02x39: Summer Approaching

Austin and Joel have the worst fight of the year and Janella threatens to never speak to them again unless they make up. Austin doesn't want to be made a fool of again.

SUMMER APPROACHING

 

     Austin spent the weekend relaxed and well rested. Joel chatted with Austin. He was calm at this time already and reassured him with the classic “bros before hoes” thing. The weekend just flew by and Monday was here again.

     They had their final rehearsal for the Filipino play that morning. It was finally time.

     Ernst gave a great performance, improvising a comical scream when the character cut himself seven times triggering laughter from the audience.

     Janella also had a brief cameo as a maid in the castle.

     Rico’s battle against Ernst was transformed from an epic display of choreography into a comical rock, paper, scissors fight.

     The play flowed pretty smoothly until the third act where it fell apart and they decided to pull the plug. The judges, Sr. Rommel, Sr. Martin, and Sr. JM, where sort of disappointed. A student from the third year class who was watching them also voiced out his rather harsh opinion: he couldn’t hear the actors.

     Later that afternoon, during AP time, Ms. Emily was holding an oral recitation. Austin saw Joel sitting beside Janella. He crawled around, finding himself sitting in a conveniently empty chair behind Joel and Janella.

     “Dude, Jem asked to exchange seats. You know I seat beside Hiro and near his other friends,” Joel said defensively.

     “It’s okay, you know why I’m here.”

     “Next!” Ms. Emily said.

     Austin raised his hand and recited the fourteen presidents of the Philippines forwards and backwards, slipping a little bit on the backwards part. He sat back down behind the two.

     “Next?” Ms. Emily called.

     “Joel, you should go next,” Austin said.

     “But I…”

     “Come on, you can do it!” Austin urged.

     “Fine, sure…” Joel said, raising his hand and taking one last peek at his notebook before standing up. Austin transferred beside Janella and Jaja proceeded to sit beside Deniece, occupying the chair Austin was sitting on awhile ago.

     Joel said the presidents forward perfectly but when he caught a quick glance of Austin taking his place, he slipped terribly on the backwards part.

     “That’s enough Mr. Turla. Next please…” Ms. Emily said.

     Joel realized that there was nowhere else to sit but on Austin’s chair. Austin did not mind him and just enjoyed what little time he had beside Janella.

     Austin found out that he had another contest the next day and told Janella about it that afternoon. This would’ve been the final contest for the year and Janella wished him the “bestest” of luck.

 

The next day, Austin left early since their venue was very far away from school.

     He chat with Lui in the bus since Maan had her own world. Austin put Knocked Up in the player so she wouldn’t get bored in her “own world” but he and Lui ended up watching as well.

     They arrived late and they were given a possibly sarcastic round of applause when they entered. Sadly, they only got the fifth place trophy but that was for the entire National Capital Region of the Philippines and that was enough pride for Elizabeth Seton School.

     They stopped by McDonalds on the way back and traffic wasn’t that bad compared to the way towards the school. They arrived in Seton before 1:00 and went in the teleporters.

     Austin walked in the classroom, sipping his Coca Cola from McDonalds when he saw Joel sitting beside Janella. Ms. Arlene was discussing as usual but this didn’t stop Joel from looking at Austin with a face that said “Oh s**t, I got caught in the act.”

     “Austin, pumasok ka na dito,(Austin, get in here,)” Ms. Arlene said.

     Austin followed orders. He saw Joel fled his seat so Austin sat beside Janella.

     Austin was fuming for the rest of the day despite that and when he got to his suite, he did what any annoying egotistical moron would do, rant about it on Facebook.

     Wednesday was the first day of their quarterly test and the beginning of the end of the school year. Austin was exempted from two tests so after he took the English test, he had the rest of the day free.

     He spent the time he had reading the book “The Pretenders” which was required for English but he never really got around to reading it until now. He thoroughly enjoyed it and finished it in two hours.

     He went down to the trellis where Bukidnon was there. They were playing truth or dare with a bottle. Among them was Bambam, Alecz, Justin, Joel, Job, Clara, and Rico, all were exempted from the Computer test.

     “Hey, Austin, wanna join?”

     “Sure,” Austin said.

