02x29: The Calm Before the Storm

Sr. Leo continues to push the Freshmen beyond their limits in preparation for the Cheering Competition for the Intramurals. Joel continues to withhold the identity of his crush.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

 

     There was a white void. He was in it. Above him, far away, there was this figure, slowly drifting towards him. He wondered what it was. It passed in front of his eyes and landed on the ground. It was a red rose with thorns. The thorns then fell off like magic, leaving a flawless rose. Austin was wondering what the hell was happening. Then he saw the thorns approach him, he couldn’t move. They climbed on him and when they reached his chest, they dug into his heart, finally impaling him. He couldn’t move. He died there, standing up.

     He awoke in his bed. It was Saturday morning. He was wondering what the hell that dream meant. He never had dreams in that white void. Was he inside a link in his subconscious?

     He went out of his suite and went to the lobby for breakfast. Joel was there with Ernst, he was eating pancakes, Ernst was eating a burger but he also had a vanilla milkshake beside him, straw included.

     “Hey, Austin! Come join us!” Joel said.

     Austin sat on the open seat.

     “So, do you think the freshmen can kick some butt in the cheering competitions?”

     “Yeah, I guess. Based on Sr. Leo’s plans.”

     “Well, they’re complex but I bet it’s nothing we can’t handle. I mean, with Maan on the�"“

     “MILKSHAKE!” Ernst shouted loudly. Austin and Joel angrily looked at him. “Sorry that just came out.”

     “Anyway, with her and Alecz on the team, I bet we can kick the seniors’ a*s.”

     “Are you sure about that, Joel?”

     “Not really. Hey, we got this far.”

     “So, anything interesting happen yesterday after I left.”

     “Oh, yeah. Janella, she, well. She went to the store near the waiting area and bought some ice cream. Then she started eating it in front of me and Ernst. Man, she licked it like there was no tomorrow.”

     Joel looked around the lobby, presumably checking for Janella.

     “Don’t tell her I said that.”

     “I can’t guarantee that, Joel.”

     “Oh, come on!”

     The image Joel gave him was, sort of cute to say the least. Austin had thought about buying her ice cream the previous Monday to compensate for her birthday. It was a minor coincidence that she would really eat ice cream.

 

Austin went back to his suite and that conversation made him think. Could they really beat one of the higher levels?

     He went in his room and turned on the computer. He had mail.

 

To: Austin Fernandez

 

     All Freshmen will have to go to school before 6:00 in the morning on Monday, January 18, 2010 for Cheering practices. If you are unable to go there at that time for some reason, please reply to this e-mail.

  

                             Sincerely,

           Team Leaders.

 

     Well, looks like last week was only level one of the hell game.

     The rest of the day was boring though. Sunday wasn’t that boring. In the morning, Austin was woken up by Kyle.

     “AUSTIN!”

     KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

     “I’m on my way!” Austin yelled frustratingly.

     He made his way to the door and opened it.

     “You know, I was sort of contemplating last night and I just remembered a small detail that slipped my mind.”

     “You woke me up for this?”

     “Well, when you were ravaging the streets of wherever, Monica came back, you know that, right?”

     “Yeah, I’ve seen her around.”

     “Well, when she came back, she told us stuff that was sort of irrelevant but the important thing is this, the Mastermind has a de-powerization chamber and he’s gonna put you in it.”

     “Tell me something I don’t know.”

     “She mentioned the Mastermind’s plans involving an inside man in the school. Did you know that?”

     Austin remained quiet for a while, heavily pissed off.

     “Kyle, is that what you consider a small detail?!”

     “Don’t you have psychic powers or something?”

     “Well, I wouldn’t know that anyway, I wouldn’t be able to decipher the vague signals my brain would be telling me. But SON OF A B***H KYLE, THAT WAS, WHAT? ONE MONTH AGO?!”

     “Well, one month and thirteen days.”

     “I could’ve found that guy a month ago!”

     “I’m sorry, Austin! It slipped my mind.”

     “I’m pretty sure it slipped Ernst’s mind, or Janella’s mind, or Berna’s mind for Pete’s sakes.”

     “Ernst and Janella didn’t hear. Berna, well, she’s not that close with you.”

     “This is a matter of life and death,” Austin said before taking a deep breath. “Okay, it’s okay. I can just start looking for that guy right now. Thanks for telling me.”

     Austin went back in and closed the door.

     Austin didn’t know where to start. The mutant bond wasn’t indicating anything. But he noticed he now had three links: One with Kyle, one with Patrick, and the last one was with Janella.

     The day passed by and Austin still couldn’t find the culprit. He soon gave in to stress and went to the third floor cinema.

     Austin finally got a print of Paranormal Activity and watched it that night, hoping to get some s**t-your-pants-in-fear movie but instead got, well, whatever-the-hell Paranormal Activity was. Didn’t scare him, at least until he got to his suite…

 

Monday finally came and Austin did the usual routine, albeit earlier. He teleported to the school and it was still 5:15 in the morning.

     “Hey, Austin!” Michael said. “Looks like you’re early.”

     “Look who’s talking,” Austin said. Michael was with Jianne and Joe.

     “Looks like the freshmen really want to win.”

     “Not really, look over there,” Austin said, pointing to the bridge. The Seniors were already practicing.

     “Okay, now what?”

     “Joe, Jianne, I never really found out your powers.”

