C50 fifty

"Ms. Yoreh, Ms. Valencia wants you to send the academic assessment files to her email," my co-teacher, Ms. Jean, nervously said.

I rolled my eyes and subtly sighed, "Oh, Ms. Valencia again? She's making things difficult for me. What a pain," I complained, shaking my head.

She acted so unprofessionally! I just don't understand, why? Maybe she's really crazy about Khalil. It's not my fault he's my best friend!

Jean turned away, looking like she's not even a teacher because of how shy and nervous she is around me. As if I'm going to bite her.

"Thanks, Ms. Jean!" I said gratefully.

Some of the other teachers glanced at us.

I don't have many close friends here. I mean, not like Mawi, Angel, and Sadnie.

I shrugged, reminiscing. It's been four years since I returned here to Cavite. We can still video call. Mawi works in Cebu. Angel teaches in Makati. Sadnie is also in Makati. Sometimes they come to visit me at home, but in recent months, it hasn't happened again because of our individual careers.

I slouched and stared into space.

I wonder how Cyrus is doing? Angel told me he already has a child, and it's with the woman we saw. It's good they talked and he seems happy again. Well, I'm happy for him and I'm happy too. That's what I want. For him to be happy because I know from our last conversation that he was also deeply hurt.

"Ms. Yoreh? What? Are you just going to stare into space because you don't have class today? Why don't you just handle what I asked?" Ms. Valencia sarcastically said.

I shot her an annoyed look. She stood with her arms crossed and raised eyebrows, glaring at me. She straightened up before rolling her eyes.

"Edi wow," I murmured.

"What?" she asked sharply.

I sighed, "What your face," I replied unenthusiastically.

She huffed and turned away. I'm already used to her behavior. Such an attitude!

I scanned the entire faculty. Their serious faces indicated they were stressed out about fixing the grades of the troublesome students.

"Where are you going? Are you done, Ms. Yoreh?" Athena asked.

She's also someone I often talk to here. So I smiled at her.

"Not yet, I'm just going to wander around the hallway before my next class," I replied.

She sighed, "Ms. Valencia will scold you again. You know she's so insecure about you," she said worriedly.

"As if I care, just go," I replied nonchalantly before turning away.

I heard some of the teachers chuckle slightly at what I said. I know they're also getting annoyed with her attitude.

"Good Morning,"

"Good Morning, ma'am,"

"Good Morning, Ms."

Students greeted me. Some of them are familiar, but not all, so I just smiled at them.

I sat on the bleachers. Some students glanced at me and greeted me. Have they never seen a teacher sitting on the bleachers before? I shook my head as some students moved away from me. As if I'm going to listen to their conversations.

I don't judge what other students do here. They want to flirt? It's not like I didn't go through that phase to stop them. Be noisy in the hallway? Run around? Fight? It's part of their high school life! As long as they still do their part as students, I'll let them be. Well, it's their life but all I have promised is that through their ups and downs, they can talk to me and ask for my help.

I looked up at the blue sky. I raised my left hand to shield my eyes from the sun's glare. The strong breeze hit my skin along with the swaying of my hair.

Looking up at heaven, I had never done this for about four years again. So here I'm doing it because I'd miss it.

I gently pushed my hair aside and looked at the passing students.

"Sorry, Miss," apologized a shy student.

She stumbled because my foot was blocking her way. I peeked at her face because she seemed to be about to cry. Yeah, she is.

She was about to walk away when I grabbed her by the arm, causing her to stop. She was still looking down, as if avoiding my gaze, even though it was obvious.

I sighed, "Sit," I commanded authoritatively.

She didn't move, so I pulled her down to sit beside me.

"You can talk to me," I said gently.

I fixed her messy hair.

She didn't speak, so I remained silent for a while. If she didn't want to talk, she didn't want to talk to me.

"It's natural," I smiled. "We all have problems for different reasons," I sighed. "Family, friends, financially, love, and so on."

She was still looking down and trembling.

"You can open up to me," I said gently.

She shook her head and still kept her gaze down.

I took the black ponytail holder from my left wrist. I brushed her hair and began tying her long hair. She was still looking down, so I struggled to stand up. I could hear her taking a deep breath repeatedly.

I returned to my seat and tapped her.

"Stone, Are you okay?" a woman asked, approaching us.

It seems like this woman is the one she was talking to, but she ignored her. I looked at the woman who called out, who was now scratching her head.

"Sorry, Miss. I'm Elie. Sorry for her," she said, gesturing to Stone.

I waved my hands like it's okay.