“A Missing Piece”

James Edward D. Almazan

11 – TVL ICT

Reading & Writing

 In the busy halls of Midtown Highschool, where tons of laughter and shouting often
occur, there is one kid unnoticed and left alone. His name was Ben, a shy kid with a
big heart, glasses that was older than him, always wearing a nerdy themed t-shirt and
sports different kinds of hoodies each day, he was often over-shadowed by dozens of
popular kids in the school. He was often getting bullied by his old childhood friend
Eugene, whom he hates so immensely. Whenever Ben get bored, he listens to his iPod
that was given to him by his parents who were sadly passed away in a car accident
when he was 7 years old, even if his iPod was old, he still kept it as a remembrance of
his parents.

Whenever he’s at home lying in bed, he kept wondering:

“Why am I alone?” as he stares into his ceiling with a bit of sorrow in his face “Is it
my fault that I am always this way? Always in the backseat waiting for someone to
notice me?” as he kept saying that in his head. He sometimes found being alone kind
of happy, because he is used to being isolated and looking out for him and himself
only, “I feel happy but at the same time, I feel sad” he whispered through his breath,
“I want someone to be there for me, someone or anyone who I can count on when I
needed help” as a tear drop from his eye.
The next day, as he is ready to leave his home, his aunt gave him a kiss and his uncle
gave him a big embrace, his aunt and uncle adopted him after his parents died, and
ever since then, they raised Ben as their own child since they didn’t have any, Ben bid
a farewell to his family and went to his school. In his class, he still feels left behind
and wanted to become smarter and an academic achiever, but because of his anxiety
and self-doubt, he always stayed silent in discussions his long time English teacher,
Professor Sanchez, always calls Ben whenever he wants someone to answer his
recitations, because deep inside, he knows that Ben has the potential to be the smartest
of the class if he wasn’t hindered by his anxiety and doubt. Later after his class when
all of the students are off to leave for a lunch break, Professor Sanchez approached
and talked to Ben, “Hello Ben” he happily greeted, “I always admired your class
performance, you always get an ‘A+’ on my test and my quizzes, but I want you to be
more active, if you feel doubtful about your answer, don’t hesitate, that’s why you are
here, you’re here to learn”, “Thanks sir but, I’m fine with just being quiet” as Ben
happily answers, “Are you sure? Well, if you have a problem, I’m right here” As
Professor Sanchez asked calmly,

“Well there’s one thing that’s been bothering me”, “What is it?” As the Professor
asked curiously, “Why do some people like to be alone but at the same time, hates
being all alone?”, and Professor Sanchez answers: “Well being alone can help a
person remember who they are after being someone else for a long time, but being
alone can make a person feel isolated from the world, as if they are on their own
fighting their own battles and sometimes, they want someone to be there for them and
help them in time”.
 As Ben heard his teacher’s words, it touched him deeply, “Thanks sir!” Ben
answered, “Anytime kid, I’m glad that you’ve been open about it, it looks like your
shyness has dialed down when you talked to me, you know, you should let your family
know about this and they can probably help you with your problems that you may
have”, “Thanks sir but I’ll try to” but deep inside, Ben doesn’t want to tell his family
about it because he thinks that it would make them worry.

As Ben walks home, he kept on thinking on whether or not he’s going to tell his
family about his social problems, he argues and talks to himself on it, but then finally
deciding not to talk about it just yet, because he feels shy and scared on what his
family will think or do when he tells them his problems on life. As he went home, his
family greeted him and asked about his school progress, Ben said: “Oh nothing, just
the usual”, “You sure? Ok, well how about you? Are you doing ok?” said his aunt,
“Yeah, I’m just doing fine”, as he walks through his room upstairs.
A day later, in the school halls, he saw his old classmate, he waved at her but she just
brushed him off as if he did not exist. Unaware, bumped into Eugene while he was
walking and it made him mad, Eugene was ready to raise a fist but Ben ran as fast as
he could, Eugene chased him through the hall, but Ben successfully hid in the library.
He peeks outside to see if his cost is clear and then he went to the principal’s office,
he sat there at the chair nearby the office out of breath, and suddenly a girl sits next by
him and asks “What you in here for?”, and Ben states: “I-I’ve been chased by a
lunatic *huffs*”, “You look like you ran for a marathon” she said, “Well probably I
could have picked that but instead I almost got myself into a fight” as Ben
sarcastically answered, “Is it your fault?” she questioned, “No, of course not, that
guy’s just being a huge jerk” as Ben answered her, “Well aren’t all bullies just a
bunch of stinking jerks?” she stated, “Yeah, maybe they all are” as Ben agrees, “Why
are you here anyways?” “Well duh, I’m here to learn HAHAHA” “HAHAHA, good
one” “I’m just here to give my credentials for admission” “Oh, so you’re new here?”
“ Well yeah, HAHAHA” “Well, now you know that you should be careful here
considering why I’m here HAHAHA” Ben answered happily, “I guess you can say
that” but the conversation was cut shortly after she was called to go inside the
principal’s office, then Ben asks: “Wait, what’s your name anyways?” “I’m Lisa”
she answered, “Nice to meet you, the name’s Ben” as he happily says, “We should be
friends, and you know, chat more” she said with a smile, “Yeah, we should” as Ben
answered with delight.

