03x11: Galleons and Surprises

THe Sophomores continue to practice for the Field Demo as Austin (and his allies in the batch) make a new enemy.

GALLEONS AND SURPRISES

 

     The fatigue was short lived and Austin turned on the TV to Glee since Filipino Star Charice would be there and he was curious what it would look like.

     All in all, good performance, “meh” episode and Austin also judged the show based on this episode. Not too good an idea.

     The next morning was pretty happy. Austin didn’t talk about last night and did not mention the money thing at all. It was just a normal morning except when Austin asked about yesterday where there was a pretty big change.

     “We had Art, dude.” Sean said.

     “Art on a Wednesday? Who was the teacher?”

     “It was still Sir Philip. Sr. Chris is taking over Music and it’s on Thursdays now.”

     “Didn’t Sr. Chris mention wanting be in Music instead of Art in our first meeting?”

     “Yes, hmm… I wonder.”

     “Coincidence?”
     “I have no opinion.”

     The second year teachers began a movement to borrow the fourth year’s practice time that Friday for them. It was not yet confirmed but it was well on its way.

     People were going around spreading the word that there was a “stinging caterpillar” infestation in the trellis and in some of the mango trees. They put up signs near the infested areas. Luckily, their mango tree was clean.

     When they began the assembly, Austin began coughing. He drank some water and calmed down a bit but still couldn’t stop coughing. The Seton Hymn went on without him.

     After that scene, he nonchalantly sat down with the others. Sr. Geck, however, insisted he go to the clinic.

     He did and just took some medicine. Austin was wondering what was wrong with him. First the eye now the throat.

     In recess, Austin and Ernst went near the trellis but not in it.

     “Did you hear? Sr. Philip walked through here and got stung. He just passed by!” Austin said.

     “Jeez. You’d think being on an island and all is going to make this place free from pests.”

     “No, there was wildlife before, just not that abundant. Looks like we got mating season this month.”

     “It’s August. Linggo ng Wika is next week. It’s just like it has always been. Why is it mating season this year?”

     Linggo ng Wika was the annual Filipino celebration of the Filipino language. The Philippines was the only country to do this. “Mabuhay!” indeed.

     “I don’t know,” Austin replied.

     “There’s too many singing caterpillars here.”

     “Singing?”

     “Oh, I meant stinging.”

     “Dude, you better get your eyes checked.”

     “That’s enough, let’s go to the classroom.”

     “Hey, Bianca!” Austin said to Bianca, who just happened to be passing by.

     “What, dude?”

     “Ernst has terrible eyesight. He read the ‘Stinging Caterpillar’ sign as ‘Singing Caterpillar’.”

     “What an idiot!”

     Bianca walked away. Austin smiled at Ernst evilly.

     “Well, are you satisfied?” Ernst asked.

     “Yup. Let’s go.”

     During Filipino time, they were supposed to sketch a scene from Florante at Laura. Jade and Austin got so bored (Austin was more frustrated though) that they tried translating the verses of the book. It was hilariously lost in translation.

     During AP time, Sr. Leo confirmed that their prayers were answered and there was going to be half day practice tomorrow.

     This good news was followed by a boring documentary. The only interesting part was when a doctor named Jeffrey came onscreen; the class teased Jeffrey out of boredom.

     They continued planning for the CCF production but the planning was a tad unorganized. Ms. Mac spoke a few words at the end of the class. The words that stuck, however, were these: “This production could make or break the class.”

     Austin and the other executives definitely wanted to make sure it “makes” the class.

      During Lunch, the batch managed to get a practice in the CWS. Austin was called by Sr. Geck to the faculty center A.

     “Sr. Geck, you called?”

     “Yes, we had a quiz yesterday in Math. Can you take it now?”

     “Yes, sir.”

     “Here you go. Good luck.”

     Sr. Geck gave him the paper and Austin sat down and answered it.

     He heard Sr. Edmond comment about last night’s Glee episode but that was it.

     When he was finished, Sr. Geck was gone and he left it to Jade’s mother, a Math teacher, and went back outside.

     The sophomores looked pretty pissed off when he got outside, especially Addi and Rudi-Anne.

     “Addi, what happened?”

      “It was wonderful!” Addi said. “The TWP boys were being very cooperative! Sr. Leo got pissed and cancelled the lunch practice today as well as tomorrow’s half day practice.”

     This was it, the final straw. Sr. Leo’s disproportionate retributions have gone far enough. Austin was steaming with anger but then he remembered: Sr. Leo very rarely, if ever, follows through with his “threats.”

