Plum Blossom
Inertia
Cause as darkness shies away,
The moon packs her bag,
And the stars wave goodbye,
The sun rises with its cloak of amber….
JONATHAN BENJAMIN HIGH SCHOOL was an academy founded by Jonathan Benjamin (obviously!). It was a private school, smacked somewhere in Beverly Hills, California. I guessed there wasn’t any difference between this school and the others in this world. Jon Ben had everything other schools have and probably more. For example:
A) HIERARCHY
You either be popular or be a loser.
B) CAFETERIA
All cafeteria ladies are probably the same; hair with split ends tucked beneath fishnet caps, horrible red lipstick stain on their upper lips and crazy eyes. But you can’t really blame them when they spend all their morning preparing food for ravenous teenagers instead of prepping up. As long as the cafeteria food stays delicious, I think they’re all gorgeous.
C) TESTERONE OVERDOSED MALES
Basketball showoff, idiotic quarterbacks, sexily built swimmers, jocks who think of girls as disposable sex toys. You name them, we have them.
D) FEMALES CLAD IN STILLETOES
Four inch stilettos, microskirts, shirts that barely covers anything, mini dresses, all of them couture; these are the norm of Jon Ben girls.
E) AND OF COURSE, HOT GUYS WHO MAKE YOUR BEST FRIEND DROOL IN CLASS.
Oh! She’s sitting just right next to me. Her name’s Laurelle and I could see slight drool at the corner of her mouth.
Welcome to my school.
“Laurelle! The school was on fire!” I feigned a silent scream.
She finally broke away from her la-la land. “No, it was not!’ she said, eyeing me skeptically.
“Yes, it was! There was fire blazing in the class. You were just too busy daydreaming to realize it before the firemen put the fire out,” I lied.
“You think I would believe that?”
I shook my head. “No, just wanted you to stop ignoring my existence by daydreaming. What were you thinking about?”
“Nothing much,” she muttered as she took out an empty test pad. She picked out a pencil and started sketching a blueprint of a cake. “Just you know… Do you think that Alvin likes chocolate cakes?” Oh… so she was drooling and dreaming about ALVIN.
“How am I supposed to know? I’m not Alvin,” I replied. “Why do you want to know?”
“Well… Valentine is just around the corner so…”
I cut her sentence abruptly, “You do know that you’re talking about the one happens every 14th of Ferburary, right? And by around the corner, could you be talking about the one happening NEXT YEAR?” It was only fall now, so Valentine was… At least 4 months away!
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to have early prep. I’m just asking since you have a class with him.” She answered me casually. As if planning a Valentine four months earlier was nothing out of norm.
“I do have a class with him, but I don’t know him that well. Laurelle, if you want to know, ask him!” Jeez! I’m Ashlyn not Alvin.
“Importas el compartir de tu conversación conmigo, Miss Kate?” (“Would you share your conversation with the class, Miss Kate?”)
“Apesadumbrado, Señor Joshua.” (“Sorry, Sir Joshua.”)
Embarrassed, I sat down hastily after answering. I was missing my ‘R’ in the word ‘apesadumbrado’ and ‘señor’. I hate being half Chinese sometimes! I always had a problem with my R’s.
Laurelle and I did not speak another word to each other after that. I guess we were both afraid of getting caught again.
After Spanish, I took my chance to tackle Laurelle about Alvin. “You’re crushing on Alvin? When Niki first told me about it, I thought she was just trying to pull my leg. I can’t believe a Miss. Perfectionist like you could actually have a crush!”
“I’m not a perfectionist,” she denied only the first fact with a blushing face as she tucked away a stray hair behind her ear.
“How long has it been? A week? A month? A year?” I wiggled my eyebrows playfully at her.
“Quite some time…?” she blushed to a deeper shade of red. “The girls kept complaining about how obvious it was; like sticking up a banner saying ‘I like Alvin’.” She groaned. “I just… think that he’s really cute, that’s all. I don’t think I like him or anything but…” She stopped talking, distracted by something behind me. I raised my eyebrows and turned around to check out whatever drama that unfolded behind my back.
