-high school life-

i really miss my childhood days..

early this morning, i received a text message from one of my highschool buddies, Anecita, whom i haven't seen for almost 10 years now.. it always brings a smile to my face whenever i get a message from her.. makes me look back at the years when we were all still innocent and mindless of the chaos and ruckus that was happening around us..

yes, it's been almost 10 years!! so many things had happened since we last held hands during our High School graduation.. i can still feel the tears running down from my eyes when we were singing " I Don't Want You To Go.." and i can still remember the words we said after we got our certificates/diplomas and threw our caps in the air... "Congratulations, graduates, welcome to the real world! Whooo!!"

ahhh... high school life.. you are really missed...

High school life, oh my high school life
ev’ry memory kay ganda
high school days, oh my high school days
are exciting kay saya

yes.. that's a stanza from Sharon Cuneta's song which is about High School... although this song does not actually makes me teary-eyed, there are instances when i stop and think how beautiful, plain and simple my life was... yes, i had beautiful memories of my high school days.. - high scores, crushes & boy-watching, christmas parties, basketballs & cheer leading, extra-curricular activites and the stuffs.... let me further elaborate..

high scores - specially after burning the midnight oil and taking the exam the next day.. i actually believed in the "superstition" that if you put your books and notes underneath your pillows while sleeping, the information contained therein will get through your head and will stick there until you finished taking quizzes.. and i found this quite effective.. (i wonder why, hehehe).. so whenever we had major exams or simple quizzes, i always smiled whenever i hear my name being announced among the top 3 passers... (mayabang ako eh.. hehehe).. usually, it was a tie between Catherine and me on top 1 & 2 and Anecita on top 3.. although we were considered "competitors", the three of us were actually best of friends.. walang plastikan yan!

crushes & boy-watching - these two always come together, right? i admit, i had lots of crushes but not until i was in third year.. (during my freshman and sophomore years, i was a tomboy!).. Catherine (Cat), Anecita (Annie) and I didn't entertain any suitors until we were about to graduate. but we had our lists of crushes and dream boys...

in my case, i had this long-time hidden feeling for one of our classmates (and on a consistent Top 5 rank), who goes by the name, Jhumar... (naku, patay ako nito sa asawa ko pag nabasa nya to, hahaha)... actually, i met Jhumar wayback in elementary, (in 4th grade, to be exact) when we both joined an Oratorical contest.. ( i defeated him on the feat, hehehe) but we were not properly introduced.. we met again on another competition, and another... and another... (essay-writing contest, Quiz Bee, Acceleration exams and group recitals) and sadly, we were still never introduced (pero kabisado na namin ang pangalan ng bawat isa)..

it took me by surprise when i saw him on our first day in high school.. he was seated two chairs away from me, and he looked like Ryan Eigenmann.. it was me who made the first move - introducing myself, that is.. funny how he reacted afterwards.. he said, "kilala na kita, ms claire! nice to meet you" then showed me his gorgeous smile.. i thought he was going to say afterwards, "matagal na kitang crush"... yun pala, he knows my name because he was looking at my ID card.. haynaku! anyway... Jhumar and I got along so well until our 4th year, but nothing blossomed into something magical because he was not infatuated with me.. (pero ako, deep inside, crush ko sya talaga.. haha).. despite our closeness, i didn't take any advantage of the situation, but i took the role of a "bridge" as in "tulay" sa mga niligawan at naging girlfriend nya..." hehehe..

anyway, that was the past.. a beautiful memory that i will always keep in my heart.. Jhumar is now happily married, and so am I, so there's no use to turning back the time.. hehehe.. basta... Jumar, just in case you are reading this, you know who you are and you know what i mean, ok?

there are times may problema ka
kung ang homework left undone
pray ka lang, wag tawagin ka
upang di pagtawanan.

this wasn't exactly a problem to me.. because i loved doing my homeworks (and let others copy them.. hehehe..) i guess, what i can consider as an "ugly memory" is when me and my groupie were confronted by one of the most hated teachers you know who you are! and gashed us out in front of the class, without verifying nor confirming whether her suspicions were accurate or not.. my groupie, which was considered as the Elite Class, were a bit shaken with her attitude towards us, but we fought back and tried everything to clear the reputation that she (teacher terror) had messed up.. even now that we have already graduated and have moved on to separate journeys, my groupie will never forget what she did.. yes, we have forgiven her for being judgmental and all, but will never ever forget what happened...

High school love, my one high school love
not infatuation or crush
tunay ‘to, siya ang buhay ko
di n’yo lang alam ako’y nagba-blush

bakit nga ba ang first love ko
ay di serious, so it seems?
kung alam lang ng first love ko
he is always in my dreams.

this is not true in my case.. although i admit that i did had my first boyfriend during highschool, i still considered our case as an infatuation or puppy love. i did had my share of boylets from my first year till my fourth year.. would you believe that my first kiss was never my first boyfriend?

- first stolen kiss memory was from Dennis - who admitted that he had a crush on me since we were in 2nd year but never seriously courted me because our studies were our top priorities...

-first real bf- Donato

- first crush - Jhumar, as stated above.. hehehe...

- first college dance - Erwin, who was also my neighbour,

- and first admirer - Walter F. from whom i received my very first love letter too, naks! (met him in elementary, actually) oh di ba.. ang haba ng hair ko.. dami kong naging boylets, even if i was once "among the boys".. hehehe..

[refrain]
Ang saya ng high school sev’ral years in my high school
di na mapapantayan
t’yak ganyan ang buhay na sadyang makulay
alaala kailan man.

[coda]
High school life, ba’t ang high school life
ay walang kasing saya
bakit kung graduation na’y
luluha kang talaga?

yeah.. high school life was one of the best times of my life.. until now, i still wish that i could go back to school again, to relive the events that happened.. i still wish to see my groupie - Cat, Annie, Jess, Gie, Rosellie, Jumar - and share tall-tell tales & ghost stories with them.. i still wish to see myself cramming up for a particular project and getting good results upon submission.. i still wish to spend christmas parties with the IV Faith section, sing and dance with them and share secrets about my classmates and not-so-friendsters... i still wish to watch sports like basketball & volleyball and cheer for the varsity team and secretly cheer for the campus MVP..

haaayyy...that's all for now.. i'm still psyched reminiscing high school life.. must wipe my tears now.. be back later.. .