     During Science time, Sr. Jojo gave them a quiz. They checked it afterwards and Sr. Jojo got extremely disappointed due to the fact that sixteen out of forty-two failed.

     This was his berserk button. When a lot of students fail his tests, he gets really angry.

     As promised, he did and they were terrified.

     The day didn’t get any better when Sr. Chris came in. HE handled Music pretty similarly but Ms. Naj just had that “charm” that made you want to listen. Sr. Chris didn’t have it, at least not yet.

     This was only made worse by the fact that he made an appointment with the Minstrels, the school choir, and he left a recording of the Chinese folk song “Ya Nan Fe” on his piano and asked the class to sing it repeatedly while he was gone.

     Before he left, the class demanded a sample of his singing. He had to give in and sang the entire song, standing ovation followed, serious or not.

     So he left and the class was left alone until some goofball pressed the DJ button, causing the piano shouting “DJ!” and the recorded track to disappear.

     After a few minutes of fiddling, failed attempts at reading sheet music, and a playing of the intro of Careless Whisper thanks to Austin, Rica, Owen, and Jasvir decided to teach a cappella.

     Sr. Chris returned near the end of the period. He needed help to bring his piano so Austin jumped at the chance. Why? His next class was DDN. So far, this new schedule wasn’t looking too bad.

     With him in the piano department was Clutch Martin. He also had a person of interest in DDN.

     When they went in to set up the piano, DDN automatically teased him and Clutch. Austin waved at Janella and she waved back. They then exited the room and went back to CV.

     When they got back, it was another hour of Guidance. When they were finally dismissed, Austin went over to the waiting area and bid Janella farewell.

     He waited a few minutes afterwards for no reason at all except there was nothing to do in the hotel today. Soon, Rico, a member of the ASG last year, approached him.

     “Hey, Austin,” he said.

     “Rico, long time no talk!”

     “You know Patrick? Astom?”

     “Yes, of course.”

     “Tell him to lay off. He’s FC (feeling close). Posting on my wall on Facebook, saying hi to me while I’m with my friends, oh, did I mention posting on my wall on Facebook?”

     “Dude, first, he does not post on your wall. Second, you were in the ASG together.”

     “On different groups!”

     “Okay, okay,”

     “If you don’t stop him, I swear, I might punch him in the face.”

     “Umm, no offense, Rico, but he’s a pyrokinetic. If you punch him, you might get burned, literally.”
     “I don’t care. He’ll heat up the acid in my body or whatever. Just tell him to back off, okay?”

     “Dude, I’ll handle it, just calm down. Impress someone with your yoyo or something.
     “Good idea, you’re here, watch this.”

     Rico took out his yoyo and showed off to Austin, like he said.

     Rico was the go-to man when it involved yoyo tricks. He was the yoyo master.

     Austin went to Patrick’s suite and told him what Rico said. He promised to lay off.

 

The next day, the District 9 addiction began to sink in Johan and Austin.

     “And then he said, ‘I do not have any purnugraphic relations with these, fookin’ creatures!’ Prawns, man. Prawns!” Austin said.

     “Hey guys!” Ernst said. “Check out this scab of mine. I got it when I slipped in my suite and scraped it against the floor.”

     “Ernst, are you sure you got that from scraping? You might be turning into a prawn!” Johan said.

     “Prawn? You mean like the crab?”

     Austin and Johan looked at each other, nodded, and looked back at Ernst.

     “Weak!” Austin said.

     “Watch District 9 and tell us about prawns!” Johan said.

     “Oh, haha, I love that line, ‘fookin’ creatures!’”

     “Don’t try to relate, bugglenut!” Austin said.

     “Bugglenut?”

     “I gotta go. Be careful, Ernst. You might vomit black sludge over your seatmate’s table.”

     Ernst turned around and his seatmate was glaring at him.

 

Sr. Jojo was still mad at CV and caused them to have Bad Vibes (BV) before 9 in the morning. This caused them to be extremely silent in Filipino time, much to Ms. Becky’s dismay.

     Halfway during Filipino time, Tasha started having an asthma attack. She said she was fine until near the end of the period when she looked like in much deeper pain than before.

     Austin tried teleporting to the clinic but it was failing.

     “Austin, do it now!” Sean said.

     “Dude, why don’t you try?!”

     Sean tried and failed as well.

     “Shoot,” Austin said, since he was in class. “I think Barrage and Accel are back.”

     “Stop wasting time and get to the clinic!”

     Owen and Jasvir stood up and rushed outside.

     “Wait, I’ll go with you guys!” Austin said, determined to get to the bottom of this.

