I'll be sending you postcards including some for our teachers too." I said.
We talked about lots of things like the farewell letter she wrote, and I told her to tell all my friends and classmates that I'm sorry I wasn't able to give them all a farewell letter, but will send them all letters soon. After a few days, I wrote letters and sent postcards to my teachers, classmates, friends and relatives. After a month, they replied my letters and I was so happy. I was enrolled at a school a few blocks away from our apartment.
I was placed in E.S.L. which meant English as Second Language. They taught me more about English and then a month later, I took an exam to evaluate whether I could enter their school or not. Luckily, I passed it and I was enrolled to the school next year since I have already graduated from sixth grade. I felt sadness because I didn't make it to our graduation, and even though I graduated, I still regret it for not being able to attend graduation day. In my first day of school, there were lots of adjustments I had to make, not just the language.
I knew English, and could speak it even though sometimes, I wasn’t as fluent. Sometimes, I would be talking to a foreigner and I would accidentally speak tagalog and the foreigner would become confused. I was amazed that the school was so big. It was crowded with people and I didn't know anybody. I was amazed that we had our own lockers, but I had a trouble with my locker. I couldn't open the lock because the locker that I thought was mine actually wasn’t.
I didn't know that. I was new to the surroundings and to the environment. The students walking in the hallway were so noisy and they wore casual clothing unlike in the Philippines, we had to wear uniforms. There were Goths, punks, and lots of other genres of students. Some students used swearing words and were very rude but not all of them were like that. There were some students who were quiet and nice too. The next school year, I was still keeping in touch with my classmates although they don't reply my letter anymore. I was wondering if I did something wrong.
I always wrote to them every month but I never received any replies back. I was now in middle school as a grade seven student. We had teacher advisors and mine was named Ms.Jones. We were given timetables with our schedule on it. We had a scavenger hunt and I almost got lost at the huge school. During lunch on my first day as a seventh grader, I made a new friend named Courtney. She had blond hair and looked really pretty. We ate lunch together and I was happy that I made a friend.
We sat on the grass together since it was still summer. The first week was great with Courtney. She was always with me, but in the following week, she started to make new friends and avoided me. I didn't know why, but maybe it was because I didn't talk much. I'm really a quiet person but if you really get to know me, I'm actually really noisy. During the next few weeks, I didn't have any friends anymore. I chose not to be friends with anyone because I saw that the culture was too liberated. One time, I was walking in the hallway and I saw a student by the lockers kissing her boyfriend. I didn't want to have any bad influences and it was better to stay that way. My goal was to focus purely on my studies.
Halloween came and there were activities at our school and they were a lot of fun. It was November 1, 2006 and I arrived to school at 8:20AM. Class was scheduled to start at 8:50AM, so I went to my locker to organize my books and binders. I kneeled down at my locker when suddenly someone hit my head with a plastic bat. It was so hard that I turned around and saw that it was a Native boy, a bit older than me. I didn't even recognize him and didn’t know why he did it. That day, I called my mother and told her about how someone hit me with a plastic bat. She overreacted and asked for advice from my Filipina teacher in E.S.L. from last year. Her advice was that I should go visit a doctor. We went to two doctors and the diagnosis was the same each time, a mild concussion. We reported it to the office.
The vice principal, Mrs. Gartner, showed me pictures of all the boys at the school and finally I found the boy who hit my head. His name was Chad Cameron, a 15 year old grade 9 student. I was only twelve at that time and I didn't even know him. His defense was that he thought I was his friend who supposedly looks exactly like me. He said she was a Filipina named Cloe Crisostomo, and I knew her.
I met her in the hallway once, but she looks completely different from me. Our family friend, the one who went with us to the airport, defended me and said that Chad must have attached something hard to the plastic bat that caused my mild concussion. It took months and I had to stop school but still, the student wasn't suspended or expelled. My parents decided that I should go to another school, so I attended another school on January 2007 to continue grade seven. I studied there for two years spending most of my middle school years there, making it onto the honor roll. We also heard that the guy who hit my head had already graduated and Mrs. Gartner had already resigned.
My parents decided that I should go back to that school again, since it was hard to travel with my new school being two buses away from our apartment. My old school was only two blocks away and a much faster to get to. Others viewed that incident as if I was just simply bullied but for me, it was virtually nothing. It did make me scared to go to school because I was frightened that the same thing would happen again, but I have realized that there was really nothing to be afraid of. It will never happen again if I just stay alert on my surroundings.
