How's it going? How was your week? Mine was great! I finally finished my exams, and now I have some free time, so let's get started with today's chapter.
Most kids don't feel like going back to school; in fact, many even skip the first week. But it wasn't like that for me, because my mother was quite strict and wouldn't let me miss a single day.
THE END OF VACATION AND THE RETURN TO CHICLAYO
Vacation ended, and we finally returned to Chiclayo. I remember sleeping peacefully in my room until I suddenly jumped out of bed.
ME: "No! I have to be at school in 30 minutes… wait, 30 minutes! Mom, I'm late! Why didn't you wake me up?" MOTHER: "Angelo, today is Sunday." ME: "Oh… right. Yeah."
After that scare, I had to clean my room and the living room too (for being a "comedian" and waking her up like that). After finishing my chores, I went back to sleep. I was having a very peaceful dream: "The sheep's fur is so soft... it was such a good idea to come to Sinchi Roca Park..."
Suddenly, a shout ripped me away from my peace. MOTHER: "ANGELO... ANGELO... ANGELO!" ME: "Ah! What happened?" MOTHER: "Come have breakfast and get your things ready for tomorrow. Classes officially start!" ME: "No... it was just a dream... tomorrow is actually school."
THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
ME: "Okay, today is the day (I check the calendar). Yes, classes start today. What time is it?" I look at the clock and panic. ME: "What!? It's 7:00 AM? I only have 30 minutes, and the school is 15 minutes away. Ahhh, I have no time! Mom, why didn't you wake me up!"
I ran to her room and saw her still in bed. ME: "Mom! You're still asleep and I'm late!" MOTHER: "What? Today isn't Sunday?"
She jumped up, checked the time and the calendar, and looked shocked. MOTHER: "Quick, hurry up! You only have 10 minutes!" ME: "No! I'm already late on the first day!"
I got to school, and since I was late, I had to stay outside and wait for the morning assembly to finish. Since it was the first day, the teachers and the principal took longer than usual with their speeches. Well, at least I skipped the assembly, though my feet hurt for the rest of the day from standing there waiting.
ME: "Finally, it's over. But now, where is my classroom?"
Since everyone had already gone inside, all the doors were closed. I had to go knocking from door to door. I only knew my section was "A," but since the doors only had the letter "A" and not the grade, I knocked on three wrong doors. On the last one, I finally found my classroom.
By the time I walked in, everyone had already introduced themselves to the class. But just as I entered, another boy came running in behind me; when he got closer, I saw it was Keiko, a friend from last year.
ME: "Keiko! You're here! I didn't think you'd be in this class." KEIKO: "My name isn't Keiko, it's Jaiko... and yes, I'm back." ME: "It sounds the same, but I'm glad to see you again."
MISS CRISTINA: "How nice, are you two finished with your chat?" US: "Sorry, Miss, it's just that we haven't seen each other since last year." MISS: "Alright, come in and introduce yourselves to your classmates."
When I walked into the room, my eyes went wide: I saw Dina. I couldn't believe it. After what happened last year and especially because she had said goodbye to Sayuri, I thought she would move to another school. I won't deny it—I really wanted to go up to her and talk, but my subconscious, or something inside my mind, made me pull away. It's that feeling where you want to get closer to someone, but you end up walking the other way.
(I don't think I'm the only one this has happened to. Ever since my accident, I haven't been the same).
So, after introducing myself to the whole class, I decided I was going to approach Dina, but I had that weird feeling again and moved away. I headed to the corner of the room, saw my friend Samir, and sat next to him. The whole class went on as usual, but every so often, I felt Dina turning to look at me. I pretended not to notice so our eyes wouldn't meet and make things feel awkward between us.
Recess came. I remember there was one minute left before the bell, and most of the class was already standing up, since almost everyone was from last year, except for two new kids: Cristian and Yomar.
