Chapter 2

"T-That is quite the introduction right there, Mr. Esecleus. Well, what a nice name."

It was so awkward. I rushed up to my seat after my embarrassing introduction and avoided as many eyes as possible. Even Ms. Cristina is staring at me. I sneakily glanced at her and saw a smile on her face. No, it's not a smile. She's laughing. Is she laughing at me? Does she think I'm weird too? Haa... I just want to bury myself in the ground.

Everyone here thinks I'm a weird nerd now. How I wish the class would end immediately at the moment.

"Can anyone please define what Ornamental Horticulture is? What is its scope?"

I may know the answer to Prof. Denise's question, but I would rather stay quiet and let the other students answer the question for him. Someone raised a hand in the front row. It was Austin. Cheerily, he stood up and began speaking.

"Okay, Mr. Austin."

"It is a program that focuses on domesticated plants and plant materials used for decorative and recreational applications and prepares individuals to breed, grow, and utilize ornamental plant varieties for commercial and aesthetic purposes."

"Good, good," Prof. Denise said, gently clapping his hands. "You may sit down, Mr. Austin. Okay, what does our subject consists of?"

Someone I don't know raised a hand. Prof. Denise let her speak, and the woman answered.

"Ornamental Horticulture consists of floriculture and landscape horticulture. Each is concerned..."

I checked my phone. Before I went to UNP, my parents listed their cellphone numbers, and I saved those to my new phone provided by the university. I remembered the content of the notice after I enrolled in this school. Before that, only four years of college courses are available in the UNP. Four years of our college life will be spent on this man-made island. We can't leave the school premises, not even once. However, the university still allows communication with our parents to know we are safe and how we are doing.

UNP will provide their students a job after graduating from a good company. In short, after graduation, a job is expected to be given to us. We can also choose which company we want to work at or the workplace we want to go to. I browsed through my messages and saw that my mother had sent me a message. I clicked my message and read its content.

"Dear son, did you safely arrive at your new school? Are you eating properly? Did you make friends yet? How are you doing? Text back when you read this. Iloveyou, from Mom."

It sounded that Prof. Denise started with his lessons, therefore, I put my phone back in my back and quickly listened in on his lesson.

'I will just text Mom back after class.'

"Plant Article Ornamental Plants by Nana Agyekum, Plant Science 211, Fall 2010 of North Dakota State University said that the history of ornamental gardening started at least 4,000 years of human civilization. Egyptian tombs of 1500 BC are some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture and landscape design. It depicts lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms. These are examples of ornamentals."

Prof. Denise pulled down a white paper sheet, showing three pictures of flowers, daffodil, Lilium stargazer lily, and rocky mountain iris. Three different kinds of flowers, one showed such yellowy color, which gives a bright hue to it. Lilium Stargazer Lily, with its strawberry-like appearance, appealed as something edible. But keep it away from your cats, for ingestion could be fatal to them. It can cause symptoms like vomiting, lack of appetite, lethargy, depression, lack of urination caused by kidney failure, and even death.

As for the rocky mountain iris or iris missouriensis, its seeds can be roasted and substitute for coffee. The plant can be a source of food, medicine, and even poison because its roots are poisonous. So, I suggest you don't ingest the roots, only its seeds, okay? Well, the flower is native to North America.

Professor Denise's short introduction about Ornamental Horticulture ended, and he moved on to the topic of his lesson. He pulled down another white sheet and words projects on them. He started reading it out loud. I was amazed when it suddenly zoomed in on the paragraph he was reading.

From a distance, outside the building, we heard a chopper landing on the helipad near the dock. We couldn't exactly see the chopper since we were busy listening to our professor. Well, it's none of our business, so we just kept our eyes on the screen.

On the dock, a chopper had unloaded containers used to keep vaccines at their required temperature. After the pandemic the virus spread out to the entire world, the virus became endemic when the Philippines reached the herd immunity of the vaccinations. Two years ago, the country reached its 95 percent vaccinated population, which was about 190 million individuals after the country reached 200 million overall population.

