03x12: The Week They've Been Waiting For

A Chapter by RA Fernandez

Linggo ng Wika finally hits and the Sophomores enjoy themselves, finally dishing out what they've been preparing for since June.

THE WEEK THEY’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

Since a week technically starts on a Sunday, Sunday had a few moments worth noting.

That day was the day of the “Seton Got Talent” contest where students, teachers, and families alike can participate.

Austin went up to the Gym and sat near Clutch, Glen Comendador (from DDN), and Pocholo.

Pocholo was playing with his DS, Glen was playing with his PSP, and Clutch was playing with his camera. The obvious person for Austin to talk to was Clutch.

“Hey, Clutch, how’s it going?”

“Fine. Dude, look at the judges. One teacher, one parent, and a nun?”

“Haha. They better… clean up their acts! Oh, snap!”

Clutch just looked at him.

“I’m sorry,” Austin said. “That was lame. Anyway, why don’t you try out your powers? I can duplicate your camera, you can literally shoot b-roll.”

“No thanks.”

“Why?”
“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Sure, buddy.”

Clutch leaned in and whispered in Austin’s ear.

“I’m scared of my powers.”

“What? Pssh. Piece of cake, dude.”

Clutch’s power was to duplicate himself into separate entities.

“What if I can’t control it? What if the guys go out of control?”

“It’s simple, oh boy, I’m the one to speak. I never use that power.”

Austin switched the band to Physical Manipulation.

“Okay, first of all, before splitting yourself, you have to focus on two things: one is your mind. If you don’t focus your mind, you can’t have a ‘queen bee’ to call in the others. In case that happens, all you have to do is get everyone close enough and access the link.”

“Access the link?”

“Yeah. It’s kinda hard but it’s like if you have a link with someone in The Mutant Bond. Try speaking to their minds indirectly. But if you did focus beforehand, all you have to do is call them back in.”

“I think I get it.”

“Second is the number of duplicates. You should start with two. Wait, have you ever tried using your powers at all?”

“Yeah, about three times. First time I wrecked my room, second time, one of them jumped off the balcony and when I went down to pick him up, he fused with me and I felt like crap. The third time, I made too many duplicates and they all decided to party in my room. One of them got so drunk that he jumped off the balcony. The others thought it was a good idea so they�"“

“I get it. This brings us to the third part; you have to mildly focus on your duplicates. This is hard if you’re also trying focus on your own mind but try to transfer control to your duplicates. Best way to do this is to start with one clone.”

Austin focused and separated himself into two.

“Now I can…”

“…finish my own sentences…”

“…at will.”

“I thought you never use your powers.”

“Doesn’t mean I…”

“…don’t know how to.”

Austin fused himself back into one.

“Alright Mr. Clutch. Test number one. Shoot a frickin’ b-roll. May I?” Austin said, gesturing to his camera. Clutch gave it to him and he duplicated it.

“Go for it. Good luck.”

Clutch separated himself into two and they went off to the middle as the assembly began.

Austin also went the middle. Most of them were in front of the judges table. They didn’t mind so Austin also went there.

“Hey, Clutch, so far so good.”

To his left was Charlyn Cebedo, another photographer. Clutch was at his right and to Charlyn’s left. Far right was Rudi-Anne.

After the initial formalities (the nun was actually Chairman of the Board), Mo-on arrived and sat between Austin and Charlyn. This made things infinitely better.

The first performance was a group of Seniors called the Groovebugs, led by Paolo Azucena, a true badass.

They performed a hardcore dance number and it was going to be hard to top it.

The other performances were a mother and son dance number (which was mildly unsettling), A sixth grader band, a senior band, and last but not least, a dance number by some teachers.

Among the teachers were Sr. Jojo, Sr. Dhani, and MS. Kristine (an old friend of Austin’s from elementary. She was a Math teacher and was very close to Maan).

All the students in front of the Board of Judges ran to the front part of the gym and cheered for the teachers.

When it was finally time to announce the winners, most of them were hoping for the Groovebugs or the Teachers would win. Surprisingly, it was the mother/son duo.

