02x13: A Night to Remember

FS Night time! Austin tries to enjoy thenight despite being turned down by Janella.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

 

     Tuesday was boring. Math was Austin’s best subject and there was no Math on Tuesdays. Basically, Tuesday was the most boring day of the week because the day started with a double period of TLE.

     Wednesday, Austin still noticed Janella’s crush on Jem. She went closer during Filipino time where they focused on the heavily redundant book called “Ibong Adarna”. He wasn’t able to focus due to the uncomfortable tension he was now in between.

     Thursday finally came but the party was during the night, it was a Halloween party after all. Math time, Sr. Edmond noticed our minds drifting away.

     “When subtracting polynomials, you just change the signs of all terms in the subtrahend and add them toge�"“

     Everyone or at least nearly everyone was drifting into space.

     “Hey!”

     Attention went back to the classroom.

     “I know all your minds are on the party in ten hours but right now can you please focus?”

     Everyone made a moan of approval supported by a lazy nod. Sr. Edmond didn’t appear to like this though.

     The day went by very slowly. Austin wasn’t that excited since he was once again going single. There was no point in going. No chance to dance with her on the dance floor. No chance of any of the stuff that would make the night a night to remember.

     During math club, their moderator was late so Austin and Lui were stuck together for a while. Lui was close with the Vanitiez so he knew about Austin’s crush.

     “So you don’t know about free association writing?” Austin said.

     “No. what is it?”

     “It’s in a movie I watched. Haven’t you seen The Sixth Sense?”

     “I’ve heard of it but I haven’t seen it.”

     “Anyway, you just put your pen on a piece of paper and just continue writing. Don’t think about what you’re writing, just continue writing.”

     Lui tried this and asked Austin to interpret. It was very easy. He wrote a lot about the FS Night. He wondered if Lui just performed free association writing or “OMG I’M SO EXCTIED” writing.

     Finally, dismissal came, there were two hours left till the party. Austin went to his suite. He prepared his costume which he bought at the newly remade Mall of Asia. He just wanted to see how they fixed it. It looked pretty much like before only newer.

     His costume was pretty lame, black cloak with red hood. He wondered if this costume would at least have matched Janella’s costume but the chances of that were like 299 to 1.

     While waiting, Austin went to the third floor theater and watched a horror movie. It was after all, a Halloween party. He picked something short, Final Destination. Death coming after some people was a creepy premise a crazed psycho who wanted his brain coming after him was just as bad.

     He felt like there was something missing. Last year, he had no one to dance with so he talked to Kyle, Lanz, and Cedric. This year, Kyle and Cedric moved out and Lanz wasn’t coming. Well he had Ernst since Joel ultimately didn’t come.

     He wore his costume until someone came knocking.

     “Who is it?”

     “Patrick.”

     “Come in!”

     Patrick came in. He was shocked at Austin’s costume.

     “Whoah!”

    “Okay it sucks okay?”

     “You look just like Jigsaw.”

     “No, Jigsaw’s hood is red on the inside and black on the outside. Wait, you watch Saw?”

     “We watch Saw.”

     “Oh.”

     “Anyway, do you mind if I stay on this floor? Mary Morla’s parading around my floor.”

     “Why is it that Mary Morla always ruins my night when there’s a party.”

     “Well good luck next year when she’s in high school in your building.”

     “Ughh… Hope she moves out.”

     “Anyway, bring your camera!”

     “Why, I can record through my eyes.”

     “Can you transfer that into your computer?”

     “Well…”

     “I doubt a USB cable would need to come out of your left armpit.”

     “Fine, I’ll bring my camera.”

     “Great, Take lots of footage.”

     “Sure.”

     He finally teleported to the entrance. A couple of boy scouts were having a camping session on one side. They were laughing however. Then Austin ran into John.

     “Hey Austin!”

     “John, umm…”

     He wasn’t wearing a costume; he was wearing something like a sweater vest?

      “What’s with the costume?” Austin asked.

