02x03: The New Batch

The new students receive their powers and Austin meets some new people.

THE NEW BATCH

 

     After the incident, Austin went back to the classroom along with the rest of the class. He sat in the same spot beside John.

     After waiting a while, two teachers came in. One of them was tall and the other one was shorter. Austin had recognized them from inside the auditorium earlier, observing the class.

     “Good morning students,” the taller one said.

     “Good Morning sir�"“ they said, not knowing his name.

     “I am Sir Leo, and this is Sir Edmond. We will be your advisers for this year.”

     Austin’s loosened up a bit. Last year he remembered a joking remark from their English teacher, far before they got their powers. “If you think we’re witches, the High School teachers are monsters.” These two were people. First impression’s pretty good, but will it last?

     They spent the rest of the day talking about the rules and they took us on a tour around the campus. He observed some of his new classmates, particularly the boys. He had been exposed to nerdy boys for two years. He had noticed that the other boys of the class were the Dave type. Why did Dave hate him? Because he was smart? Or he had never even tried to go with him. His mom wanted the best for him. She wanted him to make good-natured friends. This year, freshman year, first year in high school, he was going to make it the best year of his life.

     He noticed something that made his feeling go lighter even more. John, he was mingling with the Dave type gang. He was actually a lot like Dave but a lot more likeable. Perhaps these guys aren’t so hard to talk to. Maybe they’re not that bad at all.

     He switched his eyes at the girls. He used to hate girls, like most 11 or 12 year olds do. He never considered the stereotypical adolescent male’s perception of them having cooties. He just noticed they annoyed him so much. It changed on that day. The day they got their powers. Was it because of the fact that they were scared and don’t know what to do, and that he was the only one who knew what to do? Even right now, the new students can do whatever the hell they want. They are free, they are normal. Can he muster up the power to give them the curse? The curse that partly ruined his life, partly made it better.

     Lunch break, nothing special happened. Austin ate his lunch, come and went. He decided to check on Patrick, now in the 5^th grade. He was saddened that a lot of the old crowd had moved out of the school. Kyle was either absent on the first day or more likely moved out. Cedric moved out, Berna also moved out. Dave, PJ, and Jelo remained but Ivan moved out. Ahl moved out, he remembered their first night when he saved them the first time.

     He arrived at the Luzon building, which now just houses the 4^th-6^th graders and the third graders were switched to the Visayas building. He turned the knob on the band on his wrist to a picture of a clock. It ticked back to 11:50, lunch time. He caught up with Patrick.

     “Hey Pat, long time no see!” he said.

     “I saw you yesterday!” Patrick replied.

     “Right, oh well. Hey have you seen Kyle?”

     “I don’t know but some guys just arrived at the hotel lobby. Probably old students looking for a place to stay.”

     “Ok, I’ll check on him later.”

     Austin ticked himself back to 1:15. He went to look for Joel. Apparently, he was with Ernst, another new student. He remembered looking at the student list for Bukidnon and wondering who Ernst was. It sounded like the name of a scoundrel, a Dave archetype. He looked like a man but incredibly short. His chin was quite long, he had a double chin. He looked like a troublemaker but if he can handle Joel, he must be pretty good at what he does. He decided to avoid Joel for a while. Joel saw him and ran after him.

     “Hey Austin wait up!”

     Austin turned around.

     “Sup, buddy. Remember in third grade when�"“

     “DUDE! Stop talking about the third grade!”

     “Sorry! I just was gonna say how you were a whiny little b�"“

     “Yeah, move on!”

     ‘I wasn’t finished. A whiny little �"“

     “MOVE ON!”

     “Okay! Well, I found someone even more assy than you!”

     He couldn’t believe it; someone beat him in the assiness. He’d been reigning champion for three years and went soft in sixth grade.

     “Who is it?”

     “He has a funny name and it rhymes with earnest!”

     “I’m outta here!”

     They were going to elect the class officers after recess. Last time he was president, he pissed on everybody like a donkey. He was impeached on February. Last time he was an officer (A Public Relations Officer), he had once again abused his power but that was years ago. This time, he didn’t want to be an officer and wanted to be a little more loose cannon.

     When they were lining up, people were discussing who to become class president. A few people noticed Austin’s self-reinvention in a mere seven hours and John was saying “Austin for President.” Who new John would be so supportive?

 

In the classroom, nominations were open for Class President. Austin was obviously nominated by a classmate of his, Justin Lubag. They had been classmates before, last year. Another one of the nominees was Alecz. There were a few more nominees but Alecz won the elections, Austin got only around three votes.