Clutch reabsorbed himself.

“Very good Clutch,”

Austin took out the SD cards and merged the cameras back together. He gave Clutch the SD cards.

“The files should be intact. Happy editing.”

The next day was the first day of the Linggo ng Wika. It was a full day practice but the Retailing stands were ago today.

Also worth noting was that there was a pirate ship ride, nicknamed the “Anchors Away” due to the similar ride in the Philippine theme park Enchanted Kingdom.

The Bukidnon students were traumatized after last year’s accident wherein they rode the Anchor’s Away and one of the Mastermind’s Assassins, Spike Estaquilla (he had a metal skeleton and can shoot metallic spikes out of his skin), destroyed the supports, sending them flying.

The second years were in charge of Novelty Items and CV was selling the Frisbee Fans with custom designs by Ibarra Libosada.

They were forming the formation involving the colored “bilaos” when Austin was abruptly called by Jasmin. He’s sensing a theme here.

“Ms. Joan needs you.”

“Needs me to what?”

Jasmin took him to the sewing machine room.

“She needs you to sew these two together. Here are your supplies.”

Jasmin handed him two gigantic pieces of cloth, a spool of thread and some sewing needles. Austin sat on the front right machine which was a different model from his “comfort zone”.

It wasn’t really working out between Austin and “Metro”. He couldn’t get it to work at his comfortable speed.

Soon, Alyssa Estrella was also sent in. She actually had to do it by hand!

After struggling, Austin decided to move to his comfort zone but couldn’t find a fitting adapter for the pedal.

Ms. Joan finally came in to save the day as she prepped up his old friend.

Austin and the “Singer” machine did their jobs and he even volunteered to finish Alyssa’s job.

They went to the Gym and he gave the cloth to Sr. Geck. Apparently, this struggle cost them their recess period so they ate for a while. They returned to the gym.

They did a few more rehearsals of the entire routine but the crappy music player led to a lot of confusion. They coped with it until it was time to transfer to the Bridge.

This was definitely not a good thing since the space was relatively smaller.

The DDN/CV dancers were called to fit their costumes.

“Seriously, it’s not that hard to put lyrics into classical music,” Austin said to Ernst while fitting his costume.

“Give me a sample. Hmm, how about Beethoven’s dun-dun-dun-DUN!”

“Um… Ernst is a d****e! He had *** with Bush!”

“WHAT!?” Lanz yelled. “Dude, don’t force me to imagine that s**t!”

“How about dududuDUDUN!”

“Lemme think… Ernst is a f*ggot! Ernst is a f*ggot! He likes to, make love, to maggots!”

“Any other topics aside from me?”

“I don’t know. Force me to do Flight of the Bumblebee.”

“Okay then.”

“GUYS! PLACES!” Anne Nicole said.

They continued to cope with the Bridge even though they were supposed to be at the CWS already. Why? Because of the rain, of course!

They reached the Lunch break and the teachers were, again, begging for a slot at the CWS. They didn’t get it.

Mo-on was protesting against Cyril, passing by their hangout spot under the Bridge, glaring at her. She was glaring back at him and it was a glaring contest.

Today, however, there were small puddles around their area. He passed by again but this time, he yelled, “PUNASAN MO YAN!” Cyril stopped glaring and Mo-on had the feeling of accomplishment.

Austin and Ernst passed by the Anchors Away.

“Hey buddy, wanna ride that?”

“No way!” Ernst replied.

“Hahaha, just kidding.”

After lunch, they got their costumes. They tried them on and, damn, they finally knew what it felt like to be in spandex. No wonder they didn’t suit up and fight crime in the city.

In the boys’ restroom, they were teasing each other on their curves, which were accentuated by the costume.

After this, the batch had to cope with the 2^nd floor gym, taekwondo area but heaven smiled upon them when they got a slot in the Gym.

During the rehearsal, Sr. Geck was making some changes. The main change was that he insisted on the Galleon coming in from opposite sides.

“But sir, first of all, that is illogical and second, the right side would interfere with DOR/SAR’s exit.”

