03x05: New People and Euphoria

Austin has an obsession with happiness as he gets to know some new people a bit better and improves his relationships with his old friends.

NEW PEOPLE AND EUPHORIA

 

     The next day, Austin arrived extra early in some messed up sense of “making up for lost time”. He went to his usual seat and took out a printed schedule out of his bag. In order to stop people from asking, he printed one out and was going to stick it to his table. He took out the tape and began sticking it.

     While doing this, Ibarra arrived. He set down his bags and went to Austin.

     “Umm… Austin?”

     “Not now.”

     Sean and Karl also arrived at this point.

     “Austin, there’s something…”

     “I’m busy right now…”

     Austin finished the sides and put the tape and scissors back in his bag.

     “You were saying?” Austin asked Ibarra.

     “Austin, that’s not your seat anymore,” Sean said.

     “Really? Wait, Ibarra, you were saying?”

     “Sean already said it.”

     “Oh…”

     Awkward silence followed as Kristina and Marise arrived.

     “Umm… Austin…” Kristina said.

     “I know, or at least I know what you’re gonna say,” Austin said as he picked up his bags. “Where is it?”

     “Over there,” Marise said, pointing to the third seat from the front, third seat from the left.

     “Okay then. See, Ibarra? No biggie.”

     Austin dropped his bags down in his seat.

     He went back to pick up his seat.

     “What’s that for?” Marise asked.

     “Well, I was putting my schedule on this table when someone didn’t inform me beforehand.”

     “But you”

     “Hush!”
     “But I tri�"“

     “SHHH!!!”

     “I can help with that,” Marise said, lifting the table into the air with her mind.

     “Ahh… you’re a psychic.”

     “Psssh. I can do better,” Sean said as he waved his hand through the air whilst leisurely slouching in his seat. The chair disappeared in mid-air and appeared right beside Austin’s new place.

     “And you’re a space manipulator. You know what, I never really got to talk to you guys that much.”

     “Despite all your romantic rambles?” Sean pointed out.

     “I stand corrected,” Austin said, turning to Marise and Kristina. “I redirect them to you.”

     “Remember all that talk about Kick-A*s?” Marise said.

     Austin turned to Ibarra. “Any objections?”

     “You talk about movies a lo�"“

     “OKAY! Maybe I do talk to you guys a lot.”

     Bettina entered the room.

     “BETTINA! I don’t talk to you that much, do I?”

     “Well you always tease me and Guio�"“

     “Trust me, Austin; you’re buried deep in CV. You can forget all your dreams of being with DDN,” Sean said.

     “How’d you know?!”

     “It’s pretty obvious, dude.”

     “D****t, fine, I missed you guys, alright?”

     Sean had the look of sweet success on his face as Austin finished moving the tables.

    

The day continued as usual with Math as the first period. During the remaining free time during morning, Austin got to meet his new seatmates, “frontmates”, “backmates”, and “sidemates”.

     His new seatmate was Dorothy Field who remained quiet most of the time but was a good conversation when it was rolling. IN front of him was Owen Cantillas and his seatmate was Marise, who was in the same spot relative to Austin as the first official arrangement.

     Behind them was Rodrigo Curiba, better known as Mo-on for unknown reasons. His seatmate was Tasha Siaton and she was receiving a major headache.

     Austin was pretty uncomfortable in this place. Mo-on was loud, Tasha was weeping inside, Dorothy was a lot more nicer than Mey, Marise was also nice to talk to, and Owen, despite being the “Ernst-of-the-year” where Austin pins everything on him, even unrelated stuff, was also fun to talk to since he was hilarious.

     Math was a back to form for Austin and the next period was English.

     It was the most interesting English class in a while since they started watching the classic film, “The King and I”.

     The rest of the day went by with Austin talking to Owen, Marise, and Dory in between classes, Mo-on speaking his heart out within a meter radius and Tasha holding on for dear life.

     Lunch was really good though since he was able to talk to Janella a bit more freely.

     He was able to say goodbye that day and went home with a smile on his face.

     The next day was Friday, thank goodness, and it was pretty standard. Sean brought his guitar and Austin borrowed it for a while, much to his seeming dismay.

     He went to the adjacent classroom and told John about his status.

     “It was annoying but I got better.”

     “Well, that’s good. I still can’t trace that portal. I wonder how they got hold of the Telegun.”

     “Speaking of wonders, we got a new seating arrangement, and it’s been a blast despite a nuclear bomb with a blast radius of 1 meter right behind me.”

    “What?”

     “This guy just keeps on talking and I find it extremely hard to focus, ask his seatmate for goodness sake.”

     “Ehh… that’s life. You just gotta crave for them sweet lemonades.”

     “I gotta get back; accept the fate of humanity being put on my shoulders. Too bad there’s no lead-lined fridge I the classroom, eh?”

