ROBERT

Well, it’s that time of the year again: the first Monday of September. The day when we always regretted wasting three months of freedom from teachers and homework doing nothing remarkable - especially this year, because summer was particularly awful for me. But look on the bright side; it made me glad that I’m back in this bloody golden cage!

To be honest, I’m getting really sick of this bloody pricey school. Most of ‘em fucktards thought they’re bloody special, but strip them off their parents’ ridiculous wealth and they’re pretty much nothing but a bunch of ungrateful spoiled brats! Wish I could go to another school in another country and get to experience something new, but my parents would never let me - pretty sure the reasons weren’t educational matters.

Y’see, Sterling isn’t the type of school who will let you enroll just because you can afford it; you’ll have to stand out among hundreds of candidates from prestigious families coming from all sides of the planet. My parents considered my enrollment success to Sterling was a miracle back then, but I’m not sure if the selections were as difficult as it was nowadays - my three dumb sisters managed to enroll smoothly four years ago, and everyone found it hard to believe that one of our aunts accused my father that he bribed the school. But even the most insane people knew that it’s impossible - The Royal Family of Anglova highly frowned upon bribery, and any forms of corruption is punishable by death in this country.

One thing that bugged my mind though, since my sisters managed to get into Sterling, the number of bloody rich idiots in Sterling seems to increase significantly. So...I’m not really sure if there really was no bribery involved in some sort; I know firsthand how dirty Anglovan aristocrat societies could be when they’re trying to jump amongst the loopholes of the law.

After I got off from the car, I quickly separated myself from my annoying sisters and made my way through the flock of students coming from different nations and backgrounds making their way to their new classes. My ears were still ringing thanks to those three bloody chipmunks arguing about whose mixtape should be played on the car radio while we’re on the way to school. Bollocks, why was I so stupid to leave my Walkman on my bed before I go?

Well, at least I got a separate car and chauffeur to go home with starting today, since the junior high students were dismissed far more quickly than the high schoolers. My sisters couldn’t afford to wait for me because by the time I got out of school, they already have tutoring sessions with Cambridge University professors at home.

Ah, the perks of being in high school!

When I arrived at the high school building, the lobby was packed with people. It’s still quite early, but it’s always like this every bloody year. Everyone would gather in front of the The Board – a three-meters-long corkboard that stretches out right in the middle of the lobby that displays important notices, features, and school news from time to time. At this particular time of the year, the board displayed a long list of names and classes, and who would be the homeroom teacher.

I’m actually pretty sure which class I’d be in, but I’m still checking the board just to make sure...

Didn’t took me too long to find out which class I’m in, since each year level only have three classes with a maximum of thirty students. And just as I thought, I’m a Prodigium once again – seven years in a row! No need to look much longer in to the list to check who’ll be my classmate and such, as I’ve seen familiar names when I skimmed through the row to find my name.

In Sterling, ninth grade was considered as the determining year to see where do you really belong because class transfers rarely happened anymore during the last three years of school, and to have the same classmates for more than seven years in Sterling is completely normal; it’s not because the teachers were too lazy to make student rotations, but Sterling got its own class division system. Each student will be assigned to either Prodigium, Academicus, or Ingeniosus Class – where you’ll end up depends on the evaluation test results that you take before you enroll to the school, and will be repeated annually before summer break to determine whether you can still keep up in your current class category or not.

“Rob!”

I turned around and saw my two buddies from Ingeniosus class – Dave and Jim. The two quickly tackled me with bear hugs and noogies.

Still squeezing me between his arms, Dave asked me with his booming voice. “The hell you’ve been all summer, Rob?”