     “Oh, let me explain on their behalf,” Michael said. “Joe here, well, he can electrify you. Jianne, he can, attract metals. Kind of useless, really.”

     “I remember Joe, I gave him that electrokinesis.”

     “Actually, Austin, I did some research, electrokinesis is actually relevant to something in thermodynamics. The correct term for Joe’s superpower would be Fulgurkinesis or Astrakinesis.”

     “Oh… thanks for the info. Jianne, can you turn your body into metal?”

     “I can fuse my entire body with metal and walk through a steel wall.”

     “Oh, so you can channel your consciousness through metal.”

     “I guess, yeah…” Jianne said with a dumbfounded tone.

     “Everyone who’s here already, please sign up here.”

     Austin and the guys turned around. Ymara was already there. There was also a stack of hats. Props for the cheering competition. Since their team name was the Tagalog God of Fertility, they were going to be farmers.

     So everybody was there by 6:00 and Sr. Leo had already started the torture machine. The cooperation was so low that Alecz had run out of energy to shout her catch phrase.

     “OKAY FRESHMEN!” Sr. Leo started. “IF YOU DON’T COOPERATE SOON ENOUGH, THESE PLANS…” he continued as he held up the plans for the cheering competition. “…I AM GOING TO RIP THEM TO PIECES. ARE WE CLEAR ON THAT?”

     “Yes, Sir Leo.”

     After this incident, the cooperation was relatively higher. Sr. Peter had given up on the batch and so have the other teachers. Sr. Leo was the only one left. Then, they were saved by the bell.

     They had the morning assembly and went to the classrooms. It was boring as usual but Janella was nervous. Then it hit him, they were both supposed to be nervous since today was the day where they recite their speeches.

     The two classes before recess seemed to zip by faster than usual, maybe it’s just fate screwing Austin over but he remembered that it was shortened period. Recess was the same length but it also seemed quicker. Austin changed to his formal wear in preparation for his doom. It was just black pants with a light blue polo shirt and a tie. He had studied how to tie a Windsor knot beforehand so that’s one step away from humiliation.

     He waited for Janella. She came out of the girls’ bathroom wearing her formal wear as well. A white blouse with a brown skirt. She was with her friends. Not wanting to interrupt, he went ahead.

     “Okay, Bukidnon. Where did we stop last time?”

     “RICOOOO DOOONATOOOOO!!!!” Hiro yelled as the class broke into laughter.

     “Okay, Hiro, very funny. What’s your class number Rico?”

      Janella and Austin were in the same spots as last week. The nervousness level was off the charts.

     “B8, sir.”

     “B8, okay, let’s start with G8 now. Who’s G8?”

     Janella reluctantly raised her hand.

     “Okay, you may start.”

     Austin looked her in the eye with a face that said, “You can do it.” He smiled at her but she was still nervous. Finally, she faced the class and spoke.

     She was obviously nervous, she was rushing her speech. She would try to brush this off by reciting the speech directly in front of Ernst, who was drifting off into space. This triggered laughter among the class. Soon, it was finally over. And she sat down, a smile on her face. She sighed in relief.

     “You okay?”

     “Yeah…”

     “Who’s B9?” Sr. Rommel asked.

     Austin semi-confidently raised his hand.

     “Go ahead, Austin.”

     Janella pat him on the back and he semi-confidently stood up. Then it hit him, at that very moment. His world came crashing down, and then another thing hit him. He wasn’t going to humiliate himself. He was going to give it his best. For him, for Janella…

     There he was reciting his speech about the major disadvantages of peer pressure. Especially now that everyone was a superpowered human being, peer pressure might affect you consciously or subconsciously.

     Finally, it was over. He didn’t receive applause; the only person to merit that was Ernst and Aldwin, for some reason. Austin finally sat down, next to Janella. She pat him on the back to calm him down. It was finally over.

     The rest of the day was uninteresting compared to this. Sr. Edmond told Austin that he was in Chess with Ibarra. Lance was kicked out. The very last subject was a double dose of P.E. They had Volleyball, the girls had Swimming.

     They lined up in front of the stage in the CWS. Sr. Leo was standing in front. Bukidnon and Basilan were already lined up. Everyone else was lining up as well. The rebels however, they simply did not care.

    Sr. Leo was patient, however. He waited for the rebels to get a sense of reality. They were dismissed from P.E. class at 2:20 PM. It was now 2:40. Sr. Leo crouched down, grabbed the megaphone, and displayed the plans.

     “Freshmen,” he said. “I warned you already. Maybe this is what you want.” His emphasis was on “this”.

     The look of fear on the cooperatives’ eyes was evident, Maan and Ymara especially. Sr. Leo grabbed a page of the plans and ripped it into pieces. He grabbed another page and ripped that one into pieces. Austin’s blood was boiling. He wanted to stop him. But how could he? Psychic powers?

     Sr. Leo grabbed the third page, after a few seconds, it was in pieces. Same with the fourth, and the fifth. He grabbed the megaphone again.

     “I don’t want to see ANY OF YOU practicing. You will just SIT there for the rest of the time.”

     He left the stage and went in the SAC’s office. Maan and Ymara were reduced to tears. Austin had never hated a teacher more in his life. He looked around, the girls were crying, even Janella. This sparked something in Austin; it’s something close to fury.

     Maan grabbed the megaphone, trying to compose herself.

     “There. You got what you wanted. All our plans, gone.”

