My classmates in fourth year highschool...

Kevin Matthew R. Calabia, Julien Henri V.Jehan, Gideon Tyrone R. Hidalgo, Phoebe Hanna D. Ansama, Dean Tristan M. Villar and Rizelle Serrano. These six senior high school students of Infant Jesus Montessori Center Philippines are my classmates. These teenagers have been with me close for only a year(but most of them for four years) but they formed a very close bond with me that i will never ever forget.

Kevin was a fourth year highschooler ever since Ian Lopez, Ronziel Equila and some other's time. He was a close friend of mine when i was in first year. Sadly, he repeated fourth year because he wasn't doing really good in school. He improved more or less that's why he was able to graduate... or was it because teachers like sir Manto and sir Cris doesn't want to see Kevin in class anymore and the only thing that could make that happen is to pass Kevin in their classes?
Anyway, even if Kevin wasn't overly blessed with brains but at least he's really talented with drawing things and playing the guitar. Also Kevin is our pet horse/tikbalang, no wonder every time it rains on a sunny day, Kevin is missing and we get upset with him for not inviting us in his many weddings. I'll surely miss my pet horse.

Julien was the all around Frenchman of the class. Among my classmates, Julien and i are the only halfbreeds in class, the rest are Filipinos. Coincidencially, both of us exhibit a lot of traits that are typical to our non-pinoy halves. As a half-French, Julien is an extrovert on the outside but an introvert on the inside, loved France very much, fashionable, superficial, lusty(to the point that he even told us that he dreamt about raping me while he was asleep during sir Manny's class when we were in third year), shrewd, bookish, a bit lazy but a stern leader(like when he was treasurer of our class, he had us all pay our taxes on time) and he is a huge, huge fan of world history like me(particularly, French or military history). Julien and I would never be close with each other if we weren't both history bluffs, our love for France or Germany and books. It's also interesting to note that Julien and i got married in the marriage booth when we were in fourth year, thanks to my best friend Jonathan.
I will never forget him saying that he will have me deported as a terrorist when i visit France. I will miss those days when Julien and i were deeply discussing about the hundred years' war, Joan of Arc, cocktail drinks, alcoholic drinks, the human star of La Salle, (his, not our) marriage, his dream of snogging underneath a cherryblossom tree with his dream girl, his French, English and Spanish holidays, his dream of going to Italy, his boycrush with Bill Kaulitz, Tokio Hotel songs, Hayley Wiliams, universities, the prime meridian in Greenwich, a girl with glow-in-the-dark tback in Eiffel Tower, Majorca and some other things. I'll also miss those times when we were singing "Through the monsoon" or "Bluer than blue" together. I will never, ever forget my French male equivalent, the kind of best friend i was looking for when i was in elementary.

Phoebe is the fashionista girl whom i used to loathe a lot when i was in third year. I thought she will still stay as a hateful classmate to me in fourth year, but Phoebe proved me wrong. In my fourth year, Phoebe became a more considerate, more open-minded and more friendly than her third year self. Her changes impressed me so she became my friend again. She too, was impressed with my change, especially that i became closer with my classmates. I will never forget her being my official makeup hair artist. She often fix my hair every time i get a bad hair day. I'll never forget how she was amazed with me and my knowledge with a lot of interesting facts like uncle sir Pat.

Rizelle is the tall, shy, reserved girl who is Marlon's older sis. She is the one who often win in school beauty contests(she won Ms. Sportsfest when we were in fourth year, Prom princess and eventually prom queen). We weren't that much close when we were in third year but i was probably the first classmate she met in Monte. In our third year, she was "Bongang bongang Rizelle". Then in fourth year, she is always the butt of a lot of jokes and hilarious songs in our class, most popular is "Ako'y nasa Sariaya, ala siete ng gabi...". That song was so popular that even the Lucena peeps went to sing along with us when we sing that last retreat. I will never forget her smile, her long, straight, flat hair, her gowns by Chiva, her flails, her complaints about Marlon(and Marlon's complaints about her), her official stylist Raul, her timidness, her dad Rizaldy's smile and her friendliness.