"Has all of the vitamins and vaccines been transported to the laboratory?"

Wearing a lab coat has grey hair that seemed to shine in the morning light and is commanding the coast guards, this man is in charge of these medicinal goods and government forces. These medicinal goods are to be expected in the UNP since every student had been notified about some booster shot after years of being vaccinated.

"Be careful with those! They are not some common vitamins and vaccines! Those are highly concentrated solutions that are required extreme safekeeping!"

Coast guards transported the containers into the trucks and went on their way. With much gentle care, the government forces delivered the supplies into the laboratory, unloaded the trucks, and moved the medicinal goods into much larger containers, which will maintain the temperature for it not to lose its efficiency.

"Glad those federal nations had finally decided to give us these samples."

"Getting our hands on these samples isn't easy, though. We had to ensure extreme precautions."

***

Our first subject ended up pretty quick than I expected. Time really does fly when you have a lot of things going on your mind. Losing track of time isn't really at all, though. You could miss an important part of something like that if you keep dozing off. Man, you gotta touch some grass, and so do I!

"The class had just ended, everyone."

A man just came inside the class, wearing a lab coat, protected by the coast guards wearing their uniforms. Of course, everyone seemed intimidated with all the rifles hanging around their bodies, so the man had them wait outside.

Questions popped up in our minds or just mine, I guess. Things like, is he an important person from the government? How come I don't know him if he is? Is he a professor here? That kinda question. Well, we just have to wait for what he is gonna say for answers.

The man stood in the podium and spoke, all dignified: "Hello, dear students of BSCFL, (Bachelor in Science in Floriculture and Landscaping) I, Dr. Rafael Flores, have come here in your second subject professor, Walter Cruz, stead."

Dr. Flores motioned to the coast guards and continued speaking.

"Today, on the very first day of your college life, we will conduct a mandatory vaccination for everyone. Worry not," he said, showing us his index finger with a half-smile on his face, raising one eyebrow on us. "The government had sent the UNP enough supplies for every student. The school director wants the vaccination to be done by this day, and we just arrived, so we will start with your class."

Students raised their hands, and Dr. Flores picked one among them. Well, if it wasn't the rising star of our classroom, Austin.

"What about those who are drug allergic?"

"Anyone who has medicine allergy shouldn't worry. The vaccines contain vitamins and other natural supplements, which come from natural ingredients, so it has no drugs in them. The FDA had 99.9 percent proven and tested the vaccine, and there are barely any adverse reactions or side effects. Also, the vaccine comes with a booster shot to boost your immunity. If you guys are doubting the safety of the vaccines, worried about your health, then you guys are free to watch first and see for yourself whether the vaccines are good or have side effects."

Another one raised her hand, and she gained permission to ask.

"Is this booster shot somehow related to the pandemic that happened 5 years ago?"

"Spot on!"

Dr. Flores cheerfully pointed his index finger towards the woman, and she sat down.

"I will explain the other details as we proceed to the vaccination room."

As we walked our path to the gym, Dr. Flores began explaining why it is important to get vaccinated and have another booster shot after a few years.

"Everyone knows the federal nations, right? They are the founder of these magnificent vitamins that not just boost a person's immunity but also have the possibility of killing premature cancer cells. By cancer cells, I mean every cancer cell there is. But take note, it's just a possibility, okay? I am not saying that if you ever have cancer cells and you get vaccinated with these vitamins, your cancer cells will be diminished until it completely disappears."

"Then what is the probability of this possibility happening, Doctor?"

From what I can remember, his name is Jarvan Alarcon. I bet he is the same type as me, although he does not look like a victim of bullying. A nerd. He fixed his glasses were resting on the ridge of his nose, and for a split moment, I noticed that he made a grin on his face, a grin that disappeared as soon as I blinked, or am I imagining things. Did he notice that I was looking at him?