A blond haired boy with sea blue eyes was walking towards us. He wore a Jon Ben green t-shirt and a pair of tight jeans. It was a wonder that he could pull that off with his bulky body. His signature smile and disordered hair were an indication that he was MR. ALVIN JEFFREY CONNOR. But then again, who else would it be, right?
“Hey, Ashlyn!” he called out to me as he got nearer.
“You’re in my Marine Biology class, right?” he asked.
I nodded. That was the only class I had with him.
Alvin’s eyes then brightened up at my reply and his lips twitched into a smile. And I swear I heard someone gasp behind me.
“Cool! Could you partner up with me then since Taylor is absent?”
“Why?” I leaned my head to the right and stared at him, trying to comprehend whatever he was up to. Why me?
“You’re Jessica’s partner right?” I nodded again.
“Well, Taylor said that both he and Jess are participating in a Bio quiz today and teach mentioned something about an important experiment that he’ll be conducting. So I thought we could partner up since we’re both missing a partner,” he explained.
“Oh! Okay then. Why not?” I mean, it wasn’t as if he asked me to join his evil scheme of world domination.
“Ok, see ya!” And he turned, heading to the Bio lab.
I did not need to be Spiderman with eight eyes to know that Laurelle was still behind me. The happy emotions she radiated were almost tangible. I turned my attention back towards her. She was practically glowing; still staring at the blind corner where Alvin had disappeared.
“Stare another moment and I wager a million bucks that your eyes will pop right out!”
She snapped out of it and looked at me instead. “And you said you weren’t close with Alvin?!” Her voice dropped a key or two and she shivered a little when she reached the word ‘Alvin’. I could not help but giggled at her tone.
“Do you think you might take this moment and help me… to ask him...? You know, find out more about him?” she pleaded.
“No way, Laurelle! He’s your guy, catch him yourself.”
“He’s not MY guy, he’s just a… a crush. Oh come on, Ash. Please… Just this once?” She put on her best ‘puppy dog’ look.
“I don’t think I really like him” I repeated her said words with a falsetto voice.
She flushed red once more. “Please…. For the sake of your best friend, Ashie…”
I sighed. “Fine, then.” I’ll just take this as one of the many good deeds to do in life. “Meet me at my house at 5. I’ll fill you up there. But only this once!” I warned her. I didn’t favor the idea of being the middle person between them. I might even get stuck between their tangles!
“Thank you, Ash! Thank you! You’re the best!” And with that, she skipped quickly to her next class with a big grin plastered to her face before I could even change my mind.
I went to my locker, threw my Spanish book in, grabbed my notes with a packet of Chocettes and stuffed them into my jeans-clothed bag. I already had the plan in my head. I just hoped that it wouldn’t be that obvious to him. The school bio lab was located at Block D, which means I will pass Niki’s and Laurelle’s class. Maybe I could wave ‘Hi’ to Niki. I haven’t seen Niki all morning. I wonder if she came to school. I walked a few paces faster; I was going to be late…AGAIN! But, halfway down my path, I slowed down; bothered by an unfathomable fact. I had been so distracted by Laurelle that I overlooked an important point.
Why did Alvin have a sudden interest in having me as his lab partner? Surely there must be other students from my class who participated the bio quiz too, leaving their partners one hand short. So why me? We barely knew each other. If Niki did not tell me about Laurelle’s crush, I wouldn’t even know that he existed! And I bet I was only made conspicuous by my presentation last week about otters –Mr. Raymond had had flu that day and his attempt in calling me up for my presentation ended up with “Ash-*achew*-the-*sniff*-otters”. From the sentence “Ashlyn presenting about the otters”, it turned out to be “Ashlyn the otters”, thus summoning an outburst of laughter from the class. It was very embarrassing! I had been trying to erase the memory all weekend. So then we have the question of the day, why me?
Before I even realized, I was already passing Niki’s class. She was sitting by the door. So, she came! I waved at her. She seemed a little down. It did not surprise me; school life can be downright monotonous at times. Nothing sensational ever happened in Jon Ben.