     Alecz spun the bottle and it pointed at Bambam.

     “Okay, Bam, truth or dare?”

     “I’ll settle for dare.”

     “Okay, I dare you to…” Alecz said, stopping to think, “I know! Kiss Austin on the cheek.”

     “WHAT?!” Austin and Bambam said simultaneously. Austin wondered whether they had a link but it was a pretty legitimate response given what Alecz said.

     “Is it okay?” Bam asked Austin.

     “As long as it doesn’t get out,” Austin said, not wanting to be a killjoy.

     Bam came in for the kill as everyone cheered.

     “Thank you for being a sport, Austin,” Alecz said.

     “Just wait ‘til the bottle points at you,” Austin said threateningly while everyone was still laughing.

     The bottle point at Job next.

     “Well, Job?” Alecz asked.

     “Dare.”
     “I dare you to… kiss Bambam!”

     “You’re obsessed with kissing, aren’t you Alecz?”

     “Fine, sing Poker Face!” Alecz said.

     “Go Job! Go Job!”

     Just like that, he started singing. When he was done, he was met with applause.

     Alecz spun the bottle again and it pointed at Austin.

     “I choose truth,” Austin said.

     “Okay, umm,…”

     “I know!” Clara said. “Do you still have a crush on Janella?”

     He didn’t even think.

     “Of course. I always have and I still do.”

     Predictably, he was met with a simultaneous “aww…”

     “That’ so sweet,” Alecz said. “NEXT!”

     She spun the bottle and it pointed at Austin again, what luck.

     “Well?”

     “I’ll go for dare this time, AND NO KISSING!”

     “Okay, umm…”

     “Mary Morla’s there,” Clara pointed out.

     “Aw, jeez…”

     Mary Morla was the creepy girl who stalked Austin, Kyle, Lanz, and other boys last year. She was one year lower than them.

     “Okay, go to Mary Morla and say ‘HEY THERE!’ “

     “Are you kidding me, Alecz?” Austin said.

     “No, now go!”

     Austin stood up and went towards the Acacia Lance. Mary Morla was there in all her terrifying glory. Austin shouted out the magic words and quickly retreated to Bukidnon. They were laughing out loud.

     This game continued until the bell rang and they went to the classrooms to meet their friends after one whole day of tests. Austin went to Janella’s room.

     “So how was the test?”

     “It was okay…” she said.

     “JANELLA!” Clara said.

     She ran to Janella, pulled her by the arm and whispered something in her ear. She pushed Clara away and faced Austin.

     “HE DID WHAT?!”

     “What?”

     “Oh nothing, I just told nobody about the Bambam incident. Bye nobody and Austin!”

     Clara walked away.

     “I hate you,” Janella said in a joking manner.

     “It was Alecz’s fault I mean.”

     “Just kidding, sheesh, you take things too seriously. The serious stuff is done, lighten up!”

     Austin put this into mind and considered it as a legitimate suggestion.

     Janella bid him goodbye. Austin went to his suite and checked on Facebook. He saw a message from Justin.

     “Hey Austin, just a report. Awhile ago, before you came into the truth or dare game, Joel picked truth. They asked him if he still had a crush on Janella and he answered yes.”

     When he read this, Austin snapped a little. He felt betrayed yesterday but he thought about it and he thought maybe Jem just forced him to switch again despite the look he gave him. But this was inexcusable. Putting himself into the most polite mindset possible, he replied.

     “Thanks for the information. I got his dirty secret anyway.”

     This troubled him and angered him. This was Joel’s third betrayal. Austin remembered the old adage, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” He wondered who to put the shame on when the person is fooled thrice. Well obviously, in this situation, he was the fool. In fact, not just a fool but a stupid, idiotic, naïve fool.

   

The next day, Austin only had to take the AP test which was second. He spent the free time reading Canal de la Reina again under the mango tree but he still couldn’t absorb it.

     The Recess bell finally rang and Austin waited for the guys to come down. When they arrived, he went to buy some food.

     On the way back, he passed by the Patola area and, of course, talked to Janella.

     “So how was this test?”

     “It was kinda hard but not that hard.”

     “I’m sure you did great.”

     “You’re just flattering,” she said with a smile.

