AUGUST
Ambrose strummed the guitar with such ease. Or at least that’s how I heard it. I’m not a big fan of musical instruments, but it sounded pretty clean. After handing the roses, Phil and the boys all cleared the view, so this Rachel girl could see Ambrose.
This is probably the first time I see this gorgeous creature up close, and the inner gayness hiding inside me shrilled in utter admiration. He’s blessed with a chiseled cheek, and his skin appears to be naturally kissed by the sun. There’s a slit in his left eyebrow, and I don’t know if it’s natural or he had it done, but there’s no denying the fact that it made him look sexier.
From my youngest years
Till this moment here
I've never seen
Such a lovely queen
From the skies above
To the deepest love
I've never felt
Crazy like this before
Ambrose opened his mouth and spat the words like they were coming from the radio. It was smooth like butter.
Paint my love
You should paint my love
It's the picture of a thousand sunsets
It's the freedom of a thousand doves
Baby, you should paint my love
“Come on, August, let’s get out of here,” Mary mumbled and began pushing me.
“Hold up!” I spat as I stiffened my body so Mary couldn’t push me easily. “I want to watch this.”
“Are you serious? You haven’t seen anything like this back in Highmont?”
“No, this is my first time seeing this display of affection.” I lied. Of course, I’ve seen a lot of cheesy things like this happen. As a watcher, I think it’s corny and a total waste of time and effort. But I’m not going to admit to Mary that I just want to lay my eyes on Ambrose Haylock.
“Whatever, Rachel’s going to reject him anyway.” Mary trailed, rolling her eyes.
“How’d you say so?” I asked.
“Ambrose did that exact same thing to her last year, and she turned him down.”
“Really? So what makes you think that Rachel will turn him down this time around?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on inside Rachel’s mind, but ever since I knew her, she has turned down a lot of guys. I get it, she’s pretty and rich and popular, but her taste level is so high that no one can even reach it.”
Been around the world
Then I met you, girl
It's like coming home
To a place, I've known
Paint my love
You should paint my love
It's the picture of a thousand sunsets
It's the freedom of a thousand doves
Baby, you should paint my love
"Ambrose must really like her then." I spat. I was somehow disappointed to learn that this girl doesn't have a thing for a fine guy like Ambrose. If I was in her shoes, I'd say yes even if he hasn't asked me yet. Hell, I would even ask him out first if I had the courage.
"Ambrose has been trying to ask her out for years now. This is probably the only thing that I respect about him. He's a bully and everything, but he's definitely not a playboy. Rachel is a very lucky girl. She's the only girl that Ambrose has ever shown with interest. Some hoes tried getting his attention, but his eyes only see Rachel." Mary explained. "Oh gosh, I hate her!"
Ambrose continued singing, but now my attention has shifted to Rachel. I think I'm going to have to agree that she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe it's the healthy hair that bounces off smoothly. Maybe it's that bow-shaped lips. Or maybe it's because of that impeccable clear skin. She's all-natural, though. Even when Mary said that she's rich and can probably afford all sorts of beauty products, she's not wearing any make-up at all. Just a pink hairclip and a nice pair of earrings.
"Rachel," Ambrose stopped singing.
"Look, I already told you that I don't want to go out with someone like you." Rachel spat outright. She didn't even let the guy speak his mind.
"What do you mean someone like me?" Ambrose asked.
"Let's just say," Rachel paused; she's probably trying to think of a better way to say 'f*** off' that won't hurt Ambrose's feelings. "You're not my type."
"I'm not your type? But I'm Ambrose Haylock." Ambrose uttered, and I immediately thought it was a red flag. Ambrose thinks highly of himself.
"And I'm Rachel Curtis," Rachel replied with such conviction, and just like that, she has earned my adoration. She's standing up for herself and not letting this guy take control of her.
"You know what, let's just get out of here," I said and began walking. I just caught the feeling of disinterest.
"I told you," Mary mumbled as she followed behind.
Mary and I walked away, and then we suddenly heard a slamming sound coming from behind. I turned my head around, and I saw an angry Ambrose slamming the guitar on the ground. Rachel and her friends were already walking away without even trying to look back to see what was going on.