“Fine, you go in from the right. “

“But that would still interfere with the exit.”

“You guys are smart, right? Think of something!”

Austin, Ernst, Maan, Justine, Basti, and the other dancers did one thing they never thought they would do; ask for Sr. Leo’s help.

“Fine, go back the usual steps. I’ll talk to him,” he said. For once, he “saved” the day.

They did one last full run with the repaired speakers and the changes.

They were dismissed ten minutes late but it didn’t matter. That is until Austin went to the bus area and Ernst and Janella were already gone.

The next day was the official start of the Linggo ng Wika in terms of programs and activities.

The main attraction for Tuesday was the KAMPISE (KAMayan at PIStahan sa SEton). It was basically a buffet in every classroom with you classmates.

Austin brought his guitar that day and began to play it. This led to surprised reactions from nearly everybody who saw him playing it. For a lot of people (in fact, almost the entirety of CV) this was the first time they actually saw him play the guitar.

Austin did not understand the “with your class” concept and went DDN, hoping to take advantage of the opportunities. Sean went with him.

They were playing Avenged Sevenfold songs.

“Austin, since it’s Linggo ng Wika, I think we should translate A7X lyrics into our language.”

They did so, the results were hilarious. Sadly, if the results were here, the humor would be lost in translation.

They attended the Mass later in the day. This was followed by the KAMPISE proper.

Austin stayed in the CV room for this. He ate some food while letting Sang Woo borrow his guitar. This man was an awesome guitarist.

After a while of CV time, he took his guitar and went back to DDN. He talked to some people for awhile before approaching Janella.

Something was wrong. Their discussions felt disconnected.

“Austin?”

“Huh? What?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I was just narrating my thoughts in my head.”

Anyway, after a while, the girls (and Ernst) left to visit their stand. (They had a photo booth and printing).

Austin went near the band and started playing Dear God by Avenged Sevenfold. Bam noticed this immediately.

“Hey, is that what I think it is?”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

“Teach me that, hold on, Jolo, can I borrow a guitar?”

“Sure, dude.”

He got a guitar and played along.

“F… then C… then D Minor… then back to C…”

“Got it.”

“Hey what happened to your Power Guitar?”

“It’s in my room.”

Bam’s Power Guitar was a special guitar created by John. Bam’s super power was manipulating sound so he didn’t need an amp for electric guitars.

If he played a chord on the Power Guitar, it would shoot a particular type of power. F was fire, C was ice, D was dark, E was electric, G was ground, A was air, and B was light.

Austin headed back to the CV room, guitar in hand. As he passed by DOR, Sr. Geck noticed his guitar.

“Austin,” he said.

“Yes, sir?”

“You play guitar.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Drop the formality, or should I say ‘at ease’?”

“Okay.”

“So what can you play?”

“A lot. Thunder, 21 Guns, umm…”

“Come on, Give me a sample.”

“Well, sir, I can’t sing very well.”

“Just play something.”

Austin did so, strumming a simple chord progression of C, Am, F, G, as Aaron passed by.

“Aaron, come here.”

“Sir!”

“You know, Aaron, I like your attitude.”

“Oh, thank you sir.”

“I don’t say this to everyone but, your attitude is nice.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Keep it up.”

“Yes, sir!”

Aaron went on his merry way.

Austin began playing 21 Guns.

“Is that 21 Guns?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you play the whole song?”

“I think so.”

“Let’s call Ms. Mac.”

“No, umm…, Jib’s here, he can sing, sorta.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jib asked.

“Ms. Mac has an amazing voice, you know?” Sr. Geck said.

“What is it?” Ms. Mac asked.

“Come on, play something,” Sr. Geck said.

“This is 21 Guns by Green Day.”

Austin began to play as Ms. Mac started to sing along. After a while, Sr. Geck joined in.

He played it until the second chorus.

“Well, that’s not it but I guess it’s a good place to stop,” Austin said.

“Okay then. Thank you, Ms. Mac.”

“Thanks Miss, you have a great voice,” Austin said.

“Thank you, Austin.”