     The fury blinded Austin’s judgment, He didn’t even think of restoring them using his powers.

     “What will you do now?”

     Maan put down the megaphone and returned to tears. Ymara grabbed it next.

     “What do you want, freshmen? We’re just trying to put together this presentation and you don’t even care. Well, how about now? Now you care? Now that our plans are in pieces?”

     Alecz was up next.

     “What do you plan to do now? Just sit there and cry?”

     At the very back, three rebels were not affected at all. The rest were in silence while these three were goofing off.

     “CJ! JAKE! CESAR! ANO BA PROBLEMA NIYO?!” Ymara shouted, without the aid of the megaphone. Her sentence translated to “What is your problem?”

     The girls around these three rebels started shouting at them. The back area was in chaos. Ymara and Alecz were filled up with anger while Maan left. She just left. Ymara and Alecz couldn’t take it anymore and left as well. The batch was in deep silence.

     “WHAT, FRESHMEN? ARE WE JUST GOING TO SIT HERE FOR TWO HOURS?!” a loud girl named Michelle Napa, better known as Napa, shouted out.

     “Yeah? Is that what we’re going to do?!” Bettina Manacop yelled from the other section.

     This sparked Sashi, a girl from the Patola family, to stand up and go in front. Bettina followed and after her, Janella stood up.

     “Well? Are we going to sit around?” Bettina said.

     “FRESHMEN, LET’S DO THIS!” Janella shouted out.

     Some of the students began to stand, mostly girls. The lazy guys with their asses glued to floor were now a target for the kicks of the girls right beside them.

     “Nice one, Austin!” Rico said.

     “Yeah, Austin!” Joel followed.

     Austin was proud of her. He’d never been prouder. These two were just teasing; he thought he could help a little in his own section.

     “What are you guys teasing me for? Get to work!” he said.

     “EVERYONE! READY, GO!” Bettina shouted.

     “AMING HILING, LAKAMPATI… DINGGIN!” The batch started. “SA DALUYONG NG HANGIN, DAMHIN AMING AWIT! HANGGANG TAGUMPAY SA AMIN SUMAPIT!”

     Everyone finally started cooperating. Maan was watching from the sidelines, with a faint but virtually non-existent smile on her face. Ymara and Alecz also.

     When the cheer was finally finished. Sashi, Bettina, and Janella went back to their places.

     “Nice one, Janella,” Danie, Queennie, and Justin said to her. Austin just smiled at her.

     Maan went back to the stage.

     “Okay, freshmen. One more time.”

     As they started another run, it started to drizzle. When they finished the run, It was already raining. Maan told everyone to move to the catwalk.

     “Guys, since we can’t move around much here, let’s just recite the cheer. Ready, GO!” Maan said. Everyone followed.

     After a while, the cooperation had worn off again. It was truly the biggest problem in the batch.

     “What is your problem, First Year? Don’t you guys want to win at least third place this year?” Sashi started.

     To Austin’s surprise, Janella spoke next.

     “Come on, guys. Just two more weeks left! Can’t you give your best?”

     “Can’t we all just work together, even just for the remaining two weeks?” Bettina said.

     “WHAT DO YOU GUYS WANT?! WE’RE NOT DOING THIS FOR ANYONE ELSE, THIS IS FOR US!” Napa shouted while crying.

     Everyone remained silent.

     “Guys, come on, just a few more runs, then we can transfer somewhere else. Ready, set, GO!” Maan said.

     Everyone was back to the cooperative mode but knowing the pattern of their batch, it’ll be back to normal in a few minutes.

     “Okay, everyone. It’s still raining but we can transfer to the bridge. Let’s go!” Maan said.

     They did as told and moved to the bridge. When they were there, the cooperation hadn’t worn off yet.

     It was already 4:30. While they were in the middle of the cheer, a tall figure ascended from behind the stairs of the bridge.

     “Tangan-tangan palaso… ng…” they cheered but it got softer and softer until it became complete silence.

     Sr. Leo was standing above them. Everyone was silent.

     “Okay, freshmen, you have a team manager again. “

     The students were murmuring, “Let’s say sorry.” “One, two, three, go.”

     “WE’RE SORRY, SIR LEO…” Everyone said in unison.

     Sr. Leo began to smile.

     “I knew you were going to say that. I’m sorry but I can’t accept that apology. You know why? Because saying ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t really mean that you are really sorry. It’s just words. It’s just like saying “I love you.” You have to show it through your actions.”

     Everybody was silent. Sr. Leo gave them a few more moments to think.

     “Okay, let’s start over.”

     “FROM THE TOP!” Alecz yelled.

     There it was, the highest point of cooperation the batch had reached so far. It was glorious. This cooperation caused the rain to stop, or simply some sick coincidence. Then in the distance, there was a rainbow. Things were definitely getting brighter.

     “Okay, that’s it for today. You may go.”

     Everyone cheered as they went down from the bridge. Austin approached Janella.

     “Janella!”

     “Hmm?”

     Austin took another one of his infamous deep breaths.

     “That was awesome, what you did back there.”

     “Oh…, thanks.”

     “Bye.”

     “See you tomorrow.”

     They parted ways for the day.

 

Sadly, as predicted, everyone was back to their normal selves the next day. Before that, however, Math class suddenly broke down into depression valley.

     “To get the square of a binomial, you just have to substitute the values in the form (x+y)²=x² + 2xy + y² or if�"“

     Sadly, the Bukidnon students were not paying attention. Sr. Edmond tried to test them even further.