"Is he always like that?" I asked Mary.
"You bet! He's always throwing tantrums whenever he doesn't get what he wants. That's the typical Ambrose."
"What a poor soul," I uttered. I was just admiring how much of a gorgeous creature he is, and now I'm totally turned off. There's nothing gorgeous about flipping out for petty reasons, and this is absolutely not attractive at all.
"That's why it's best for you to stay away from that guy. He's nothing but violence." Mary spat.
***
After fixing things at my locker, Mary said her goodbye and reminded me about the uniform that I had to claim at the headmistress's office. Everyone's required to wear their school uniform starting tomorrow. The last time I wore a school uniform was back when I was in grade school, and that was a time when I didn't care about the things that I wore. But now, thinking about wearing school uniforms just made all of my clothes worthless.
I inched my way towards the headmistress's office. There's a lot of offices where I could pick up my uniform, but why does it have to be the headmistress's office? I don't want to see her this soon, right after that humiliating encounter earlier this morning. But I guess I don't have a choice. I certainly don't want to be reprimanded for not wearing my uniform tomorrow. When I got in front of the office, I saw a sign that says knock three times, then enter. That sounded very welcoming, but still, I'm feeling anxious about striking a conversation with the head of this school.
I swallowed and mustered a deep breath before knocking three times and entering. The bell hanging above the door chimed, inevitably capturing the headmistress's attention. Focused on writing something, the headmistress did not tilt her head from her position, but her eyes stared at me.
"Uhm, hi!" I said, smiling nervously, and then I quickly realized that her stare basically says, 'what do you need?'
"My name's…" I was about to reintroduce myself when she cut me off midsentence.
"Mr. Levisay!" She chirped. "What brings you here?" She asked, still manifesting that tyrannical tone. She ceased staring at me and went back to what she was doing.
"Uhm, I'm here to claim my school uniform."
"Oh, your school uniform. Wait a second." She said, and there was dead silence as she continued writing.
I stood right in front of her for about two minutes until she was finally finished.
AUGUST The headmistress slammed the pen on the table before eventually standing up and giving me a half-smile. She entered the door on the left, which I'm guessing to be some sort of a storage room. I immediately caught the feeling that I was going to wait here for another two minutes, so I let my eyes roam around the office. It's a generic office, and there's nothing much to look at except for the fish tank that housed a single fat goldfish. There are a few seemingly rare and colorful succulents displayed on the headmistress's desk. Perhaps she's one of those older people who love the company of a succulent plant. My eyes moved to her nameplate that said Penelope Briar, and I tried memorizing it just so I knew how will I call her later. Two minutes passed, and she hadn't returned yet. I was already beginning to feel bored. My feet are itching to go home. I carried myself towards the fish tank and thought of observing th
AUGUST My chest was still pumping, thankfully, it's not out of fear anymore, but it's literally out of exhaustion. I might have pedaled my way home in ten minutes, and it got my heart racing with the wind. I dragged the bicycle inside the garage and sat on the ground for a while until the pumping in my chest calmed down to a tolerable state. My backpack felt a bit heavier now than I've stepped down from the bicycle. After fifteen minutes of letting the heat on my nerves settle down, I stood up and staggered inside the house."I'm home!" I shouted as my usual routine, but I immediately remembered I was not in Highmont anymore, and this isn't my old place, and this is not even my old family. No one answered. My dad's probably still at the repair shop, and Wednesday's probably taking a nap or something.I went straight to the fridge and poured a glass of ice-cold water. I gulped the water as if I hadn't had a glass of it for years, an
AUGUST Rachel casually tucked her hair behind her ear before taking her time to sit right in front of me. I'm no blind person; I know when someone's trying to act cute, and Rachel's totally doing that. She lets out a tiny smile, and now that I have a closer view of her face, I must say she's a true natural. I think I'm starting to develop a girl crush on her."Did you know that you are the first person who stood up against Ambrose?" She said as a little trivia of my work."I don't, but now I do," I replied."Hahaha." She lets out a short chuckle. "And you are funny.""Ha, I don't know about that."Rachel's totally trying to flirt with me, and once again, the gayness hiding inside of me is already commencing in panic mode. There are a few girls who tried their luck to flirt with me back when I was still at Highmont high, and I just didn't like any of them. And now here's another hopeful girl, and her actions brought back those cringing me
