"...and that's why I love this batch." Christy concluded. She sat down while we applauded her. 

All eyes looked at me for I was the next speaker. 

I stood up and just walked to the center of the room. I'm nervous. I don't know what to say. I'm gonna puke. Nope, yeah, uh, no. I just burped. I opened my eyes as I faced them and began speaking.

"So, yeah. Our batch. Amazing." I started. I could see Vince and Denver chuckling at the back of the room because of my awkward introduction which got them a death glare from me and stopped them. I took a deep breath and continued, "Honestly, I never really liked any of you from the moment I saw you in 7th grade. I always judged you as people who were hungry for grades and leeches of fun but I was wrong. All of you proved me wrong. I must admit, some of you are grade hogs but I still kinda love you. Kinda. Hmm. What do I say? You're the best classmates, no, friends ever! If I were to compare my elementary days with my high school days, wow. I'd have to pick high school! You've given me friendship that none of my elementary classmates, except the ones who are still my classmates, could ever fill. And actually, I love this batch. I love this school year. This is the school year where God has given us Ma'am Jean. She has thought us all about God which caused us to change for the better. It is evident in the room. I myself have reduced my cursing as most of you did. We have an even tighter relationship as a family because of God. And of course, I have to thank Ma'am Callister, our adviser, because ma'am, you are the most bomb adviser we ever had! Thank you for the love ma'am! And to all of you, let us continue walking down the path of Jesus. We've started now and let us never turn back. Ever." I concluded.

I swear I felt a tear flow down my cheek at my last statement. All were speechless as I sat down, the applause was delayed for a couple of seconds.

"Okay, class! It's gift giving time!" Ma'am Callister announced. 

It's time.

Time for what? Oh, for Vince to open his gift. As I said, I picked Vince. Let me tell you the story of my gift preparation:

So ma'am Callister told us that we had a day of preliminary gift giving for the ones we have picked and the theme of that gift thing is "memorable" which means that our gifts should be memorable and should still not reveal our true identities. 

The night before, I thought of giving him a jar of bible verses along with notes coming from our classmates. Before I got their messages, I made them promise to not spill my identity. And they all agreed. Of course, I put my own note in there for secrecy. 

I was excused from my classes on that day because I was with Andrew and Ivory. We went to our house and cooked for the Christmas party so I wasn't able to be there to see his reaction when he opened my gift. I got Denver to tell me his reaction.

When I arrived at school (which was basically when almost everyone went home), I looked for Denver which thank God was waiting for me inside the room. Vince went home so talking to Denver won't be a problem.

I ran to him and sat beside him. "So what was his reaction?" I asked. His face tells me he has some bad news. Now, I'm concerned. "Uhm, bro. He was fuming mad." he said sadly. And this got me shocked. "Wh-Why?"

"Well, some of our classmates carried the gift basket and played with it. It hit the floor countless times. We tried to stop them without saying that there's something fragile but you know them. They're huge imbeciles. That's why when Ma'am Callister told us to open our gifts, he was fuming mad for he found the jar in shattered pieces. You wouldn't believe the curse words he just shouted at that time. He said that the gift was priceless and was unworthy of being broken. I swear he went home stomping his feet." he said with a gloom face.

I was angry with my classmates myself. It's true. They're imbeciles; idiots even. How could they play around with the basket and not have a clue that something just shattered? And that's when I thought of giving him another jar to come with the gift.

Given that I haven't seen his wishlist because seriously he never posted his wishlist on the board at the back of the room. Having reminded of that, I hurriedly went to the board and searched for his name. And there it was in the top right corner of the board covered with velvet fabric. 

I couldn't believe his wishlist. I expected something grand or even rare to find. But all that's included in his wishlist was just money. MONEY.

That's when I got the perfect idea to plot some kind of a game for him to obtain his money.

And that leads us to today. I wrapped three 100 pesos in three different pieces of paper with an attached note at the back. It would be boring if he'll just open the pouch to see the money in there, right? That's why he needs to find it!

And as I'm sitting on my seat, I looked at Vince. I didn't get my gift under the Christmas tree yet. But he did and his reaction was priceless. Vince is lazy, especially when he has to search for something but it's money so he doesn't have a choice.

The first pouch was hidden behind our bulletin board. And here was the clue that was under the Christmas tree:

Updates, homework, event dates. Where to look? I currently have the month of December and I'm not a calendar. First pouch is behind me! See you there, Vince!

Upon reading, he searched through the room. I laughed when he approached Karina for the pouch. Hahahaha! Karina is the one who gives the updates and posts the homework so it's no question that he'd approach her. My mistake was that I didn't specify if it was a thing or a person. I can be pretty stupid sometimes.

I looked at them and I just can't handle their conversation! 

"Karina! Where is the pouch?" he asked. Karina looked at him in irritation and said "What pouch? As far as I'm concerned, I haven't seen pouches in these parts!"

"Well, what is this then?" Vince showed her the note and she laughed. "Are you freaking serious? It's the bulletin board!" she yelled. Vince laughed along as he was hit with realization. He then rushed to the bulletin board which hid the first pouch. Of course, there's another clue attached to it. I watched as he read it when suddenly...

"Gray! Here's your gift! Yours is the only gift that's left there! Not that I was the one who gave this to you but I figured I'd just give it to you!" Julia said with a smile while handing me her gift. Yes, I know. Julia picked me. She's so obvious that she just blew it. "Oh, thank you!" I said tucking in the gift bag.

"You're not gonna open it?" she asked with her lips pouted. I sighed and opened the bag. It was a shirt that I loved seeing back at my favorite shop. I included it in my wishlist. It was red with lots of geometric designs imprinted on it. I just found it cute. Hahaha. Yes, men say cute.

"Oh my, wow! Thanks to the one who gave it to me! This is amazing!" I yelled and her face brightened up. She walked away and I returned the shirt to the bag. When I lifted head, I was surprised to see Vince in front of me eyeing me suspiciously.

"What's up?" I asked.

He held the note for the second pouch and said "Gray, I know."

Oh no. Busted.

================================

I have awful bad news. 

There won't be an update on Friday and next Tuesday. I have to write the chapters I haven't got the chance to write while at camp and I'm currently rushing through school work. But rest assured, regular update schedule will be followed after the delay. I am so sorry.

Anyway, I hope that you have a victorious day!

God bless you :)