     At this moment Joel passed by. Janella called him.

     “Hey Joel, tell Austin what you told me last night.”

     “What do you mean?” he said.

     “What was it, Joel?”

     Joel remained silent. Janella looked at him sternly and said, “Joel, tell him.”

     “Come on, Joel, tell me. What is this?”

     Joel began to laugh and pointed at Austin.

     “Look! What an idiot!”

     He started to run but Austin quickly changed the band to Psychic power and prevented him from getting any further. He pulled him towards him and forced Joel to face him.

     “What did you call me?”

     “Let me go!” Joel yelled.

     “Fine,”

     Austin let go of his body but not his feet. He still couldn’t run.

     “What happened to ‘bros before hoes’ huh, brother?”

     “You ask yourself that!”

     “Oh, you’re putting that against me when it so obviously applies to you, you traitor!”

     “How does this apply to me?”

     “ASK YOURSELF YOU�"“

     “Austin, stop.”

     Austin calmed down and let go of Joel’s feet and he ran.

     “I don’t want to talk to him ever again.”

     “What?!”

     “You saw that. You heard that!”

     “He’s your friend, Austin.”

     “Friends don’t do that to each other! Friends don’t laugh at their friends like that and call them idiot. I did not feel any childish teasing or joking in that statement!”

     “But�"“

     Austin panicked and ran back to the mango tree.

     When the bell rang. Austin stood up to go to the classroom. He looked at the catwalk and saw Janella pointing towards Joel, signaling him to make up. Austin gave her a simple shake of the head. She got pissed off and went to Austin.

     “If you and Joel don’t make up by tomorrow, I’m going to be mad at you both.”

      Before he could say anything, Janella was gone.

     Austin took the test and when it was over, he went straight down to avoid Janella and Joel. He simply did not want to talk.

     He thought about going to the guidance counselor. While making this decision, Ernst passed by him.

     “Hey Austin, what’s wrong?”

     “It’s just Joel. He betrayed me again.”

     Ernst sat down beside Austin.

     “What happened?”

     Austin told Ernst everything. He just listened like a good friend.

     At this point, Austin realized, Joel wasn’t his true friend in this atmosphere. It was the person he was torturing. It was the guy he was treating like complete and utter s**t throughout the entire year.

     Austin felt bad now, he just realized that, despite all the hell he put this person through, he stuck with him. This person was his true friend, Ernst T. De Vera.

     “Hey Ernst…”

     “What?”

     “Do you wanna go with me to Ms. Kit?”

     “What for?”

     “I’m gonna ask for guidance. That’s her job ain’t it?”

     “Oh sure, no problem. Let’s go.”

     Austin stood up and went towards the guidance office. It was 11 o’ clock and he had a lot of time to spare.

     He told Ms. Kit the entire story with Ernst right there, listening to the tale. He started from third grade when he met Joel. He proceeded to the first day and their building romance. Ms. Kit listened and started to speak.

     “Austin, what I can say about your situation is a bit more difficult than other quite similar situations. I mean, a lot of friends come to me saying ‘I fought with my best friend’ crying all the way through but this situation is more complicated because there is a girl involved.”

     “Well, that isn’t too complicated. He broke my trust, she didn’t.”

     “So if you could choose, who would you keep?”

     “Definitely the girl.”

     “First of all, have you talked to them personally?”

     “I talked to her about it. She just gave me an ultimatum. If I don’t make up with him, she’ll get mad at both of us.”

     “I wonder why she is doing that. But anyway, Austin, maybe you’re just making a big deal out of something small.”

     “Small? This isn’t small!” Austin thought but he looked at Ernst and he was nodding.

     “And as for you, Ernst. What time does your practice start?”

     “We don’t have practices today. I was just finishing requirements.”

     “Oh, Anyway, Austin. Have you thought about it?”

     Austin spent two hours in there but it didn’t feel like two hours. Sadly, he didn’t feel resolved either. He went to the waiting area with Ernst.

     “Hey Ernst,” Austin said.

     “What?”

     “I’m sorry for all the hell. I’ll try to reduce the hell you go through.”

     “That’s no big deal, really.”

     “And thanks for staying with me. I really appreciate it.”

