Chapter 9: Cloud Nine

March started out pretty well with a little speech in my English class. We were asked to prepare for a speech regarding a defining moment in our lives. The very word 'defining moment' already blasted my nerves to one name: Bianca. Cheesy it may seem, it's absolutely true, I swear.

If it was not for Bianca I should have been an extremely good for nothing person by now. My life was a mess and every aspect of it seemed to be going on all directions. I was an absolute pessimist too. So really, I couldn't be any better than the guy right next to you that's been constantly pissing you off.

She served as my inspiration.

It was the 6th of March 2009, a Friday, and I was overly excited for my English class. As usual, it was yet again the highlight of the week as if all subjects were deemed insignificant. I wanted to be the first guy to talk about defining moments. There was a twist though. The night before, Kris and I went to a nearby flower shop called Flowerlics to check for the availability and price of roses. It was a major part of my grand master plan for my speech so I reserved three red roses, with each rose having a specific meaning.

Anyway, after my Science class, I intercepted Mrs. Oblepias some distance from Xavier hall. I rushed from SEC walk because I knew she will be holding a class at Bellarmine hall, the farthest college building around the campus, and that she would be in a hurry too since her class schedule would start 10 minutes just after my Science class. I simply got a permission to execute my ultimate epic win GG-fying tactic after my defining moment speech. After that, I went to Flowerlics with Kris and Jeimi to make the complete payment for the roses and the packaging.

Forward to my English class, I begged ma'am to kindly allow me to speak up first but she gave me the second slot so that I could breath well before the plunge. All that time though, Kris was hiding in the restroom just beside our classroom because I had him hold the roses so that Bianca would not see them coming.

I started out my impromptu in a carefree yet straightforward manner.

"Good afternoon everyone. Well I'm here to talk about my defining moment which is strongly connected to someone special to me, and which I assume you all guys know who..." I eagerly told in front of the class with a smug while looking at Bianca's direction.

I talked about how Bianca was very much influential to my life and how she sculpted my personality into something a lot better. I talked about how she showed me that an intimate attachment to a person could not just exist among family but to the people around you who have always been there for you. I talked about how we got close to one another and how we got to participate in each other's lives (but delved more on mine of course). But the best thing I talked about was the one spur-of-the-moment line I just blurted out towards the end - I don't know how I managed to keep the whole talk consistent, but perhaps I was able to do so because I delivered the speech sincerely and whole-heartedly.

"If she taught me one thing that I can never forget, it has to be dedication. The time I learned that reality, I changed, and from then on was a chain of consecutive defining moments of my life... And oh - before I end this little speech of mine I'd just like to give Ms. Bianca Arcega a little token of appreciation for everything - as my inspiration."

The whole class was like "Wooow!" and everyone seemed to be clapping already. I was afraid too that the noisy boys would initiate another noise party/barrage at the back. I stepped down from the platform and I told ma'am that I'm just going to get my gift from a friend waiting outside the room.

As I passed by Bianca's seat, which was the one by the door, I told her,

"Just you wait," with a smile. Hey, at least I did smile. I never do that.

Out of the classroom I was and at that same moment I saw Kris waiting outside, standing by the wall post near the door. He immediately approached me as soon as he saw me and he handed me the roses. I told him my utmost thanks and he exchanged it with a good luck and a high five. He bid me an "I'll be back" because he still had to do something else for his own ultimate epic win of killer GG tactics. Better ask Jeimi what happened.

When I returned inside the classroom all they needed was a metal band that would play in front because the whole place was a freaggin' moshpit. I asked for a moment of silence though because I needed to tell something to Bianca.

"Bianca, three roses... three words... for everything that you did to me." I moved closer to her, looked at the flowers, and looked back again at her deep, brown, mesmerizing eyes. I continued,

"I..."

The whole place was a moshpit again but the noise faded out as quickly as it came.

"Thank you," I told her with the best of my sincerity. She thanked me after I reached her the roses. Then, I went back up front to conclude my speech.

The class was happy although not satisfied; I don't know why. Perhaps they were expecting an "I love you." Hell yeah I fucking do. But as soon as I took my seat at the back and became baptized by the noisy boys with pats and punches, ma'am told Bianca to tell her speech as a follow-up response to mine. It was funny though because she joked in a way that I'm the one to be blamed because she had to tell hers already.

She told something personal and while delivering it, she cried. Her defining moment pierced through my heart not like a Cupid's arrow but a Herculean spear, that I thought I would not have the strength to bear such pain throughout my life, or if I was in the same situation I would have been a complete mess. But Bianca, oh Bianca, she was able to stand against the test of reality and standing up to it until now.

The moment she took her seat I immediately stood up and went to her, took out a handkerchief I specially prepared for her, and wiped her tears. As I told before, I had good vibes with the future, and this time, I predicted it right that she needed a hanky. I did not wipe her tears earlier because I did not want to interrupt her speech.

I wiped the tears from her right eye first. She then moved her face closer and I wiped her left eye. The next moment she pushed me away and then she laughed really hard. Perhaps she realized that we were still in front of the eyes of the classroom. A clown I was, I still reached her the handkerchief but she kept on casting me away. That was cute of her yet sweet.

When the class was dismissed she went with me, Jeimi and Kris to the NSTP mass at the Church of the Gesu where Jeimi and I had to go. Kris went with us for his GG tactic and Bianca went with us because she thought she needed to. She even told her driver to come to school around 6 pm. She was not required to go to, as she was informed though late, but she came along.

It was kind of funny because she was carrying roses. I told her that I had my own offertory for her. The mass went quite well because we saw some friends there and Martin even sat with us. After the mass, Jeimi and I had to sign for attendance and we made Kris and Bianca wait for the both of us to finish.

When we gathered again, Kris offered to have a fruit shake at Fruitas in the University Dormitory cafeteria but he had to 'get-his-money-at-his-car-so-that-he-would-be-able-to-treat-Jeimi' GG tactic so he tugged her along. Bianca and I went straight to the cafeteria and I ordered a mango banana for me and a watermelon for her.

When the two caught up with us and Kris already made his epic win, Bianca had to leave already because her driver just arrived. I walked her back to Xavier hall where she's supposed to be fetched. The whole time we were walking though, I did the whole talk. I told her that the defining moment speech I gave would be the last of my efforts I would be pitching in for the fate of my first love life. Regrets followed however because I saw her face sad, and it seemed as if she considered the whole deal a painful one for me. I said a goodbye when I closed her car door.

Kevin Pua was sitting at the Xavier hall benches and he saw what happened. Well in fact, he knows everything and anything about my story because he was one of the people I updated the most. I told him the sad farewell I just had, and his main response was,

"What the fuck? Dude..."

Again, he revived my will and my dedication towards Bianca. God, this guy's really an important friend to me because every single time I'm down, he throws me back up to Cloud Nine stability.

I thanked Kevin for that and I returned back to the University Dormitory cafeteria to hang out with Kris and Jeimi. They seemed to be enjoying their time so I sat on another table, leaving them with their moment. I was happy for them. He walked her to the dormitory afterwards.

Kris hung out with me since I wanted to sit on a bench in front of the Church of the Gesu and look upon the cross.

I was thinking. I was on the verge of giving up actually and I don't fucking know why. Pure genius.

Kris gave me a free ride home again.

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