     “Oh, all my friends didn’t want to wear costumes so we went casual.”

     “Oh.”

     “Anyway, see ya later. Good luck with Janella!”

     “Umm, right…”

     He walked on, the scouts stopped laughing. He noticed a member of the Ninjas and Magic group, Pocholo, wearing the exact same costume as him. He went over to Sr. Edmond to sign in and get his ticket.

     “Good Evening sir,”

     “Hey Austin. Just sign beside your name here.”

     Austin signed his name as Pocholo came running to him.

     “Hey Austin! Look, we have the same costumes!”

     “Ughh…” Austin groaned.

     “I knew you two bought your costumes together!” Sr. Edmond said.

     “No umm…” Austin said.

     Just to make things worse, Clara came running to Austin’s location.

     “Hey Austin!”

     Pocholo snuck away after this.

     “Hi,” Austin said.

     “Did you see Janella already? She’s here and her costume is awesome! You’d like it.”

     “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT! Do Austin and Janella have something going on?” Sr. Edmond asked.

     “Maybe,” Clara answered.

     “Well, we’re just friends, for now, but I’m not really sure.”

     Sr. Edmond gave Austin a little teasing smile as he gave him his ticket.

     “Thanks sir,”

     “Good luck with Janella tonight, Austin.”

     Austin proceeded inside the CWS (Cardinal William Square) and sat on one side where Ernst, Anthony, and the rest of the Ninjas and Magic crowd hung out. Austin and Anthony had made up after a long feud and were now pretty good friends. Ernst was wearing a Michael Jackson costume, the same one he wore during Linggo ng Wika.

     He took a look around the dark and slightly lit CWS. A laser was pointed at the building creating random shapes and the large stage had instruments set up.

     He was trying to find Janella. Clara’s comment on her costume intrigued him and he wanted to say hi. She would have been Austin’s would-be partner but he never found her.

     He saw Justin anyway. She was wearing an extremely accurate witch’s costume. She mentioned that the costume was the reason the boy scouts were laughing a while ago.

     The party was starting, the Student Council president, Aaron Balana, opened the FS night with a bang. Aaron was a Senior but since he planned all of this, he definitely had to be here.

     What other song to kick off the party than Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The dance floor was full but Austin just pulled out his camera and started recording. It was pitch black and he couldn’t find his way. The lights were strobe lights so that didn’t help at all. He found Ernst and he was thoroughly enjoying Thriller.

     After a few more songs, Austin was just wandering the dance floor like a retarded vagabond until finally he felt someone grab his shoulder. He heard the angelic voice he loved so much.

     “Austin? You okay?”

     He turned around and was pretty sure who it was. Janella finally noticed him. Clara was right. She was in a witches’ hat and a sort of vampiress costume or something. Austin didn’t watch those shows with cartoon werewolves and vampires anymore so he didn’t know exactly what. But he was sure of one thing, she was beautiful.

     “Hello? Are you okay?” she asked again.

     “No, err…, yeah, I’m okay.”

     “You sure?”

     “Yeah, I’m okay, now”

     “Huh?”

     “Nothing.”

     “Okay, see you later.”

     Austin wanted to remember this. Go ahead, ask her for a picture. You look nice enough! He was talking to himself again.

     He was expecting DRIX to play anytime but the schedule was switched around a little and the other band, Daily Board, played first.

     Soon, it was DRIX’s turn to play. The vocalist, Asuka, was nervous but the drummer, Michael; the guitarist, Bruce; and last but not least, Bambam on bass, made great music. Austin recorded them.

     Austin put away his camera and went looking for the NAM crowd. They were headed for the bathroom. Austin followed. He looked at himself in the mirror and he looked fine. One thing that didn’t look fine was one of the urinals which was clogged up to the brim with urine and yellow pad paper. Or maybe it was just normal pad paper colored yellow by the urine but Austin tried not to think about it.

     He hadn’t seen Ernst in a while. He was probably wandering around as well. Soon however, it was chowtime.

