03x16: Pulled in Two Directions

Austin gets closer to a few people due to a new seating arrangement. Also, he is sent into a spiral of regret after a negotiation with one of the members of Barrage and Accel's family goes wrong.

PULLED IN TWO DIRECTIONS

 

     Monday was uneventful except for two things, the Ryan Austin Fernandez Movie Rental Service (No, his obsession with Acronyms does not mean it is called the RAFMRS or anything similar) was now open.

     His main clients were Sr. Philip and Ms. Sharon but eventually, some of the students also started renting. Teachers were free of charge unless they chose to pay. Students had to pay ten pesos per night per disk.

     He also only let out five at a time.

     But only seeing it from the present, no students had rented form him yet.

     He also had this animosity towards Sr. Chris for choosing to read the question, knowing perfectly that it would hurt someone’s feelings, than to choose another question.

     Finally, they released the letter for the Recollection. DOR’s was this coming Friday. Theirs was on Monday.

    

Tuesday was a bit more interesting. They had to make a scrapbook about their high school life so far in Computer class. Of course they had to use Photoshop for this.

     One of Mo-on’s pages in his scrapbook was absolute gold. It was a picture of Sr. Jojo protectively hugging Jericho with Micherenz’s smiling face (Deemed the “Ngiting Guioguio” (Guioguio Smile) for its significant appearance. It was almost literally “a smile from ear to ear.”) on top, slightly faded.

     During Recess, TEAGS told Austin that Lanz kissed Ernst on the cheek. It was an odd bit of news and entirely insignificant. It was odd since this is one of those things that would undeservingly get an entire paragraph for it.

     On their way to the Allied Arts Lab in TLE time, Austin waved to Janella as he passed the DDN room.

     Unfortunately, Sr. Leo was their teacher.

     “The Ziggurat is the center of their…”

     She subtly waved back. Unfortunately, his movements were not a subtle as hers.

     “Is that clear, Austin?” Sr. Leo said.

     They all diverted their attention to Austin. He just went on his merry way.

     TLE was the usual routine only this time, Austin spent most of the random time ranting about Sr. Chris. They were able to simulate his distinctive underbite, especially Ibarra who had a slight resemblance to him.

     Computer time was more interesting however.

     Mo-on showed the picture to Ms. Laurice. Needless to say, she laughed really hard.

     During Lunch, they went through the usual routine of “eat, go to library, bunk in with the Patola family, go back to the room,” with a small twist. Before going to the library, he told TEAGS to go ahead and went Clutch.

     His group consisted of Justine, Renz, Rudi-Anne, Addi, Jenice Medina (Clutch’s special someone), and Glen Comendador.

     “Yeah, I did notice that you hate him a lot more than usual,” Clutch said.

     “I don’t hate him usually.”

     “Well, he’s really cool once you get to know him.”

     “That doesn’t excuse the fact that he read an offensive question to an entire class and forced them to answer it with their eyes closed. It’s like you don’t know who your friends are anymore! He could have picked another question, claiming that it was offensive. That would have saved a lot of tears, right?”

     “Well, you have a point.”

     “He’s a teacher! He’s supposed to know these things. He’s supposed to know if what he’s about to do would be acceptable or not.”

     “Now they’re teachers Austin, not God. They make mistakes too.”

     “But that mistake was a mistake that could have been very easily averted. If the choice was between disclosing his identity as the Batman and watching some psychopath kill people, I would have understood but deciding between asking if someone is an a*****e or not in a Catholic school is not a decision at all. It’s like deciding between getting punched in the face or getting pat on the back.”

     “Just try to talk to him, get his side of the story, that’s all I can think of.”

     This was a problem Austin had. He never thinks about just talking it out to solve problems.

     “Thanks Clutch, I’ll try.”

     He went the library and remained silent, thinking of the confrontation to come.

     Outside the library, at the bags area. Nica took Janella’s bag and gave it to Austin. He, of course, willingly carried it before Janella took it back.

