4
The quiet joy that had settled within Jude refused to fade even as the bell rang for the start of their new subject this second final semester.
Jude counted his lucky stars today so far when he found out that he and Jasper were in the same class in several subjects.
The second semester came with a new set of courses and unfamiliar instructors, making the months ahead feel a little more exciting than usual.
As the class was waiting for the new teacher to arrive for Jude’s most anticipated subject, which was Practical Research, he found himself secretly staring at Jasper in silence, absentmindedly resting his chin on his palm.
Jasper sat two rows in front of him, engrossed in a conversation with someone from his circle of friends.
Jude could not help but see hearts dancing all around his head.
Amidst the noise in the room, his attention was still focused on Jasper, but he never made it obvious so that no one would notice his ludicrous obsession.
The thought of the coming weekend lingered in his mind like a math equation he could not wait to solve.
Jude was still in disbelief that Jasper had asked him out.
He was already thinking of what to wear and making sure to set his alarm clock early.
Perhaps he should also get his haircut done or buy a pair of new sneakers since he only had old ones.
Thinking of the preparations for this coming Sunday filled him with great anticipation, and he could not wait for that day to finally come.
Jude snapped away from his imagination when the noises suddenly dropped, chairs were immediately arranged, and students began to take their seats.
He straightened his back and agitatedly held his pen, expecting the teacher’s arrival.
His eyes were averted to the front door, but no professor was coming in.
He glanced over his shoulder in bewilderment, feeling the fluttering hearts that had filled him with happiness moments earlier crack and break apart.
His chest tightened at the mere sight of Sky Granger already seated at the far end of the room, near the windowsill.
His legs crossed, and his gaze fixed keenly on him.
Jude almost choked. He was caught off guard when he met his deadly eyes.
Without another second, he turned his back immediately.
In that glance, Jude noticed the bruises on Sky’s face.
He stared aimlessly at his notebook, his heart sinking as the excitement he had been carrying all morning crumbled into bitter disappointment.
The realization hit him hard.
They were classmates again.
The last time they were in the same class was back in seventh and eighth grade, and his life in those years was on the verge of hell and death. The memories alone were enough to make his chest taut. He was about to cry again.
Lost in his thoughts, now filled with nothing but negativity, Jude failed to notice their teacher’s arrival until the entire class had already completely fallen silent.
She was unfamiliar, clearly new to the school.
She carried herself with a composed yet approachable presence.
Judging by her youthful features and demeanor, he assumed she had only recently begun her teaching career.
She was Asian. He could see it through her brown skin, epicanthic eye folds, low nasal bridge, and dark eyes.
She had brunette hair with square eyeglasses that sat on the bridge of her not-so-pointed nose.
She had a slender frame and stood at around five feet four.
From her appearance alone, he could tell she was beautiful and youthful, likely still in her twenties.
Jude observed her place her bag on the chair before neatly laying her class record on the table. After that, she turned to look at the class with a beautiful, accustomed smile, curved on her thin lips with light pink lipstick drawn flawlessly.
“Good morning, everyone,” she greeted with a smile.
The response was sparse, with only a few voices answering back; Jude was one of them.
“Before anything else, I want to introduce myself. I am Leizel Datahan, twenty-six years old. Obviously, I am your teacher in Practical Research for this semester,” she introduced herself, and her clear and somewhat distinctive accent was somehow soothing in his ears.
“I am a Filipino by blood who dreamt of teaching overseas, and finally, I am here in front of you all,” she said with a quiet sense of pride and a glint of joy in her black eyes.
“It still feels like a dream even now,” She clasped both of her hands and lifted them a little bit, dreamily.
Not long after, she snapped out of her thoughts as she realized her actions and became serious.
“There’s only one thing that I want to request for the whole class before we begin the entire semester that we will be together, and that’s having and maintaining respect with each other.
Respect me as your teacher, and I respect you as my student, as simple as that.
I don’t like students who are impolite and don’t take my class seriously,” she trailed off.
Her tone grew serious as she made it clear that her subject was not one to be taken lightly. Although she was short, the commanding power and authority in her voice were palpable.
“Reminding you that you can’t graduate without passing my subject, and I am very strict when it comes to learning acquisition, especially since this is one of your majors.
I want you all to learn, and I hope you will do your part as a student, because I won’t hesitate to fail you if you’re being neglectful, and speaking of… Mister from the back?”
Then her attention shifted.
“What happened to your face?” she asked, concern and confusion evident as she stepped closer to the center.
Miss Leizel’s hand was tucked into the pocket of her gray blouse, while the other loosely held a red ballpen.
Her sharp gaze remained locked on Sky. Students turned their gazes toward him, but Jude remained still, staring at the surface of his desk with an open notebook that was still empty and a black Titus pen settled above, fighting the urge to shake his head.
“Were you involved in a fight, mister?” she asked earnestly.
A moment of silence, and Jude could already feel the tension in the atmosphere.
“Do you hear me? What happened to your face? I think you should go to the infirmary now.”
“Tsk…” Sky started, and Jude’s heart began to race.
“Excuse me?”
“I said, shut the fuck up,” Sky replied.
Jude flinched at Sky’s response.
“Why do you care?”
“Hey, mind your language!” she raised her voice. “I’m your teacher, of course, I’m concerned about your well-being.” Miss Datahan said, looking at him as though she could not believe what she had just heard.
