Chapter 3

“Ninth Grade Christian Living Education”

‘As usual…’ Pai whispered as he read his class schedule for the day. It has been two days since he and his new found “friends” had gone to the secretly famed Jack and Barry's and as one would expect from a Monday morning most of the students were still lounging around the hallways even though it was already five minutes past seven. A full five minutes after the scheduled class was supposed to start. He checks around to see if he was on the right hallway as he feared he might’ve stumbled into an upperclassman hall but was relieved to find that the classroom numbers were at the right numerals as they were supposed to be.

‘Let’s see, class 9 – 5, nine… five…’

He sees 9 – 8, 9 – 9.

‘Oh crap!’ He said as he hurried back down the hall. It turns out that he made a wrong turn upon arriving at the third floor corridor. The stairwell that led to the hall was situated in the middle of the building as he turned right from it without looking. Scrambling back, he sees the other side of the hall completely empty as he gets a glimpse of the students all neatly seated inside. He looks up to see the sign 9 – 5 clearly in broad daylight. His heart starts to pump rapidly, sweat already forming beads across his forehead and as he turns the knob, he clenches his jaw and fears the worse.

‘Oh Pai! You’re here?!’ A familiar voice jots out from the sea of white uniformed students. One of the figures raised their hand , seemingly trying to grab his attention. “Neil!’ He said as he walked towards an empty seat beside him. ‘Woah! Cool, we're actually classmates!’ Neil said, with eyes as wide as his smile was. ‘Yeah I know, lucky right?’

‘Lucky? This is a predestined fate! What’s lucky is that the grumpy professor seems to be running late today out of all days, because if he was here, Pai, he’d surely sentence you to detention for being tardy.’ Neil explained in an enthused but firm manner while Pai was just glad that his stars had granted him some fortune to avoid looking like a fool in front of his new classmates. ‘Lucky lucky then…’ he replied.

It didn’t take long before the door swung open once more as the aforementioned Professor marched in.

‘Roll call… ’ The professor sternly said. His intimidating aura had caught everybody off guard as the whole class sat in silence for a good couple of seconds. ‘Roll call!’ He shouted. One of the students in front raised her hand in reply. ‘Sir we haven’t elected class positions yet’

‘Fine’ He boomingly replied. ‘You go grab the class sheet and conduct it’

The girl stood up and took the class sheet pinned on the corkboard beside the main classroom whiteboard and started chanting the names printed on it. Meanwhile Pai and Neil were discreetly talking to each other via facial expressions, with Neil rolling his eyes in annoyance at how unnecessary strict the professor is. Pai was just laughing silently until a bellowing howl arrested their attention.

‘Neilsen Paras are you present or are you not?!’

The professor’s eyes lit up as it stared at the inattentive Neil while Pai shrunk low on his seat avoiding eye contact with anyone as much as possible.

‘Present!’ Neil replied, raising his hand before slouching back onto his seat embarrassed.

The roll call continued on, and as Pai expected, he was once more last on the list.

‘Pai Tsen Xien?’

‘Present!’

The professor stood up and pulled a marker from his jacket. In angry aggressive strokes he wrote his name on the whiteboard for all to see.

‘Brother Ronnie Ramirez. I’m sure that by now you already know me but for some like mister Xien here I am not the-friendly-kind.’ He said as he menacingly looked towards Pai’s direction. ‘Now since last week I was out of commission due to liturgical duties, we never had the chance to have this opening class, I am sure my substitute, Brother Adrian had filled you in on all the details required for this class so to begin let’s all start by praying the rosary to bless our coming year.’ A hushed groan can be heard across the class to which the clergy man was alerted to. ‘Why? He did tell you that a rosary was one of the requirements, yes?’

“Yes” The class replied in unison.

This was one of the things Pai had dreaded to encounter in his new school but there was nothing he could do, afterall it was still a Christian school.