     During Filipino time, Ms. Cha was their substitute teacher again, which meant that they were in an hour of hell once more.

     After hell left the classroom, Sr. Leo came in to replace it.

     He got tired of the usual lecture/notes routine so he told everyone to copy the notes first so he could discuss freely on the next meeting.

     Austin spent this hour simultaneously copying and torturing Ymara. Sr. Leo finally noticed this.

     “Austin, why are you torturing poor, poor, Yara?” Sr. Leo asked.

     “No reason, sir.”

     “Yara, are you getting tortured?”

     “Well…” Ymara said, presumably trying to prevent this discussion.

     “Okay, don’t answer. If ever you feel the need, I give you permission to retaliate, okay?”

     “Sure…” she said nonchalantly.

     Sr. Leo didn’t take the conversation too seriously (or so it seemed) so it didn’t stop Austin but she merely shook it off. Sr. Leo noticed it again.

     “Austin, that’s it, if you don’t stop, I’ll call Janella over here and put her beside you! You want that?”

     Everyone dropped their pens and joined the Compostela Valley Choir of Screech Teasers (NOT the CVCoST).

     Austin’s reaction to this was not offense but a subtle smile. Sr. Leo read him like a book.

     “Who am I kidding, that’s just what you want, isn’t it?”

     “Well, sir, it’s a blurry line between�"“

     “Blurry line” Sr. Leo said mockingly as he walked away. Austin would’ve tortured Yara a bit more if only the time hadn’t run out.

    

Wednesday was probably the most eventful day of the week. Austin arrived in the room to a big surprise; the chairs were in a new arrangement.

     There were three chairs in each side in each row, leaving two in the middle. There were five rows in the sides but six pairs of chairs in the middle. The sides were also slanted inwards.

     Austin tried to find his place, which was third row of the left side, innermost chair.

     Ibarra soon arrived to the same surprise. Actually, everyone arrived to the same surprise.

     Austin’s new seatmate was Aika and on the far end, Migz.

     That day, Addi borrowed his copy of Kick-A*s, making him the first student client. (Technically the first student client was Jib Lidasan back in July, when he rented Pulp Fiction)

     These were really the most significant changes of the day not considering the fact that they didn’t continue Shutter Island.

    

The next day was the awarding of the Merit Cards for the first quarter. Austin feared he wouldn’t get one again due to AP but to his surprise, he got a White Card (Third Honor).

     After the awarding, MS. Mac borrowed some time to make a new seating arrangement, taking advantage of the new format.

     Austin was now at the back row, right side, innermost chair. Patricia Agbayani was in the middle and Marise was at the end.

     Marise asked Ms. Mac if Pat was really supposed to be there. She nodded, claiming that this arrangement had particular purposes. These purposes became clear when you consider that in the middle column, back row; Mo-on was seated beside Micherenz Guioguio.

     Pat was absent that day so Marise decided to take her seat “for a while”. Being seated near the window made her sleepy.

     This was a very interesting arrangement, so far the best of the year. Jasvir was in front of Austin, beside Aika who was beside Basti. Also in the right side was Owen, Chili, Sean (who finally got out of the same spot he’s been in for three months), and Ibarra.

     Austin and Marise took the opportunity (which was AP class) to get to know each other better. Only now did Austin realize what a nice personality Marise had.

     As a plus to that, she also had a really good taste in movies. Austin noticed this before when he mentioned to Sean about the MTRCB not releasing Scott Pilgrim but only now did they get have one of Austin’s infamous “movie talks” where he would go all out about the different aspects. Needless to say, it was going to be a good quarter.

     The officers also installed a cork board at the back for reminders and stuff.

     During Lunch, in the Patola table, Justin was eating this new stuff they sold in the canteen. It was a pink substance mixed with ice. The consumer also had a wide choice of toppings.

     “Justin, I tasted that stuff, not worth it,” he said.

     “I don’t know, it’s pretty good.”

     “You sure? Well, maybe you have heard of the movie Soylent Green?”