     “the binomial is in the form (x-y)²�"“

     Bukidnon still wasn’t paying attention.

     “BUKIDNON!”

     It was depressing but not surprising. The anger on Sr. Edmond’s face told them everything.

    “You ought to make a better choice of who you’re going to disrespect!”

     Sr. Edmond wrote some problems on the board regarding their lesson.

     “You seem confident enough. Answer these problems. They will be recorded as seatwork.”

     He sat down on the teachers table, leaving them to their guilt.    

     As for the practices and the rebels acting up again, it was partly Sr. Leo’s fault. He wouldn’t let them have a water break after two straight hours. They finally got the water break and they went to the taekwondo area afterwards.

     Sr. Leo was pretty nice for the rest of the day since everyone was more or less cooperating. He left Maan in charge for a while.

     When he came back, for some odd reason, he was fuming mad.

     “FRESHMEN! STOP!”

     Like robots, they did as told.

     “GIRLS, GO TO THE BACK! BOYS STAY IN FRONT!”

     Austin was wondering “What the hell did we do?”

     “SIGE BOYS, TINGNAN NATIN KUNG GANYAN TALAGA KAYO KATANGA!”

     Three words entered Austin’s mind at this point. “What. The. ****.” What he said translated to “Okay, boys, let’s see if you really are that stupid,” but in Filipino, it was a lot more offensive.

     Austin saw the boys fuming in anger. Sr. Leo badmouthed them for no reason. Those three words circulated in Austin’s mind again and again.

     When the boys were done, Sr. Leo sent them to the back while the girls went to the front. They were spared the badmouthing.

    

Wednesday, Sr. Leo made some new plans and lined everyone up so they can form the new formations. Once again, before that, Sr. Edmond hadn’t forgiven Bukidnon yet. The reason? Bukidnon was still not paying attention even if Sr. Edmond decided to continue with the discussion as normal. This caused Sr. Edmond to storm off fifteen minutes early, leaving Bukidnon to their double guilt.

     In the line for the cheering formations, the guys were making fun of the campaign of one of the people running for President of the Philippines, Manny Villar.

     “Nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura?” Rico sang.

     “Rico, shut up!” Jasmin shouted.

     “I wanna sing, d****t!”

     Austin was doing what he did best, drift into space. But he overheard something disturbing. Two words bounced around like a pinball in Austin’s mind, “Other. Crush.”

     He dropped back to earth and saw Janella and Marinelle talking. He must have been imagining it so he went back to space.

     “Really, you like him?” Marinelle said.

    He couldn’t get past the stratosphere anymore.

     “No really, am I hearing right?” Rico asked.

     “Rico, shh…” Janella said to Rico as she faintly nodded. That was it. Austin knew this won’t last forever. He was just the nerdy type. His world began crumbling down.

     “Austin?” Janella said.

     “Yes?” he said as calmly as he can.

     “Are you okay?”

    “Yeah! Of course I am!” Austin said with a smile so fake, it made Ernst’s extra inch over the new year seem legit.

     “You sure?”

      “Yeah, don’t worry about me.”

     This bothered Austin for the rest of the day.

     When they were finally in their place. He was sitting beside Rico. The batch was in a “globe” formation.

     “Man, she’s beautiful, right Cado?” Rico said to Ricardo.

     Austin was trembling like a piece of s**t. He was trembling so bad that similes trying to describe it don’t make sense.

     “Austin, are you okay?” Rico asked.

     “YES! Sorry, who’s the girl you’re talking about?”

     “Natasha…”

     “Get over it, Rico,” Ricardo said.

     “NO, I WON’T! You think I should talk to her?”

     “Yeah, sure lover boy. Go for it! Good luck,” Ricardo said.

     Austin resumed to s**t-trembling mode.

     “Austin, are you trembling because of what she said to me?”

     “YES! I mean… no…, of course not.”

     “Austin, don’t worry. At the end of the day, you’ll be in her heart. No matter what they say. You’ll be in her heart, always.”

     “Stop singing, Rico. Just stop,” Ricardo said.

     “I WANT TO SING, D****T!”

     Roey was passing by.

     “Roey!”

     “What?”

     “Did Joel go home already?”

     “Yeah, why?”

     “Nothing…”

     Roey went on. Joel was planning on escaping earlier. Who could blame him?

     “You know, Roey is annoying,” Rico said.

     “Why?” Austin said defensively.

     “He’s such a nerd.”

     “No he’s not. You just have to get to know him.”

     “Eh, whatever. I wouldn’t want to.”

     “Suit yourself.”

     Austin was really being pulled in both directions. His friends were now annoyed at each other. The love of his life moving farther and farther away. But it might have been someone else. Maybe she’s just fooling him.

     “Seriously, should I talk to Natasha?” Rico asked.

     Later that day. They were in the taekwondo area again. Janella and Aubrey were talking.

     “And he can play drums too, right?” Aubrey said.

     Austin was all out of friends for the afternoon. Joel escaped. Rico and Ricardo were having a twisted brotherly love session at the back (no, they were just talking). He was exposed to the terror in front of him. He shoved his head inside his farmer hat and tried to go to a place far away.

     After a few minutes, Janella was quiet.

    “Should I tell him?” Aubrey said.

     Austin rocketed out of his hat.

     “Tell me what?”