“Anyway, how are you?” Sr. Geck asked.

“Well, to tell the truth, I brought my guitar today for the purposes of a serenade but I chickened out.”
“Oh, so you’re trying to get someone’s attention, eh?”

“She’s in DDN.”

“Well, I we only have a few rules.”

“Her name is Janella Deabanico, sir.”

“Wait, I didn’t ask.”

“Sorry…”

“Anyway, our rules are simple. One, we have to know about it and two; it shouldn’t affect your grades. Your grades are okay, right?”

“Yes, sir, and the reason is because I recognize the fine line between distraction and inspiration and I choose the latter side.”

“Oh, okay then.”

“Well, if that is all, I’ll be going.”

“Okay, bye.”

Austin went into the room and saw Jericho sleeping with Sr. Jojo beside him.

Mo-on didn’t seem to notice since he was shouting random, hilarious stuff at the top of his voice.

“Rodrigo, shhh, Jericho’s sleeping,” Sr. Jojo said.

Mo-on toned down after this.

Soon after, Jericho finally woke up.

Overall, the first day was pretty uneventful.

Austin went to Facebook to check out the pictures when he saw something that absolutely broke his heart.

There was an unofficial class picture of CV and he wasn’t in it…

Moving on to the second day, Austin played his guitar in the morning. What made his day early was Bam complimenting his skills. This made him realize that he had potential in music.

They had practice in the morning. While waiting, the DDN/CV dancers were upstairs. Basti and Lanz borrowed Austin’s guitar, showing off their skills. What really took the cake was when Maan showed of her skills. She was impressive.

They had General rehearsals until 12 noon. The Lunch break was fairly uneventful. It was so uneventful that is was extended.

Austin went the DDN room and decided to spice things up a little.

“Hey, guys, I learned this little song.”

Austin started strumming a G chord.

“What is that?” Ernst asked.

“I call it the Campfire song song.”

They were indeed, the SpongeBob generation. As promised, they sang the song.

After this, Bianca, Johan, Janella, and Austin decided to reveal Ernst’s weird but fictional fetishes on the board.

They drew a heart with an arrow through it. Ernst’s name was in it followed by a plus sign and a blank. “4ever” was written below.

Many things filled the blank like “elephant”, “duck”, “foot”, “men”, and “Owen”. It was still uneventful so they resorted to Hangman.

Austin finally got bored in there and went back the CV room. His day became better when Sean complimented his skills.

While he was playing the guitar, Rica and Mo-on (they deemed each other “kambal” at this point. It meant “twin”) entered the room.

“Guys, we have a new greeting for Sr. Jojo on Monday,” Rica said.

“What?”

“Ready?” Rica asked Mo-on. He nodded.

“Sir Jo! Sir Jojo! Sir Jojo Potenciano!” they said in unison.

“Haha, that’s great.”

“Repeat until tired,” Mo-on said.

“Hey, let’s go to Ms. Mac and Sr. Jojo and ask them to ride the Anchors Away with us.”

“YEAH!”

All the CV students rushed down to retrieve their advisers. Of course, the Bukidnon people had trauma regarding this but that was well over a year ago and they doubt it would happen again.

“Excuse me, is Sr. Jojo here?” Justine asked in their Faculty Center.

“No, he’s not,” Ms. Mac said.

“Ms. Mac! Come with us, please,” Justin pleaded.

“Why?”

“Will you ride the Anchors Away with us?” Kristina asked.

“No thanks.”

“PLEASE!!!” they pleaded simultaneously.

After a few more minutes of pleading, they got Ms. Mac to join them.

They looked for Sr. Jojo when finally; they saw him enter the restroom. They waited outside and when he went out…

“SIR JO! SIR JOJO! SIR JOJO POTENCIANO! SIR JO! SIR JOJO! SIR JOJO POTENCIANO!”

“Guys, stop!”

“Sir, Anchors Away?” Justine asked.

Same routine of pleading happened. Sr. Jojo finally accepted.

“SIR JO! SIR JOJO! SIR JOJO POTENCIANO!”

