It was a Saturday and Dawn would usually use her weekends to write more chapters and review her lessons.
But she had to take a break since she had already promised to attend a birthday party.
Her mom had given her some extra money last week so she could buy a present. She chose a simple one. The city didn’t have that many options for that matter.
She had already chosen what to wear for the party. It wasn’t a formal party so she only put on a yellow spongebob shirt, blue jeans that were folded at the seams and her white converse shoes.
She then simply tied the top of her hair and loosely curled it. She picked up her gift bag and was ready to leave.
Nita opened the door leading to the backyard. “Kids, come on. It’s time to pray and start dinner.” “Let’s go, guys.” Giancarlo stood up and dusted off his pants. “Okay!” “Right on time.. My stomach’s growling already..” Dawn followed closely behind Melissa. When they came back inside, everyone was already off of their seats, ready for the prayer. “We are gathered here to celebrate Giancarlo’s birthday. First thing’s first, let’s pray.. In the name…” The priest began to lead them into prayer. Nita had invited the priest and his assistant since she serv
After he opened all of the presents, he thanked everyone for celebrating his fifteenth birthday. Some of the guests have started to leave while some remained and hung out with the rest of the adults, drinking beer while singing karaoke. “Happy birthday. Thank you for inviting me. I have to be on my way home now.. See you!” She bid farewell to Giancarlo. She also thanked Nita for inviting her. “Good to see you again guys!” She also bid farewell to her childhood friends. “Ah.. I’ll walk you home!” Giancarlo offered. “Ma, I’ll be back. I’ll just walk Dawn to their house.”
In the faculty room for the High School Department, the teachers have gathered so early in the morning. Even the principal was alarmed by their behavior as these teachers have come so early and were now huddled together. When the Secretary passed by their faculty room, she couldn’t help but hear bits and pieces of their conversation. “No way!” “Are you serious?!” “You too!” “Wait.. don’t tell me it was the same for you as well!” “I can’t believe this.. I haven’t met anyone to do this in my entire professional life..”
Marcelo Reyes never thought he would ever face a dilemma in front of his class.‘What does that look mean? Do I tell your classmates your score or do I keep it confidential? But it still wouldn’t make sense though. I’ve already told you guys that I’ve arranged it in ascending order. So everyone should already be clear on the fact that you’re the highest scorer.’“Sir, what is Dawn’s score?” Gillian asked this time. She couldn’t believe that someone could score higher than Hugo.“Yeah, sir. You already said that the papers were arranged in ascending order, meaning she’s the highest scorer. We were just curious.”
“Dawn, you’ve really improved your attitude toward school.” Phoebe told her what their friends had in their minds.Dawn nodded. She didn’t deny this either. “Yeah. I realized that we should learn what we can now when we’re still young so we’ll be better prepared in the future. When we become adults, it’s up to us to solve our problems. We can’t always rely on others. And even if we wanted to, there might be a time when there’s nobody around we can rely on.”They were dumbfounded by her words. It sounded so practical, so simple and yet they couldn’t imagine it coming from her lips. Until now.“You&rsq
“Those kids.. They really couldn’t believe that Dawn would be able to achieve such a score. One of them even accused me of deliberately giving her full marks on the essay so she’ll have an overall perfect score.” Evelyn grumbled as soon as she came back to the faculty room. “I mean, what do I gain from doing that?”“What about during my class? She had to answer the problems that they got wrong in the exam and had to explain it to them. Her arm was already sore from writing about 20 items. I had Hugo take over but they were not satisfied with his explanation. They said hers were more understandable.”“More understandable?”
“Are you sure you don’t care?” Christian prodded. ‘Don’t people cry from embarrassment? Is she not embarrassed?’“Not at all.” She shrugged. ‘Even if I say anything, it’s not like you would suddenly treat me better.’“Oh.. so not only did your grades get better. So is your attitude. I’m curious if this is only an act. And if it is, I wonder how long you can keep it up?” Mateo smirked.“Huh? Why do I have to act for anyone? If I have good grades, I will be the one to benefit from it.”