     This was probably the nth time this happened to Janella. She rolled her eyes.

     “You’re in charge,” She said in a dull tone.

     “No really?” Aubrey asked.

     “Wait. What am I saying? Don’t tell him.”

     Aubrey got out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. He gave it to Austin.

 

“Janella has… ANOTHER CRUSH!!!”

 

     Austin came crashing down. Janella took the piece of paper and sighed in anger; She grabbed Aubrey’s ballpen and wrote something. She gave it back to Austin.

    

“That’s true: One in ZDN, one in BUK.  I hope you’re not mad at me…”

    

     Austin wrote on the paper. Almost spontaneously, he wrote down: “I’m not mad at you. I want you to be happy.”

     He gave it to her. She wrote on it and gave it back to him. He read it. It said “Thanks.”

 

     Austin sort of got over it until the night when he completely broke down. Everything became a blur.

    

The next day, he woke up; it was 4 in the morning. Austin wasn’t himself. He was completely screwed up.

     He couldn’t think straight and walked to school at a pace of one step per five seconds. He soon got a hold of himself and noticed he was only three meters from the front of the hotel. He teleported to the school and he continued moping. He waited under the bridge for something to happen. Something did happen. Janella arrived. He teleported himself but not away, just facing the other direction. He then started to walk like a complete weirdo, much like third grade, the worst year of his life.

     “Psst!” he heard behind him. He didn’t look back, his mind in a state of “un-ness”

     “Hey Austin,” Anton said.

     “Good morning, Anthony. Beautiful morning on January the Twenty-First isn’t it Anthony? Thursday morning to be precise. Would you like some fava beans and some nice chianti?”

     “Uh, no thanks. Austin, are you okay?”

     “I’m quite fine, Anthony. In fact, let us rest our buttocks on this nicely carved seat right here under this plant grown from the ground.”

     “Buttocks? Austin, what the hell is wrong with you?”

     “Would you have preferred another term that lowlifes like you would use like ‘butt’ or ‘a*s’ or�"“

     “Austin, calm down, tell me what happened.”

    “My heart… it fell… in a blender… maximum overdrive…”

     “Oh, dear…”

     When Ymara called everyone to start with the practicing, Janella approached Austin.

     “Austin, are you okay?”

     “No, I’m not. Why would I be?” he said as opposed to his usual, “Yes I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

     “What’s wrong? Was it because of what I said yesterday?”

     Austin remained stoic. He could not comprehend his surroundings anymore.

     When they reached the classroom, Janella wouldn’t even look at him in anger. This continued throughout the morning. Austin didn’t notice anything happening around him. In Math, they just had a quiz. Austin noticed that, not wanting to increase Sr. Edmond’s anger.

     After recess, it was Science time. Austin leaned forward after Ms. Delia gave them a few problems regarding basic Physics. He could solve them in five minutes if he wanted to anyway (no pride intended) and he leaned a bit more.

     “Janella…”

     “What?” she said bitterly.

     “I’m sorry… Please forgive me. I’m just being stupid…”

     John left and there was now a vacant seat beside her. There was a flash in her eyes but Austin was staring into space too deep, he didn’t notice.

     “If you really are sorry, sit beside me.”

     Austin stood up and did as told. He started to solve the problems. As finished, he was done after five minutes. He faced Janella.

     “Need any help?”

     “No, it’s okay. I’m okay. Thanks for offering,” she said with a smile. There, at that moment, at the sight of her beautiful smile, Austin snapped out of his s**t-trembling trance and went back to normal. He sat up straight again. He saw John from the back smiling as if he was subtly observing Austin’s situation and now he’s giving him a pat on the back,

     Later that day, much like what she was doing to Joel the other week, Austin was bugging her about her crush.

     “It’s okay, I’m okay now.”

     “No, you won’t like what I’ll have to say.”

     Joel walked in on them.

     “Now aren’t you two sweet?”

     “Shut up, Joel. You haven’t told us your crush yet,” Austin said.

     “And I never will. Bye. I have to get another straw for Ernst.”

     “I asked Ernst about that, he said he wasn’t looking for a straw.”

    “Well, I guess I… look, Abais is calling me, he wants me to scramble his Rubik’s cube.”

     “Fine, get out of here!”

     “Anything wrong between you and Joel?” Janella asked.

     “No, nothing’s wrong. He’s just avoiding me recently. He has this new friend who tried to kill me last year.”

     “Who?”

     “Dave Ancheta. It’s no big deal. We’re just having disagreements. All friends have disagreements. For example, me and Ernst, we can never agree on whether licking a straw is legal in the United States Airspace.”

     “What?”

     “Never mind, back to the topic.”

     Aubrey crashed in their conversation.

     “Hey guys, what are you talking about?”

     “Nothing.”

     “Yes, Aubrey. Nothing,” Janella said.

     “Okay. Bye then,” Aubrey said.

     “Come on, just the Bukidnon one.”

     Aubrey did a 180 and went back.

     “It’s still you, Austin!” Aubrey said.

     “AUBREY!” Janella yelled.

     “Bye.”

     Aubrey went away.

     “Well, I guess you’re okay now, huh?” Janella asked.

     “Never been better, haha.”

     She had a frustrated look on her face.

     “Hey, you don’t need to tell me the other one for now.”

     “Huh?”

     “I don’t need to know.”

     The bell rang. It was another quick save.