     “Enough with the movie references. See ya.”

     Science was the first subject and it felt really good to be back to normal. Filipino was next and Ms. Becky, once again, required them to create a seemingly unrelated project. They had to create a product and draw it. Austin chose Owen as his partner and they drew a “Solar Powered Satellite 3D TV”. Austin’s main “contribution” was the drawing and the display of the Death Star inside. Owen’s contribution was a refuge in durability.

     “Itong TV na ito ay (This TV is) Water-proof, Fire-proof, Shock-Proof, Bullet-proof, idiot-proof, at lahat ng ‘proof’ na alam ng tao. (And all the ‘proofs’ known to man).”

     Of course, this elicited a few laughs from the audience.

     During CCF time, Ms. Mac was talking about a pretty interesting topic.

     “What do you think is more… meaningful? Saying ‘I love you.’ or ‘You are loved.’?”

     People started murmuring.

     “Who says ‘I love you.’?”

     Austin was one among the many who raised their hands. He was in the majority.

     “Austin, why?”

    What luck, first to be called…?

     “Well, I think it’s more direct, miss.”

     “Any other reasons?”

     Some of the reasons given were, “It feels more personal.” or it is “more heartfelt”.

     “Well, I’d go with the other one,” Ms. Mac said.

     There were now murmurs of “Why?” around the class.

     “Okay guys, settle down. Because in the words ‘I love you.’, the focus is on ‘I’. On the other hand, in ‘You are loved’, the focus is on the person you love. So in a sense, it is more personal, direct, and heartfelt to say ‘You are loved… by me’.”

     The class was in subtle agreement. This was just a minor digression from the topic and Ms. Mac went back to the topic.

     The rest of the day was pretty standard compared to the early morning sessions. They continued the film in English class and were dismissed afterwards.

     Austin wasn’t able to say goodbye to Janella that afternoon.

    

The weekend that followed was fairly uninteresting so Austin decided to rewatch Fight Club. He also watched a bunch of other movies since there was very little homework.

     That Monday started out pretty good. Mo-on had not finished Ms. Sharon’s homework on the “meaning of English”. He decided to ask Austin.

     “Austin? Austin! AUSTIN?”

     “What…” he said as flatly as possible. Tasha’s head was rested on the table.

     “What’s the meaning of English?”

     “Well, English is the universal language. It is spelled with seven letters the first being ‘E’ followed by ‘n-g-l-i-s’ and capped off with an ‘h’.”

     “Thank you,” he said sarcastically.

     Austin turned to Dorothy.

     “Hey, Dory, you know about Inception?”

     “What’s that?”

     “It’s a movie by Christopher Nolan, you know, the guy who directed The Dark Knight and it looks totally awesome.”

     “Great! I’ll look into it sometime.”

     “What about you guys?” Austin asked Marise and Owen.

     “Huh? What?” Owen said. Austin just sat back in his chair.

     There was another mass that day and Janella served once again.

     This was a minor detail, however. Today, Ernst was absent.

     “Aww… Johan, were the only musketeers. Well, Bianca can me d’Artagnan.”

     “Who the hell is that?”

     “Fourth Musketeer. Anyway let’s eat lunch.”

    

After this was the weekly double period science and they were getting started on Ecology. To do this, they watched a documentary. It was one of those “kiddy” documentaries that existed in a series. This one was “Real World Science”.

     When the video started, they were met with a wide angle shot of the host which was a teenage girl. The camera twisted and turned in such a weird way that everyone was laughing at it. This only intensified when the theme song played. This was because the theme song was so meaningful.

     “REAL WORLD SCIENCE! REAL WORLD SCIENCE! SCIENCE IN THE REAL WORLD!!!”
     After Science time, they were pretty much playfully mocking the theme song. Somehow, comedy was one of the more subtly effective forms of education since Austin remembered the lesson quite a bit more than in the previous years.

     That lunch, Austin ate with Porthos and d’Artagnan AKA Johan and Bianca.

     “Do you have any idea how boring it was when you were gone?” Bianca asked.

     “I guess it was the time of your lives?”

     “No, man. Just straight lunch, no laughing, no reactions. We just ate our food and Ernst had a straight face. It was boring!”

     “Well let’s keep up my funny streak okay? What do you think the director of New Moon was thinking? ‘Derp… okay Taylor, just stand in front of the camera, say your s****y lines and take of your shirt at will, okay. And walk around, it’s good!’ seriously,”

     They were having a good laugh now but Austin just felt that Ernst was needed to fill the void.

     “I mean the first one is ‘Constipation’, the second one is ‘Shirtless’, the third one would be ‘Double Trouble’, and the last would be ‘An Avalanche of Bullshit’. I mean seriously!”

    

Later, Austin was walking by the hallways when Janella called him.

     “Yes,” he thought about adding “dear” but thought against it.

