Have you heard of a class exclusively for girls,
and here in school? Another "Women's Liberation Front" of some sort, I guess.
But fortunately, its just an exaggeration of the real thing. Actually, we
sometimes run out of boys and we usually play "Lost and Found" with them (but
not during homeroom lunch, of course).
According to the present ratio, boys are really
outnumbered by girls ---- the ratio being 1:3. Of the 32 students of Curie IV,
11 are boys and the rest are ladies. And due to this male shortage at hand,
most Curie girls were branded as "taksils" for they have to seek their partners
from other sections. There's rusty "Pako" (Debbie) and Tetracelli (Bobbie)
paired with their Darwin friends. Our darling pussycat (Eleanor) to the good
"birdie" of Einstein and our whirl wind (Marissa) to the "Pinakamahangin na tao sa
balat ng lupa" of Edison. But we have singled out Malou and Florante for being
the most loyal of all the Curians.
At first, we had some difficulty in uniting ourselves.
If I remember right, during the first days of classes, our homeroom was turned into a
"convent" of some sort. The whole place was a "yack", 'coz nothing but
silence and boredom surrounded it. We were afraid it would go on like this
the whole school year. But with the good leadership of the ever closed-eyed
"Chengwa" (that's Millet), we were able to step forward as one big family.
And as the saying goes, "Divided We Stand, United We Fall", after all these
months of togetherness, we succeeded in making our convent a haven of
laughter and harmony.
A bunch of "kalogs" as we are, our homeroom was always
filled with "Nice 'n Nasty" people. There's our laughing Machine, otherwise known
as Starry (Daisy), who always led the laff-in stuffs, and once started our heavyweight
champion Ali (Linabelle) will follow-up and all the laughing starts there.
If you happen to enter our room and hear someone singing with a Visayan
tone, well, your guess is right, it's Ana Marie! Ask her about any DJ in
town and she'll answer you in details pa. Her partners, Carmen and Miss
Tapia (Lucille), our playgirl, will sometimes add somethings about
superstars and what have you... Thou most of us are jolly young fellows,
Malik (Lilybeth) is the shy and soft-spoken girl you often see sitting
around reading her "Mills and Boon" (nightmare?) stories. Another horrible
character "Bungo" (Ruben) will share with Malik during "Scary, Scary Nights",..
That's not all! Do you know that Curie IV has a line-up
of big name VIP's? To top the list is the great basketball hero Jabbar (Andre), only now he's
not as tall. Also in the line-up are King Alfred, the little prince, the
future GMA owner Amando Jimenez who still cries a lot during campings and
the SCB, Melchor. But it's not enough to know these VIPs 'coz there's a
cluster of talented Curians yet to know if you'll spare some more time
(malapit na!)
Starting off with our Newspaper girl, Ma-Ann, who does
not only collects our newspapers with patience, but also dances with grace and poise.
Another collector is our small but really terrible treasurer, Emel who sometimes
crushed us to empty pockets just to pay our debts on time. There's Makar,
better known as "Toto", who is the genius in newswriting and Electron's News
Editor. And here's some special talents! Have you seen or ever heard a
lady hustler in drinking? Well, well, let me introduce you to "Lasing"
(Victoria) and you'll be in a real trip, man! Some talents, huh.....
To everybody's delight, our class has a collection of
lovable pets, too. There's our best friend "Aso" (Meldy), who seldom barks, and
two piglets by the name of Bina (Cynthia) and Bobby (Edwin). Another buddy is the
odorous of them all, Mumuy (Noel), the goat, and the cause of all the worries of
everyone. To top them all is our Rooster friend Melchor... (malapit na talaga!)
If you think we're a group of happy-go-lucky-come-what-may
students, you're mistaken! 'Coz humbly speaking, the Class '77 valedictorian in the person
of Melchor, belongs to our class. Industrious as she is, the Zonta
president and Model Girl, Belen (or Buts) happens to be a Curian, too.
Another standout is our Math genius Luis, who is sometimes teased as Luisa.
There's the Jungle Girl, Mayrose--- but she's not just as ordinary as Jane
perhaps, 'coz she's the third best among the seniors this year, together
with Buts. But the way, even though she always closes her eyes, our
barangay leader, Millet, finished second honorable mention and surely her
two eyes were wide open when pinned with her medal.
All these charcters put together makes one big, happy
clan. Yes, after a year of togetherness we became so united that parting seems
a problem now. But we, Curie IV, would not be as one if not for our mama, Mrs. Mary Ann D.
Justiniani, the superstar of superstars. She's the most prominent figure in
our senior life. And we would like to extend our thanks to her and all our
teachers for being wht they are.
To all graduates, Congratulations! And to the incoming
seniors, just an advice.... start collecting your newspapers!! (Yan, tapos na!)
Bobbie Mortel