02x28: The Fourth Quarter Begins

The Freshmen begin planning for the upcoming Intramurals. Joel develops a crush but won't tell anyone who it is.

THE FOURTH QUARTER BEGINS

 

     Finally, it was 2010. Classes would still resume on January 4. Austin had the whole weekend to slack off. Austin dealt with this with a double dose of Chucky; Child’s Play 2 followed by Child’s Play 3.

     He finally got sick of boredom and conjured a guitar up. His New Year’s Resolution? Learn to play an instrument. What better instrument than a guitar?

     Sunday was pretty much devoted to this. He learned all the basic chords via Internet. It was not that hard to memorize the chords, but like every noob in guitar, it was difficult to switch.

     He didn’t master this by Monday. He promised himself, no superpowers when learning the guitar. Bam did it, so will he.

 

Monday finally came and Austin dropped his bag off at the mango tree and went over to Bambam’s area. Their group was known as “KAWALI” or “KAbataang WAlang LIbog”. This was a Tagalog phrase that meant “Youth Without Perversion”. Seeing that Rico was in the group, this was not entirely true and it’s leaning on the status of blatant lie.

     “It’s easy, the solo is difficult though,” Bambam said to Sean. They were the only ones there.

     “Yeah, but the solo still rocks. Afterlife on the other hand,” Sean said.

     “Oh yeah! Afterlife rocks! But I can’t get the hold of it right now,”

     Bam took out the Unvostoc and released his guitar.

     “Alright Bam. Show me your skills,” Sean said.

     “Ok then. If you wish.”

     Bam started playing some sort of awesome song on his guitar. Austin went closer.

     “Hey, it’s Austin!” Sean said.

     “Yo, Sean, am I right?”

     “Yeah…”

     “Hey Bam, what song is that.”

     Bam was too “in the moment” to notice Austin’s question.

     “Bam?”

     “It’s Beast and the Harlot by Avenged Sevenfold,” Sean replied.

     “Oh, thanks.”

     Bam continued until he reached what was presumably the solo where it just fell apart.

     “Oh crap. That’s the solo.”

     “Hey Bam!”

     “Oh, Austin. I didn’t notice you there.”

     “Show me some acoustic stuff.”

     “Sure.”

     Bam started playing their band’s signature song at the moment, 21 Guns.

     “How do you do that?”

     “What?”

     “Switch chords so fast.”

     “It’s easy, you just need some practice. That’s what Sean’s problem was when he first started. Now, his guitarist status is stuck at imba.”

      “Imba” was a term they used to refer to someone “imbalanced”. Therefore, it can be an insult or a compliment or, in a rare occasion, both.

     “Practice makes perfect, Austin,” Sean reiterated.

     The rest of the morning was uninteresting. Austin saw all his friends again, Joel, Ernst, Janella, Ivan. Then it struck him, the English speech, it was fast approaching.

     The assembly took place and everyone went back to the classrooms. It was standard operating procedure from then on. After Recess, however, it was English Time.

     “You will start reciting your speeches on Wednesday. It will be in class number, starting from B1 to G1 to B2 and so on.”

     “Sir, How fancy does the formal attire have to be?” Mary asked.

     “You must simply look like public speakers.”

     “You mean like office wear?”

     “Yes, something like that.”

     Austin already memorized his speech. Ernst had that undoubtedly confident look on his face that said, “I’m Ernst De Vera and I’m ready to conquer the world.” Not many other people exhibited this look.

     The rest of the day was pretty boring, back to school, back to boredom.

     The reborn feel had already left Austin; it only got worse the next day.

     Tuesdays are well known to be Austin’s least favorite day of the week. No Math class and double dose of TLE Class. Ms. Ruby, who wasn’t usually as bad to Austin as to everyone else, started to get worse.

     This quarter got rid of the cooking, sewing, and woodworking and went into hardcore entrepreneurship. In the hands of another teacher, this could have been relatively bearable. Right now, it was as if hell itself possessed the subject.

     It wasn’t boring at first but it was sort of forced. Ms. Ruby would ask someone about the definition of a term and if they couldn’t answer, it was the highway to hell, or humiliation.

     The rest of the day was heaven compared to TLE class.

     Wednesday was uneventful except for English class. In their minds, they were lined up for execution. But it was obvious that Ernst onwards, which included Rico, Janella, and Austin, were not going to be reached. First up was Aldwin, who was nervous as hell but couldn’t sweat it out due to the air conditioning. AD followed then Arjona, Alecz, and finally Job.

     Thursday’s first period was English. Jasmin was first followed by PJ, Alecz, Aris, and Deniece. Ernst was saved by the bell, literally.