Oh, here we go - the summer holiday question. I didn’t know what to say. I’m really glad to see my friends, but I don’t think I’m ready to talk about my bloody summer right now-

“We’ve been trying to contact you, yo!” Jim chimed in, grinning widely as he flashed his row of Oral-B-commercial-perfect teeth that gleamed so radiantly against his dark skin before I could say anything. “Your housekeeper told me that you and your family’s all gone to Mykonos, but not even a single postcard coming? Thought y’all got lost and plunged into the Bermuda Triangle already!“

My blood boiled upon hearing the word Mykonos - both Dave and Jim didn’t seem to notice as they keep talking while keeping their arms on my shoulders, dragging me away from the crowd. The two then started talking about what they did during summer; Jim had a basketball camp in Los Angeles with the NBA. His father arranged a special VIP access to The Forum on his birthday, and he had a blast having one-on-one sessions with LA Lakers MVPs. Meanwhile, Dave concentrated on his American Football practices with an ex-coach of the Forty-Niners, and his family had connections that managed him to join a few practice sessions with the actual team in San Francisco.

Spending summers honing their skills with pros like Dave and Jim are what real Ingeniosus kids do - the rest of them were bloody idiots who thinks they’re bloody special, wasting their summer burning their parents’ money to go on luxury vacations or pointless shopping sprees.

Dave and Jim were getting more excited exchanging their stories, while I tried my best not to listen. However, my patience decayed each time they added more details on their amazing summers before I finally shook their arms off my shoulders.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” Dave asked.

“Nothin’ – I’m just jealous at you guys!”

The two just gave me puzzled looks. “Why?” Jim asked.

“It’s just that…I don’t get to have awesome summers like y’all do! Bollocks, I didn’t even get to bring my football to Mykonos! And to top it off, my parents would always leave my little sisters with me every bloody time we got shore leave - as if they didn’t pester me enough when we were on board! You ask why I didn’t write a bloody postcard, those little nitwits wouldn’t even let me sit on the loo in peace!”

“Whoa, didn’t know it was so bad, buddy.” Dave soothed, tapping my shoulder gently. “But wait; you’re saying that you’ve been out of practice for three months?”

I nodded reluctantly, and their mouths opened wide. “Whoa, Coach Jeff’s gonna skin you alive when he finds out!” Jim exclaimed. “Or…you’re not resigning from the soccer team, aren’t cha?”

“The bloody hell I will!” I snapped, and then followed with a sigh. “But…I don’t know.”

Dave twitched one of his eyebrows. “Dunno what?”

I went silent for a while, trying to gather up the right words in my mind. But then, I ended up having nothing remarkable to assert with, because I simply have no idea.

“I…uh, really don’t know what I really wanna do in life, actually.” I said, scratching the back of my head as I spoke. “I mean, you guys already have plans on what you wanna do - you wanna be professional athletes so you guys just focus on your practice! Me? I have no plans!“

“Oh come on, Rob!” Jim groaned, “You’re a genius! It’s why Sterling never moved you out of Prodigium! Your IQ score is way above average, and your report card is filled with A+ from top to bottom! Man, you should’ve seen my mom’s face when she saw my report card…”

“Eh, I’d kill to trade your report card with mine any day now,” Dave chuckled. “And besides, you’ve always mentioned how much you wanna be a top player in Manchester United, right? You were the soccer team’s captain back in junior high, and you’re really great! As long as you keep on playing, I bet you’ll get a chance to be like Eric Cantona or Ryan Giggs!”

Hearing them talking to me with big hopes, I could only sigh. “Still…I have family obligations, y’noe. I’m the only son in my family; everyone expected me to take my father’s position in the company when he’s retired...”

It might be nothing unusual among us, but it had bothered me a lot lately. Maybe because my parents and I discussed it quite often over the summer.

Meanwhile, Dave and Jim each gave me a tap on my back.

“You know what, buddy? You still have a long time to decide!” Dave said.

“Yeah, Rob! You aint the only one with problems, but it’s a brand new school year! Cheer up, yo!” Jim exclaimed.

Looking at them being so optimistic, all my frustrations slowly faded away. I had wasted my summer in Mykonos, but I wasn’t there anymore; I’m back in Anglova with my best mates.

“Yeah, you guys are right,” I said, “I still have a long time to decide.”

And then, I grabbed my friends’ shoulders and walked with them around the lobby as we’re off to say hi to our other friends.