     “I’ve heard of it,” Ernst said.

     “Where’d you come from?” Nica asked.

     “Anyway, in the end of the movie, it is revealed that Soylent Green is people. What if someone got the inspiration from that film and actually made a real life version called Soylent Pink, which is what you’re eating now.”
     “How can they turn humans pink?”

     “Well, for starters, how’d they turn human’s green? Option number one, Food coloring, easy to use and easy access. Option number two, they didn’t use any coloring. Are you guys done eating?”

     Everyone was done except for Justin.

     “Good, now blood is red and milk is white. What color do you get when you mix red and white?”
     “Strawberry?” Justin said.

     “Pink, Justin, Soylent Pink. I’ve tasted that s**t, dude. It tastes nothing like strawberries and more like the dismembered tastebuds of a forty year old woman with Alzheimer’s.”

     Justin slowly put down the cup and stepped away from it.

     “Spread the word! Ernst, my boy, to the library!”

     “I don’t expect an Adam West transition anytime soon,” Bianca said. “So how about you guys get moving. I’ve been eating with Johan, Ivan, and Jericho for minutes as you wasted your time fantasizing about Justin’s food.”
     “I wasn’t fantasizing, I was speculating!”

     “Well in that case,” Justin said, picking up the cup.

     “WHICH IS STILL VERY PROBABLE!”

     She put the cup back down.

     “Let’s go the library!” Austin said.

     Nothing particularly interesting happened there except for a few people discussing Bettina’s growing attitude problems. Austin wasn’t too affected by her attitude, not counting the random outbursts of annoyance.

     Music class was very awkward. Austin remained silent during the class. Sr. Chris noticed his departure from his usual attitude so he called him to read a paragraph in his slides. He had so much hate in his heart that he opted read it monotonous than to give anything else away.

     “You really hate him, don’t you?” Marise asked.

     “He indirectly hurt the girl I love, I think my actions are more or less justified.”

     “Dude, cool down,” Jasvir said.

     Austin remembered Clutch’s advice and went for it.

     After the class, Austin approached Sr. Chris.

     “Sir, I’m pretty sure you know what I want to talk about.”

     “What?”

     “If I heard correctly, you had a little activity in DDN last Thursday. Tears were shed afterwards.”

     “Oh, that one. Look, I just asked them to ask a question about themselves that they can’t ask to the class.”

     “I then asked them to pass the papers. I drew a random one and read it. That was the deal.”
     “Maybe he thought Janella was the one asking the question,” Austin thought.

     “Thank you for explaining that, sir.”

     Austin went back his seat, feeling better.

     “Feeling better?” Marise asked.

     He remembered that she was psychic.

     “Yeah. A lot better”

     “Hey, Marise, is it true that you’re also a pyrokinetic?” Aika asked.

     “You are?” Austin asked.

     “Well, yes actually.”

     “That is wicked cool, bro,” Jasvir said.

     “Why don’t you use it?” Austin asked.

     “I don’t know. I just feel more at home with Psychic powers. I know how to use my fire powers, mind you, but I just don’t feel like it.”

     “Hey, burn this forged note from Sr. Leo that says ‘I am awesome’ for me,” Jasvir said.

     Marise held the paper with two fingers and it glowed bright red. It then turned into ashes.

     “Marise, I am impressed. Even Patrick doesn’t have that much control.”

     “Astom?”

     “Yeah, you know him?”

     “He and my sister are best friends!”

     “Small world, eh?” Jasvir said.

     “Speaking of, was it you who forged that note?” Austin asked Jasvir.

     “That’s my power. I can mimic their voice, their stutters, their handwriting but I can’t mimic their image. I can also heal fast.”

     “Conservative, much? Aika asked.

     “Dudes!” Renz said, signaling them to stand up. Ms. Kit was waiting.

     Later in the waiting area, Austin stayed with Janella again. Ernst passed by and they had something to talk about.

     “Hey, Austin, Ernst mentioned that he memorized Maan’s phone number.”