    

The next day, Joel got a lot worse. He was being a complete a*****e, almost like Dave brainwashed him or something. Top it all off, the day started with a double period of Math, and Bukidnon didn’t have the initiative to apologize until the second period. Sr. Edmond responded similarly to Sr. Leo.

     Joel’s attitude was really pushing Austin over the edge. Eventually, even in a light conversation, Austin snapped.

     “Austin, how was yesterday?” Joel said teasingly.

     “What’s that supposed to mean?”

     “Nothing.”

     “How was your day?

     “Oh, it was good.”

     “Oh, Dave always makes everyone’s days interesting, just ask anyone last year.”

     “What?”

     “You spent your whole day with him. What? Ernst and I seem too lame for you lately?”

     “What are you implying?”

     “Nothing, best friend.”

     “Hey, a*****e, you can have your recess without me.”

     “Hey, Joel!” Janella said. “What happened?” she asked Austin.

     “He gave in?”

     “What do you mean by that? You were egging him on!”

     “I wasn’t. Dave taught him how to cut classes. Dave taught him how to do crazy crap. I bet he taught him how to force an innocent guy to wipe his a*s!”

     “Austin…”

     “Okay, I’m sorry.”

     “If you two don’t make up by lunch, I’ll be mad at both of you.”

     She stormed off. Austin never got off the hook anymore recently.

     He spent the rest of the day trying to figure out ways for him to make up with Janella but not with Joel. This took peak in CCF class where Sr. John was asking random people about spontaneous emotional reaction. Fearing he would be next, he tried to mend the wound immediately

     “Janella…”

     “What?” she said bitterly.

     “Come on, he’s clearly out of my league now.”

     “You started it. You apologize.”

     “He set up the whole chain reaction.”

    “You know the deal, if you two don’t make up, I’ll be mad at both of you.”

     Austin slumped back in his chair. Sr. John and Hiro were having their usual friendly exchanges while Bruce was standing up, waiting for Sr. John’s reaction to his answer.

     His stress increased in lunch itself. He was eating with Ernst, for the first time, he was opening up to him.

     “I don’t know what to do, Ernst.”

     He was eating his lunch. Beside him was a cup of iced tea, straw included. He raised the straw and extended it to Austin.

     “Need a straw?”

     “I’m serious!”

     “Why won’t you apologize? From the conversation you told me, it was your fault.”

     Austin kept quiet. He finally came to the conclusion.

     “Fine, you’re right. But how?”

     “I’ll be back. I’ll buy an egg.”

     Ernst left. For the first time in lunch history, Janella approached Austin.

     “Austin, do it. Now,” she said firmly.

     “I’m sorry, Janella but I can’t at the moment.”

     Ernst arrived, plate in hand with a sunny side up egg on it.

     “Hey Janella, Austin, look what I have, EGG!”

     “Ernst, this is clearly not the right time for that,” Austin said.

     “Austin, Austin, Austin, in this world, there’s time for everything, especially eggs.”

     Janella stormed off and Austin slumped on his table.

     “Mmm… I should’ve bought some rice to go with this.”

     “I’m not in the mood for lunch anymore, Ernst. Thanks for the company.”

     “Oh, no problem.”

     Austin was walking away from Ernst when he called him.

     “Austin, lose your pride and apologize to him.”

     Austin took this into consideration and went over to Joel’s table. He was with Joe and Lance Abais. Joel was holding a Rubik’s cube, scrambling it.

     “Joel,” Austin said. Joel looked at him.

     “What?” Joel said normally.

     “I’m sorry…”

     “You’re forgiven. It’s okay.”

     Austin smiled at this.

     “And Austin…”

     “Yeah?’

     “I told you I was scrambling Lance’s Cube.”

     Austin smiled at this, relieved that he finally got that over with.

     Before Music class, Janella was mad but she saw Austin and Joel together with Ernst as they walked to the classroom. As they went in, Austin gave her the thumbs up. She smiled again and all was well.

     The rest of the day finally gave Austin a rest. Even the practices were good. To top it all off, Joel gave Austin a hint about his crush. It was G5-15 which consisted of Deniece, Guen, Clara, Janella, Kat, Aubrey, Mary, Kim, Marinelle, Queennie, and, Justin. He didn’t have enough time to guess.

     The weekends were once again, boring. Austin was trying to search for the inside man but there simply was no way to find him or her. He came up with nothing, all the way until Monday.

     Monday, they had practices again in the morning. This time, it was until 6 in the afternoon. There were no classes.  All in all, 12 hours of practices for two days. Sadly, there was no Math class either, no chance for redemption.

     They were, as predicted, not cooperating again. Sr. Leo was watching the formations from the fourth floor, plans in hand. He got so angry that he threw the formations down from the fourth floor and stormed to his office. This was easier to clean up though. Maan persevered until Sr. Leo came back. Every time Sr. Leo quit, the students would take it for granted.

     Napa was getting even more annoying. During practices, she would shout like a wild boar looking for her long lost child in the tundra. Well, she had all the insulation she would need.

     That recess, Ernst was acting weird. He wasn’t acting like himself (which was weird on its own) but he was acting even weirder. It was double negative so in short, he was acting normal.

     Maan was gathering everyone up again.

     “Man, she’s amazing,” Ernst said.

     “Who?” Joel asked.

     “Never mind.”

     “Joel, it’s clearly one of the leaders,” Austin said since Ernst was staring at the leaders.