Ms. Mac laughed at this. For Austin, however, this was mildly making up for the class picture thing.

“SIR JO! SIR JOJO! SIR JOJO POTENCIANO!”

“SHH!!” Sr. Jojo pleaded.

They finally got to the ticket booth and everyone bought a ticket (for P10). They got on the ride. Austin sat beside Aldrich and Sr. Jojo and Ms. Mac were on the opposite sides of the ride.

It started and Austin could see the memory coming back the Bukidnon students. It didn’t matter anymore.

As the swing got higher and higher, Ms. Mac’s facial expression got lower and lower. Everyone was screaming and having fun. This was definitely one of CV’s most memorable moments.

When the ride was over, Austin, embracing his trauma, chanted, “Let’s go again! Let’s go again!”

Ms. Mac replied with, “No thanks…”

The rest of the day was spent on practice. Bianca and Nica were boasting that they had beat Austin in the torturing Ernst department. This cannot be! Only he could torture Ernst!

Anyway, the practice began in the gym. The performance was nearly perfect. Everyone’s hopes were up until they had to transfer to the bridge.

They were crowded again but they continued to practice.

The time finally came when they got the CWS all to themselves.

It was nearly perfect, just a little bit more. Sr. Geck spoke after a few runs.

“Okay, Sophomores. You did good today. The question is: are you satisfied?”

They thought about this for a while.

“No…” they murmured.

“Look, we can still improve this. Remember, all our hard work, all our sufferings, every drop of sweat we had boils down to tomorrow. I want you guys to give me one last run.”

When Sr. Geck said those last three words, it seemed like the most epic thing he had ever heard.

“SOPHOMORES, FIGHT!”

“UNO, DOS, FIGHT!”

They went back to their positions and prepared for the final run.

It was one-thousandth of a step from perfect, or so they thought. Sr. Geck gathered them up again.

“Okay, that was great. I believe in you guys. I’ll just say it again. All our hard work boils down to tomorrow… So let’s make it count!”

“YEAH!” they cheered.

“Let’s end this day properly. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord, thank you for giving us the time to practice today. Please guide these students. Get them well rested and please give them presence of mind for tomorrow. We are doing this all in your glory. Mother Seton”

“Pray for us.”

“God has done great things for us.”

“May God be forever praised, Alleluia!”

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

A short silence followed this.

“Alright guys, good luck tomorrow. Rest well tonight. Good bye.”

The next day finally came and the preparation was nothing interesting. They wore their tight, curve-accentuating, spandex and waited for their turn.

Unfortunately, DDN and SK didn’t get the full costume, instead just getting the triangle in the center of the spandex. (Red/Yellow for DDN/CV, Green/Yellow for DOR/SAR, Orange/Yellow for SC/SK).

Fortunately, they all got their headdresses which looked was a sort of headband worn sideways with a “flame-like design” at the top (same color scheme) and there were strips of crepe paper hanging from the sides.

Another small change was that the Galleon was simply taped together to avoid it splitting into two in the middle of the ocean. It was probably for the best.

They applied four streaks of face paint. (Two on each side matching the color scheme per pair of sections)

The final touch was taking off their shoes. This was a barefoot performance.

Austin’s mom was there and the school did not waste any time.

It was a straight program. From Nursery to Kinder to Prep to the First Graders all the way to the Sixth Graders then to the Freshmen. Before they knew it, it was their turn.

They got ready and Maan read the opening spiel.

They finally performed the routine and all that. It was, for all intents and purposes, the most perfect performance they have ever done. That is considering the fact that it is only the second performance and they got last place for the first one.

The Juniors and Seniors performed while the Sophies changed in the restroom. There were rumors going around that Michael Balana, the leader of the Juniors, said that it didn’t matter what place they got as long as they beat the Sophies.

Rumor or not, that is one big boast.

Austin went out and passed by CV where Sr. Geck was guarding the watches. Austin managed to sneak his watch in because it was only a projection thanks to his powers, barely noticeable.

“So, Sr. Geck, how did we do?” Austin asked.

