FIRST day of school, it was a total hell. First, Nathan and I got late because of that very simple and unacceptable reason... We woke up late. Our school bus didn’t wait for our lazy ass and it just left without even asking our parents if we are ready or not. Aunt Jessica was left with no choice but to drive us all the way to school.
“Bye, Mom! See you later! Love you!”
I almost cringe as I saw how Nathan kissed his Mom’s forehead. I find it sweet but I didn’t let him see that, of course. Aunt Jessica waved at me and I did the same.
Nathan and I got inside of our new school, Jackson High. I was fascinated by the towering buildings and stuffs, causing my adrenaline to hyped up that fast. I excitedly pulled Nathan, him looking shocked at what I just do.
“Look!” I pointed at every little pretty things that I saw.
Thinking that Nathan and I will spent almost half of a decade in here makes me feel really excited. Nathan just looked at me in disbelief, amused at my reaction.
“I thought you weren’t excited, Nat?” he asked.
“Rule number four, there’s always an exception! Look! I can’t believe that we are going to spent a fair amount of time in here, everyday! For almost five fuck–”“Watch your language!” he put his index finger on my lips, breaking down my sentence.
I scratched my head unconsciously. I was ashamed of what I just did. I almost curse, and that was all the way in my manual’s rule number ten... Never to speak any foul words.
“Sorry... I whispered shyly.”
He just smiled at me before we continue to roam around our new school. We didn’t have that much time because the opening ceremony already starts for this school year. And because we are freshmen, missing some of their important announcements would have a big impact on our lives in here.
“We will continue scanning this place tomorrow, Nat. I promised. Stop pouting, please.”
I was dumbfounded when I realized that he noticed what I was doing. Yeah, I was partially sad because we were late and we haven’t had enough time to saw everything today... But that’s fine. As long as I’m with my bestfriend.
We fall in line in front of our flagpoles, waiting for the national anthem to be sung by everyone. After we finished everything, our principal, Mr. Eliseo Jackson, started his speech about some random announcements while also welcoming all the freshman students this year.
Honestly, I didn’t know anyone in our batch except Nathan. The rule number five on my manual was, “Never gets too attached to anyone, except Nathan.” After a few moments, I tried to revised it on my brain, silently thinking about it. Finally, I found a perfect replacement for that. Rule number five is going to be, “Never befriend anyone if they didn’t talk to you first.”
After Mr. Jackson’s lengthy speech, Nathan instantly went to me from the guys’ line. I saw him talking to some of them but it didn’t bother me that much because I know that I’m the only real friend he has. Yes, he often talks to everyone as a form of “fun” but he only labeled them as acquaintances, not friends.
“Hey...” I greeted him.
“So, are we going to get our schedules or what?” he asked.
“Of course we are. I don’t wanna be late for our classes. Lesson learned, don’t be late, Nat... And oh, I’ll add that to my list. Rule number six, avoid being late.”
“Well, it’s better to be late than nothing, right?” he asked, chuckling to himself.
“I don’t really know how did you survived middle school.” I rolled my eyes on him.
“It’s called, ‘go with the flow techniques and skills.’ Do you know what does it mean? Or do you want me to define it for you?”
“No thanks,” I whispered as I scribbled something into my hand using my pen.
“What are you doing?” he asked curiously.
“Uhm... Writing? Isn’t it obvious?”
“I know you’re writing, Nat. I’m just wondering why do you need to use your hands instead of papers and why are you writing in the middle of our conversation.”
“It’s for my manual, you know. So that I wouldn’t forget about the rules that I came up earlier. It’s better to be safe than sorry. And also, I got rule number seven, ‘Always list down the important details.’ That one was good, right?” I asked.
“Maybe. Though I’m not that fond in listing down the you know, important stuffs.”
“Rule number eight, never listen to Nathan’s nonsense statements.”
“Whoah. That’s bad.”
I laughed before dragging him behind me into the school office. I already saw it earlier, and I’m pretty sure that it was in this way. My sense of direction wasn’t that bad after all, because after a few minutes, we finally reached our destination.
Nathan and I lined up behind those students who arrived earlier than us here in order to get their schedule sheets. After some minutes of waiting, I finally grabbed a hold of my schedule copy. Nathan also got his.
We put our sheets beside each other, trying to compare which subjects do we have the same class. But to my dismay, nothing. Literally nothing. Nathan and I doesn’t have a same class together, even just one. He looked at me with his worried eyes before saying anything.
“What now?” he asked.
“I don’t know...” I trailed off, feeling nervous.
“Are you gonna be alright there alone? Don’t worry, I’m gonna meet with you during every lunch breaks and such...” I just nodded, trying to look tough in front of him.
“Of course I can take care of myself!” I tried to smile confidently towards him.
“Then good. So... I’m going to my classes now. Good luck, Nat.”
“Thanks. You too.”
He glanced at me once more before he started to walk away towards the opposite direction. As he vanished into my sight, I felt my heart throbbed in nervousness. How will I go through the day without my bestfriend now?
“Well I guessed it just you and me now, my manual,” I whispered to myself.
HOW I wish Nathan and I would have the same classes together. Ever since our teacher started our class, I couldn’t bear to listen out of frustration. I badly wanted to see him, for I wasn’t used to being alone. I nearly jumped off of my seat as soon as the bell rings, indicating that classes were over and it’s time for us to have some lunch. That’s when I remembered Nathan’s promise. He’s gonna be there, he said. My rule number eleven was to never believed in anyone. But I break that one right now. For I knew that Nathan’s promises wasn’t meant to be broken. I was walking down the hallway when my gaze saw someone at the corner of my eyes. Tyler Smith and his gang. I didn’t know that much about him, and I don’t want to know either. He’s mysterious, yes, but I’m not a detective so I don’t care.