     “Maan?”

     “Ymara?”

     “No, none of those!” Ernst said.

     “Ivy?’ Joel asked.

     “Alecz?” Austin asked.

     “No.”

     Joel started laughing for no reason.

     “What’s wrong?” Austin asked Joel. He whispered in his ear: “Napa.” Austin dropped to the ground in laughter.

     “All right. Who was that?”

     “Nothing,” Austin said.

    “What do you mean nothing? It was�"“

     “Okay, I’ll give you a clue. Michael Jackson.”

     The two of them stared at Ernst in awe.

     “Ernst, no comment.”

     “I give up Ernst, who is it?”

     “I’ll tell you by the end of the day.”

       

     They were in front of the bridge. Sr. Leo had gotten some of the hats to be painted black at one end. He was going to be making formations inside the grid of students. While doing this though, the twelve-and-thirteen-year-old attention spans weren’t holding up that much. Jeramil, another mischievous student, started to get bored.

     He grabbed a small pebble and threw it at Napa. She was looking elsewhere so she was startled.

     “WHO WAS THAT?!”

     Ricardo followed suit.

     “WHO WAS THAT?!”

     Rico was laughing his a*s off as Jeramil and Ricardo were hitting her close range. Austin couldn’t help it and he gave in.

     Meldon from the back fired an accurate shot and hit her in the head with a small pebble.

     “WHO WAS THAT?!?!?!”

     Austin and Rico decided to join the fun and fired at Napa as well. Austin couldn’t fire a second one since he was too busy laughing. Justin and Queennie from the side were firing at Bambam. The results weren’t as hilarious. To top it all off, Sr. Leo wasn’t paying mind but knowing him, he knew.

     Napa continued to be pelted by pebbles.

     “HEY, WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? STOP IT!”

     No one cared about her feelings so it continued. Soon, everyone except Sr. Leo was paying mind to Napa. Most of them were unable to hold in their laughter.

     “JERAMIIIILLLL!!! HEY! STOP IT!”

   Jeramil was about to throw a full blown rock at her when suddenly, Sr. Leo spoke.

     “Are you done throwing rocks at each other?”

     Jeramil slowly lowered the rock and acted like a disciplined boy.

     That lunch, Ernst wouldn’t give in. They only had a thirty minute lunch so Ernst held it in for twenty-three minutes.

     “Okay, Joel. These methods won’t work. Let’s do it my way. Ernst, you try to keep a straight face while I recite the names of all the candidates. If you change facial expression of more than a nanometer, that’s your crush.”

     “Bring it on, big boys!”

     “Ymara,” Joel said, Ernst stayed the same.

     “Ivy,” Austin said, still no change.

     “Alecz,” Joel said, no change

     “Anne Nicole,” Austin said frustratingly, still no change.

     Austin looked at Joel and they both nodded.

     “Okay, Ernst, here it is. Napa.”

     Ernst’s facial expression dramatically changed as he was reduced to tears of laughter.

     “That’s it, Joel. Napa’s the crush.”

     “Elementary, my dear Watson,” Joel replied.

     “Okay, okay, I’ll come clean,” Ernst said on the floor.

     “But what does the King of Pop have to do with it?” Austin asked.

     “Maybe because earlier, Napa… popped?”

     The two of them were reduced to laughter.

     “GUYS! IT’S NOT NAPA!”

     “Okay, then Ernst boy, who is it?” Joel asked.

     Ernst looked down at his shoes, fiddling with his thumbs.

     “If you don’t tell us, we’ll conclude that it’s Napa,” Austin said.

     “It’s Maan, okay…”

     Joel was reduced to a laughing fit while Austin’s lower jaw simply dropped.

     “You know, since Michael’s initials are MJ and so is Maan’s so, yeah…”

     Joel tried to collect himself but fell back into his laughing fit. Austin’s lower jaw remained detached from the upper.

     “Okay, Ernst. That’s really charming,” Joel said.

    “FRESHMEN! PRACTICE TIME!” Maan yelled from the sidelines.

     “Come on, Ernst. Practice time. Let’s get it right!” Austin said.

     The rest of the day was pretty okay. When they practiced once, Napa really started to piss Austin off that he made angry graffiti on the ground. It was a heart with an arrow through it with the initials LB+MN inside.

     “What’s LB and MN, Austin?” Bam asked.

     “Leo and Michelle,” Austin said angrily.

     “What’s wrong, Austin?” Janella asked.

     “Oh nothing, just noticed two a******s in my life…”

    “I think it’s best to leave him alone,” Danie said to Bam and Janella.

    

The next day, Austin had already calmed down. The start of the day was normal, Ymara would round everyone up. To Austin’s surprise, during their first break. Roey had new Ninjas and Magic Cards.

     “Hey, Austin! Roey has new cards!” Ivan said.

     “On my way!” Austin said as he teleported to Roey.

     “Hey, Austin. Better convert these already.”

     “Okay. Give them to me.”

     Austin switched the band to space manipulation and converted all the cards.

    “Okay, now watch this,” Roey said as he got a card. It was labeled “DISCARD BOMB!”

     He threw it towards a non-suspecting Ernst.

     “DONKEY DICK! WHAT THE?”

    “De Vera, language!” Ms. Ruby said as she passed by him.

     Ernst looked over to Roey who was receiving high fives from everyone else.

