Cheater

There are times when three or four hours in one day can seem to be longer than two consecutive days. When you are busy finishing something or chasing deadlines in this hour or the following, you seem to finish and do more things compared to when you're just sitting around at home without any responsibility to finish. You realize you've done more in this busy, time-chasing hour than in the past, do-nothing-but-relax day.

Just a couple of minutes past noon today, my suspicion that the vacation - although I have submitted the final requirement, or so I thought - is not yet officially here (that it might be too early to prance around the house and rejoice) was confirmed.

I was watching TV. Laughing, giggling. Though at the back of my mind something was holding me back, but I was ignoring it.

I took my cellphone from my mini wooden table/stool as if I knew something was to come: a text message or some news. Just in time when I turned the screen to my face, the screen flashed: 1 Message received. So I opened it, and realized it was from my cousin - who is also my classmate.

We live in one home with our granma and her li'l bro. She just left the house this morning for the mall to buy some sort of things.

I sensed an urgent tone as I started reading her message.

She said one of our professors informed her through a text message that another one of our professors was wanting us to submit our project on her subject. We have been ignoring that "recycle" project thing all along, but that was also because we just got too busy before. And we thought it might be too late to submit any project to her now, she might not accept it. Plus we rested on the thought that she wouldn't fail us just because of a little project anyway. Little did we know.

My cousin was told if we weren't able to give any project to her before she encodes the grades, she would fail us. Fail us!? Oh no! My biggest fear!

All this time that project kept on creeping in on my head. And all those times I kept on ignoring it too, thinking it's just a little requirement, and I can get by without submitting any. But I was wrong on thinking I could cheat - or we, me and my cousin/classmate/fellow cheater. Now my red alarm started to resonate throughout my head, and my heart went out of rhythm in anxiety.

Her last words in the text message said she's on her way home and I should prepare myself 'coz we were to go to school, half because we were told to, and half because we should submit our project immediately. Double time!

So I fixed myself. And as I was doing so, I can't get the fear of failing that subject out of my head. It's just unimaginable! I'm almost in a state of panic. My breathing got faster, and I was trying to do my best to calm down and stand with grace under such a rush! I tried to distract myself from my fear to what I could do. I tried to squeeze any idea out of my head of anything recycled but useful that I can make. It turned out, I did what's right.

And so she arrived just when I was almost ready to go. Afterwards, anxious-yet-composed-ly, I started to ask her about the details. What did our professor say? Is there still a chance for us to pass? Will our project be accepted this time, this late? Well... she said that she was told we "might" fail. Whew.. At least I could hold on to that uncertainty and take a chance out of it. At least we had a second (or third, or fourth, I don't know) chance. At least they were concerned to remind us that we should submit a project before we fail the subject, instead of just shocking us with a grim result. They were kind after all. I realized.

And then I got the idea of making a wallet/pouch out of an old, unused, kept-in-the-chest-forever jeans' pocket, something I have considered making some days ago, actually. I know it's kind of silly or cheat-y in some way, but I'm chasing time. There's no time for some recycled fancy decorations or re-invented, improvised innovative office tools now. I just had to do it quick.

When my blue-jeans, mini-handled, white-zippered, superman-logo-shaped wallet-pouch was done - thanks to our ever-helpful, almost all-around home helper who did 90% (or 99) of that - I got relieved. I finally breathed. My cousin also had hers done, although "done" could more appropriately mean something else because hers was jut gotten out of nowhere within the house. She was just so lucky to find something that looked really recycled, and all she had to do was to spruce it up a little bit, some finishing and re-beautifying touches here and there.

It's past three, and amazingly we kind of got it all done within just that span of time. We can still go and take it to school! I thought, if only I knew this would be this easy and simple, we should've not procrastinated on doing this long before! Before all the fear of failing made me anxious to death. Well moving on, when we were good to go, we left the house and took off to school. (Arrgghhh...Of course! What else?)

By the way, her project was something like a little figurine inside a cup-like, net-surrounded, metal string-rimmed, with a hard carton base, hanging object (I don't know how to call it, aside from it was originally made to contain a small candle inside, something like a hanging dim lamp).

As we were walking towards the school after the trip, I didn't really know what to think or what to expect or if I could face our professor. It has been a week since the last time I took that walk, not to mention the jeepney ride before that, but it seemed like a month had passed.

We first headed to the office of our professor who informed my cousin about this whole thing. By the time we were talking to her, she was stern but still friendly to us. I know we were wrong and we were sorry for that. And she was willing to help us on the matter at hand in spite of our irresponsibility. We should be very grateful to her. She told us to give the project to whom we should immediately, and that we must leave our name with it so our-professor-who-requires-the-project would know. I know, and I already did.

Without further ado, we went straight to our-professor-who-requires-the-project's office.

We gathered enough guts and composure before we opened the office door. I felt the cold air released from inside the room, along with its familiar smell. Actually it seemed at that time that someone had just eaten a smelly sandwich inside.. Heheh.. OK, so my cousin/classmate/co-cheater stepped in first, and then I followed.

I was readying myself to talk to her, but as we found out, she (our-professor-who-requires-the-project) has just left less than half an hour ago. Aarrrgghh... We just missed the bus by a split second! We returned, back to our helpful proff's (the one who texted my cousin in the first place) office. She then told us we could leave the projects on her (our-professor-who-requires-the-project) table in the other office. It turned out it was not all a misfortune. We went back to the other office and did so, though I was hoping we got the chance to submit it personally.

Job done.

Before leaving, I asked a favor from "our helpful proff," to inform us for any future update she could tell us about this whole project thing, just so I would stay informed. From her office, I left and took my way towards home, while my cousin stayed for an overnight outing together with others in her organization.

Right now I am hoping the outcome would be in our favor. I think we have big chances of it being so, and I humbly think and know we deserve that.