     They got to the clinic and got a wheelchair. They pushed it back the building but Jasvir decided to goof off and sit on the chair, slowing them down a little.

     They passed by Sr. Leo and Sr. Geck (Jasvir got off immediately) who asked what was happening. Austin and Owen told them and they followed.

     When they arrived, the girls guided Tasha to the chair and Sr. Geck handled it. Austin looked at Sr. Leo.

     “I had nothing to do with this,” he said.

     Last year, A.R.M.’s showed up all over the place. Turns out it was Sr. Leo’s doing and Dr. Suarez’s orders.

     During Recess, Austin was wearing a jacket due to… the rain. Austin hoped it wouldn’t last until later.

     He went into the canteen with Ernst and passed through the food lane. Alyssa and Lui were there.

     Lui was holding a raw egg in his hands.

     “Lui, you can do it!” Alyssa said.

     Lui was trying to crush the egg with one hand. He finally gave up.

     “Hey Austin, wanna try?” Lui asked.

     “Sure. What’s the catch?”

     “NO superpowers, just one hand, break the egg, I give you a hundred pesos,” Lui answered.

     “Okay.”

     Austin turned the band to power give which was useless in this scenario.

     “Okay, ready, here I go.”

     It was harder than it looked. Ms. Delia taught them in Science last year that this was impossible.

     “D****t, Lui, I’m not letting you keep that hundred bucks.”

     “We’re technically in the Philippines. The term is ‘pesos’,” Ernst said.

     “Thanks for pointing that out, buddy!” Austin said.

     Before he knew it, there was egg all over the place. Ernst’s shirt was colored yellow, Austin’s jacket was mildly soiled and Lui and Alyssa were pretty clean.

     “Ano ba ‘to? Gago ka!”

     Please turn your heads to the right.

     There was a girl with a baby face whose uniform was moderately soiled.

     “Gago ka!”

     There was this girl swearing at him, he was at least one percent gentleman so he didn’t even think of swearing back.

     “I am so sorry,” Austin said.

     “Gago ka! PUANSAN MO YAN!”

     There was this girl telling him to wipe the egg off her uniform.

     “Anong hinihintay mo? PUNASAN MO YAN!”

     They got the entire canteen’s attention now.

     “Kuya, can I have some tissue please?” Austin said to the man at the Pizza Stand.

     He gave him some and began to wipe. The girl immediately swiped the tissues from his hand and wiped it herself.

     “Gago ka!”

     Austin rushed out of there.

     “I’m screwed, man.”

     “No you’re not,” Ernst said. “I’m the one with egg on my shirt!”

     They were brisk walking past the Patola area.

     “She’s gonna sue me in Sr. Dan’s office since she does not have access to federal court!”

    “No she won’t.”

     “What happened to you guys?” Janella asked, catching up with them.

     “We can answer that,” Lui said.

     “We dared Austin to crush a raw egg without powers, he succeeded.”

     “Congratulations,” Lui said, handing him a hundred peso bill.

     “Thank you, Lui, now I will wash this off.”

     “What about me?” Ernst asked.

     “We’ll figure it out.”

     They went in the boy’s restroom and washed off the egg. Ernst didn’t make much progress.

     Austin went back the classroom early and the guys were looking at him.

     “Austin, we saw what happened,” Mo-on said.

     “Three words: what a b***h!”  Karla said.

     “Austin, don’t worry, if she sues you for the egg, you can sue her for abusive language.”

     “Dude, she’s like, what?’

     “That b***h was a Freshman!” Karla said.

     “You were being cursed by a frickin freshman!” Mo-on said.

     “It’s no big deal. Let bygones be bygones.”

     “Let b*****s be b*****s!” Karla said furiously. “You’re part of CV, I’ll take my friends to charge that b***h!”

     “You don’t even know her name.”

     “Cyril Po, I-Misamis Oriental,” Mo-on said.

     “Girls, we have our coordinates!” Karla said.

     “Girls, not now. It’s P.E. time,” Austin said.

     “I saw that! That was a total b***h!” Jeffrey commented.

     “Thank you for your sympathy.”

     “You’re not easy come, easy go. You deserve respect, especially from that b�" ARGH!” Karla said.

     “Karla, calm down. It’ll be fine.”

     “Okay guys, line up!” Sr. Anton said.

     “Sir, did you see what happened at the canteen?” Mo-on asked.

     “Nothing, sir!” Austin said.

     “Austin got cursed by a freshman!” Mo-on said.

     “This has to stop!” Austin said. “Since you know her name, it’s either she’s popular, you have too much time on your hands, or she’s famous. Now tell me what the big deal is!”

