Chapter 10: Deja Vu

YURI

The sound of the fading engine triggered me to close my comic book. I looked outside the window and I found out that the yellow school bus I was riding stopped by the gate of Hamlet Creek University. After a short-distance drive, we finally arrived at school.

 The situation when we got there surprised me. Technically, Mondays in Hamlet Creek should be fun and exciting, everyone should have a smile on their face, and students should be running in all directions to look for their friends and classmates they missed after a weekend break. But now, the mood was different. It’s  only seven o’clock in the morning, yet everyone already looked dull and dying. Not a voice was heard in the Freshmen’s building when normally, it should be the loudest. Not a student was talking to another student—they all just walked past each other like they were strangers only meeting once and will never meet again forever. I don’t understand. I’m looking at everyone in the entrance of the school the same way I look at my Mathematics exam. One way or another, they were similar. But I couldn’t point out how. 

These must have been the effects of going to a place where you knew someone was murdered, and chances of being the next victim was just lurking in the air. The killer could be here. He or she could be one of those students preparing for the flag ceremony, or one of the teachers setting up their PowerPoint presentations, or one of the strangers walking past the gate like it was not there. Now was the fourth day since the day of the murder, yet there was no any progress on the investigation. Should we just move on and pretend like it didn’t happen? Should we just let this one slip away and believe that it was only a  one-time crime and an act never to be repeated? But you cannot please a criminal not to do a crime again, right? 

I maneuvered to the inspection area and let the guard examine my belongings. When it’s done, I headed to the left pavement that led to the Seniors’ building. On a wooden bench by the tree not so far from our building, I came across Geodie who’s scribbling something on her notebook. I sat next to her without saying anything. 

She looked at me. A fraction of her hair fell over her left eye. She held the pen tight, and navigated it spontaneously on the smooth surface of a cream paper while leaving traces of black tint that formed into words. When I asked her what was she writing about, she said it was a song. 

“A song for what?” I asked, taking a closer look on the three stanzas she had written on the left page of the notebook. Her handwriting was clean and clear. The way she wrote words in cursive had a magical effect on me as I read them. 

She shut the notebook close and left the pen stuck inside. “A song for Mrs. Magada,” she answered. “The school will be holding a funeral service the day after tomorrow to commemorate all the  things the principal had done to the school. Our class was assigned to sing an original song written for her, while other sections are to offer her flowers, and read letters that highlights her goodness. It’s  a way to show the family that they’re not alone. We grieve with them.” 

“Oh, wow! I guess I’m outdated. When was this announced?” 

“Yesterday, after the mass, Yuri.” She packed her things and crammed them inside her yellow shoulder bag. “Announced by the Guidance Counsellor herself,” she finished. She stood up, tucked her blouse into her skirt, and began walking away.

“Now where are you going?” I asked, still on the bench  watching her make her tracks en route to our building.

 

She turned around, the golden rays of the morning sun reflected through her hair. “I’m skipping the flag ceremony. You should too!” 

                                       

                                         • • •

It was a bad idea. Watching the tens of hundreds of students singing the national hymn while enduring the sweat-jerker heat of the scorching sunlight made me felt dreadfully unpatriotic. They were there—lending fifteen minutes of their time to follow the Monday protocols of the Hamlet Creek, while we were here—hiding behind the grills of the third floor, while eating raw carrot sticks and looking down on everyone like they were just a colony of ants assembling on the ground. 

“Don’t feel bad.” Geodie muttered from behind. She took a small bite from her raw orange veggie. “Just think that if we don’t skip the flag ceremony, I won’t be able to finish this composition before the class begins. And if that happens, Jermaine and Chuck won’t have enough time to tune the song. And if that happens too, we won’t make it to the funeral service. The worst thing that could happen is that our class reputation will be put at risk. You don’t want to hear teachers say we’re terribly unproductive unlike the past batches, do you?”

“Guess you got a point there,” I realized as I ate a slice of raw carrot in whole. I looked at her only to find out she was slouching before the stairs; her elbows were attached on the first step, while the notebook was between her arms. Her right hand took control of the pen, writing something on the paper again—but this time in a faster speed. 