     Bukidnon’s name was called and they all lined up. Janella was behind him so he took out his camera. She was behind some boys so as a façade, he told the boys to smile and he took a picture. He then moved backward towards the girls. He said, “Smile!” but they didn’t mind him and Janella even looked away. Obviously they didn’t support the paparazzi.

     The night wasn’t as awesome as expected. It was too dark and there was difficulty in seeing where you’re going. Ivan and Jericho were hanging out with Bianca. Austin used to hang out with them if he wasn’t hanging out with Joel and Ernst but now Ivan and Jericho hung out with the NAM crowd and Bianca hung out with the girls. Jericho was a boy as short as Ivan but his power was to grow in size. Bianca was a master at table tennis and ironically, her superpower was making anything bouncy.

     They were pulling a prank on a girl named Marella Antiporda. Austin didn’t know what she looked like but heard of her before. They were trying to picture her while coming out of the girl’s bathroom. Austin sensed this bad idea from a mile away and teleported back to the CWS.

     Austin was sitting down when he finally decided to wander on the dance floor like a retard again. Then Janella walked up to him.

     “Austin?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Can you come with me for a second?’

     “Sure!”

     He was going with her; this was going to be good! She dragged him to her circle of friends which was basically the Patola/Potato family from last year, minus Kyle and the people who moved out, plus Janella and some other people who joined in.

     “Dance with us,” Janella said.

     “Okay Austin, moment of truth, you suck at dancing. When you dance, you look like a retarded duck. What now?” Austin said to himself.

     “Oh, sorry. I can’t dance well.”

     “Oh come on, just try.”

     “COME ON AUSTIN, DANCE!” said one of the girls.

     In desperation, Austin brought out his camera.

     “Put that back,” Janella asked.

     Austin put it back and was desperate for a way out. If she said “Dance with me,” Austin would be happy to but this was her circle of friends here.

     “Look, I’m really sorry. I just can’t”

    Janella gave him a look. This was one he couldn’t read. It could have meant,”Shut up!” or “Be quiet,” or, “Please?”, or “Never mind.” He was extremely confused.

     Austin snuck away. He was being such an idiot.

     A few minutes later. He tried to talk to Janella again. She was seated on the floor. She seemed mad, pissed off, or depressed. He couldn’t read her expressions in the poor lighting. He wanted her to smile. He hated himself at that point. One thing he didn’t want to do was make pretty and nice girls frown. Janella was the nicest and prettiest girl he has ever met in the past twelve years. He hated himself at that moment.

     Time flew by but for Austin, it took forever. Just thinking of her sad face made Austin sad.

     The announcer then said something that made Austin jerk a little. He was on Janella’s side of the CWS and he wanted to comfort her but he didn’t know if he should.

     “Now for all you couples out there, here’s a slow song, just for you. Here is Thunder by Boys Like Girls.”

     The music started playing and Austin just wanted to leave. Couples were dancing in the middle of the dance floor. Austin didn’t even dare wander on there. He sat on the floor like her and just kept quiet trying not to look.

     Nearing the end of the party, the slow songs had just finished, Austin went back to the NAM crowd. There were very few people there. The sophomores noticed him and called him a nerd. He shot them a look and they shut up. He sat down, depressed. He sent Joel a text message. He didn’t reply. He was alone.

     To make him feel worse, Guen and PJ sat beside him. Guen felt sorry for Austin. Austin felt sorry for himself. He just wanted Janella to be happy. He looked at Guen and PJ together and the possibility for impossibility was high.

     Aaron closed the party and Austin went to Sr. Edmond to sign out.

     “So Austin, did you ask Janella to dance?”

     “No, sir.”

     “Aww.. You’re weak..., just kidding!” Sr. Edmond said jokingly.

     While Austin was signing out, he took a quick glance at Janella’s name. She signed out at 10:18; Austin signed out at 10:20. Two minutes, two minutes could have changed a lot. If he left two minutes earlier, he could have found her but no. Too late, two words that usually meant no hope, too late.