3 Chapter 3: Home Sick

At the start of 6th grade, I'm in a new environment. I'm a 10 yr old city boy who has the thickest accent of a province boy. My new classmates were amazed on how I talk and often times they laugh at me. Yes, I'm already about 5 feet and 3 inches that time (quite big for a kid my age) but still acts as a 7 yr old boy. I just dont care what they say, I dont mind what they think. Im just happy to ask my Mom if she can buy me that Nintendo game and play Mario. My other uncle, Ted, will pick me up on Fridays after school and spend the weekends with my Dad and Grandmom. Sunday afternoon, Mom will pick me up or Uncle Ted will take me back to mom. That is how my life evolved for until I learned to commute by myself. And im not even a teenager yet.

By the age of 10, I already tasted alcohol. My dad is what they call alcoholic and smokes 2 packs of cigarettes daily. One time, he asked me to buy him a pack of cigarette and I tried to light one and I just couldn't stop coughing. Teary eyed too. Since my dad's siblings are all boys, booze are common in our house. Boys night out everyday with them. They let me taste beer with the reason, its always better to learn to drink with family rather than others without consent and guidance. Maybe they are right, maybe they are wrong. Who cares, right? When Christmas and especially, New Year comes, I am always excited. Super excited. Family reunion is a thing for us and seeing them all together, with my Mom there also, was great. My Dad works as a legal arbiter for the province and since he has many connections, fireworks and such are always aplenty with us. They give us so many fireworks for free that they are having a hard time finding what to do to those things. Its like having a fireworks shop in our house during New Year. I would sneak up some firecrackers and give them away to my friends, to look cool of course. Just so you guys know, one of my fears is lighting any kind of firecracker. I'm afraid to use one. I just love looking at those things

I bought 1 bottle of whisky, bought some crackers, and cooked some nasty "sisig" and watched a movie last New Year. My friends from highschool, from Bulacan, Bicol, Cavite, all greeted me and my family with Happy New Year and Merry Christmas quotes (Yes, quotes, with some memes and GIFS) and I blew a horn and jumped a couple of times (Yes, I do that every year since I was s kid) when new year arrived. And I was a little drunk also. That was also the same the past 4 yrs, although with different cracker and finger foods as well. Oh well...

I tried playing basketball in the 6th grade since I love it but I'm not as good as I thought I was. I'm akward. The school still got me to play for the team only because I was a little bigger than my classmates were, but I wasn't good enough to be part of the starting five. I was a bench player. And I'm so homesick. Anyway, the only consolation for me at that time was the Mall, a very big mall at that time, and I was there almost everyday. It's like a 10 minunte drive from our apartment and Mom would always have the time to take me there, and my sister as well whenever she is with us.

But still, whenever I went to the province during weekends, I love the scent and the atmosphere there compared to the busy streets of the city. On my Mom's side, I have 2 boy cousins and they are really doing well in school. In fact, both have academic awards for excellence and they are such good boys. No vices at all. They don't even drink. Maybe because their mom, my Auntie, is a school teacher and a disciplinarian. Who knows, right? Anyway, since I was on my way to 1st year high, where do I want to go? By the way, I forgot to tell you that I may have played the piano well, I'm not good in school. I might be a C+ student, maybe a C- at some subjects. One of my cousin studied at Letran College, a school for boys, and very strict on grades. He also said that if ever I choose his school, he will look after me. It is also located a few meters from my Mom's office.

Steve, my bestfriend, told me that our friends from grade school asks if I would be going back there since there is a basketball team being made by the school. I'm tall and said that my chances to be part of the team might be bigger since we are still growing. Besides, this is my home and my family and friends are here. My friends persuaded me to return but I just realized that who will provide for me when I am here? If I am going to stay here, what will Mom say and feel? Didn't we just went through with that stupid attorney? And also, I just found out something with my Dad which tore my heart into pieces.