     That afternoon, instead of the usual ZL² periods, they were all gathered to the 2^nd floor Gym, Taekwondo area for some reason. When everyone was lined up by section, Sr. Edmond went to the front.

     “Okay Freshmen. As you know, at the month, we will be having our annual intramurals�"“

     “WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” the freshmen cheered loudly. Sr. Edmond’s face was not surprised.

     “Okay, everybody, calm down! Today, we’ll be assigning our players to games. Here’s how this works, I’ll say the game, the gender division, and how many players are needed. You just stand up and we’ll write everyone down. Next week, we’re going to have elimination rounds depending on the game. Some games won’t have elimination rounds. If we don’t have enough players, we will have to succumb to losing by default.”

     This was going to be pathetic for Austin since even with superpowers, he wouldn’t be athletic.

     “Basketball, boys division, 10 players.”

     Austin sucked there. The predictable group of people stood up.

     That was pretty much the flow of the hour. Sr. Edmond would call out a sport; Austin would suck at it and move on. He just did what he did best, stare into space.

     “Marie Antoinette Jimenez, Lui Mennard Santos, Aiyana Valdez, Austin Fernandez, please head to Sr. Alan’s office.”

     Austin was staring into space.

     “Austin!” Janella called. This definitely got Austin’s attention.

     “Yeah?”

     “Sr. Edmond called you. You have to go with those guys,” she said, pointing to Maan, Lui, and Aiyana.

     “Oh, it’s a Math thing. I’ll be back.”

     Austin stood up and followed them.

 

They went down to Sr. Alan’s office but it turns out that the Subject Area Coordinators were having a meeting. They waited around the boardroom, a mysterious room with a door made of tinted glass. Outside, it’s a mirror but you wouldn’t want to check yourself out in front of it since they could see you inside.

     Sr. Alan finally came out and led them to his office.

     “Okay. The results are in.”

     “You mean the elimination test?” Maan asked.

     “Yep. Okay, these people made it: Marie Antoinette Jimenez, Ryan Austin Fernandez, and Lui Mennard Santos.”

     Aiyana began to look sad.

     “Don’t worry, Aiyana, there’s still a lot of contests coming.”

     “When are the contests, sir?” Austin asked.

     “They’ll just send us the invitations a few days prior. You got our fax machines wired to the school’s signals, right?”

     “Dr. Suarez has that covered.”

     “Okay, you may go back now.”

     Austin went back to the taekwondo area along with the other guys. He sat near Joel and Janella.

     “Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

     “Well, Janella, she�"“Joel started

     “SHH!!!” Janella interrupted.

     “It’s okay! What did you do?”

     “Oh nothing I just…”

     “SHE SIGNED YOU UP FOR CHESS!”

     “JOEL!” She said angrily before facing Austin. “I’m sorry, I just thought, you know, chess is your type of game and… and…”

     “Janella, calm down. It’s okay. I like chess.”

     Austin liked chess but he wasn’t a chess master.

     “Who were the other contenders?”

     “Umm… Ibarra from Camiguin and Abais,” Joel answered.

     “Lance?”

     “Yeah.”

     After they finished with the game assignments, it was time for lunch. Austin returned to the usual goof off with Joel while torturing Ernst routine. Nothing ever beat the fun in that activity.

     After lunch, they went to the FBA Auditorium for some orientation about the Intrams. This was led by Sr. Peter, Zamboanga Del Norte’s CCF Teacher.

     “Hello, Freshmen. Today, we’ll just talk about your intramurals.”

     “WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” They cheered again.

     “Calm down, everybody!”

     They did as told.

     “I think now is the time to announce the Team Manager for your batch. This is no other than Mister Leo-John S. Busito.”

     The applause was rather loud. The Bukidnon and Basilan mainly.

     “Your Student Team Manager is Marie Antoinette V. Jimenez.”

     Now this was followed by loud applause, especially Basilan, Maan’s section.

     “Your Assistant Student Team Manager is Ymara Margarita P. Yap.”

     This was met with rather loud applause. Someone from the back shouted “GO YARA!!” The batch broke into laughter.

     “Okay, quiet down. Maybe your Team Manager would like to say a few words.”

     Sr. Leo approached the stage and Sr. peter gave him the mic.

     “Good Afternoon, Freshmen.”

     “Good afternoon, Sr. Leo.”

     “Okay, I hope this year will be a good year for us. Let’s work together to achieve victory! But since we are working together, I must apply my rule in everything we do until the Intrams. Since we are a team, if one of you makes a mistake, all of you are making a mistake. In short, fault of one, fault of all. That is all.”