I was about to get back to my spot when I suddenly noticed she was barefooted. When I decided to ask her where did her flats go, I saw it stuck between the floor and her ass. Yes, she was sitting on it! She took it off and just turned it into a fucking floor mat! “I appreciate the effort, Geodie. But can’t you find any comfortable place to write on? I’m feeling your struggle in that position!” 

“I appreciate the concern, too, Yuri. But this is the comfortable place to write on,” she answered without looking at me at all. 

I went back to the grills, ignored the stubborn woman on the floor, and shot a gaze to the ground. It looks like the flag ceremony is now over. 

Everyone began moving. Like the first thing I saw when I stepped inside the gate this morning, they were all walking unenthusiastically. They moved so slow; perhaps slower than Brody, my pet turtle in the apartment, when released to the ground. Why was everyone feeling depressed? 

Not long later, we heard the clattering sound of countless of shoes rubbed against the floor. It’s volume doubled from time to time, making me regret having a pair of ears. I wished I was deaf. Sure thing, Geodie wished she was, too. 

I went closer to her. My hands were pushed against both sides of my head. “They are now going up here. Are you almost done there?” 

“And then the last line will be... Done!” Geodie perked up her pen with her right hand, attached the lid back with her left, and then picked up her pink notebook to flaunt it before us. She looked at it with so much vibrancy all over her face. Her mouth was cracking open, her eyes were ballooning in admiration, and her cheeks were glowing pink. To summarize, she was blushing because of her own masterpiece. “Oh, my freaking graham! If Jermaine and Chuck gives this a good tune, this is going to be amazing! Mrs. Magada will surely rise from her coffin to applaud me for this wonderful composition.”

 

“Shit, Geodie. That’s...dark!”

She faced me and laughed. “I’m just kidding! And hello? Do you think it’s really impossible to wake up when you’re dead?” 

“No.” 

“Good. Now help me clean up so we can go back downstairs before Mr. Tan marks us late.” 

And so we did. I took care of the plastic container with four carrot sticks left inside, while she handled the crumpled papers and the notebook and the pens she used in writing her composition. She tossed them all in her bag, crammed them inside, and didn’t care if her bag looked like more of a trash bag than a school bag anymore. We managed to get everything done just in time when the students from the Section I and Section II arrived on the third floor.

 

“Good morning, girls!” Clarens waved his hand to us when he passed by. 

Because of that, here’s a little history. Clarens was once a star section student before. We were classmates since our Freshmen years up until the first half of our Sophomore’s, but he was later on transferred around second semester because he wasn’t able to maintain his grades. Right. Grades. But apart from that, he had also made a serious offense that violated the rules of the star section. Everyone thought it was very personal, because it wasn’t discussed in the class what the offense was all about. He did not say anything about it, and our class adviser, Mrs. Tejada did not speak anything about it, too. It all happened so fast. Mrs. Magada just entered the room, called Clarens to the front, and gave him time to say his farewell. It left us all wondering, What’s going on? Is he leaving the star section? Why? Have he done something wrong? And up until now, those questions remained unanswered. 

 I snatched my bag inserted between the grills and walked towards Geodie who was now facing the stairs that led back to the second floor. She was beside Clarens. Judging from her face, it didn’t seem like she was interested in talking to him. Believing it was so rude of her, I saved Geodie’s ass by taking the responsibility of responding to his greetings. “Hey, Clarens! Good morning to you, too!” 

He smiled. For the past years I had been sharing the same classroom with him, I never saw him made a smile as genuine as what he just did. “Why are you here?” he asked. He shot his eyes onto my bag, and when he saw my comic book poking out of the opened zipper, he said, “I bet comics is still life, eh?”

“Of course! Comics are the best! They are a little off the mainstream, but hell yes! They are still the best,” I replied. And that was one of the things I always loved about Clarens. He was such a joy to talk with. 

“Geodie, how about you? How’s it going with Travis? Any progress? Is he still your crush?” His thick eyebrows jerked as he made a big grin. Nothing ever changed. He was still the clown I always knew. Loose, unironed uniform. Big shoes. Untucked inner shirt. He was still the same old Clarens that didn’t give a fuck about how he looked. 