TODAY is the last day of the first week of school. It wasn’t that much but, it felt nice knowing that I could have some free time during the weekends. The passed few days gone very well than I expected. No problems and communication to any my classmates. As long as I stay low key, they wouldn’t mind me.“So, one of my friends told me that what if we change our hairstyle? Like some Hollywood actors or whatsoever,” Nathan stated, almost making me choke on my own food. We are currently at the Cafeteria, eating lunch together like what we always do. I’m very thankful to my bestfriend because he always finds some time to join me during our breaks. Even though he have some new friends, he still didn’t abandon me. Though sometimes, I felt surprised to the words coming from his mouth.“Where the heck on Earth did you get that worst idea? From your friends? Natha
FOR some reasons, I didn’t enjoy weekends like how I supposed to be. Maybe it’s because of the fact that I wanted to give this bracelet back to Freeda, hoping that I could make friends with her or something. But it wasn’t that easy, right after knowing that Tyler is following her around like some creepy stalker. “Hey, Nat! Did you even understand what I’m saying?” I came back to my senses, my mind suddenly focus onto the reality when I heard Nathan snaps his fingers. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” “I thought you wanted to watch some movies over my house later?” “Uhm... Maybe next time, Nat. I need to do something.” “And what exactly is that something, huh?” “Nothing...” He stared at me, causing me to become uncomfortable. That look in his eyes is urging me to tell him the truth. “What I mean is... School works, Nathan.” “Really? But our teachers doesn’t
JINX. I don’t know if that’s the proper word to describe my day... Or my whole life, maybe. Today is supposed to be the day I’ve been waiting for. It’s Freeda’s birthday, and she wanted me to come. Mom already let me go, just because I lied. I told her that I need to go there for a school project. And maybe that was the reason why I’m on my bed right now, laying with an aching head. Karma strikes that fast and bad. Now I got to add another rule on my manual, and that is, “Never lie to your Mom.” After denying my bestfriend, lying to my Mom, and wanting to be popular instead of being a goodie-goodie student, I can now conclude that I’m a sick person. And yes, that statement is both metaphorical and literal. I’m sick, literally. “Nat? Why aren’t you waking up? Are you going to school or what?” I heard my Mom shouted from the other side of the door. “Mom... I’m not feeling well...” I tried
IT’S been two days since I got this stupid fever. And ever since that day, I haven’t gone to school. Mom wanted to bring me to the hospital on my second day but I begged her not to. That’s why yesterday and the other day, Aunt Jessica came here to check me up. Luckily, she didn’t pursue Mom to bring me to the hospital. I don’t like going to school but I feel like I’ve missed a lot about it. I wanted to tell Aunt Jessica that I like to see Nathan, but every time that I tried to, I remember the last day that I saw him. He looked furious, and I don’t want him to visit me here looking mad. I feel guilty, not having a chance to apologize to my bestfriend. Also, I’m wondering what happened to Freeda’s birthday party. Did she tried to find me? Did she got worried when I haven’t gone to school? Or does she even care? I can’t help but to think about it. Maybe she’s mad at me becau
MONDAY. Mom finally decided to let me go to school again. I came with Nathan, and I haven’t seen Freeda yet until lunch. It’s becoming clear to me now what Nathan’s been talking about when he visited me at our house. I could still remember his same, exact words as I walked through the hallways of our school. “Groups are starting to form, Nat. And what I mean by that, literally. Everything is starting to change.” “Why?” I asked innocently I him. It’s only been a week so I highly doubt that it will happen that fast. “I don’t know. Freeda is now talking to some girls in our school. Popular girls, to be specific. And they are calling her queen or whatever...” “Then I’ll still talk to her.... But this time I wouldn’t deny you as my bestfriend anymore. I’ll tell her the truth.” “Well, that’s good to know. But I don’t think that you could still talk to her just like that. She was surrounded by different boys and girls who
NOW is Nathan’s turn to be absent. It was already been a week since Tyler threatened me about that thing that I did to his relationship with Freeda. We are now on our third week of school but thankfully, Tyler didn’t do anything to me about that certain thing... Yet. Maybe because I’m always having Nathan around but I still didn’t tell him about it, of course. If there is one thing that I learned about the events last week, that is on rule number seventeen of my manual which is to “never meddle in anyone’s life.” Well, that rule is more like minding my own business here at school. Back to the top, as I’ve said earlier, Nathan isn’t going to school for days now just like what I did before when I got sick. Because of that, I can’t help but to think that maybe, just maybe, I passed a fever into him. I should take it back if only I can. So I decided to visit him later af
PANIC rushed through me instantly when I saw Aunt Jessica’s reddish eyebags. Looks like she’s been crying all night long. I wanted to know why, but I decided to just shut my mouth up for my curiosity could bring me to another trap. I learned that from the rule number seventeen of my manual. “Nathan is in his room, Natalia. Just knock before you enter. You know how grumpy he could gets.” She faked a laughter, but I didn’t buy it. I just thrifty smiled at her instead. As I made my way upstairs towards Nathan’s room, I saw their family picture on the floor with a broken glass frame. I instantly picked it up, before I decided to hang it again by the wall. When I reached the front door of Nathan’s room, I knocked several times, hoping he would answer. But he didn’t. So I decided to ignored Aunt Jessica’s advice and opened the door without anymore words. I barged i