The moon packs her bag,
And the stars wave goodbye,
The sun rises with its cloak of amber….
JONATHAN BENJAMIN HIGH SCHOOL was an academy founded by Jonathan Benjamin (obviously!). It was a private school, smacked somewhere in Beverly Hills, California. I guessed there wasn’t any difference between this school and the others in this world. Jon Ben had everything other schools have and probably more. For example:
A) HIERARCHY
You either be popular or be a loser.
B) CAFETERIA
All cafeteria ladies are probably the same; hair with split ends tucked beneath fishnet caps, horrible red lipstick stain on their upper lips and crazy eyes. But you can’t really blame them when they spend all their morning preparing food for ravenous teenagers instead of prepping up. As long as the cafeteria food stays delicious, I think they’re all gorgeous.
C) TESTERONE OVERDOSED MALES
Basketball showoff, idiotic quarterbacks, sexily built swimmers, jocks who think of girls as disposable sex toys. You name them, we have them.
D) FEMALES CLAD IN STILLETOES
Four inch stilettos, microskirts, shirts that barely covers anything, mini dresses, all of them couture; these are the norm of Jon Ben girls.
E) AND OF COURSE, HOT GUYS WHO MAKE YOUR BEST FRIEND DROOL IN CLASS.
Oh! She’s sitting just right next to me. Her name’s Laurelle and I could see slight drool at the corner of her mouth.
Welcome to my school.
“Laurelle! The school was on fire!” I feigned a silent scream.
She finally broke away from her la-la land. “No, it was not!’ she said, eyeing me skeptically.
“Yes, it was! There was fire blazing in the class. You were just too busy daydreaming to realize it before the firemen put the fire out,” I lied.
“You think I would believe that?”
I shook my head. “No, just wanted you to stop ignoring my existence by daydreaming. What were you thinking about?”
“Nothing much,” she muttered as she took out an empty test pad. She picked out a pencil and started sketching a blueprint of a cake. “Just you know… Do you think that Alvin likes chocolate cakes?” Oh… so she was drooling and dreaming about ALVIN.
“How am I supposed to know? I’m not Alvin,” I replied. “Why do you want to know?”
“Well… Valentine is just around the corner so…”
I cut her sentence abruptly, “You do know that you’re talking about the one happens every 14th of Ferburary, right? And by around the corner, could you be talking about the one happening NEXT YEAR?” It was only fall now, so Valentine was… At least 4 months away!
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to have early prep. I’m just asking since you have a class with him.” She answered me casually. As if planning a Valentine four months earlier was nothing out of norm.
“I do have a class with him, but I don’t know him that well. Laurelle, if you want to know, ask him!” Jeez! I’m Ashlyn not Alvin.
“Importas el compartir de tu conversación conmigo, Miss Kate?” (“Would you share your conversation with the class, Miss Kate?”)
“Apesadumbrado, Señor Joshua.” (“Sorry, Sir Joshua.”)
Embarrassed, I sat down hastily after answering. I was missing my ‘R’ in the word ‘apesadumbrado’ and ‘señor’. I hate being half Chinese sometimes! I always had a problem with my R’s.
Laurelle and I did not speak another word to each other after that. I guess we were both afraid of getting caught again.
After Spanish, I took my chance to tackle Laurelle about Alvin. “You’re crushing on Alvin? When Niki first told me about it, I thought she was just trying to pull my leg. I can’t believe a Miss. Perfectionist like you could actually have a crush!”
“I’m not a perfectionist,” she denied only the first fact with a blushing face as she tucked away a stray hair behind her ear.
“How long has it been? A week? A month? A year?” I wiggled my eyebrows playfully at her.
“Quite some time…?” she blushed to a deeper shade of red. “The girls kept complaining about how obvious it was; like sticking up a banner saying ‘I like Alvin’.” She groaned. “I just… think that he’s really cute, that’s all. I don’t think I like him or anything but…” She stopped talking, distracted by something behind me. I raised my eyebrows and turned around to check out whatever drama that unfolded behind my back.