I was happy because I finally got the time to talk to him again. I was happy because for the first time after a long time, I got to hear him teasing someone again. I was happy to hear him laughing. I was happy because he was happy. I was happy because the happiness I felt exceeded the limit of what a happy person would feel to an extent. I was just—happy. But someone wasn’t. 

“Umm, excuse me?” Geodie held my left hand, and that interrupted my happy moment. “I think we should go now. Time’s running and we’re getting late.” 

I looked at her with a blank face. How could she switch her mood so fast? “But we’re—”

Clarens interrupted me. “No, no. It’s okay, Yuri. Geodie’s right. You’re getting late. I think you should go back downstairs now. I will go inside our classroom too. It was nice talking to you, by the way.”

“Thank you, Clarens.” I felt bad. “I’m sorry we couldn’t talk much longer. I guess I’ll just see you around?”

“No problem! And yeah, see you around!”

Lie. Even if it happened that we saw each other around, we would not be talking so much. In fact, we would not be talking about anything to each other at all. We might wink, or smile, or say ‘hi’ when we meet, but talking? That would be very unrealistic. That’s one of the rules I had to accept because I was a star section student. I should not talk to anyone from lower sections. I should not hang out with them. I should not sit on the same table with them whenever we’ll be in the cafeteria. I should not borrow books from their library. I should not acknowledge the fact that they were normal. Because we, the students from the class of star section, were not. It was unfair. It had always been unfair. But there’s nothing we can do about it. 

Geodie and I began walking downstairs. It was completely awkward. None of us said anything. We just walked. We bumped against students from lower sections. They apologized. I said, it’s okay. She  said nothing. 

It was only then when we arrived at the ground floor, by the opened door of Science Laboratory where we would be attending our first class, when Geodie finally opened her mouth. “Should we go inside?” 

I nodded my head. “We have no choice. We have to.”

Together, we stepped into the door. Rectangular tables occupied by our classmates greeted us as we proceeded to our seats. 

Something was off. They were all bowing their heads. Bodies were facing to the whiteboards. Some girls were crying. Some boys were sad. When I turned to the front, I saw Mr. Tan, our Science Teacher; Mrs. Tejada, our Class Adviser; and Mrs. Nualda, our Guidance Counsellor—all standing behind the weeping Keiciara, the Class President. 

I tried to ask Samantha—who was crying too—about what happened, but Mrs. Nualda’s voice filled the air before Samantha could even begin to talk. 

“Now, Keiciara Faye Famatid, say your farewell message to your classmates,” The Guidance Counsellor said on top of her voice. “Make it brief and concise. We’re not sacrificing Mr. Tan’s class time just for your emotional goodbye speech.”

Keiciara stepped forward. “I won’t make this long. Thank you for everything, classmates. Thank you for all the good memories, and even for the bad. For the happy times, and even for the sad. I will be gone from this class, but always remember that I will still be here... in Hamlet Creek. We will still see each other around. We will still—” Keiciara bursted into tears. She collapsed to the white-tiled floor, gasping for air. “I’m sorry, classmates! I am very, very sorry! I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean to damage the reputation of our class, I—I didn’t mean to do something bad. I was just trying to be myself because it’s—It’s tiring! It’s so tiring to pretend as someone that I’m not! I’m so tired. I didn’t know that being myself would be against our rules so, I’m sorry.” The grieving continued. This time, it was not only Keiciara’s voice that rode in the atmosphere. Everyone chimed in. Everyone cried with her. Including me. “Please, I’m begging you, follow the rules. I know it’s hard, but it’s for our own sake. It’s for the sake of our class! For the reputation of the star section. Classmates, please. Just—just follow the rules.” 

Mr. Tan pulled her up. Her legs wobbled as if she was about to lose her balance and fall down again. But Mr. Tan held her in his arms. And together with the three other teachers, they dragged Keiciara towards the direction of the door. 

When they left, when they finally took her out of the science laboratory, Keiciara’s final words echoed in the air. “The rules, don’t forget the rules! I love you all!”

Fuck the rules. It’s happening again.