Most of the members were already inside the conference room when they arrived. Since Dawn, Valerie, Annalise, Phoebe, Frances and Ashlyn, they stayed behind after the last period while Aria and the rest of their friends already went home. They stopped by at the bathroom first so they were clueless as to what was going on inside the conference room while they were not in. When they arrived, they could feel stares directed at them, more specifically, at Dawn. The culprit was on the side smirking, acting all innocent. Dawn felt that everyone was acting weird. ‘Whatever. What’s new?’ “L
In the La Cocina de Mamà restaurant, Dawn’s family and relatives gathered around. Aria and their other friends were also there–except for Alvin and his group. Keenan’s parents and uncle were also there, as well as Blake. They reserved half of the restaurant to host a party to send her off. This was also a birthday celebration for Dawn as she turned sixteen years old. “Everyone–thank you all for coming. Please enjoy tonight. And I hope that everyone will help me pray for my daughter’s safe travels and well-being abroad.” “Of course!” “Congrats again, Dawn!” “Visit us, okay? Don’t forget your friends here..”
Days turned to weeks.It was finally time for the teachers to submit their final grades after the final exam ended.Susana, the class adviser for Dawn’s class this school year waited in excitement.But when she saw the grades reported by Cyrus, she had to do double, triple checks.She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.It showed that Dawn had scored less than a hundred in some of her quizzes and exams.“Impossible.. Less than a hundred on the subject of History and of Religion?”If this was two years ago, she wou
Four boxes in different sizes. One contained a jewelry set of diamond necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring. Another box contained an iPod with songs already downloaded. Another box was an iPhone. Dawn could still not get over how she was holding two items that were already phased out back in her previous life. “Whoaaaa—These are all expensive!!!” Tara exclaimed. Dawn nodded. “I thought he’s only there to study..” “He took a part-time job..” Dawn smiled. “Whoa–he c
When Mallory announced this, Hugo panicked. “Wait–I promise I can do it..” He said to Mallory. “Practice your lines first.” Mallory sighed. “Okay. I will.” He nodded vigorously and went to the side to practice seriously. Jason heard what was said but still tried his best to deliver the lines. Dawn appreciated that Jason took it seriously, not wasting everyone’s time. Moments later, Hugo approached. “I’m ready, ma’am..” He said to Mallory. The latter thought it over
Dawn missed Keenan very much. She could only distract herself by preparing to apply for scholarships for College. She also wrote more books and consistently scored perfectly in all quizzes and exams. It was her way to not think about the time and distance away from Keenan. She had finally reunited with him but soon had to bid him farewell. She didn’t go with them to the airport to send him off since his parents would be going with him to help him get settled. Both of them knew that it would be hard to say goodbye, so they spent a whole day together and the next day, Keenan left with his parents. He only gave her a call thirty minutes before he boa
As the girls gathered around, the boys also had their own circle.Keenan beckoned to Blake.The latter had been eyeing Aria.“What’s up?” Blake asked him.They sat by the shore of the beach resort, a distance away from the others.“I should ask that.”“Eh?” Blake blinked up at him. “What do you mean?”“You and Aria–”Blake’s brows pulled together, he pursed his lips. “Aren’t you with Dawn?&rd
The High School students finally get to enjoy their summer vacation.Dawn and her friends have long planned to meet up during summer and go to the beach.Alvin and his friends joined the planning of course.Back then this was the same group who would make plans together for summer as well.But this time, there were additions to their group.Now, there’s Cierra who is Alvin’s girlfriend. And there’s Keenan and Blake too.They didn’t know that Blake would join them as well, and he also didn’t make such plans before. But when he came to visit Keenan in his house, that&rsq
After Alvin danced with Dawn, Hugo walked up to her and invited her to dance.She thanked Alvin and went to dance with Hugo.But like Alvin, their dance was not so romantic either.‘Why is Ma’am Susana the one choosing the songs?’ Hugo thought glumly.There really was no chance to act sweetly with Dawn with the choice of songs for this event.The song ended and Hugo had wanted to dance one more time especially when the romantic song finally came on.“Ahemm. Ahemm.. May I cut in? Dawn, can I have this dance?” Keenan interjected.
The gymnasium was decorated with clear balloons, flowers, draperies and lights. It was a theme of white and gold, and the venue looked luxurious.As the prom began after the regular classes of other students ended, everyone queued up, waiting to enter the gymnasium as the music played through the speakers.The students who had not gone home yet were now watching as their schoolmates entered the gates and queued up with their partners.“HAHAHA look at that! Is that dress for prom or for salsa dancing? Why is it so short?”“Where? Where?”“Over there!” The student pointed. “She’s wearing brown.. It had tassels a