     Vice President. Austin was once again nominated, by John. Joel was nominated too. Well, Joel won and Austin probably lost people’s trust in the previous two years.

     He wasn’t nominated for Secretary and Treasurer anymore so finally the day was over and he could see some old friends.

 

Austin teleported to the lobby of the hotel and looked around. People were transporting their bags here. He didn’t see Kyle or anyone else so he teleported to the fourth floor.

     He went to Kyle’s suite. He knocked and heard someone say “Who is it?” inside.

     “Kyle, open the door!”

     “Austin?”

     Kyle opened the door and went running at Austin for a hug.

     “Whoah! Kyle, calm down. Where were you? Miss the first day of high school? That’s preposterous!”

     “No, I didn’t miss it.”

     “What? You changed schools?”

     “My mom, we can’t afford the tuition fee here. It’s getting higher and higher. And it’ll be good for me to try different environments right? Besides, I told you last year”

     “I must have forgotten and yes. And while you’re at it, do you want to go to a farm and use your psychic powers to make pigs fly?” Austin said sarcastically.

     “Look, I know you’re upset that I moved but I had a good reason! And for the record, that pig flying joke wasn’t clever.”

     “Screw that! And no, you didn’t have a good reason. Tuition is free for old students. Tuition fee for new students is just a camouflage for the truth. I sent you a letter!”

     “I’ll try to make this work. We can still talk after school. You can come in here anytime!”

     “Look, I have no one to talk to but someone who likes the third grade, a long-chinned retard, and an actual cool guy.”

     “I’m sorry, alright? I’ll try to make this work somehow but for now, let’s survive one year, just one year, without each other. Hey, you survived 8 years.”

     “I didn’t know you then!”

     “Look Austin,”

     “I didn’t even see you the whole summer, where the hell were you?!”

     “I was busy okay!”

     “Busy doing what!”

     “Austin, I am your friend but have in no way the obligation to let you shout at me like this!”

     “See you sometime, “

     Austin walked away feeling sad and angry that Kyle won’t tell him what he did all summer.

 

The next day of school was finally the day that he would be giving the new students superpowers. They had been given forms allowing the parents to choose whether they get it or not. Looks like a lot of the kids are smooth talking and persuasive.

     They fell in line the next day as usual. Thursday, according to their class schedule, had English for the first subject. A tall teacher with a pair of glasses and a curious smile was waiting in front of their line. This teacher was kind of intimidating and that smile was confusing, looking more like a smirk. He led them up to the classroom and he took the usual seat beside John.

     “Good morning I-Bukidnon!” the teacher said.

     “Good Morning sir.�"“

     “Don’t you know my name? Don’t you have a schedule?”

     Wow, second day of school and Austin already looks like an idiot.

      “I am Sir Rommel, your English teacher. Please take your seats.”

     He was a tad more intimidating than Sr. Leo or Sr. Edmond but not really the “holy crap, pressure!” type of teacher.

     He spoke to the class a while about all the deductions they will be given and gave them a quiz about the school head and the school itself. He started to lighten up after that. Soon, he wasn’t intimidating and was really kind of nice. He then asked us to introduce ourselves. Austin built up an addiction to movies over the summer so he put that in. Then, it came to Ernst.

     “Hello, my name is Ernst!”

     “WHAT KIND OF A NUTJOB NAME IS THAT?” Someone yelled. Austin didn’t know who he was.

     “SHH! Quiet.” Sir Rommel said.

     Ernst seemed like a smart a*s, clever sort of guy. He didn’t seem too bad. Well, the way they were seated was the boys on the left side and girls on the right side. It came to the right side where the girls started to introduce themselves. These girls seemed better than last year’s batch. Even his old classmates seemed better. Was it hormones or the fact that Kyle had jokingly mentioned last year that he should get a girlfriend. Then it came to this one girl, Janella Deabanico. Sir Rommel mentioned that she had an angelic face. Austin noticed it too. He was surprised how she stood out from the rest of the crowd. He snapped out of it and went back to reality. He saw John staring at her. Well, either he was hallucinating or not, Janella looked back at John. Austin felt something; he was not sure what it was. He thinks it was called pain or something.

     They had Sr. Edmond next, for Math, Austin’s best subject.

     He was nice as always, he made everyone feel good during that one hour, at that point he started to think if his previous English teacher was just scaring or kidding them.

