Chapter 2
Edgar Espinosa's POV
"Bro, are we going to the computer shop later?" Dexter asked, putting his arm around me. Because of his huge build, damn it, I almost fell and bumped into a girl in the corridor.
"Are you alright? I—"
I stopped after seeing Joanna. She's the quietest in the classroom and always keeps her head down.
Joanna's things fell, so I immediately knelt down and picked them up. I saw Dexter helping too, handing her the pencil case.
"Hey! Come back—"
We looked up after six students from the second floor came up. They were holding a pink wallet and a coat.
"Damn, it's Edgar!"
Someone grabbed my sleeve, and I looked at Joanna. She was trembling, saying they took her wallet.
I saw Joaquin on the other side of the hallway, seemingly coming down the stairs.
"Espinosa, what's going on here?" Joaquin asked. The two of the six students were running down, startled after seeing Joaquin.
These animals only target girls. I handed Joanna her things.
"Dude, they took our classmate's wallet. What kind of school accepts thieves?"
"What did you say?!" one of the students who had been chasing Joanna earlier yelled, holding the wallet.
"I didn't steal it! I followed her to— to return it!"
He threw it on the floor, along with Joanna's coat. They were about to leave when Joaquin blocked them.
"Since you're here anyway, why don't you chat with us? We're bored too," I said, smiling sweetly. I was tired of the students' arrogance here and their treatment of us like animals.
As far as I remember, we also pay tuition like them, eat the same food from the canteen, and take the same lessons, but they treat us as if we're mooching off them.
Of course—were we going to let them get away with it? I immediately punched one of those who took Joanna's wallet and kicked him so he fell down the stairs.
"Wahh! Help! Help! I don't want to die yet!"
Before Joaquin and I were finished, the school's wonderful teachers arrived.
What the fck. If these f**ers were in Class F, they might even help us push them from the third floor.
"Edgar Espinosa! Joaquin Chipeco!"
I just yawned while the councilor lectured us about policy, rules, and humanity. What the f*ck is that?
"Complete attendance for Class F here," Joaquin said, showing the logbook where they write the names of students who caused trouble and violated school policy.
"Mr. Chipeco, are you listening?!" the councilor yelled. Joaquin and I both answered "no."
"Dude, I'm Chipeco," Joaquin said, pointing to himself. We looked at each other, then laughed like idiots.
"Our names are often called together! I'm used to it."
The councilor's nostrils flared, saying that it was obvious we weren't properly disciplined at home. No parents and abandoned.
If you're thinking we're still being lectured like that, of course not. We've been hearing those lines for a year and a half since we became Class F.
Abandoned, trash, without dreams, lazy, and societal garbage. That's how we're treated in this school as Grade 12 Class F students.
"Miss Councilor, I'm here."
We saw Miss Ruth arrive. The councilor approached her immediately, and the sermon she gave Miss Ruth was endless.
Miss Ruth looked at me. I grimaced. I hate teachers. They're all useless when it comes to money.
When I looked at Miss Ruth, I saw her bowing her head and repeatedly apologizing to the councilor.
After a while, the door closed, and Miss Ruth approached us. She pulled a chair, but instead of the table where Miss Councilor was sitting earlier, she pulled a chair and sat in front of Joaquin and me.
"Did anyone get hurt earlier?"
We fell silent. She looked at us all, then scanned us.
"I heard you fought because students from Class B took your classmate's wallet," Miss Ruth said. I asked if Joanna had said that.
The teacher smiled and said she was lying. No one said anything.
"The Class B advisor only reported to me that her student was returning the wallet and jacket, and you beat up the students," Miss Ruth said. As usual, we were the bad guys, of course, that's their story.
I didn't speak. I just didn't want to say anything. A long silence filled the classroom until Miss Ruth stood up and told us to leave.
"Class is about to start," Miss Ruth said. I thought she would ask us again about what was happening in the classroom, what was really happening, and demand our trust.
Did she give up? I looked at Miss Ruth. I shook my head slightly. Wait, did I expect Miss Ruth to take our side and try to understand us?
I clenched my fist. Stop it, Edgar, stop hoping. As long as you're Class F, none of the school staff will trust or try to understand you.
Back in the classroom, it was like a normal day at school. My classmates were throwing paper at each other while Miss Ruth was teaching at the front.
"Let's go, Edgar! ML," Joaquin invited. I immediately sat at the table and took out my phone.
"Let's play!"
During lunch break, because Joaquin and I were lazy, we agreed to skip afternoon classes.
We'll go behind the university to get out of school. It's just us, the gang: me, Dexter, Joaquin, and Philip.
"Guys! Hurry up and climb!" Dexter yelled. He was at the bottom, and we were helping him climb the wall.
When the three of us were up, we helped Dexter climb.
"Damn you! You're so fat, Dexter!" Philip yelled as we lifted Dexter onto the wall.