AUGUSTSomeone should just run me over with a truck or shoot me in the head with a pistol or even make me disappear in thin air. I didn’t wish for anything of this, but I knew and I expected this to happen. I just didn’t want it to happen now with a lot of eyes gazing over us. I know Jessie was the one who took that clip, and I’m not sure if posting it was his way of thanking my courageous actions or he was just trying to humiliate Ambrose. Either way, the clip clearly made Ambrose look impotent. I’m not trying to be the big person in the picture, but I also thought it made me look like his kryptonite.Ambrose is definitely pissed at me.Does this confrontation have to happen now? As in right now? Right in front of everybody.There are a lot of people watching, and this isn’t going to end up very well for me. I look behind and everyone’s looking at us
AUGUST“August!” Rachel suddenly showed up at the door. She appeared to be concerned about my current state. I can’t think of any possible reason as to why she’s acting this way. Although it’s nice to have some stranger show a bit of unwarranted concern to me, still it’s bizarre for that person to be Rachel Curtis out of all people. Everyone adores this girl. She’s every guy’s dream to date and every girl wants to be.“Hey,” I smiled at her as she inched her way closer to me.“Thank goodness you’re okay!” She let out and hugged me tight as if we’ve known each other for so long. It isn’t the case but it puzzles me to think that she’s into me or something. She smelled like vanilla and daffodil though.“Woah, Woah!” I spat as a surprising reaction. Mary and I exchanged some looks.I’m to going to g
AMBROSE HAYLOCKA three-day suspension. A fu**cking three-day suspension on the first week of the school semester. That’s the only consequence that I’ve earned from beating the shit out of that newcomer. If I only knew I would just be suspended, then I would have bashed his head like a watermelon just like that guitar that I used yesterday. He made me look like shit even though he ain’t the real shit. I know he wasn’t the one who uploaded that clip on Mary Heights Files but he was the reason why I entered school this morning and some people are laughing at me. Phil even said he might just steal my high spot for being the most feared person in all of Mary Heights High. I don’t give a single fuck about being the most feared person here but I just want to keep that spot if I want to survive this hell. Being feared provides me with a lot of benefits that I needed. Money. Food. Protection. And the fact that no one wants to
AMBROSEI’m pretty much aware of the blatant disrespect that I’ve done to my brother’s grave but wherever he is right now, I don’t think he’s aware of the hell that he has been bringing to my life. I never truly met him in the flesh. All I know is he died when I was still a baby, at least that’s what my mother had told me. I blessed his grave with one last spit before eventually trudging away.I fished the house key from my pocket and entered at the backdoor instead of wasting what’s left of my energy by walking around the house. I turned the lights on and the hollowness of the house welcomed me with open arms. I immediately walked towards the fridge still hoping to see anything to snack on but there’s basically nothing left. There are five eggs, a few stalks of celery, three carrots, fruit juices and the rest are just sauces and condiments. I just poured myself a glass of cold water before dec
AUGUSTThe first Friday of the school semester came quicker than I thought. I woke up this morning and I feel ten million times better than how I felt during the first and second day. It is wild to ponder about how things have escalated so quickly in such a short period of time. I had to make some snappy adjustments to myself. I was just a simple nobody a few days earlier and now everyone at school knows who I am and what I did. Some are even calling me ‘The Usurper’ just because I made Ambrose’s suspension possible. I don’t think I’ve done so much to be called the usurper, to be perfectly frank, I just poked the bear.I was riding my way to school when suddenly, Rachel’s invitation flashed at the back of my head. I remember saying yes to her but deep down, I’m still skeptical about actually hanging out with them. First of all, I know Rachel is the only person that Ambrose cares for, an