Scholastic Institute of Saint Rita is one of the few remaining schools that are managed under catholic ruling. Most of the schools nowadays are now owned and run by either the government or private institutions and although Christian teachings are still present in the curriculums of most of these non catholic schools, it is not as extensive as the ones being taught in these religious institutions. There was once a time when most of the prestigious schools in the city were mostly run by religious institutions but as the times change with the shift of demands, the market for religious professionals has dwindled to a few faithful thousands. The rapid growth of the country’s economic infrastructure and investments had urged the government to streamline the curriculum, putting religious subjects in second prioritizing academic studies by adding more to the list of subjects already being taught like basic law, history of architecture, and the student body favorite, sex education.

Sex education (Sex Ed) or “Sed” as the student body calls it, was also one of the reasons why the number of church led schools have diminished in numbers as they refused to teach the subject and rallied for a revision. A revision that was denied by the government of the time sparking a nationwide protest upon the liturgical community. Saint Rita’s managing committee however had a more flexible mindset about the subject and allowed its classes to explore such a liberated concept, as Augustinian ethos value the victory of truth and that truth can be achieved with the prospect of intellectual advancement. But as with most Christian institutions, a line was drawn under the condition that they will not promote use of contraceptives in their teachings as they see it as a deviation from the natural order and feared that intercourse might become diluted as an unceremonial past time instead of an act of love, although this decision received a monumental amount of backlash by the rest of the catholic community, it was all but shrugged off by the ruling members within St. Rita’s walls.

‘amor Dei intellectualis’

“Intellectual love of God”

The school’s motto. Etched and preserved in the minds of the people who reside within the walls of the school. Practice and inquisitiveness implemented by the mentors who in turn influences the students in their care. Together with their Patron Saint, Rita of Casia, the patroness of lost and impossible causes has shaped the minds of these people that nothing is impossible through prayer and knowledge, a trait that helped them battle those controversies in the past but has also made them think they are invincible adversaries and thus have ego’s the size of planets. An example of this is the professor who is holding the rosary vigil at the moment. So self assured and content that he does not bother to level himself with the students that he teaches, making him feared instead of loved, a trait that most mentors at the school uses effectively to teach. It is rare to find a mentor who is soft hearted and kind to the children but all have learned to co exist with these traits as the students themselves entrust this impossible feat of change to Saint Rita. To whom they offer each and every prayer to as they end each morning, lunch, siesta and dismissal prayers with:

“Saint Rita of Casia, Pray for us”

Pai makes the sign of the cross along with the others in class as finally the slowest recitation of the rosary had finally ended. Almost automatically his eyes started to wander around in search of any sort of time keeping device but there was none to be found. He had to resort to spying on other student’s wrist watches and thankfully one of the kids beside him had his watch facing his direction.

‘Crap that took us over an hour!’ Said Pai in a hushed tone. ‘Well I've been here longer and still I'm not used to it’ Neil protested as the class had moved onto the usual lecture about catholicism. The scheduled class was destined to last for another half hour before he had to move on to Chemistry a few floors below. He and Neil had to part ways as he had a different schedule than he does but was glad to see that Aida was in the same class as he. Sadly they never got to talk much as the professor had them working on the basics of a microscope for two hours, at least he got to see onion cells for the first time which fascinated him, making him think about the complexity of everyday things he sees, not that it was important to him, just plain curiosity.

By this time it was already 11 o’clock and the high noon sun was shining bright. The vivid shade of turquoise blue filled the sky but the stunning beauty of the day did not steer anyone from the fact that it was scorching hot outside. Pai had another class before lunch and it was an hour of Gym. For this semester they were tackling swimming lessons by the school’s pool. The class was supposed to be two hours but each Gym class this semester is cleverly divided into 2 sections one hour long each. First hour for the boys and the girls follow after lunch, as the girls watch the first hour by the bleachers before getting their turn after the boys have been dispatched. Issues of sexual harassment had happened in the past which resulted in the implementation of this rule, giving the girls a sigh of relief and grief on their male counterparts. Nothing particular happened during the class as only introductory lessons were taught, leaving the rest of the period spent on playing water tag. He made two more friends during the game, Casper and Julian, both being new students themselves, they found common ground in each other’s company. They all agreed to spend lunch together after swimming class with Casper taking the lead. The trio soon found themselves by the elementary cafeteria looking confused. Casper,wearing a cheeky smile, turns around to face the group. ‘Now if my eyes have not deceived me…’ He spoke taking his round thin framed glasses off his face to clean it. ‘The prices here should be significantly cheaper.’ Julian took a gander at the price and noticed no difference at the menu, Pai conquered as Casper rolled his eyes at the two. ‘It’s quite clear you guys don’t give a damn about the price since you don’t notice a damn thing!’