     Recess was uneventful but they had Ms. Delia, Science, after it. She was probably one of the nicer teachers, especially when compared to their T.L.E. (Technological Livelihood Education) teacher, Ms Ruby.

     She seemed nice at first but can get really critical at times. Sometimes it’s not critical and just becomes bashing.

     After TLE class was really just Club time but since we didn’t have clubs yet, this was the time they used for the new students to get their powers and the old students to go to the Club Orientation.

     Austin was in charge of giving the first years their superpowers as he taught the representative of their levels how to use the Dome of Power.

 

The first years lined up, all new students were in a line that extended outwards from the base.

     He took care of the new ZDN, Camiguin, and Basilan students. None of them were really interesting and a guy named Ralph was an ugly b*****d to him and a few people were just bland. MOC had a few interesting people. So did MOR. He met Johann; he was a nice guy and just asked for Material Absorbance. Joseph asked for Lumokinesis. Owen asked for Super Strength, Finally It came to his own section. First in line was Ernst.

     “Hey, I’m Ernst!”

     “Yeah, what do you want?”

     “You know nitrous oxide?”

     “What?”

    “You know, a dentist’s best friend?”

     “Huh?”

     “Laughing gas! Yay, I gave you a piece of trivia! You should remember these things for the future!”

     “What do you want?!” Austin said angrily.

     “I wanna make laughing gas from my arms.”

     “Can’t you do that already?”

     “Okay, not just my arms, from thin air.”

     “Okay fine!”

     Austin pushed some buttons on the panel and Ernst stepped inside. The familiar green light shined over him.

     Another guy called Ricardo wanted the ability to create small supernovas. Ernst went into the Male ward with the other people. Austin gave him the power as usual.

          The large boy seated behind him the previous day asked for the ability to create acid. Dangerous minds in here but he gave him just that. Turns out his name was Rico.

     There were a lot more after him, it was then down to three.

     John was up next. All John wanted was the power he first saw from a student, Control over steel and magnetism. Austin gave him just that.

     Jem was next, he wanted Terrakinesis.

     The last one was Janella. Since she was the true last first year, they were alone. The rest were inside the male ward and he had a weird hunch that Ernst got his powers to work because everyone was laughing inside.

     “So, Janella…” Austin started, why was he pausing. Was it because he was nervous or because he was being interrupted by the laughter of the men in the male ward.

     “What powers…”

     “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAA!!!”

     “… WOULD YOU…” Austin began to shout.

     “HAAHAAHAA… “

     “Sorry… What powers.”

     “HAHAHAHAAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!”

     “Can you please wait for a few seconds?”

     She nodded and Austin was furious. The first time he has an opportunity for something that doesn’t have 2x+y written all over it was ruined by a long-chinned, smart-a*s b*****d. He put a soundproof wall around the male ward and walked back to Janella.

     “So, what powers would you want?”

     “Hmm... I really haven’t thought of it yet…” she said.

     “Oh? Well take your time; this will be very important as it will be painful to take it off…”

     “Okay. Do you mind if we keep a conversation going while I think it over? There’s no one waiting anyway.”

     “Sure!”

     So they talked for a while but it was a bit dodgy because she was in deep thought. The laughter could still be faintly heard.

     As for their conversation, she seemed really nice and had a lot of spirit. She spoke of the first time they saw the island. Her big brother went out of the car. Austin cringed at this for some reason. He felt something, what was it? He thinks its called anxiety or fear? The skies went from blue to gray. Well, he just noticed how sunny and bright today was.

     “That’s it! I can’t think of anything. I like something contradicting. I can pick two right?”

     “Yeah! Sure.”

     “Can you help me pick?”

     “Umm, yeah! Let’s see. Fire and water is a popular choice… or not. Fire and plant control is rare but good. Hydro and Terra is preferred by a lot.”

     “Anything else?”

     “How about fire and ice?”

     ‘You sure about that?”

     “That’s actually pretty good. Yeah! Fire and Ice it is?”

     “Sure!”

     Austin pressed the buttons on the panel and she stepped inside. Austin didn’t know why but he had this irremovable smile on his face. He walked over to the male ward and wondered whether it was the laughing gas. The laughing seemed to have stopped. She went out.

     “You feeling okay?”

     “Kinda dizzy.”

     “Okay, just calm down and step into the ward.”

    She went in and he removed the soundproof walls around the male ward. The laughing stopped. That means there was no more gas. The smile on his face was real.