At one point, when I was alone in the corner, Dina finally approached me and said: DINA: "Angelo, yesterday six kittens were born from my cat at home."
In that moment, due to my pride and a lingering anger from the previous year, I said absolutely nothing to her. The bell rang, I walked away and acted like I was ignoring her completely.
(I think she got very sad after that. It wasn't until I started high school that I realized how foolish I had been to let those emotions take over. I regret it deeply; that feeling of guilt consumes me to this day. I feel like my whole time in elementary school could have been different if I had just asked for forgiveness and reconciled with her in that moment).
After leaving the room, I went to play with my friends for an hour of recess, then we went back to class, and finally, it was time to go home. The days went by like that, until an incident occurred.
THE INCIDENT AT SCHOOL
Yomar was a very problematic kid—talkative, he had a stutter, and he was dark-skinned. (It's not that I'm racist, but you always hear stereotypes about them that are usually wrong, but in this case, unfortunately, they fit). I remember Yomar was the most hated in class because, besides his stutter, he was always looking for a fight. This made most of the students not want to talk to him because of his bad behavior.
But there was one time when one of my classmates, Tino, wanted to reach out to Yomar and give him a chance to fit in. Tino, who would later become my great friend, invited him to play a match. Boy, did Yomar know how to play, but he played a bit dirty, pushing everyone else on the field. I just watched from afar since I'm not very good at football (soccer).
Later, I saw Tino call Yomar out for his playing style, and Yomar acted like he was backing off. When the match ended, I think we were in PE class. Since everyone was very hot (the sun in Chiclayo is very strong), everyone went to the sinks in the bathrooms to freshen up. The PE teacher stayed on the patio.
When Tino was alone or a bit far from the others, Yomar approached him stealthily. While Tino was leaning down to drink water, Yomar violently slammed his mouth against the metal faucet. We all suddenly heard someone crying. When we ran to see, we found that Yomar had hit Tino with the faucet. According to what Tino told us later, Yomar told him he did it because Tino had called him out during the game.
The bad part was that, in the end, when they told the teacher, she just made them hug and apologize. This "forced apology" method isn't good; instead of talking through the root of the problem, it's just avoided by giving a hug. This solves nothing and makes the bully think that if he does it again, nothing serious will happen.
HE BULLIED ME
Weeks passed after that incident. One day, inside the classroom while the teacher stepped out for a moment, Yomar started bothering Samir. Since the teacher wasn't there, Yomar came over to me and hit me. Unlike a boy named David with whom I actually reached an agreement (and David was smaller and weaker than Yomar), Yomar hit me in the stomach with such force that it made me cry from the pain.
Immediately, several classmates—if not everyone—took my side, especially Dina. That really surprised me, because I thought that after ignoring her, she wouldn't approach me again. But when you create a strong connection with someone, it's very hard to break it; unfortunately, that's something I would understand far too late. Since Yomar needed to be stopped immediately, the incident was reported, and he was finally sanctioned.
THE FOOD PRESENTATION
One day, the teacher told us to bring a lunchbox and present it to the class. I remember that a few months back, a neighbor had rented a space to a baker right next to my house. This baker had a son named Dany, who quickly became my friend since we lived wall-to-wall. Dany went to the same school as me.
The day of the presentation arrived. Dina presented her fruit salad; others talked about potatoes with cheese or oatmeal with bread. When my turn came, I said it like this:
ME: "Classmates, I've brought fried plantains with bread and cheese. This dish is prepared like this: you take the bread, the fried plantains, and the cheese, you put it all together... and you eat it!"
Then I invited my friends to try some. Next was Dany's turn. He had brought avocado with bread, but since he didn't put lemon on the avocado, it had turned black and oxidized. In the end, when he took a bite in front of everyone, he had to vomit because it tasted and smelled disgusting. Then recess came, and we all went out to play.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It took me a while to bring it to you because I was very busy with my studies.
Next chapter: THE PARTY