Flex

If you ask people about their college experiences, I bet P.E. would be at the bottom of the list. It's useless. It seems forced. Plus nothing memorable happens. 

Not for me. 

Arnis class during first year wasn't all that cool. The uniforms were terrible and itchy. It was the butt of jokes because dudes said they didn't need training on how to handle long hard sticks. The teacher was round, gritty, soft-looking yet mean-looking at the same time. He was sort of the reincarnation of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble's love child. I called him Fred Rubble.

But then I met her that day and she is why Arnis class sticks out (no pun intended) so much. My favorite college memory happened on the first day. I just want to tell you the story of how I had the prettiest girl in school right beside me in Arnis class and didn't know it. 

So day 1.

Despite the class schedule that was pinned to the back of my notebook, I was apparently late for Arnis class. Everyone was already dressed up sitting in a circle around Fred Rubble, while he was explaining the history of Arnis. I squeezed in the back and there she was. Right beside me saying Hi. We introduced each other, chatted and completely ignored the wealth of information that Fred Rubble had spent all summer preparing. She was pretty, but I thought there would be prettier in the school. I was wrong then, as I am wrong now.

We hung out after class and would see each other occasionally along the corridors in the next few days. But my man-child brain was in the hunt. I was in an All-Boys high school for four years. I wasn't gonna be swept away by the first pretty girl I saw. There had to be more.

A few weeks after, Fred Rubble called me over and said that I had been attending the wrong class. No wonder I was late on day 1. My class was after. Soon I was transferred and lost my only constant contact with her.

Year 1 ended, and soon Year 2, 3, and now I've graduated. I've had run-ins with her throughout the years, but I was always in a different group, looking for someone else. Now, I'm here. 4 years later, after that first day, I'm drinking with some friends and reflecting on our college lives. Today is exactly 24 hours after the Blue roast. I'm happy with everything I've done in college. I've been out with other girls, but none as perfect as those first few weeks and P.E. classes with her.

I realize that this memory of her is protected by the wonder of possibility. She was perfect in those first few meetings, which is not enough time to burst the usual bubble that follows a lengthy overexposure to women. I know that.

Ateneo has this tradition of giving a blue rose during the Blue Roast to your crush or something. I gave her my rose and that was that. :) 

It was so fucking awkward to say the least, but I wanted to do it for myself. She deserved my blue rose.

I'm regretting now, but I know it's the buzz.

Just hope she gets fat. :)