     “I did not!”

     “Prove it.”

     “That is illogical. I cannot prove it and I cannot prove otherwise!”

     “He memorized it,” Austin said.

     “Dude, you read my mind?”

     “Nope, it’s just that we formed this link in the Mutant Bond and it totally works now. You thought of it, I simply interpreted it.”

     “Damn.”

     After Ernst left, the awkwardness returned.

     “So, I got a secret to tell you,” Austin said.

     “Go…”

     “I…” Austin said, taking a deep breath. “…never learned to bike.”

     “What?! Seriously?!”

     “Hey, I guess driving a car makes up for it?”

     Janella began to laugh.

     “Don’t worry, I was just begging for your laughter.”

     “So you weren’t serious?”

     “I was dead serious.”

     It was a perfect time to ask her the big question. Filipino culture vaguely states that you have to ask for permission before courtship begins. Now would be the perfect time. They were both in a good mood and…

     “Also, back in elementary, I had a collection of teddy bears.”

     “I can’t believe you’re serious about all this.”

     “Serious? I took them with me here, if you wanna see ‘em, just say so.”

     They were laughing together; still, Austin couldn’t say it.

     He played the scenario in his head. He wasn’t afraid of saying it, he was just afraid of what she would say.

     The minutes went by as Austin continually failed. Soon, it was 5:40.

     “The second graders are out, I better get going,” Austin said.

     “Oh… Bye then.”

     “Bye.”
     “I had a great time here.”

     “Yeah, me too. Take care!”

     Austin walked in and looked back. He saw her brother, who at this point, always scared him a little. This time, he was slightly smiling. He couldn’t confirm and he went in and walked passed John. He did a double take and went back.

     “John, I am such an idiot!”

     “That’s offensive!” Mary said.

     “You’re not in this, Mary!”

     “Dude, she’s right. If you’re an idiot, you’d give me your white card.”

     “No, I mean in romance. I was gonna ask her, today, but I�"“

     “You were?! Then why didn’t you?!” Mary shouted.

     “D****t, Mary, I’m in a crisis here!”

     “I’m trying help.”

     “Dude, it’s okay. Next time, just go for it!”

     “D****t! I am such a retard!”

     “Oh, yeah, how‘s the Anonymous?”

     “It works like a charm.”

     “That’s good. Bye!”

    

The last day of the week was pretty uneventful as well. It was PTC day so the classes were shortened.

     Marise decided to make the “temporary” seating position yesterday, permanent. Pat had to sit near the windows. This was good news for both of them since Pat was kind of the stereotypical shallow type.

     Austin introduced TEAGS to their anthem: The Duck Song by Forrestfire101 on YouTube. It annoyed Bianca greatly, much to the other’s enjoyment.

     Lunch was also uninteresting except for the part where they walked past Cyril and her cronies playing Volleyball near the bridge. They missed the volleyball and it went rolling into a puddle.

     “PUNASAN NIYO YAN!” Mo-on yelled out of nowhere. Everyone else broke into laughter.

     During Math time, they began their Performance task. They had to print a picture of their favorite cartoon character. Austin picked Stan Marsh from South Park.

     That was still for the second part. The first part, they only had to graph a few points and trace it. It took the shape of a rabbit, or as the boys called it, a bunny.

     Sr. Geck made it a race. The first five to get it right would get additional points in the next quiz.

     After the offer expired, he went to the center and made his little speech.

     “So if you did it correctly, you should have formed a bunny. It’s just a normal bunny, unlike what some of you have been insinuating.”

     “Sir?”
     “Yes, Maan.”

     “Why are you smiling?”

     IN case you haven’t noticed, the boys were referring to the Playboy Bunny.

     “It’s just that some of your classmates, particularly the boys, thought it was the Playboy Bunny. Speaking of, how did you boys know about that?”

     Sr. Geck had this mischievous smile on his face as the class (particularly the girls) hollered an echoing “OH!!!” towards the boys.

