章節 2: Chapter 1: Sacred Heart Academy

"Here's your snacks, Honey~" Sophia giggled as she gives the sweets to her thirteen years old daughter, Erica.

"If someone bullies you, you must tell father immediately, okay?" Kevin dotingly said as he caresses his daughter's furry head.

Erica emotionlessly looked at them as she listens to her parents' words and nodded. She picked up her bag and snacks from her mother's arms.

Kevin's eyes softened as he saw his daughter left the house. Then, he felt a warmth grip on his hands and intertwined it.

"Don't worry. We already live normally for thirteen years. Everything will be alright" Sophia embraced her husband's back and softly whispered to his ears.

"Still, we cannot lower our guard. It's better to be safe now for later" said Kevin and turned around to hug his wife.

Sophia hummed.

__________________________

Erica walked on the roadside while tapping on her phone as she heads towards the vehicle waiting shed. She's wearing a headset with noise cancellation as she doesn't like hearing noises of the cars and gossiping people.

She stopped walking and looked up. She frowned as she saw the restless birds flying towards her opposite destination.

Then, three jeeps stop at the same time in front of the bus stop. Her feet are fast enough to enter the entrance first than the others.

She's already used to it. The vehicle waiting shed is like a bloody battlefield. You need to be faster than anyone else to enter the entrance; otherwise, you will be left behind because it is already full and no more seats available.

In the Philippines, jeeps are used for longer destination. She's unlucky because her home is located in the countryside while her high school is located in the city. She needs to ride on jeeps just to get to school.

She wanted to enroll in the high school near her house but her parents insisted on enrolling her in the prestigious high school in the city - The Sacred Heart Academy.

The Sacred Heart Academy is a school which values quality over quantity, innovations, morality and intelligence.

The school is not open publicly but for those students who are qualified enough to be enrolled through better quality entrance examination with the average grade cut off to 2.0 or equivalent score 85.

Erica Manolo just walked down the jeep nearby the school. The road towards the school perimeter is not wide enough for the jeeps to passed through.

She has no other choice but to walk down the jeep near the school perimeter after paying her transport fee.

She jus stood on her spot and looked up as she sees the dazzling school structure of Sacred Heart Academy. Although she doesn't show it on her face but there's an anticipation lingering inside her heart.

She tightly gripped on her bag strip and walked on the roadside until the road widened to the school gate where the students are queueing.

She was about to enter the school gate when the security guards stop her.

"All students must show ID upon entering the school gate. Otherwise, you cannot enter the school premises" security guard man said as he pick up a book and flips it.

Erica Manolo still doesn't get her ID but she has her ID registry sheet and showed it to the security guard.

The security guard looked at it carefully and wave his hand. It means she's now allowed to enter.

"Go to School Material Section to get your ID. I will not allow you to use the registry sheet next time" the security guard coldly said and called another student to show their ID.

Erica frowned as she doesn't like the security guard's attitude but the student beside her, patted her shoulder and smiled.

"They are just doing their job, little fellow" as he said and left on the other direction.

Erica shook her head and sighed. "It's not that I'm mad or anything. I just don't know how to react to that" as she mumbled and walked towards the school building infront of her.

The Sacred Heart Academy has five buildings namely: The North, The South, The West, East Regions and the Central Region.

Each buildings are called Regions because of different specializations.

The North Region is for the Sports students who are nurtured for basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer, chess, and tennis tournaments in order to enter national level competitions.

The South Region is for Music and Arts students who are nurtured for composing lyrics, singing, dancing and painting.

The West Region is for Language Students who are nurtured for creating poems and novels, comprehending and speaking different languages such Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, English, and analyzing old language way back before modernization era.

The East Region is for the Military students who are nurtured for military field subjects.

Finally, the Central Region which is for geniuses ranges IQ of 120 and above. These genius students are more likely nurtured for various skills. They don't like specialized skills like the other regions because they feel that having a specialized skills cannot improve their skills to higher level. It means, the lessons from other regions are likely included in the Central Region.

Going back to Erica Manolo, she got her books, ID and other school materials from School Material Section.

"Please go to Register Office to register your preferred region" the staff of School Material Section said while smiling after passing her things.

Erica nodded and walked towards the Register Office. She presented her ID.

"Which region do you like to be enrolled?" the registry staff asked as she keeps tapping on the keyboard while her eyes focused on the monitor. She doesn't even turn her head when she asked.

"What are regions?" Erica tilted her head as she doesn't have an idea of what the registry staff are talking about.

The registry staff halted her fingers from tapping and, finally, turned her head to Erica's direction.

"You want to be student here without knowing school itself?" the registry staff mocked Erica like questioning her qualification of enrolling in Sacred Heart Academy.

Erica raided her eyebrows as she feels displeased of the registry staff's inappropriate behavior.

"Is this the attitude of Sacred Heart Employee?" Erica coldly questioned, not only the behavior of the registry staff but also all employees in Sacred Heart Academy.

"You... Tsk!" the registry staff glared at Erica and started talking about the Sacred Heart Academy's Five Regions.

"So, what region will you choose?" the registry staff asked after explaining about the five regions.

Erica started contemplating.

'If I choose North Region, I need to do extreme physical exercises. Although I should boost my body muscles and strengths, it is still tiresome. So, I reject!'

If I choose West Region, I cannot hold back but composing poems and novels or learning different languages with 6% brain usage. That's still too much!'

If I choose East Region, the combination of physical exercises and brain usage will exhaust me too much. So I reject!'

'If I choose South Region which is for Music and Arts, composing music and lyrics or painting is easier for me and because I should not use my brain in extreme level so I choose this one'

'Although I can be part of Central Region, I already learned most of it because of Mama and Papa's teaching since I was two years old and already familiarized. It will be boring if I stay there. If only today's era doesn't need diploma and such, I will never enter school.'

Most students choose the region they are better with but somehow, Erica choose the region that she has the least interested.

"The South Region" she said to the registry staff.

The registry staff immediately tapped on the keyboard and gave Erica her classroom card number where she is assigned to.

"Tsk. Music and Art may look popular because of the influence of Entertainment Industry on the surface but the other regions are the highest demand of the" the registry staff said when Erica left.

CHARACTERS:

Sophia Santos (Mother)

Kevin Manolo (Father)

Erica S. Manolo (only child)