     The routine was already done. Compared to Sr. Leo’s initial plans, this was mildly inferior. But they had to live with it.

     Their next water break was short. Queennie and Justin were talking about Bukidnon people. Austin, being the a*****e he is, butt in.

     “What you guys talking about?”

     “Bukidnon people.”

     “What about Ernst?”

     “What about him?”

     There was this psychic force compelling him to tell them about Ernst’s secret.

     “Do you know his crush?”

     “No, Do you?” Queennie asked.

     “It’s Maan.”

     “They let out an audible gasp.”

     Ernst, being the nice guy he is, butt in.

     “What are you guys talking about?” he asked.

     “We’re talking about Maan,” Justin said.

     “Yes, Ernst, Maan,” Austin said.

     “You told them?” Ernst asked Austin.

     “Umm… yeah. Sorry, man.”

     “Hey, We’ll keep quiet.”

     Maan was passing by. Ernst was acting weird AKA normal.

     “What’s wrong with Ernst?” Janella asked.

     “Oh nothing, he just saw Maan and fell in love,” Austin said.

     “Oh. Haha. No really,” Janella said.

     “I’m not kidding, ask him.”

     Ernst looked like he was having a system crash.

     When he woke up, he was in the ward. Well actually no, he wished he was in the ward; he was still under the bridge.

     “Maan De Vera! Maan De Vera!” they were chanting.

     “Stop, please, stop!”

     “MAAN DE VERA!” they continued chanting. Others seemed to catch on.

     “STOP IT! STOP IT!” Ernst was yelling like Alex from A Clockwork Orange. Janella noticed his pain and the sympathy kicked in.

     “Austin, stop,” Janella said.

     “Okay.”

     Janella calmed everyone else down. Ernst finally got a hold of himself.

     The rest of the day, they were simply polishing the presentation. There was going to be a dry run later that afternoon. Their teachers were coming back, one by one.

     During Lunchtime, the guys were playing Ninjas and Magic. Only one person used the new deck at a time. It completely wiped out the other deck.

     They polished and polished, this was the peak of their cooperation. Only 1% of the batch were rebels now.

     Before the Dry Run, Sr. Leo spoke.

     “Okay, the other team managers commented. Sr. Martin from the sophomores said, ‘It’s good, good enough for third place.’ Are you going to accept that?

     “NOOOOO!!!!!” the batch yelled in unison.

     “Sr. Peter from the Juniors said, ‘They’re good, but not great?’ are you going to take that?”

     “NOOOOO!!!!!”

     “Sr. Alan from the seniors told me, ‘They’re good. They’re sealed for second place.’ ARE. YOU. GOING. TO. TAKE.THAT?!”

     “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

     “What are we going to do?”

     “WIN!”

     “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

     “WIIINN!!!!”

     “Okay, LET’S DO THIS FRESHMEN! TO THE CWS!”

     They mobilized to the CWS. The Juniors were still performing. They were mind-blowing. After them, it was their turn.

     They performed but in the middle of the performance, THE ACTUAL DRY RUN ITSELF, Napa was yelling as usual. This pissed off a LOT of people.

     After them was the Seniors then the Sophomores. The judges were only teachers and the students weren’t informed of the results. They rest of the day was dedicated to practices.

     Napa, as usual, was shouting and shouting and this pissed Austin, and a lot of other people off to a certain degree that is considered impossible for normal people. Her protégé Jan De Guzman was patting her on the back as if she’s doing a service to humanity.

     “COME ON, FRESHMEN! LOUDER!” she yelled IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ****ING ROUTINE!

     “SHUT THE **** UP, NAPA!” Jeramil shouted out. Everyone started laughing.

     “WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPNEING THERE?! FROM THE TOP!” Alecz yelled.

     “OH THANK GOODNESS! THANK S**T THAT WE HAVE A WOMAN WITH A MOUTH THE SIZE OF URANUS IN OUR MIDST!” Austin forced out of his mouth after carefully surveying the area. Jib greeted him with a, “Nice one.”

     Later on, they were in the grid position again and the boys started pelting her with pebbles again. This was her well earned comeuppance.

     When they were finally in their final run for the day. Napa hadn’t changed. After the run, Sr. Leo told everyone to sit down according to section.

     “HEY! EVERYBODY! SIT DOWN! COME ON! SIT DOWN!” Napa said.

     “SIT DOWN!” Janella just blasted out in a pissed off tone. “JUST SIT DOWN BEFORE SOMEONE HERE LOSES THEIR TEMPER!”

     Everyone sit down while Danie, Justin, and Queennie were trying to calm her down.

     “What happened?” Danie asked her.

     “It’s that girl who think she’s boss,” Janella replied.

     “Napa?” Danie asked.

     Janella nodded.

     “It’s okay, Janella,” Austin said. “She has good intentions,” he turned his head to face the rest of the class. “BUT A CRAPPY EXECUTION!”

     Everyone quiet down. Sr. Leo grabbed the megaphone.

     “Okay everyone, tomorrow’s the day. Let’s make it count. The cheering competition is still on Friday though. There’s going to be practices Thursday so don’t go home yet.

     “Our headquarters will be in Davao Del Norte. Wear your Intrams T-Shirt and pray hard tonight.”

     Maan led a prayer and Ernst was very happy about this. Everyone went home and Austin bid Janella a goodbye. This was it, the moment they were all waiting for. Tomorrow was the 2010 Intramurals…