Hana Melad. Where do I begin?

During freshman year, I only knew her as quiet and shy. Our block, despite being a small one, still had, what I’d like to call, ‘drifters’. They were part of the block but refused to join in for their own personal reasons. I think that, at first, Hana felt as if she didn’t belong. We were a bunch of loud city kids and she was from the province. She may have felt that we had cast an invisible division. (And maybe, unknowingly, we had)

Luckily, that changed during sophomore year. We got to know her and I found out that she was louder, crazier and wilder than all of us city kids combined. Hana’s got a penchant for pink, pandas and anything that has to do with Japanese culture. To lift a few lines from the yearbook write-up I wrote for her, she’s the shoulder to cry on, the voice of reason but most importantly, she’s the stronghold, forever keeping the balance of things together. Whatever the future holds, there is no doubt that Hana’s going to keep spreading sunshine, reminding everyone that the world is a beautiful place.

She’s just that kind of person.

Together with Louis and Josh, we form an unofficial quartet. And wherever we are, there is laughter. Wild, annoying, rambunctious laughter. And dancing. You can’t forget the dancing.

Today, after thesis class, we hung out for a while in the Fine Arts lounge. Louis continued to teach us the mechanics of being fierce. We tried practicing our best fierce faces but Louis, Tyra B’s very own prodigy, outshone us every time.

We have the rest of the semester to redeem ourselves.