It was only a trial that made me much stronger to face the life in Canada. So 2008 came and that summer on July, we went back to visit the Philippines for two months. I was so happy that I got to see my friends and relatives again, especially my grandma who I spent a lot of time with. She was confined in a hospital but recovered quickly. I slept in the hospital for two days just to be with her. I also spent time with my cousins and my other classmate, Mhay, who visited me at my house.
I was glad that she came because I have proven that after two and half years we’re still friends unlike my other friends who knew that I came back but never paid me a visit .One time, I went to the mall with my cousin Bhevz, and my niece-cousin, Zyra who was six at that time. We went to a game zone and played a lot of games, as well as watching a movie. As we exited, I saw Danica. I greeted her.
"Hey Cyndi! We meet again. Sorry I haven't visited you at your house. I was so busy with school and projects and exams." she said.
"It's okay. I understand."I said.
Then she suddenly said, "I have to go. See you!”
We had just met again for five minutes only and she already had to go. We haven't seen each other for almost three years and that's all she had to say? She didn't even give me a hug like before. I had my own laptop now and I went to check my Friendster and YouTube account. I saw Danica on Friendster, and she had a video posted on YouTube entitled Best Friends Forever. I went to check the video and I found out that she had another best friend named Jane.
I was okay with her having another best friend. Everyone has lots of best friends and I wasn’t jealous or anything. But even so, she should have at least commented me on Friendster or chat me if she can't mail letters, but it’s always me that messages her first. I thought I was being a fool to her. I kept emailing her everything, telling everything that happens to me everyday, but not even one of those email were ever replied. I've sent more than fifty emails, one each day. My parents keep telling me, "Your best friend has changed. She has forgotten you. Move on dear, there's lots of people out there that can be your best friend.”
I have thought about what my parents told me and it took me months to forget about her. To me, I valued friendship too much. Having a close friend that had already forgotten about me is just too upsetting. It bothered me how I couldn’t notice her true colors before. I went back to Canada and am now in grade nine. In my English class, there was a guy named, Jiro. He looked so handsome with his black hair and white skin. At first, I hadn’t noticed him, but each day that passed, I began to notice that he was a determined student. He is always responsible, and was very smart. He always submits his projects and homework in on time and he studies hard whenever there's a test or a quiz. The problem is, he doesn't seem to notice see me.
I admired him because I could see that he is a good person, unlike the other students who always swore. I never heard him swear, not even once. He has always been very quiet and I didn't know how to approach him. I didn't even know if he knew my name. I admired him secretly. In art class, there was a guy named Xiu. He was a Filipino and I heard that he arrived just last year. He has black hair and I admired him as well.
I admired him because he was always quiet in class but was still a great artist in art class. He's not very fluent in English but he still understands it. He approached me once, "Cyndi, is this your clay project? It's really nice."Xiu complimented.
"Yes. Which one is yours?" I asked.
He pointed to his clay project and I said that it was nice too. I didn't know that he was good artist at that time, and I haven't realized that I liked him. That was the first and last time he ever approached me, I didn't know if it was because we were both shy.
I have to focus on my studies first, but, it's hard to avoid them because they’re in my English and Art, and even Math classes. Electronics class is the only class I can breathe freely because they’re not around. I saw another in the hallway, and his name was Danson. I knew his name because someone was calling him, not because I was a stalker. His back really appealed to me. He was really tall and he reminded me of my idol in the Philippines. He was never in my classed but I wished that next year he would be. Liking someone is not a bad thing, it’s actually pretty normal, but there are times when you have to forget about them for awhile because you have to focus on the more important things.
To reach a goal, I also used them as my inspirations in life. It is normal for a teenager like me to have a crush on someone, but still you have to have a balance of love and responsibility. Don't overdo it because if you do, it will hurt you in the end. I know emotions are the hardest thing to control because you can't stop them. If you get rejected in the end, don't feel bad. He or She is not the only person in the world. I'm sure that someday I'll find my one true love and of course, you'll find yours too. It just takes time but crushing on someone, is part of growing up.
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Based on a true story. Names of the characters have been changed.Thank you all for the support!
Credits to Skye for beta-reading
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