‘Oh wait’ Julian exclaimed from the rear. ‘The gummy bears are half priced!’

‘Really now?’ Said Casper. ‘Everything here is half price.’

‘Oh hey Pai!’ A voice from behind had grabbed the group’s attention. ‘Neil!’ A surprised Pai shouted as Neil swiftly made the hush sign to lower Pai’s voice. ‘There are teachers here, so you better keep your voice down.’ He said as he pouted his lips to point toward their direction. With him was the familiar face of Aida who looked cautious upon entering. ‘Oh yeah you remember Aida? Took her with me since she was looking for a reasonable place to eat.’ He said as She waves shyly at the group. ‘Oh I see that you’ve made friends as well.’

‘Oh sorry, this is Julian and Casper. Classmates from gym.’ Pai said as the group got acquainted and picked their orders by the counter. There were a myriad of different foods on the cafeteria counter, all displayed like a buffet table, warm and ready for serving. Pai got a hot serving of Chopsuey with cold iced tea, Julian opted for a hearty serving of Pork Adobo, its thick soy based soup attracted his taste buds to give it a try. Casper went for a double serving of Stir fry noodles with a side of miso soup, both he and Julian ordering a refreshing glass of lemon juice. Meanwhile Aida and Neil shared a plate of Beef curry as Aida, seeing the serving sizes of those who ordered before her, decided that she can't finish a single plate asking if she could share a bite with Niel’s instead, to which he gladly obliged.

The group finally settled at a table far from where the teacher’s were, near the windows facing the old rustic church at the rear of the school. From there they discussed the weird circumstances of the swimming class they just had and how horrible the incident might be for the school to take such a drastic action to separate the sexes.

‘Oh… well I figured that would be brought up.’ Neil said as he took a bite from his plate. ‘It happened around two years ago I think, a video of the girls changing for the swimming class was leaked on the internet followed by stalker themed videos of specific girls in that same batch being released.’ Neil paused to take a sip from his soda. ‘Those also included toilet shots from the female pool changing rooms.’

The boy's eyes widened and Aida gasped in fear as she lost her appetite after hearing the story. ‘Great! Neil, I’ve got swimming tomorrow, thanks for the enlightening info…’

‘But it’s taken care of now, you have nothing to fear.’ Neil responds as he nudges the plate near her, urging her to eat. She pushes it back as a kind of “no thanks” reply to him.

‘No wonder…’ Julian replied as he too seemed to lose his appetite over the discussion.

‘But we’re still obligated to attend the girls’ turn later right? So that kinda makes the rules useless right?’ Casper argued as he sipped from his ice cold lemon juice. ‘Not really…’ Answered Niel while munching his own food. ‘You got the male gym teachers watching over you as the girls take their lessons from the female teachers. Even they are kept at bay as if to say all male human species are suspect to this kerfuffle.’

‘Wow whoever this guy was, He sure did some major damage…’ Pai said as he ponders on the story. ‘For sure… but hey it’s just during swimming class. It’s not like all the girls here distrust the boys to the extent of discrimination. It’s all normal… whatever normal means for you.’

Lunch time ends on a somber note as everyone realized that all of them barely knew each other to actually enjoy anyone’s company. It was also the first time Pai ever saw a hint of fatigue in Neil’s body language, as he thought he really tried his best to keep most of the conversation flowing but still ending short of expectations. He tells himself that it can’t be helped, that handling this many newcomers and expecting a spark was an ambitious task even for the likes of Neil but he commends him anyway for trying as they both separate ways at the bells ring with Neil and Aida going one way and Pai with his classmates going the other.