     Sr. Leo gave the mic back to Sr. Peter. The students showed a slight worry in their faces, especially the cooperatives.

     “There are slight alterations in this year’s cheering competition in particular. Instead of the cheer being in English, it will be in Tagalog.”

      No one reacted to this that much.

     “Now for some bigger news, our team name is Lakampati. After the Tagalog God of Fertility.”

     No one reacted to this either.

     “Now a copy of the cheer will be distributed to you now as I teach you how to recite the cheer. Later on, you will learn the actions from Sr. Leo and your Student Team Leaders.”

     They distributed a copy of the cheer, signed by Maan at the end “>Jimenez, Tentative”

     As promised, Sr. Peter taught the batch how to recite the cheer. This is where they found their first problem; a lot of students simply didn’t give a s**t.

     This made things harder, a lot harder. Not only was there numerous repeats due to these scoundrels but the innocent cooperatives were also affected due to possibly one of the most flawed philosophies in the history of philosophy. Fault of One, Fault of All, would ring in Austin’s mind like a stun grenade, constantly reminding him that other’s actions were the cause of his problems.

     This only got worse when they were already outside. Reciting the cheer again and again was an exercise for the vocal chords. Moving around to form formations was an exercise for the body. And considering the rebels and their rebellious tendencies, this was the most hell the cooperatives had to endure.

     “Come on! Everybody! Cooperate!” Maan shouted out loud. It was very rare that Maan was this angry at so many people. It should be the rebels since the cooperatives were trying their best but once again, the dreaded philosophy strikes back. Fault of One, Fault of All.

     “FROM THE TOP!” Alecz yelled, desperately trying to get everyone to cooperate. When someone would slip up too much, rebel or cooperative, intentional or otherwise, Alecz’s deafening scream of “FROM THE TOP!” would haunt the students in their nightmares…

     The clock finally hit 5:00 as everyone went back to their classrooms to get their things and go home. A lot of people were mocking Alecz’s “FROM THE TOP!” mantra. It began to sound like “His name was Robert Paulson.”

 

Friday was finally here and Austin had never been happier to say T.G.I.F. There were no practices that day. And to make things better, it started with a double period of Math. Austin and John switched places for the second period, so he was enjoying his favorite subject next to his favorite person. That was honestly his favorite hour of the week.

     After two periods of Math, it was Recess time. The day was following the same routine until English time. Austin suited up for his speech about peer pressure. He followed to the AVR 4 where he sat at the back while Ernst recited his speech. He was with Rico.

     Ernst was talking about existentialism and the like. It was a very thought provoking piece and he had some real talent for public speaking.

     “Son of a b***h, he’s good,” Rico whispered to Austin.

     Austin couldn’t reply since he was dumbfounded that silly, old, laughing gasman, Ernst was now speaking like the president of his own country. What country that would be is still up for debate.

     After Ernst, Sr. Rommel told Austin and Rico to move to the front along with Janella. So by number, it was Guen next to Nash, next to Clara, next to Rico, next to Janella, next to Austin. It was no coincidence at all.

     The speakers came and went in order, the ones in line slowly and painfully waiting for their turn. When Clara finished, Austin and Janella patted Rico on the back for moral support. It didn’t help him much. Janella was nervous since she was next. Austin looked at the clock, ten minutes left. If Rico presented a quick speech, Janella would no doubt be next.

     Rico was adequate. He was nervous but that didn’t bring him down. Then, the bell rang. Another friend of his, saved by the bell. Everyone in line stood up and cheered. Janella personally stood up, grabbed Austin by the shoulders, and shook him in glee. Austin was expressionless but deep inside, of course he was happy.

     During Lunch, Austin went over to Janella’s.

     “Hey, Janella. Your birthday’s on the eleventh, right?”

     “Hmm… no.”

     “What do you mean no?” Justin said.

     “So it is on the eleventh?”

     Austin distinctly remembers her saying eleven but he was complete dumbass in love so he didn’t bother writing it down claiming “true love cannot be expressed in words (likewise, paper)”.

     “No, she’s just messing with you. It’s on the… sixteenth!” Janella said.

     “It’s on the sixteenth?” Justin said.

     “So, sixteen then?” Austin asked.

     “Just guess,” Janella said with a smile. Austin vowed that he would never use his psychic powers on Janella after what happened a few months ago. He was just going to have to guess.

     The day ended somewhat abruptly. Austin had never been sadder to say T.G.I.F.