     “She’s not famous, Austin, SHE’S INFAMOUS!” Mo-on said.

     “They’re in a group of freshmen girls who are rumored to have already lost their lip virginity,” Karla said.

     “Just say they kissed some guys and they liked it!” Mo-on said.

     “Sr. Anton, should they stop? As much as I want to settle this…”

     “Yes, it’s been five minutes. Go to the front of the bridge, move!” Sr. Anton said.

 

On the way down, the chatter did not stop.

     “We’re on your side, Austin!” Karla said.

     “I don’t even know her but I hate her already!” Giannina said.

     “Fall in line!” Ms. Ivy, the girl’s P.E. teacher said.

     “She’s probably a Belieber!” Karla said.

     “Quiet!”

     “She made a powerful enemy in the sophomores! This means war!”

     “SHHH!”

     Austin didn’t know how to feel about this. It was his fault that the egg burst but it was only indirectly his fault that she got soiled. She cursed an older person and now his batch wanted to tear her a new one. He felt at home and supported but still, it was pretty confusing.

     They practiced as usual but Austin, Ernst, Lanz, Basti, and the rest of the main dancers were pretty laid back. They were holding ¼ illustration boards (there were 16 of them) in a four by four grid. The intention was to paint a Galleon on the front since the CV/DDN group was supposed to be depicting the Spaniards spreading Catholicism to the Native Philippine Pagans.

     While waiting, Austin put a rock in Ernst’s shirt for fun. It was a new shirt, lucky for him.

     After an hour, they were given a break. Ernst, however, thought it was lunch break. When the break ended, he was devastated but Johan and Bianca didn’t want to tell him yet.

     To him, he had missed a meal for the day. Austin had to admit, he wanted to go along with the prank as well.

     They polished their choreography in those two hours. The galleon looked great and so far, everything was looking good.

     When Austin went back up to the room, it was time of the real lunch break. Ernst was relieved.

     When Austin went pick Ernst up at the DDN room, Ms. Anne and a few girls were talking about Jack breaking someone’s iTouch. It was none of their concern so Austin and Ernst continued to the canteen.

     After the Lunch break, they gathered at the catwalk and Sr. Leo stood in front. This was looking very familiar, Sr. Leo standing in front and “millions” of rebels not listening.

     “Okay, second year!” he started, still, there was noise.

     “Sophomores!”

     Still the same.

     “OKAY, EVERYONE!” Sr. Leo yelled. “You really don’t want to listen? Fine. Props committee, stand up.”
     The said committee stood up.

     “Go to the stage, make your props. As for the rest of you. You want to waste time, fine. All of you will stay here. I don’t want see any of you practicing. You don’t like the heat? Well congratulations, you will stay here in the shade for four hours without doing anything. I don’t want to hear a single sound!”

     Sr. Leo walked over to the stage.

     Silence followed, just like last year at Intrams. Last year, when this happened, inspirational speeches happened and the practice went on and Sr. Leo did nothing.

     Like a prophecy to be fulfilled, Addi and Rudi-Anne stood up.

     “Guys, I bet this looks familiar,” Addi began.

     He took the words right out of Austin’s mouth.

     “Look, our teachers all collaborated to help get us this practice. Do you just want to waste it?

     “They worked hard for us to get this time slot. The fourth years gave it to us!

     “The contest is next week. Seven days left guys. Let’s make the most of it.”

     Silence followed. It wasn’t the shocked silence but the contemplative silence.

     “Are you ready?!”

     “YES!” Everyone shouted.

     “SOPHOMORES FIGHT!” Rudi-Anne yelled.

     “FLDSMFR… Uno… lahblah, Dos Fugh…FIGHT!”

     The entire batch laughed at the most epic fail yet but they failed "epicly" together and that’s all that mattered.

     The entire batch stood up and charged towards the CWS under the hot searing sun. It was glorious, almost like a non-verbal “Screw You”.

     To complete the prophecy, Sr. Leo did not do a single thing. Rudi-Anne began the practices.

     During this time, they gave them the cloth to be tied to their hands for more effect. CV/DDN got Red/Orange. SC/SK got Yellow/Green, and DOR/SAR got Yellow/Red.

     After a while, someone called for the dancers of CV/DDN. Austin, Ernst, Lanz, and Basti went forward. They were to help Ibarra paint the galleon.

    

A few more minutes passed by. The sun got worse and the batch got lazier. Sr. Leo decided to be merciful for once and move them to the Gym.

     The dancers remained on the stage. There was shade anyway so there was no problem.

     Sr. Jojo and Ms. Mac were the ones handling the props committee.