Dean is the one whom i always binabra. He is the boisterous, parasitical giant classmate of ours who never fails to "base" his assignments on other people's assignments, shout in his muras and influence the minds of others with his, uhm... muras. Dean was also sir Manto's favorite student to pick up for his jokes as well as Ma'am Flor's fave pet peeve. I will never forget him bullying me for being a "Chenes", his sayings like "Ay tabakuan ni mite" or "O hindeeee...", braiding my hair, raiding my bag for my clover, cheezy, Chinese pastries, math assignments, sir Ian minusing my math assignment because Dean "based" his answers on my assignments, believing my word that Xurt is gay(because Gt is about to tell Dean that Xurt has a huge crush on me), asking me why am i Chinese even though i don't know how to speak Chinese(i snapped back at him why is Julien is French even though he doesn't know how to speak French... and Julien replying back "oh, in your face..."), his left arm with the whitebeard sign, him doodling on everywhere(from tables to Julien's back in which he drew the Huguenot symbol), drawing the Huguenot or whitebeard symbol everywhere, his dream about everyone he knew entering heaven while sir Manny is acting as San Pedro, being the leader of the Huguenots according to sir Ian, distorting the whole story of Ibong Adarna, Florante at Laura, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, being upset with tita Grace for forgetting him as her godson and loads of other mischief.

GT has been my best friend since i was in first year. He was the top of our class, the shining leader and the only honor student in our class. Even if he's shining out with all his achievements and responsibilities, he still never forgets to be kind, friendly, helpful and humble to all of us. He's the kind of honor student who still keeps his head cool and treat us as his equals. But not everything is rosy and Mary Sue-ish in Gt. Back when we were in first year, Gt is my total best friend because he was a huge Harry Potter fan like me. He was the best friend that i cherished a lot until he stopped hanging out with me, stopped being a Harry Potter fan and hanged around with his new friends. Gt was invisible in my life until the summer before we turned fourth year. I came back from Hong Kong speaking in Cantonese gibberish when i entered Brain Train. Since there's no Rafa-dears in sight, i became the one whom Gt was close with and he introduced me to his friends from LC- Ronald, Kathy, Abby and Neil. Then after the Brain Train, Gt began to treat each and every one of us class and sir Ian as his best friends(maybe in Rizelle's case, more than his best friend). GT was even my groupmate last retreat, and we had so much fun together. Once again, Gt became my best friend even though the Gt whom i used to talk about Harry Potter is long dead and gone. I will never forget the times when we talk about sir Ian, God, math, our dream schools, Ivan de los Santos, when we draw gowns, speak to each other in Chinese gibberish, when we work together as a team with Abby, Twinkle, sir Ian and t. Wei, when we ate together in Mami ni Osang during our BT sessions, when he calls me Irishes, Chenes, Shih Tzu or Hermione(first year), when he fixs my hair(and sometimes my clothes), when tita Weny helps us out in our problems, when tito Jun and i talks about random things and a loads of other things.

and last but not definately the least, me. I was considered the Chenes of the class. When i entered Montessori, i was showered with popularity and attention until new girls came to our school. I was a low profiler until i hit fourth year, when i became the "Pambansang Chenes" of the highschool. As the Pambansang Chenes, i became one not only because of my looks but because my attitude is so Chinese, the way i dress is so Chinese, i speak in Chinese gibberish, most of my favorite food are Chinese, i am really good in math(by Montessori standards), i reap a lot of academic achievements(by Montessori standards) and a lot of people say i got this aura that they feel common among Chinese.


My classmates all left in me not only treasured memories but also life's lessons. They taught me how to be sociable, how to win the acceptance of others, how to take on revenge(with laughs) and most of all, how to leave a mark on other peoples' lives.