     The weekend was sort of sad. Austin already got Janella’s birthday gift. He was trying to interpret the reason of Janella’s trickery. It was puzzling him to the point of the weekend taking days to pass. Finally though, Monday arrived.

     Austin arrived in school, a nervous wreck. His mind had been reduced to a poop deck. Janella regularly arrive a bit later than him but he anxiously waited. He didn’t bring his gift and if today was her birthday, he wouldn’t just teleport the gift there.

     Soon, Michael arrived.

     “Yo, Austin, wassup. And why the **** do you look like s**t?”

     “I don’t know….”

     “What do you mean I don’t know?!”

     “…if today is her birthday. I forgot. I’m a failure. I’m a piece of crap that�"“

     “DUDE! You have super powers! If it is her birthday, just conjure something up.”

     “Michael, I specifically told myself I will not do that. I want this relationship to be formed with heart and soul, not simple power and applied phlebtonium.”

     “Applied phlegm what?!”

     “Never mind. In short, just no use of powers to let her know that I�"“

     “That you what?”

     Austin remained quiet.

     “Come on, say it.”

     “�"like her…”

     “Holy s**t… You’re a woman!”

     “Michael! I’m in a crisis here!”

     “Come on! You clearly love her! Otherwise you’d be on the fourth floor playing with some retarded lab rats.”

     “Hey! Lab rats aren’t retarded!”

     “Jeez, you sound like Ernst.”

     “My gosh, you’re right.”

     “Look, if that’s how you play your game, fine. Just, if today is her birthday, take it like a man. Tell her you’ll give the gift tomorrow.”

     “That sounds acceptable.”

     “Hey, I’m gonna go over to Luis’ place.”

     “That’s Bambam’s place right?”

     “Yeah.”

     No wonder. Luis was a new entry into DRIX which fused with another band W.A.R. (When All Rest). It was a side project rightfully named DRIX and W.A.R.

     Austin went with Michael and saw Janella there. No sign of celebration yet. SO far, so good.

     When more of the Patola members arrived though, Austin’s nightmare came to life.

     “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANELLA!” Justin was the very first to shout. The rest followed suit. She was smiling with her friends while Austin’s view suddenly became blue with code all over the place. crashing… SNAFU

     “Austin…”

     “Yes?” Austin said, quickly snapping back to normal.

     “Are you okay?”

     “Yeah. Happy Birthday!”

     “Thanks,’ she said with a smile. Austin smiled back

     “Hey, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to bring your gift. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”

     “No, it’s okay. Really.”

     “It’s not okay for me. I’ll bring it.”

     “No really, Austin. It’s okay.”

     “Janella, it’s your birthday. You deserve a gift. Trust me, it’s okay.”

     The rest of the day was pretty standard. It was announced that we would have shortened periods and at the end of the day, the extra time will be used for practice starting tomorrow.

     During lunch, Janella was bugging Joel about something.

     “Come on, tell me.”

     “Nah, it won’t interest you.”

     “Hey, guys, what’s up?”

     “Austin, do you know who Joel’s crush is?”

     “I’m sorry. No. That is a legitimate question, Joel. Who is your crush?”

     “I won’t tell.”

     “Come on, it’s Janella’s birthday today, at least give her that present.”

     “Nah, you’ll live without that knowledge.”

     “Fine,” Janella said. “Don’t tell us. Not even to your best friend.”

     “Joel, you don’t have to tell me. At least tell her, it’s her birthday. A little goes a long way, right?” Austin asked Janella. She nodded.

     “I’m sorry guys, I hear Ernst calling me. He’s asking for a straw. See ya.”

     Joel left the two alone.

     “Oh, well.”

     “He told me his old crush though.”

     “Who?”

     Janella whispered in Austin’s ear.

     “Hehe… that’s odd. I can’t imagine those two together.”

     Austin and Janella spent the rest of lunch together but oddly, they didn’t talk. Austin was such a boring guy unless you just happened to be obsessed with movies, which Janella wasn’t. She liked cats.

          The day finally ended and Austin bid Janella a goodbye and a final “happy birthday”.

    

The rest of the week went by and nothing significant happened. Austin gave Janella her gift as promised, just a box of chocolates. Joel never revealed his crush to anyone and Janella was getting more pissed off at the moment but still kept that happy personality above everything else.

     Practices were hell as always and Sr. Leo threatened to blow the plans into pieces if they don’t cooperating. Apparently, the Fault of One, Fault of All rule was literal in the use of the term “Fault”. If one person messed up, everyone messed up but if one person was excellent, it’s nothing special.

     Even though this past week had been hell, nothing could prepare them for what’s yet to come…