A blond haired boy with sea blue eyes was walking towards us. He wore a Jon Ben green t-shirt and a pair of tight jeans. It was a wonder that he could pull that off with his bulky body. His signature smile and disordered hair were an indication that he was MR. ALVIN JEFFREY CONNOR. But then again, who else would it be, right?
“Hey, Ashlyn!” he called out to me as he got nearer.
“You’re in my Marine Biology class, right?” he asked.
I nodded. That was the only class I had with him.
Alvin’s eyes then brightened up at my reply and his lips twitched into a smile. And I swear I heard someone gasp behind me.
“Cool! Could you partner up with me then since Taylor is absent?”
“Why?” I leaned my head to the right and stared at him, trying to comprehend whatever he was up to. Why me?
“You’re Jessica’s partner right?” I nodded again.
“Well, Taylor said that both he and Jess are participating in a Bio quiz today and teach mentioned something about an important experiment that he’ll be conducting. So I thought we could partner up since we’re both missing a partner,” he explained.
“Oh! Okay then. Why not?” I mean, it wasn’t as if he asked me to join his evil scheme of world domination.
“Ok, see ya!” And he turned, heading to the Bio lab.
I did not need to be Spiderman with eight eyes to know that Laurelle was still behind me. The happy emotions she radiated were almost tangible. I turned my attention back towards her. She was practically glowing; still staring at the blind corner where Alvin had disappeared.
“Stare another moment and I wager a million bucks that your eyes will pop right out!”
She snapped out of it and looked at me instead. “And you said you weren’t close with Alvin?!” Her voice dropped a key or two and she shivered a little when she reached the word ‘Alvin’. I could not help but giggled at her tone.
“Do you think you might take this moment and help me… to ask him...? You know, find out more about him?” she pleaded.
“No way, Laurelle! He’s your guy, catch him yourself.”
“He’s not MY guy, he’s just a… a crush. Oh come on, Ash. Please… Just this once?” She put on her best ‘puppy dog’ look.
“I don’t think I really like him” I repeated her said words with a falsetto voice.
She flushed red once more. “Please…. For the sake of your best friend, Ashie…”
I sighed. “Fine, then.” I’ll just take this as one of the many good deeds to do in life. “Meet me at my house at 5. I’ll fill you up there. But only this once!” I warned her. I didn’t favor the idea of being the middle person between them. I might even get stuck between their tangles!
“Thank you, Ash! Thank you! You’re the best!” And with that, she skipped quickly to her next class with a big grin plastered to her face before I could even change my mind.
I went to my locker, threw my Spanish book in, grabbed my notes with a packet of Chocettes and stuffed them into my jeans-clothed bag. I already had the plan in my head. I just hoped that it wouldn’t be that obvious to him. The school bio lab was located at Block D, which means I will pass Niki’s and Laurelle’s class. Maybe I could wave ‘Hi’ to Niki. I haven’t seen Niki all morning. I wonder if she came to school. I walked a few paces faster; I was going to be late…AGAIN! But, halfway down my path, I slowed down; bothered by an unfathomable fact. I had been so distracted by Laurelle that I overlooked an important point.
Why did Alvin have a sudden interest in having me as his lab partner? Surely there must be other students from my class who participated the bio quiz too, leaving their partners one hand short. So why me? We barely knew each other. If Niki did not tell me about Laurelle’s crush, I wouldn’t even know that he existed! And I bet I was only made conspicuous by my presentation last week about otters –Mr. Raymond had had flu that day and his attempt in calling me up for my presentation ended up with “Ash-*achew*-the-*sniff*-otters”. From the sentence “Ashlyn presenting about the otters”, it turned out to be “Ashlyn the otters”, thus summoning an outburst of laughter from the class. It was very embarrassing! I had been trying to erase the memory all weekend. So then we have the question of the day, why me?
Before I even realized, I was already passing Niki’s class. She was sitting by the door. So, she came! I waved at her. She seemed a little down. It did not surprise me; school life can be downright monotonous at times. Nothing sensational ever happened in Jon Ben.