'A' for Effort

"Your professor will not come to class today due to sickness. Kindly place your papers on his desk."

The head of the communication arts faculty arrived ten minutes into class. Once inside, he promptly delivered the sobering news to all of us.

Instead of feeling a sense of excitement, I grew more anxious about my grades. With graduation looming in several months' time, emotional tension and doubt crept onto my face.

It did not help that another class was called off due to a professor's illness. With each free cut came moments of cramming which only made my head hurt.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon. At television production class, I was sitting down motionless and stiff while everyone else was enjoying the time of their lives.

Debbie practiced her singing chops while Ella picked up a new hobby of playing a mobile game. At that moment Michelle started scribbling something on her notebook.

Nobody was bothered about their grades at all. But not me.

At that pivotal moment, Michelle approached me and promptly decided to talk.

"You've been sitting so motionless for a while now," she thoughtfully said. "What's the matter?"

Upon hearing Michelle speak, I stood up and gently stretched my joints.

"It's about the midterm grades," I admitted to Michelle. "All my thoughts were on them."

"Don't worry about it, Christine," she responded. "If you performed admirably and worked hard on every one of them, your grades will be fine. Trust me, we've been through this before."

"Michelle is right," Ella joined in the conversation. "We all earned excellent grades before, so why feel anxious now?"

"Can't you see?" I staunchly shot back at both of them. "Our dear friend Francesca flunked two of her midterm exams. She came to me crying and could not comprehend what just happened."

It was in the heat of the moment that I stopped stretching and stormed out of the classroom. Upon entering the comfort room, I washed my face, looked at the mirror and contemplated on Francesca's fate.

"Christine, can we please talk about this for a moment?" Michelle yelled as she walked to the comfort room.

Michelle loudly called my name a few more times but to no avail. She and Ella eventually returned to the classroom while I continued staring at the mirror.

Walking alone down the hallway, I suddenly bumped into Francesca who was climbing upstairs for her next class.

"Christine, what did you do to your face?" she worriedly said. "Is there something wrong?"

"Francesca, it's about my grades," I informed her. "It will be a huge shame if I failed just like you."

"Hey don't doubt yourself," Francesca gently advised me. "Remember when you advised me that failure happens sometimes and it's best to move on and study harder? In short, stop worrying about your grades."

After that short yet heartfelt conversation, Francesca immediately bid me farewell and moved on to her classroom. Meanwhile, I walked back down the hallway where Michelle and Ella eagerly awaited.

A poignant apology between best friends was followed by a hug and some playful jabs to boot. In a heartbeat I started enjoying college life anew, and all that worry and tension went out in a flurry.

We navigated our way to Makati and spent the night shopping for some new clothes. Michelle and Ella had both submitted the necessary requirements for television and video production, so we waited all weekend for the result.

Back home, Charissa and Clark's cookie business continued to flourish. Thousands of jars were sold in a span of a week which naturally brought smiles to their faces.

However, it became clear that Charissa and Clark were growing extremely tired. So they moved in to Cathy's more spacious house and promptly hired a few employees to shoulder the workload.

Meanwhile, Michelle and Karina stopped by the house for a visit. It was their first trip to Cathy's humble abode since I was nine years old, and a genuine feeling of nostalgia gripped the two.

"Long time no see," Karina said as she gently kissed Cathy on her cheek.

Inside, Michelle and I sampled some of the homemade cookies and were genuinely thrilled by their sweet and chewy taste. Just then, Karina and Cathy arrived and sat down with Charissa and Clark.

"So when will your parents start opening a stall or something?" Michelle questioned. "Your cookies are getting popular and its Facebook page is earning more likes by the minute."

Minutes later, Cathy and company promptly joined us for some amazingly good news.

"Ladies, Charissa and Clark are tremendously excited to open their first stall in Greenhills next weekend," she happily revealed.

"That was great news, mother and father," I proudly commented. "We can't wait for next week."

The next morning at philosophy class, the professor arrived with all the essays on his briefcase. Then as the session commenced, he informed us to get the papers on the desk.

As Claire, Kyla and I looked at the results, we were more than pleased with the turnout of our essays. But that was only the beginning of an awesome week ahead.

Over the next several days, I received exceptionally high marks in my midterm essays. The 'A' grade was all over the place in media ethics, movie production and photography classes.

Even group work in both television and video production was rewarded with a thumbs-up from the professor. Ultimately, hard work always pays off.

Friday morning, Michelle and Kyla were inside the gym putting in some extra shots. Practice had already ended but for my two friends those baskets meant a lot to them.

Michelle and Kyla only had one more week to adequately prepare before a new basketball season arrived. With each swish at the net, they were eager to start off on the right note.

After practice, the three of us went out for some lunch at a Malate restaurant. Michelle and Kyla's stomachs were so empty they embarked on a pair of full-course meals to fill them up again.

When lunch ended, we stopped by a streetball court where a couple of enthusiastic kids played one-on-one. As I looked on, Michelle and Kyla joined in and played with them for a few minutes.

After politely bidding the kids farewell, the three of us headed back home. Little did we knew, the final stretch of this term is upon us.