Upon arriving back at the pool they see the girls all lined up in their sparkling white uniforms and are about to enter the showers to change into the school swimming attire. All of the boys in the class were starting to debate who will look the hottest in the swimsuit. Some are arguing about who will have the lewdest looking body with the said attire and some are just minding their own business and are playing a game on their phones either alone or as a group by the swimming pool’s bleachers. But amongst all the noise there was one name that kept repeating in Pai’s ears while he overhears these conversations going on around him.

‘That girl named Robbie’

He wasn’t quite sure on how this name came to be but apparently some guys in another class were telling all the other guys to watch out for her, for reasons he never quite heard clearly as the gym teacher smacked the heads of those talkative boys sitting two levels below them. He asked both Casper and Julian about it and apparently even they have zero clue about what was happening.

It would be another 15 minutes before the girls would emerge from the showers as the boys silently ogle from the bleachers.

‘Third one from the left…’ Whispered someone from the bleachers above. And in synchronized fashion, everyone by bleachers turned their heads simultaneously towards the described position.

‘That’s her?’ Casper whispered.

From the first look alone there was already something different about that certain girl. Athletically built but not athletically toned and in terms of waistline some of the other girls are slimmer. But from what Pai can reckon, she was the most-well-put-together physically than all the others beside her that made her stand out, and certainly even without words being spoken, everyone in the bleachers agreed.

By this time everyone by the pool had already jumped in the water. And every boy was curious about the Robbie girl. Too bad they were far enough from the pool that they couldn't distinguish her face that clearly. Some wanted to go near the rails but the teachers prevented anyone from getting a closer look.

Finally after bobbing up and down the current gym teacher had called them to the side.

‘Roll call, everyone confirm as loud as you can by the 5 feet line!’

All the students swam towards the middle part of the pool as some struggled because of their height deficit, the same problem Pai encountered earlier as his nose could barely reach the surface on his toes.

‘Jane Alaska?’

‘Present’

‘Vicky Amar?’

‘Present’

It was a grueling sight to watch as most of the class struggled to keep their faces afloat as some had to cut their word into two as they’d sink mid speech, getting fatigued staying afloat.

‘Nica Robbie?’

‘Present’

The whole bleachers had bellowed a hushed ‘oooh’ that made weird buzzing noises if you’re standing by the pool. ‘Quick search her on facebook!’ Said one of the boys. Pai meanwhile felt a certain familiarity with her voice. Like it was something he had heard before but never could recall. He chose not to dwell on it for a while and decided to pull his Nintendo out so he can play a game during this free time.

‘I see that the regulation swimsuits bore you huh Pai?’ Casper said cheekily, nudging his elbow at Pai’s ribcage. ‘Ow stop it! I’m almost at the boss part, geez!’ He replied.

‘Great, even you Julian?’ Casper reacts once more as he stares at Julian looking at his phone.

‘Wait…’

‘Now why didn’t I think of that?’

Casper sat down and pulls out his phone after spying on Julian. Pai, curious as he is, peeks over to his phone as Julian gladly shows Pai what he was looking at. It was an instagram page of a certain “Wobbiewabbit” and the immediate picture was black and white photo of a girl looking out her bedroom window.

Pai couldn’t help but feel familiar with her looks. Like he’d seen her somewhere before.

‘That’s her?’ He asked.

‘Yes.’ Julian enthusiastically replied.

Pai then follows suit and retrieves his own from his pocket. He, of course, also asked to exchange numbers with Casper and Julian and after which he proceeded to find the girl on instagram to see for himself.

After this everyone in the bleachers sat silent and no further words were ever said.

The rest of the day went on and everything went awkwardly well for Pai. After parting with Casper and Julian that noon he had four more classes to attend. Two of which was with Aida which was why it was awkward, but deep inside Pai felt glad he got to exercise his skill in conversing with the opposite sex, as he always felt gravely nervous around them. After that he had history class which in his opinion, felt like a waste of time, and Computer Science, his favorite. Time passed by quickly during that final hour and before he knew it the bell had already rang. It was time to go home and as he packed his bags he thought about the first week he’s had in this new school and thought to himself that, so far all was well. He also felt that this week was going to be an even better one, because his group of friends had grown once more.

‘Certainly much better than the last time.’ He said as he felt a lump form in his chest.

‘I hope I can get more days like this.’