     “I’m so sorry.”

     “What?” Austin said with an infinitely more empathic tone.

     “I broke the bracelet you gave me. But I couldn’t find a pink strap so I asked my brother to find one. All he could find was a black one.”

     “It’s okay. I mean, black’s another one of your favorite colors, right?”

     “Yeah but,”

    “Janella, it’s okay. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”

     “Thanks…”

     “So stay happy!”

     Austin went along with Johan and Bianca.

     After lunch was AP time and they had a long test with forty items. They checked it immediately afterwards and Sr. Leo collected the papers.

     “Okay, who’s the highest?”

     Nobody raised their hands.

     “Okay then. Maan, what’s your score?”

     “33”

     “Anyone higher than 33?”

     Austin looked at his paper and nearly fainted. He raised his hand.

     Sr. Leo couldn’t believe his eyes either, or so it seems. He had more of a pleasantly surprised face.

     “Austin?! What’s your score?”

     “35.”

     “Congratulations.”

     Small achievement but it was a big thing for Austin since he completely sucked at AP but this inspired him to work harder in this subject. He could do it once, why not again?

     His success streak for the day did not last long however since they were all put in front of the sewing machine in the next two periods. This was CV’s fourth time with Ms. Joan but only Austin’s second due to his absence last week.

     Anyway, he was wrestling with the sewing machine. When he was finished, his partners, Ibarra and Renz, only had ten minutes each. Ironically, they were able to do better in ten minutes than Austin did in eighty.

     This day ended as one of the best days of the year so far because he was able to say goodbye to Janella.

     The next day, Sr. Jojo switched Jericho and Owen so now Jericho was in front of him and Owen was way behind, sitting beside Rica.

     They finished The King and I and had a discussion about the film. After this was recess which was followed by a career orientation. In short, the day was fairly uninteresting.

     In Filipino time, Ms. Becky dished out the biggest “unrelated” project yet. They had to make a skit about victory.

     He was groupmates with Marise, Sean, Jib, Rachel, AD, and Tasha.

     They decided to do a parody of the “Got Talent” shows. This was entitled “Compostela Valley Got Talent”.

    Austin already got accustomed to CV by this point.

     The next day was pretty uneventful. Sr. Jojo started developing his “father-son” relationship with Sang Woo. Since Sr. Jojo had the tendency to speak Filipino in his discussion, he’d interrupt by comically asking Sang Woo if he understood.

     Austin also got the script ready for the CV Got Talent and gave everyone a copy. Jib, Rachel, and AD were the Judges. Marise was the host. Sean, Austin, and Tasha were going to be the contestants.

     That lunch, a lot of the teachers said hi to him for some reason like Sr. John from last year and Ms. Naj. Austin wondered if it was because of his performance in AP. They shared the same faculty center after all.

     They also had another batch meeting regarding the Sinulog. A bunch of girls went to the front of the bridge where the entire batch was situated. They demonstrated the dance.

     Coincidentally, they were all wearing the same T-Shirt. It said “Tropang Walang Pangalan”.

     The dance was impressive but got halted about three-fourths of the way in. It wasn’t complete yet.

     The next morning, Austin prepped the guys up for the Filipino presentation. Everyone knew what they were going to do.

     Also, an old friend of Austin’s who aided him last year, Roey, talked to him again after a while. He had the power to make 2-dimensional figures into three-dimensional figures. He had an entire deck of card that was his own creation called “Ninjas and Magic”. These are basically his weapons.

     Roey started bashing Twilight and Austin started calling him Jacob for no reason. Eventually, everybody was calling him Jacob.

     Sr. Geck started getting meaner around this time but the difference was so small it was barely recognizable.

     Austin, Ernst, and the rest of the gang also started making fun of the Real World Science thing. By the end of Recess, they were running out of breath, laughing about this, and Janella just stared at them like weirdoes.

     Austin bid Janella farewell for three hours and went back to class. It was Filipino time.

     Austin’s group was the first group. Marise’s character was a shrill and hotheaded host. When Jay Sean (played by Sean) performed, Judge AD and Taylor Swift (played by Rachel) liked the performance. Judge Jib completely destroyed him and his performance.

     Austin’s character was a magician named Harry Conquistador Houdini III. He chose Mo-on for a volunteer in a mild attempt at an apology for his snarking the other day. Judge AD and Taylor liked it but Judge Jib, hated it, being harsher on him than he was on Jay Sean.

     The final performance was Talia the Puppet Master played by Tasha. Judge AD and Taylor loved it as usual but Judge Jib was absolutely driven to tears of joy. The class liked the performance enough.

     After this was AP time. Sr. Leo had returned to his sadistic, oppressive, and depressing roots. For example, his nickname for Alecz, Babe (presumably after the movie about, you know), had been used excessively. But still, they survived.