“You did…”

He anticipated the next word in the sentence as if he’d been waiting for it for weeks.

“…great! It was great! Congratulations.” he said.

“Thank you sir!”

Austin went to the DDN room and spread the good news. Everyone felt happy.

“Hey, Austin. Do you have alcohol?” Janella said.

“Sure, scotch or brandy?”

She glared at him.

“Sorry,” Austin said as he materialized a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He gave it to her and put some on her hands. She put up on of her feet but before cleaning it.

“Don’t look,” Janella said.

“Why? It’s okay with me.”

“Come on…”

Austin was unsettled. Why was she so uncomfortable this week?

Austin finally succumbed and looked away.

“Done. Here, thanks.”

Austin turned back around and took the alcohol from her hands.

“Janella, look, you�"“

“Everyone, the Seniors are done, awarding time baby!” someone said as they passed by.

“What were you saying?” Janella asked.

“Nothing. Umm… you look good today.”

“Hahaha…”

“I’m not kidding, seriously.”

“Okay then. Thanks.”

This was worrying him bad. Why was Janella acting like this?

They all went down for the awarding.

“Okay, let’s cut to the chase,” Sr. Chris said. “Third place goes to… the Sophomores!”

They jumped in the air for joy. They beat someone (and if the rumors are true, they hoped it was the Juniors but that was unlikely because their performance was beyond epic).

Austin and Ernst remembered, however, The Gilbert Principle in which if they are announced to be third place, they should not celebrate in case Sr. Gilbert walks in and announces that they did not get “Third Place” but rather “Third Runner-Up”. This happened last year and they were all devastated.

“Second place goes to… the Seniors!”

The Juniors jumped in the air and celebrated. Half-hope would be that the Freshmen won; it would be ultimate humiliation for the Juniors. But on the other hand, it was humiliation for them all and Little Miss “There’s Egg on My Uniform” would have the time of her life.

“First place goes to the Juniors. Congratulations everyone.”

It was still 11 and they had nothing to do. Sr. Leo announced that no one was allowed to leave until 4:00 unless they had a parent with them. Austin’s mom already left and the A.R.M.’s were in action.

“Austin, can you get us out? I don’t wanna wait here for five hours!” Nica said.

“Well, let’s try.”

Austin, Janella, Ernst, Mo-on, Nica, Lui, Alyssa, Rica, and Marella all marched down to the Guardhouse.

“I am Ryan Austin Fernandez, head of the PRD or the Power Regulation Department. Here is my ID, it is executive.”

“Sorry, Dr. Suarez said no exits without parents.”

“I am an executive here. I have ri�"“

“Sorry, kid. No exceptions.”

“I can call up someone to pick us up. Wanna hang out at my house?” Rica asked.

“Sure. Wait, your house?” Nica said.

“As in, in the city?” Austin asked.

“Yup. It’s okay. I’m sure you all miss the normal life.”

“I guess it’ll be alright,” Austin said.

“I’m free,” Mo-on said.

“I’m not. Sorry,” Ernst said.

“Were you even invited?” Nica asked.

“No. I do not think I was. Were you?”

“Yes, she was,” Rica said.

“BURN!” Nica said.

Ernst puffed a cloud of laughing gas in Nica’s face, or at least tried to. The A.R.M.’s were on.

“I wonder why Dr. Suarez is doing this,” Austin said. “Wait, she installed A.R.M. shields. This only happened twice before. One time, they were attacking the hotel.”

“Are you suggesting that?”

Austin went inside a spare room and called Patrick

“Hello?”

“Hey, Pat, is everything alright in the hotel?”

“Alright? It’s a warzone down here!”

“WHAT? I’m on my way!”

“I’m kidding. My friends and I are playing Call of Duty. It is epic! Anyway, are you in school?”

“Yes, I just wanted to know if it is okay.”

“It is. Except for me, I just got killed. Thanks a lot, buddy.”

“Well, sorry.”

“Kidding! Well, not about the killed part cause I really got killed but… you know what I’m talking about!”

“Yes, Yes I do. Thanks. Bye.”