"The probability is around 33 percent, which is the highest possible so far, considering the vitamins just contain natural ingredients. It will bring no harm to the body but helps boost your immunity. It's a safety precaution in case another pandemic might break out. After that incident, losing hundreds of thousands of lives, the government learned a lot from it and wished to provide a healthy and safe environment to its people."

The doctor opened the door to the school gym, people wearing medical equipment waiting for the vaccination to start greeted the doctor. I guess he is a popular doctor?

We fall in line, given a sheet of paper we should write our personal information and sign. I wrote down my name, birthplace, birthdate, how old I am, and other personal stuff.

[The University of the New Philippines had agreed upon the vaccination of our students on behalf of the whole school faculty, Dr. Rafael Flores will lead the procedures. If students feel any symptoms after getting vaccinated, the school will be deemed liable for the adverse effects of the vaccines. But we assure everyone regarding the safety of the vaccine, which underwent clinical trials and is finally completed after two years of countless tests.]

[Signature over printed name]

I read the whole context, and nothing seemed strange, so I signed the paper and submitted it. Those who finished signing their papers proceeded to step 2. There are other doctors aside from Dr. Flores. They are asking questions about our health background if we have past diseases or illnesses. Since I am a healthy young man, my interview ended pretty quickly.

I then proceeded to step 3, which checks our blood pressure, making sure that we are not low or high on blood because Dr. Flores said it might trigger an adverse effect but the possibility of it happening is very low about 5 percent. I can say that I am in pretty good shape despite being a bit thin. Also, when I enrolled, we were told to have our blood pressure checked, and it came out pretty normal.

"You're quite thin, boy," spoke the doctor, checking my blood pressure. He

saw that my arm does not have that much fat in them when he had a closer look at me. "Make sure you eat a lot of protein, vegetables, and fruits. The vaccine we will inject you will help every student boost their immunity and help with their physical growth. Okay, you're good to go."

I stood up and went to have my vaccine. The vaccinator had me sit down on a chair and relax. Around me, my classmates, those who went first before me, had their arms got pierced by a long needle. I could see their face twisting in pain, some biting their lips to suppress their emotion, and some of them acting like nothing happened, totally cool about it.

It seems that everywhere I go, I am bound to be in the same place as Ms. Cristina, considering how she is approaching a couple of chairs in my direction. Well, I can't blame her since she was just told to go here.

She smiled at me as she sat down. I lightly bowed my head not to look rude when all she is just being friendly.

"Ah, I am so nervous," she suddenly spoke next to me, fanning herself with both of her hands, blowing using her mouth.

She is slightly sweating signs that she really is nervous about getting vaccinated.

I read that talking to someone relieves someone of their nervousness, therefore, talking to her might gradually calm her down. But... What should I say to her? There's no point in racking my brain, so let's just talk to her, Esecleus.

I took a deep breath before speaking to her, making sure I'm not too

close when I open my mouth.

"Haven't you had vaccines in the past? You know, those shots to fight the

viruses spread across the world."

Ms. Cristina caught me off guard earlier with her sweaty look, also offering me a drink she had already drunk in got me all flustered. Talking to her right now won't be made me stutter like earlier because I am now composed and in my coolheaded bearing.

The surprised look on her face when she heard spoke straight without stuttering almost made me chuckle. Now I caught her off-guard.

"I'm afraid of needles, so even if I had vaccines in the past, I would always be anxious."

Someone's coming with a smile on his face. It was Austin. Seeing him smile all the time, I can't help but think that there is something strange with him. A feeling I can't shake off whenever I see him, it goes the same with Ms. Cristina. For me, they are both strange.

Anyways, I just went back and mind my own business when Austin sat down beside Ms. Cristina.

"Hello, Cristina, right?" he said before he sat down on a vacant chair.

Ms. Cristina immediately wiped off her sweating hands with her handkerchief and shook Austin's hand.

"Yeah, and you are Austin? Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure, Cristina."

Austin then turned to look at me, who decided to play a game on my phone.