     The next day had a boring morning but during Recess, he ate at the Patola area, building up the guts to sit beside Janella. They barely talked to each other but to Austin, this was the equivalent of sitting in a chair in heaven.

     Later that Math Time. Sr. Geck finally told them his observations.

     “CV, the teachers have been noticing lately that your class is getting boring.”

     They were taking the classes too seriously, being focused on notes and all, and the participation was dwindling.

     Anyway, they proved Sr. Geck wrong for thirty minutes as the participation grew significantly.

     Some guys were goofing around and telling Sr. Geck some random stories that were relatively funny.

     “Don’t make me laugh,’ he said. “Because when I get started, it’ll take a long time for me to stop.”

     Soon, they were passing around a note. It went from the right side to Marise and Jericho.

     After a few seconds, the two of them burst out into laughter and passed the note to Austin and Dorothy.

     They read the note. It was a poetic “masterpiece” by Joven Pagal. He took Sang Woo’s English nickname, “Paul” and created a “masterpiece” of it.

 

Paul Poem

By Joven

 

Paul, be carePaul

You might Paul

In the swimming Paul

With your niPaul

Baka pisilin ko yan

Parang pimPaul

 

     The last two lines translated to “I might squeeze that like a pimPaul.”

     In all respects, it was one of the most offensive poetic “masterpieces” that he has ever read but the a*****e complex took hold and both of them joined in the laughtrip that 75% of the class was experiencing.

     Sr. Geck, of course, was not oblivious to this but since they weren’t doing much harm, the lesson continued.

     Eventually, Joven recalled the note before it could reach the people on the left. Sad for them.

     He ripped said paper into shreds but soon enough, thanks to Karl’s amazing memory, there was a copy of the poem once more.

     The class had ended at this point and Sr. Geck was outside, waiting for the teacher of his next class to leave.

     The left group got the new copy and were now laughing their asses of as well.

     Curiosity got the best of Sr. Geck at this point.

     “What have you guys been laughing about this whole time?”

     Sean, in a laughing fit, dropped the copy and Sr. Geck picked it up. He read the “poetic masterpiece” and had a stoic reaction to it. He returned it to Sean, still unable to speak due to laughter, and went to his next class.

     Sr. Leo was their next teacher. He had a pop quiz ready for them. In the preliminary talks, Sr. Leo was “reassuring” them.

     “Trust me; this quiz is not that hard. I mean, do I give hard quizzes, Maan?”

     Maan nodded exaggeratedly.

     “Well, that was humiliating.”

     At this point, Alecz was facing away from Sr. Leo, talking to Sean and Jasvir.

     “Okay, how about someone I can trust to give a favorable answer,” Sr. Leo said. He faced Alecz and out of nowhere, he said, “BABE! MY TESTS AREN’T HARD, ARE THEY?!”

     Alecz turned her head to face Sr. Leo, with her lips contorted like a pig’s snout. Everyone saw this face, pig snouted lips, open eyes, enlarged nostrils. The entire class broke into laughter as Sr. Leo desperately tried to hold his composure.

     Eventually, like all things, his period of composure ended.

     When everyone had relatively calmed down, Sr. Leo faced Alecz again.

     “Babe, you made the entire class roar with laughter. Maybe you could do it again?”

     Alecz defied Sr. Leo while the rest of the class continued laughing.

     Maan and Ymara, Sr. Leo’s other targets, were still in a laughing fit.

     “Okay guys, stop laughing.”

     Still, the two were laughing hard, Ymara was red-faced.

     “Sir, she turning red,” Justine said.

     “Ymara, if you do not stop laughing, we will not start the quiz.”

     Ymara then tried to stop but it only got worse when Alecz looked at her for encouragement.

      “Bite your tongue!” Austin suggested. Ymara tried to follow this but to no avail.

     “Who was that one guy? Last year who went to the SC office with a bottle of Iced Tea and asked me if he could court someone in the room?”

     The class thought about this. Austin personally did not know.

     Eventually, Maan remembered.

     “Sir, Ivan!”

     “No, it can’t be,’ Austin thought but there were many Ivan's in the batch.

     “Which Ivan?” Sr. Leo asked.

     “Chan, sir.”

     Austin’s jaw dropped. “That never happened!” he thought.

     “Ymara, do you want us to call him? What’s his section again?”

     “DOR!” Jericho yelled.

     “Oh, good. Just your neighbor. Let me have a look, shall I?”

     Sr. Leo went out of the room and went to DOR. Everybody remained quiet and Ymara definitely stopped laughing by now.

     “Ms. Mac says that he’s still reporting. I guess you were saved by the report, Ymara. Okay everyone, clear your tables and get a ballpen.”

     They took the test and passed the papers and it was English time.

     So far, it was the funniest Friday in a while. Austin finally 100% felt at home with CV.