     AP time was uneventful and English time was cut short.

     They arranged the classroom and Austin went to pick up his friends from DDN afterwards.

     Just like last year, Sr. Leo kept the boys in the room. The only difference is that he wasn’t event their adviser.

     They finally escaped the rule of Sr. Leo and Austin went with Ernst. He had to go so Austin just sat around doing nothing.

     He noticed Janella’s bus was the only one left. Her brother was repeatedly going inside the campus and back out. This could only mean one thing, she was missing.

     Austin went inside the Mindanao building to find her but the only person he found was Mo-on.

     “Mo-on, have you seen Janella?!”

     “Nope, why?”

     “She’s missing.”

     “Use your powers.”

     “Anti-Power clause!”

     “This is kind of an emergency…”

     “Wait the loft! Come with me!”

     Austin switched to Space Manipulation and put him and Mo-on in the Space Loop. He dropped them off in the loft’s balcony.

     “Janella?! Berna?!” Austin called.

     “Nice place they got here. Did you pay for this?”

     “The school is. JANELLA?!”

     “Just use your powers.”

     “I’m sorry but I can’t. I can teleport from here and back and I can teleport with her but that’s it.”

     Austin took them back the school.

     “Let’s check the Mindanao Building.”

     “She’s not there, I’ve been around.”

     “We’re prohibited in there.”

     “And you’re the one who suggested we look?”

     “I’m head of a Unit.”

     “Well, what about the hotel?”

     “Good idea?”

     He was about to teleport them when Austin saw her brother approaching them.

     “Did you see Janella anywhere?” he asked.

     “No, sir, I didn’t.”

     “Okay, thank you.”

     He continued his search by teleporting them to the hotel.

     He went to the tenth floor and knocked on her door.

     “Janella? You in there?”

     “I guess not,” Mo-on said.

     “D****t.”

     They teleported back the school and Mo-on got sight of her.

     “There she is!”

     Austin saw here entering the main gate. She was heading towards the busyard as the girl who was with her (Angel Cillo) headed to the Mindanao Building.

     Austin and Mo-on ran to the busyard. She got in her bus and her brother followed.

     “Janella!” Mo-on said through the windows of the bus.

     She looked behind her.

     “Hey!”

     “Where were you?”

     “In Angel’s suite. We were finishing up our requirements in English.”

     “Oh…”

     Mo-on nudged Austin.

     “Bye,” Austin said.

     “Bye…”

     “BYE!” Mo-on said.

     Her bus drove off and they went towards the Transport Cars.

     “Austin, you are becoming awkward around her.”

     “Oh s**t, I am?”

     It was the one thing Austin always feared.

     “Yeah. Anyway, see ya.”

     Austin waved as he tried to reformat his mind into erasing the awkwardness.

     He went to the base to pick up the blueprints he found for the S-21 component. He waited until 7:00 PM and teleported to the ESS in the city.

     After a while, he saw Erika approaching him.

     “Are you my guy?” she said.

     “Erika Sanchez?”

     “Yup. What do you have for me?”

     “A proposition. I have here your missing blueprints.”

     Austin showed her the rolled up blueprints.

     “Alright, what’s the catch?”

     “Obviously, these blueprints are something you need. I can give you this and everything else you need if you give us what we need.”

     “And what is this need of which you speak of.”

     “Information. I want your motives and your�"“

     “Stop. Sometimes, being straightforward isn’t too bright an idea.”

     “Oh yeah?”

    “Stop and think for a while, will ya? You honestly think I would tell you all that? Of course not. That’s the problem with you people, you’re gullible. We need something we can touch; you need something that you can’t. How will you know if I’m lying?”

     “I’m psychic.”

     “Seriously? Baby, I knew your name before you even left that note. I have ghost powers. And I knew you were spying on us. Did you get the info you needed from that?”

     Austin remained silent and bowed his head down slightly.

     “Fine, since you’re so damn adorable when you’re disappointed, I’ll tell you. I hate cute stuff.”