“Just mind your own business,” Sky answered indifferently.
Jude’s heart lurched at the blatant disrespect. Even for someone like Sky, the response was shocking. A wave of secondhand embarrassment washed over him, yet Sky appeared completely unfazed.
Jude looked at the teacher, who was clearly taken aback at the impudent response, as if it were her first time receiving such a nasty remark from her student, out of concern.
“Is that how you are going to treat your teacher, mister? Do you even know the word respect, or were you not taught about values at home?”
Sky looked at her, and the other side of his lip turned up into a sneer.
“Don’t start preaching to me as if you know me,” Sky said.
Sky’s expression was unreadable, but you could feel the power of contempt.
“You’re being paid to teach, not to lecture me on some fucking values,” Sky said casually, without a hint of fear in his voice, knowing that he was talking to a licensed professional teacher.
Though Jude was well acquainted with Sky’s unworldly attitude, the way he spoke to the instructor still left him stunned and deeply embarrassed. He could not help but wonder if Sky lacked even the slightest sense of decency or the most rudimentary level of respect.
The instructor, visibly shaken, let out a sharp, breathless laugh.
“Wow! Really wow! I didn’t expect to be treated like this on my first day of teaching. I can’t believe this. I find your conduct deeply offensive, in all honesty. After class, I want you to meet and talk to our guidance counse—”
Kring! Kring! Kring!
Just as the conversation grew more heated, the school’s intercom blared throughout the room. The interruption felt like a lifeline to Jude, easing the tight knot in his chest. He quietly exhaled in relief, convinced that the announcement must have been something important.
“Good morning, students and faculty. We apologize for the unexpected interruption. Please be informed that the school will undergo a comprehensive inspection today. As a result, there will be no morning break, and all students are required to remain in their respective classrooms until lunchtime. Access to the dormitories and other school facilities will also be temporarily restricted until five o’clock this afternoon.
We understand that this announcement comes without prior notice and may leave many of you confused or surprised.
Nevertheless, we kindly ask for your patience, understanding, and full cooperation as we address this important matter. Thank you.”
Murmurs and chatter began to spread in the air.
As far as Jude could remember, the last time the school was put under inspection was two years ago because there were reports that someone had brought a gun.
A thorough investigation of the students was conducted, and lockers, dormitories, and other facilities were carefully checked for that hefty matter.
The school even issued a suspension of classes for days.
Yet the controversy remained unsettled, tarnishing the school’s once-pristine reputation.
“Okay, class! Quiet! All ears!” Miss Datahan broke the noise. “We only have less than twenty minutes left, and we will make use of the time to group you up with your research.”
The class continued, and the teacher seemed to have forgotten about the unpleasant encounter between her and Sky.
“This research would only be composed of two. Which means, only by pair,” she declared.
A wave of protests followed.
“I think it’s difficult for us to make our research feasible, ma’am, if we’re just two,” Carolina complained.
Jude’s classmates protested, most especially the boys. Many students were displeased with the idea of working in pairs rather than groups. But the teacher remained firm in her decision, explaining that smaller groups encouraged accountability and profound understanding.
“I don’t want other students to rely mostly on their leader, so it’s better to be this way.
I have experienced it before, and I didn’t like the fact that students couldn’t answer many of the questions in the final defense, and only the leader could.
The fewer, the better. I am final with my decision already, so there’s no more complaining before I change my mind again and make this research individually,” she said with full conviction.
Jude silently agreed.
Unlike the year before, their qualitative research class, with groups of five members each, proved to be anything but an ideal learning experience.
Jude, being the leader as he always was, had his groupmates heavily rely on him, even though he did his best to lead them in the best way he could.
He tried to teach them the proper methodologies and all, but they did not work hard the way he wanted them to learn.
They ignored him most of the time and even bullied him.
In the end, he was the one who had to pull the group through their final defense.
His groupmates struggled to answer even the simplest questions from the panel, despite the fact that he had already prepared mock questionnaires and sample answers for them.
He had handed everything over a week before the defense, hoping they would take the time to practice.
Instead, they simply accepted the materials and left all the responsibility on his shoulders.
“To start with, I’ve heard that the top one last semester is here in this class. May I know where Jude Finn is?” she asked.
Jude nearly jumped at the sudden call. As dozens of eyes turned toward him and a few students pointed him out, heat crept up his face. Unable to bear the attention, he fixed his gaze on his notebook, almost wanting to dive into it and hide there if possible.
“Oh! You’re Jude Finn, no wonder,” she said as she approached. “By the way, Jude Finn and the guy who’s supposed to be the infamous Sky Granger will be partners in the research making,” she announced, with a slight stress on Sky’s name.
Jude’s eardrums seemed to explode at the sudden pronouncement, and he could not hear the rest for a moment. His brain could not process what he had just heard.
“Mi—” Jude raised his head and opened his mouth to object, but she did not give him the chance.
Leizel’s eyes were already on the class record as she continued calling out names and matching students into pairs.
Jude thought he still had lucky stars to count for today, but they became shooting stars and were abruptly gone in the blink of his eye.
“By the way, I forgot one thing for the first pair…” Miss Datahan said in the middle of pairing the others. “Sky Granger is going to be the leader,” she said as she looked at Jude with a smile.