     Painting the Galleon was fun but somewhat messy. Marky came in after a while and helped paint. Austin, Ibarra, and Basti befriended him over this period.

     Eventually, Austin stood up and took a look at the other props when Sr. Jojo went to him.

     “Austin, you have a bit of paint on your neck.”

     Sr. Jojo didn’t seem mad anymore. It was a fairly happy moment.

     Austin switched the band to Hydrokinesis and washed off the paint.

     “There’s still a little.”

     “How about now?”

     “Okay, it’s gone.”

     “Thanks, sir.”

     Austin looked at the far end when they were painting “bilaos” according to the final formation.

     They were making another “formation” only this time, based on color not just shape.

     Sr. Leo’s messengers came down from the gym and called the dancers. Austin, Ernst, Lanz, and Basti followed orders.

     Upstairs, they were polishing DOR/SAR’s entrance and performance. Austin and Ernst were on the stage with Addi and Rudi-Anne.

     “I can’t believe it, Austin,” Addi said. “Sr. Geck is really good at this.”

     “Well, that was only one week of terror he put us through and it was justified so, yeah, he’s a visionary.”

     “He should be our Team Manager, look at him!”

     Sr. Geck was putting everyone into the mood of the Pagans, even the “three-sided square” people.

     After a few runs with DOR/SAR, Ibarra, Marky, and a few other people came in from the back, carrying piles of illustration boards. It was one of the most glorious moments of the year, The Arrival of the Galleon.

     “Geck!” Sr. Leo said.

The Galleon’s is here; don’t you think we should move on to DDN/CV?”

     “Okay, DOR, Sarangani! Give me just one run! GO!”

     Sr. Geck watched and after it was done…

     “We’ll work on that. Okay, exit. DDN, CV, entrance. GO!”

     The dancers went to the front, left side of the formation. The music played and they held the Galleon. They slowly sidestepped to front and center and moved the Galleon as if it were on the ocean.

     They put the Galleon down and went their positions and performed their dance.

     “DDN/CV, it’s good, we have to make it great! Next, SC/SK, double time!”

     While waiting, the dancers were playing with the Galleon.

     Maan called Jasmin to take pictures of them holding the Galleon. it was definitely a glorious moment for all of them.

     They got bored with it after a while and just sat down, watching Sr. Geck work his magic, which was entertaining on his own.

     Austin stood up and went the pedestal with the microphone stand. The mic was not there so he stood up and pretended to speak.

     “Ernst, watch this!”

     Austin cleared his throat.

     “The truth is… I am Iron Man.”

     “Dun-dun-duDUNDUN-dududududuDUDUN-duduDUN!” Ernst said, humming Iron Man by Black Sabbath.

     “Nice one,” Austin said, giving Ernst a high five.

     The practice went on as they polished each of the individual dances.

     “Okay guys, this is it. We have twenty minutes left. If we timed it right, we should be able to do two full runs.”

     “Sir, I can time it!” Austin said.

     “Okay, Austin, you time it.”

     Austin switched to Time-Manipulation and drew a rectangle on his wrist. It said 00:00.

     The batch went into formation and Austin got ready.

     “Ready, set, GO!”

     Austin started up the stopwatch. DOR/SAR made their entry.

     They did their dance and exit as DDN/CV entered. Austin picked up his part of the Galleon and went with the dancers. They put down the Galleon and did their dance.

     They exit and SC/SK entered. They did their dance and finally, everyone entered. Austin was at the back along with the other CV/DDN dancers.

     “Austin, scrunch up your cloth in your fists,” Maan said, who was beside him. He did so.

     When the cue hit, the raised their hands and the cloths subtly dropped. The two of them laughed at this epic fail.

     They did the final dance but near the end, Jasmin ran to the back.

     “Austin, Sr. Leo’s calling you.”

     “I got a better idea.”

     When the final stretch hit, Austin stopped the timer, switched the band to Lumokinesis and projected the timer on the ceiling. 10:28

     “Okay guys, just above ten minutes. Satisfied?” Sr. Leo asked.

     Everyone agreed.

     “Everyone, gather here.”

     Everyone did as told.

     “Okay, today was good. We still have practices next week but that will be easy. We can polish the performance then.”

     “Sr. Geck, want to say something?”

     Sr. Geck shook his head.

     “Okay, let’s end this with a prayer.”

     Sr. Leo led the prayer and dismissed them. Sr. Leo actually seemed pretty happy there. He even forgot the second run.

     Austin went to the bus are to find Janella. She was there and he was able to say goodbye. He went back to his room and took some rest. There were two days left ‘til the Linggo ng Wika…