     Austin looked back up.

     “Derek and Scarlett, also known as Barrage and Accel, worked for the Mastermind. He sent an infiltration team to your island to get some blueprints. He then devised his own model, adding the S-21 component.

     “That made anyone who got their powers from his Dome, vulnerable to a complete Power Sap. He created a Power Sap gun to put any rebels in their proper place.

     “The Mastermind also allowed relatives of employees to use the Dome. Of course none of them knew about the S-21. Scarlett took me and Isaac, that’s Decel, to the process, hoping it would protect us from the outside world.

     “Derek, Scarlett, Nelson, that’s Derek and Accel’s best friend, also known as Momentum, and I came out fine. Isaac, on the other hand, came out unstable since he got the S-20 or the Power Sap while using a Dome with the S-21 function. Scarlett was a researcher there so she knew these things. Unfortunately, she only put all the pieces together when it was too late.

     “After a few weeks, one employee got in over his head and tried to escape. The Mastermind demonstrated his control by turning him into indeterminable mush using the Power Sap Gun.

     “At this point, Derek began to plan. He asked Nelson to aid his friend in Sakai to build us an underground base. When it was ready, we moved there. We used Scarlett’s research to psychic proof and detection-proof that place. They began to plan how to fix this problem we got ourselves into.

     “Scarlett laid down her research and told Derek what we needed. A Telegun, the blueprints for the dome and its components, blueprints for the S-21, and the same radioactive rock they used to give us these powers. I got the first from the abandoned base in Woodridge. They got the blueprints and the parts during the storm. We got the rock during the night of your little school festival.”

     “What about that crap Barrage shot at me.”

     “Oh, that stuff? We were experimenting with Isaac’s blood. It was perfect since he was a blood type O so we could freely inject his power sapping blood.”

     “Did he have the flu when you extracted that stuff?”

     “Conveniently, he did.”

     “So what’s your plan?”

     “Fix our genetic make-up and destroy the Mastermind’s base, him included, hopefully. We use the serum to disable all his henchmen. It only kills when it’s permanent.”

    “Wait, where is his base?”

     “I don’t know, Scarlett said that they always got in via teleporter.”

     “Where is this teleporter?”

     “She never told me.”

     “D****t.”

     “Woodridge.”

     Austin looked behind her; Accel was there, although in normal clothes.

     “Scarlett!” Erika said.

     “I saw your little note. This is the end of our very brief alliance. We give you info, you give us info. That’s it.”
     Austin handed the blueprints.

     “You just have to�"“

     “I already know how to fix it. We have all we need. And don’t expect for one moment that we won’t strike back for what you did to our family.”

     “Come on, Scar, that was an accident,” Erika said.

     “Do not side with them, you understand?!”

     “I’m truly sorry for that. Trust me, it’s been bothering me.”

     “You deserve everything that you’re getting. Erika, let’s go.”

     “Wait, where in Woodridge?”

     “She told you enough!” Accel yelled. “You know enough.”

     Accel let go of Erika and went to Austin.

      “This whole thing is your fault. If you hadn’t created the Dome of Power, none of this would have happened. If you just laid low in the city and not have formed your own little civilization on your little island, none of this would have happened.

      “He was only waiting for someone like you to jumpstart his ridiculous plan! If you hadn’t created the Dome, you wouldn’t have been pushed in there, you wouldn’t have gone crazy, he wouldn’t have gotten blueprints, and none of this would be happening at all!”

     “Let’s go, sis.”

     “I hope you’re happy with your powers,” Accel said before storming off.

     Austin put it in his mind. Accel was right, everything was his fault.

     He went to his old home and cleaned it up a bit. It wasn’t for sale since they found a way to pay for it in case he needed it.

     He went his old room and lay down on his old bed. This was the bed he lay down in before he stepped out on the porch and taught Kyle how to fly. That was before this entire thing began.

     He was filled with regret at this moment. He eventually fell asleep with one thought in his head: The Dome started it all…