"And you are Ese— Eseclaus? Sorry, I could not really understand what you said on the podium earlier."

He has this sorry look on his face, scratching his head after being unable to say my name correctly.

"It's Esecleus." I corrected, still not turning to look back at Austin, tapping on my phone's screen.

I did not notice that Austin extended his right hand after he correctly said my name for the second time, not until Ms. Cristina sneakily jogged me with her elbow.

With that, I instantly looked at her, not at Austin, and saw her pouting to her side. Then I just noticed Austin's right hand waiting to get reached.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice. Nice to meet you."

I put down my phone and immediately stood up and reached for his hand.

"Uh, no, don't be. Anyways, it's a pleasure, Esecleus."

***

The spot where that long terrifying needle pierce my skin still aches, and it feels like my left arm is numb. You know that feeling after raising something for quite some time? That numbness in your muscles, that's what I am feeling at the moment, although I don't feel anything besides that.

Ms. Cristina, on the other hand, when it was her turn, I saw her squirmed, teary-eyed as she forcibly suppressed herself from screaming from all the pain.

Then there's Austin, who brushed it off like it's nothing. Stood up from his seat and went into the waiting area. Vaccinators will observe whether there is an adverse effect or not on a student after getting vaccinated. So far, none has been reported of having side effects, which was very relieving for Dr. Flores and his assistants and co-doctors

The vaccination process ended pretty quickly without any reports of adverse effects on students, which was very much reassuring on both sides.

We went back to our classroom and continued with our class. We had lunch after an hour of our second subject, then resumed our class after an hour, just like the first professor, the second, and other professors showed themselves on screen. Our class had a simple introduction, every single subject, which I hate the most. The embarrassment I had when I choke in the middle of my introduction. Everyone laughed, and I had to burrow my face on my arm the entire subject.

My first day in college, overall, ended pretty bad. People will remember that one mistake you did, a thing that will remind them of who you are whenever they ask who is this Esecleus? Oh, that guy who choked when he was about to introduce himself! He's hilarious!

Right now, I am on my way to the men's dorm, walking alone in this dark path. I checked the time, and it was already 8:45 o'clock in the evening, only 15 minutes away from curfew hours. I had to buy some kitchen tools, daily necessities, other kinds of stuff. Here I am, carrying two bags of things I bought, walking in this bricked path towards the dorm.

One wild breeze blew upon me, giving me chills that ran a course in my whole body. The quietness of my surroundings made me hum to break the stillness of the night. As I was humming, I stopped under a streetlight, the bulb glowing yellowy above me.

"Is someone following me?" I mumbled, suppressing the urge to look back.

I was about to take a step forward and continue on my small walk when I heard the bushes rustled like someone just ran past them with hustle, and this instance made me swing my gaze towards the direction. Oh, I was in this mini-park where I sat earlier on a bench to rest.

"Who's there?" I asked, hesitant to move from my location to the direction where I heard the rustling of bushes.

Dude, it ain't a knock-knock, okay?

I would be so relieved if only someone answered my question and revealed whoever ran in that direction. But none answered, which started to make me feel a bit scared.

'It might be some animal?' I thought to myself to not scare myself any more than I already am.

When no one answered after waiting for a minute or so for a response, I began on my path, taking wide steps to quickly get away from there when all of a sudden several more rustling echoed in my ear. That's not all.

There came another type of terrifying sound. I heard screeching and clicking of the tongue that made me sprint off like a madman terrified for his life.

"I could still hear the screeching! Are they following me?!"

I did not look back. I just ran and ran, even though I was running out of breath, until I reached the dorm's main door, fumbled in my pocket, pulled out my phone, and scanned it on the security to open the door.

Students were taking their sweet time chatting in the lounge. I tried to calm myself, wiping off my sweat using my forearm.

They looked at me, wondering why I was in a hurry, all sweaty and out of breath, looking like someone who had seen a ghost.

And, thus another embarrassing moment of my first added to my memory

but this never got on my head, for I was still thinking what the hell was that!

~