"You animal, if I weren't big and fat, we wouldn't be able to climb here and skip class whenever we want," Dexter retorted. I immediately hushed them. These guys are so noisy, what if the guard hears us.
We were on top of the wall and rested for a moment. It felt like we carried two dozen sacks of cement because of Dexter's weight.
"What's that?"
I looked at Joaquin, who was standing on the wall and looking at the lake. I turned my gaze.
"What are you saying?" I asked. Joaquin pulled my bag, so I stood up.
"Because it looks like I saw a head in the middle of the lake," Joaquin said. I stopped and immediately pushed his arm off my shoulder.
"Damn you, it's so early," I said, but I looked at the lake. I couldn't see anything.
"Let's go, let's go down," I said and jumped down. As I jumped, I stopped because I saw dead fish on the edge of the lake. They were on the ground and suddenly jumped.
"F*ck!"
I was startled and stepped on a fish. Joaquin and the others looked at me and asked what happened.
"Nothing! It's your fault, you idiot. You scared me," I said irritably to Joaquin and hit him.
We were holding onto the metal net that surrounds the lake and leads to the other side of the school.
There's an alleyway there that we can pass through after passing the main gate.
"Why did they close this lake? The water is so clean, and it's so beautiful," Philip asked. I agree—I'm also curious. After the principal bought this place, he closed the lake.
"The principal bought this lake because his son died here, I guess he closed it so no students would follow," Dexter replied. I raised an eyebrow because that reason is too shallow, and if it's true, their principal is really scary.
He suddenly remembered what his father said when he took him to the mountains for camping.
'Waah, Papa!'
I ran when a deer suddenly attacked me. My father shot it, of course, not to kill it, but just to scare it.
My father immediately attended to me when I fell and face-planted on the grass.
'What happened?'
'I don't know, Papa, it just suddenly attacked me. It's like I was feeding it earlier, then it followed me, then when I got to the hill, it suddenly chased me.'
'It's not normal for deer to chase.'
My father said that someone might have taken the deer's child or shot its family, and the deer seemed to be looking for the person who did that, so it was guarding the area.
'Papa, it's just a deer.'
My father laughed, saying that only humans can think and need justice.
"Edgar, let's go, hurry up before the guard comes!"
Joaquin reached out his hand when he climbed up, and I immediately took it.
We checked the gate to see if there was a guard, and when we saw there wasn't, we laughed as we passed through and went to the alleyway near the school. We'll go through there to get to the road and the computer shop near the school.
On the edge of the lake where Edgar and his group passed, more fish were jumping from there.
A cat passed by, and when it saw the fish, it immediately ate it.
After just a minute—the cat suddenly vomited. A lot of blood came out of its mouth, and it fell.
The cat trembled until it breathed its last. When its eyes opened, they were bright red, and it suddenly got up.
On the other hand, inside the campus, in the Class F room, Ruth was at the front when she noticed Edgar's absence when her students entered.
"Oh, those kids skipped class again," Ruth said, touching her forehead.
Ruth counted the students at that time because Edgar and the others weren't there.
"Did Joanna come this morning?" the teacher asked, then looked at her logbook.
She checked the attendance that morning.
"Edgar's group, this isn't the first time they skipped class, but Joanna—class! Does anyone know where Joanna is?" the teacher asked. No one answered, and she continued what she was doing.
"Class president?" Ruth said, then looked at Grace Veloso. The girl ignored her and continued reading her book.
After a while, Grace closed her book and looked at her teacher.
"Joanna is a member of the cheering squad, they're probably in the gymnasium now."
Ruth's expression softened slightly after her student answered, as she often felt like air to them. Ruth cleared her throat and thanked Grace.
She continued the class, and while writing on the blackboard, someone passed behind her, then some of the boys threw their bags and shoved each other, a female student bumped into the table after being hit.
"Carmen!"
The table fell, and Carmen fell, but instead of catching the laptop that was about to fall, the teacher immediately helped her student.
"Are you alright!"
The Class F students stopped. Carmen was scared and covered herself, afraid that the teacher would hurt or yell at her.
"Teacher, the laptop broke," one of the students said. Ruth helped Carmen.
"It's okay, it can still be fixed," Ruth said, then held Carmen's arm.
"Are you alright? Do you want to go to the clinic?" Ruth asked. The girl slowly calmed down and looked at the teacher. She didn't see Ruth's anger.
The boys in the classroom looked at each other and sat down one by one. Ruth looked at her class. Everyone was quiet, their gazes fixed on her. They seemed to be sensing her reaction.
But since she was determined to gain the trust of her students, she needed to remain calm, trust them, and approach them carefully.
When Carmen said she was just going to the comfort room, the girl left, and Ruth continued the class, but it was different this time because none of the students were standing. They might still be noisy, but she no longer saw her students chasing each other while she was teaching and throwing things at each other.
For her, that was a bit of an improvement, and she was happy about it.