As days, weeks, months passed, the two of them became best of friends, Ben has
never been this happy before, it was a first for Ben considering that he doesn’t have
any friends in his past high school days, as if the missing puzzle piece in his heart has
been found and that Ben starts to develop feelings for her.
Over the course of 6 months, Lisa and Ben befriended lots of people, to the point that
they’ve been talked about by a lot of people saying that Ben was a loner back then but
now, has befriended a ton of people including his old classmate, Lucinda’s friends,
this made her angry at Ben for stealing her friends’ attention from her.

One day, Ben bumped into Eugene, Ben’s natural instinct was to run but was shocked
to hear what his bully has to say to him: “Look Ben, over the last couple of years, I’ve
been bullying you, and I know what you will have to do or say to me, but I want you
to help me with something” “What? Help you make me look stupid in front of
people? Do your homework for you?” Ben angrily says, “No man, for real, I want
you to do something for me, I want you to set me up with one of your friends, Felicia,
she was one of my old classmates, I have a huge crush on her for so long and I want
you to set me up for her” as Eugene begs Ben to help him, “Ok but, why do I have to
do this? Why don’t YOU talk to her?” “Please man, I know I’ve been selfish and bad
to you but I promise that I’ll make it up to you, I’m deeply sorry for making you go
through hell because of me being selfish” “Ok fine (I’m gonna regret this)”
“Thanks man, I appreciate it”.

But little does Ben knows, Lucinda, overheard this and wants to make Ben lose his
friendship with Lisa and his other friends. With this she starts spreading
misinformation to Ben’s friends that Ben is going to team up with Eugene to ruin
Felicia’s life and that befriending her was just a façade. Hearing this, Lisa was a bit
upset but knows that Ben wouldn’t do it, so Lisa, without any hesitation whatsoever,
 went to see and talk to Ben on whether or not what Lucinda is saying is indeed true
because deep inside she knows that she was lying.

Ben went to Felicia and said: “Hey Felicia, mind if I talk to you for a minute?”
“Yeah Ben, what’s up?” as Felicia asks, “It’s about a guy that I like you to meet, you
probably know him already but, you know Eugene?” “Yeah, he’s been my
classmates since middle school, what’s up with him?” “Well he’s been meaning to
ask you out for a while” “Oh yeah, I kind of knew he has a crush on me way back
then” she answered, “Huh, I guess he still hasn’t changed on all this years” as Ben
jokingly says, “But I guess it wouldn’t be a sin to try and go out with him, right?”
“Wait, so you’re finally going out with him?” he answered confusingly, “Well, yeah
probably” “Great, good luck then!”. Ben then went to see Eugene to let him know of
the news, “Ok dude, I already asked her, now what mischievous schemes do you want
to do her?” Ben says sarcastically, “Nice, I’ll take it from here, thanks again” says
Eugene, but little does Ben knows that Lisa overheard it and thought that Lucinda is
telling the truth, and then on she left and didn’t say another word with Ben, Ben saw
Lisa running away, wanting to catch up on her but was stopped by Lucinda, “Too
shame, your friend left you, just like how my friends left me when they befriended me”
she said with a smirk, “Lucinda? What did you say to her?” he asks, “Well I told your
little friends that you have been planning to setup Felicia to prank her” “No I didn’t,
why? Why are doing this?” “YOU stole my friends Ben” she shouts at Ben, “No, I
didn’t, you’re just selfish, your friends didn’t leave you, you left them by being
selfish”, Then Ben walks away.

Ben was alone again, he felt like that puzzle piece that was inside him has left. Days
passed, Ben is confronted by his aunt and uncle asking him if he was okay, then Ben
broke down to tears and told them everything that happened, upon realizing, they
speak to him: “It’s okay, we all have those moments in life where we fall, but even if
you fell, you can still stand up and never back down, to never give up hope” said his
uncle, “You can still ask for forgiveness from them and they will hopefully
understand” says his aunt, “We love you Ben, don’t ever hesitate to ask for help to
 your friends and family” as they say it, they gave Ben the boost to go out there and
tell Lisa the truth.

Ben approaches Lisa but Lisa tries to ignore Ben, “Wait! Just listen to me for once”
says Ben, “I never should have forgotten to tell you about it, if you don’t want to talk
that’s fine, I’ll just leave you forever” “I’m sorry, Lisa” as Ben starts to walk away,
Lisa shouts: “Wait, its not just that, its been hard for me, to see you as a friend, I’ve
been so close to you, the more I talk to you, the more my heart beat so loudly, and I
thought that it was nothing but, I guess it is true. It’s true that I love you” “So you
too? I thought I’m just overreacting because I feel the same way for you too” both of
them made terms with one another and kissed. And both of them promised to never
tell lies on each other from now on. Ben is now happy with his life; he finally made
friends and fell in love. He may have had a missing piece in the beginning, but now,
that missing piece has finally been filled.