Samantha walks through the gate of the school when Cesar approaches her. Samantha notices and smiles at him.

“Early as always, Cesar.”

“I want to see you early, my love.”

Samantha sighed and said, “I want to tell you something where no one could hear us.”

Cesar’s countenance went downcast and said, “Oh, ok.”

They went somewhere isolated from other people and stood facing each other.

Cesar gestures with his hand and says, “What do you want to talk about?”

Samantha sighs and says, “I don’t want to be a girlfriend with you anymore.”

His countenance is now as when someone squeezed a lemon. But the juice is yet to be secreted.

“I knew it, I knew this would come. Your father knew about me and you are told that you should break up with me.”

And finally, the tears streamed down his face.

Samantha seeing this, says, “Oh, no. You got it all wrong. I don’t want to break up with you, Cesar.”

While wiping his tears off his face, he looks at her and says, “Wait, what?”

“I’m not breaking up with you, but I want to demote our relationship.”

Cesar gives her a confused countenance and says, “What do you mean?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be boyfriend/girlfriend yet, at least after college graduation. But I don’t think you would wait that long for me.”

Cesar smiles at her, a smile that glows like the sun.

“What do you mean I won’t wait for you? I would wait for you even if it means a million years.”

Samantha laughs and says, “Wow, you really want me, huh.”

Cesar looks at her intently and says, “I do really want you, Samantha.”

Samantha blushes and tucks her hair behind her ears.

“Even if you want me, you still have to go through my dad.”

“Oh, ‘the Sniper’. I admire him. I like his style. I assume he wants you to study first before getting into romance.”

“You speak the truth, he just wants me to be undistracted so that I can finish my studies and land a white-collar job devoid of hard labor.”

“I suppose that’s what he wants for you. I don’t want to be a headache to your father and I don’t want to be a distraction to you. I’ll wait for you til the end of days.”

‘Oooh, that’s sweet for him to say that.’

“So, Sam. Shall we get to our class?” Cesar says.

“Samantha smiles glowingly at him and says, “We shall.”

Both of them walked towards their room. As they were walking they were spotted by Justin and Mark behind them. Justin puts his hand on Cesar’s shoulder turning him over and offers a high five. Cesar accepts the invitation with a loud clap. Mark offers Cesar a high five and the latter accepts the offer. He high-fives Mark and puts his arm around him. They then continue walking to their classroom while talking about trivial matters.

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As they arrived at their classroom, their homeroom teacher also came along with them.

“Good morning, Ms. Berido.”

“Good morning, also, class. Be seated for the attendance.”

They were all seated in their armchairs while the teacher called them one by one.

“Mercado.”

“Present.”

‘Hmm, the food is great today. I hope it will be good food every day. But it won’t be any good if it’s gonna be too repetitive, it will be stale or boring,” Mark thought.

Mark sighs, takes out a notebook, and writes on it, “If good things rarely happen, that means your life is perfect. If good things always happen, it won’t be anything special, it would be mediocre.”

“Mr. Mercado, you’re scribbling again in your notebook while I’m speaking here about the transcendent matters. We’re at the interesting part of the Mathematics class and you’re here scribbling every thought that occurs in your head.”

Mark looks at the teacher then back at his notebook and sees, “The life of a lazy person is a desert, the life of the diligent is like a lush garden.”

‘When did I write this? How did I write ten sayings?’

“Mr. Mercado, there’s a time to write and a time to listen to my discussions. This time, it’s time to listen and pay attention to everything I have to say so that you will not fail my class. So, please, for the betterment of your future, pay attention.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience, sir. I won’t do it again.”

“It’s ok, Mr. Mercado. A genius has a lot more on his mind than any average person can handle. I’m talking about you, Mr. Mercado. But do it in a proper place and time where you can have an advantage in everything you have in mind.”

“Thank you for the advice, sir.”

“Duly noted.”

The teacher paces across the front of the room and says, “This Mathematics class may be useful to most of you, but it is very useful to those who are taking engineering. So, listen attentively and learn from my class. Got me?”

The whole class answers, “Yes, sir.”

When the whole morning subjects were done, Samantha, Mark, and Justin went outside the school premises because it was already noon.

Mark glances at Samantha and thinks to himself, “Why is she looking sad today? That’s unlike her.”

Mark says to her, “Where do we eat?”

“I don’t know, Mark. Maybe this time, let’s go to another place for once other than the eatery.”

Justin puts his hand on Mark’s shoulder and says, “Ok, then. We’ll go to the siomai eatery near the bank.”

She looks at him, smiles, and says, “Well, that’s a good idea, Justin.”

“It’s settled then, we’ll go to the siomaian,” Mark says.

They then walked towards the siomai eatery. And as they arrived at the eatery, they ordered their food and sat down at a vacant table.

Samantha says, “Mark, you’ll lead the prayer.”

“Ok.”

They bowed their heads down, clasped their hands, and closed their eyes while Justin made a sign of the cross.

“Lord, we thank and bless you for the food. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

And they said, “Amen.”

They then dug in their food.

While they were eating, Mark said, “Justin, how did Moses make his coffee or even tea?”

“How?”

“Hebrews it.”

Samantha laughed and was almost choked by the food she was eating. Justin looks at her all confused.

“I don’t understand.”

Samantha said, “Because he brews the coffee or tea. He and his people are Hebrew.”

“Ooohhh, I get it,” Justin chuckled. “That’s smart, Mark.”

Mark said to him, “I’ve got another one.”

“What is it?”

“Why can’t Jesus wear jewelry?”

“Why?”

“Because he breaks every chain.”

Samantha then laughed yet again and this time, she was choked by her own food while laughing. She gets her water bottle from her bag and drinks from it.

“That’s really funny, Mark. You got me.”

Justin again looks at her and says, “Again, I don’t understand.”

She says to him, “There’s a Christian song ‘Break Every Chain’. And Jesus can’t wear jewelry because he-.” Before he could finish the sentence she goes on laughing hysterically.

Justin looks at Mark and sees that he’s smiling at her.

“Oh, I get it. Thank you for the joke, Mark. You are a genius.”

Mark says again, “Jesus said to Lazarus, ‘RISE’. Do you know what happened next?”

She says, “What?”

"Jesus shouted, 'Take a bath, you stinky boy!'"

Samantha then bursts out laughing like there’s no tomorrow. Other people in the eatery stare at her like she’s a maniac.

Justin says to him, “Haha, that’s funny, Mark.”

Mark again says, “Isaac said: ‘Don’t we need a ram?’ Then Abraham said: ‘No, we got family.’

Samantha again bursts out laughing and says, “That’s a good Fast and Furious reference, Mark.” Then she proceeds to laugh like a maniac.

Justin looked at her terrified and said to Mark, “Mark, I think that’s enough. You might kill her.”

Mark chuckles, looks at him, and says, “You’re right, I might kill her by making her laugh non-stop.”

Samantha looks at him and says, “Oh, Mark. Those are good jokes you got there.”

“Haha, not too much though. Anyway, let’s finish our food so that we can go back to the school premises.”

“No problem.”