Again, much thanks to Rico for this idea. =)

I started my tenth year by treating everyone in 4-Badjao (my 4th grade section) with ice cream as my birthday treat. I think it was one chocolate cup each, because it’s cheap — Php10 each cup — and everyone loves them. From being a young overachiever from Prep (I graduated valedictorian in pre-school, which was no big deal for me because I didn’t know it was a big thing) to Grade 3 (I was Top 6 in the batch, I think?), I was suddenly plunged into the bottom of the overall Top 10…as in I was in Top 10. I don’t know the exact reason why that happened. It may be because of the competition in the batch (suddenly a lot of new and smarter students came in), or the fact that I was so dead gone about my first crush ever (click here for a short story about him — he’s Guy # 3).

The summer before Grade 5 was an eventful one. It was the last summer I really went out of the house every afternoon to play with the neighborhood kids. We played tons of stuff, but mostly it was on Sailormoon and Barbie and Polly Pocket. :) The most memorable part of the summer, however, involved guys in our neighborhood. See, my friends and I are all girls, and there was this guy on our street who was also a schoolmate. We hung out with him every afternoon, and then my three friends all started having a crush on him. Being the eldest among all of us, I tried to keep conflicts at a minimum, but then the guy started hinting something to me. Ergh. I never liked him that way since he was friends with my crush. He kept on telling me that my crush would be in the same section as I am for the next school year, which turned out to be false. Hmph!

Grade 5 fueled my crush even more, for some reason. At this time, Guy # 3 (in reference to the Godchicks post) and I were not on speaking terms but mostly it was because of my fault. I was constantly on the lookout for him, always trying to get noticed but whenever he’s around, I can hardly move. Typical crush reaction, don’t you think? I did, however, cry for the first time about a boy during Valentine’s Day. *facepalm* Why? I bought Guy # 3 a gift — a heart-shaped pin — which I wrapped oh-so-carefully. I had a friend give it to him, and then later that afternoon, a mutual friend of ours talked to me and gave me back the gift, which she told me that Guy # 3 tried giving to his crush.

…

I was crushed, mehn. I got the gift back and said it’s okay, but when I got home, I cried it out to my friend. Boo on him. He asked for his gift back the next day, which was weird but because I was such a naive and crush-sick (not lovesick because I definitely wasn’t in love then) girl, I gave it back. *bonk*

This was also the year where I started writing short stories. I started to want to become a writer when I was in Grade 3, but I started writing seriously at Grade 5. I started wanting to become a writer early Grade 4, when I was 9 years old, but I really started writing when I turned 10. I remember writing my first “real” short story series based on a group of friends who I sort of modeled after Gimik. I was fascinated with writing and creating other worlds that it was then I decided that I wanted to be a writer.

Other notable things about my tenth year was my Sailormoon obssession (I collected cards, paperdolls, wrote stories and was known to be the Sailormoon girl of the batch), my starting Backstreet Boys fanaticism (Hello, Nick Carter!) and the realization that the people you like/love really do change and it’s not always in favor of you. And that favoritism sucks. And that I’m too young to focus on anything related to love or crushes. :P

10 days to go!