     “No problem, buddy.”

     “See ya around.”

     “Bye.”

     Austin went in the transport car and set it to slow. He seemed to have unlocked a deeper side to Ernst.

     When he got to his suite, he went to his desk phone and typed in Janella’s room number. He started to type out a message.

     “Janella, please, don’t force me to apologize to Joel. I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the one who betrayed me. Please don’t put me through this. I still want to be friends with you but please just look at this through my eyes. I trust a guy for one year, stick out for him, defend him against everyone else, and he destroys our friendship like that. Please think this through.”

     He sent the message and waited for a reply. Soon he got a reply.

     “This is his side:

“Mr. F just got so obsessed with you. He made me repeat every single thing you were saying. He’s the one pissing me off, he should say sorry! �" joel

“He’s just giving you a chance. Of course he would say that. �" Janella”

     This hit Austin like a brick. He never did those things. And if he did, that’s not his intention. Janella was partly true about him giving Joel a teensy weensy chance but he wasn’t trying to piss Joel off. Was curiosity killing the cat here?

     At that moment, the phone rang. Austin answered it.

     “Please Austin, just forgive him.”

     “How can I forgive someone like him?”

     “For me?”

     “He’s a traitor! You saw what he did.”

     Janella’s sniffles started becoming vaguely audible.

     “He’s just as confused as�"“

     “Look, he’s the one who brought this mess upon him. Don’t you see how good our friendship was before. He just had to become an a*****e and�"“

     “Yes! Your friendship was good and now it’s ruined because of me!”

     Then it all became clear. She was putting the blame on herself. Austin took a deep breath.

     “Look Janella, listen, it is not your fault.”

     “Then whose fault is it?!”

     Austin’s heart was sinking at this point because he could hear that she was crying really hard on the other side.

     “It’s nobody’s fault but ours! You don’t have to blame yourself, Janella. Okay?”

     “I ruined everything!”

     “No you didn’t. You’re the most wonderful person I have ever met, you couldn’t ruin anything.”

     “Don’t give me that right now!”

     “Look, he started it and I just don’t want to be betrayed again.”

     “So you’re not going to be friends anymore?”

     Austin paused to think of an appropriate response.

     “No, Janella… at least not now…”

     It wasn’t really a deafening silence but every second Janella did not speak on the other end, Austin felt like dying, hearing her cry like that.

     “Austin, please…”

     “I’m sorry, Janella.”

     There it was again, that wordless gap.

     “Just remember my deal.”

     “Don’t you understand what I’m sa�"“

     “Why am I even talking to you?!”

     Austin shut up. He laid down on his bed, his eyes watering.

     “Aren’t I mad at you?”

     She dropped down the phone. For a while, Austin was deaf. Tears started streaming down his eyes. No, he wasn’t allowed to cry. He won’t cry now. He took out his laptop, and tried to cope with it in the least effective way possible, Facebook.

     “I was in the Guidance Counselor’s office for two hours at my own accord telling her my problems. When I got home, I tried making the most of it but she just got mad. I think it’s over for her but not for me. I still want to continue it and if you happen to read this by any chance, I’ll be happy to continue our friendship.”

     He posted it on his wall. That didn’t stop the emotions from pouring out. He saw he had a message from Justin.

     “AUSTIN! You know who gave back the bracelet. She originally gave it to Lui, to give it to you after the 2nd recess. But I got it back from Lui just to talk to her about it. She said that if you and J.L.T. won't make up by tomorrow, ‘Tell Austin that I don’t know him anymore and I’ll also return the teddy bear.’. The bracelet's currently with me, since I couldn't find you a while ago. If I don't give it to you tomorrow, she will give it to you directly.

     “Telling her Joel's secret, whatever it may be, may seem like a threat and a good thing at the same time, and keeping it is also both a threat and a good thing.

     “Tell her, and she finds out the truth that may make her hate him, and at the same time, dislike you since she will know that you still don't like him and therefore revealing his secret.
     “Don't tell her, and she'll still be mad at you for not having a good reason why you and Joel aren't friends, but the good thing is...

     “....I don't even think there is a good outcome for not telling her. I don't know, not sure, depends on what the secret actually is. Anyways, just a warning. Whatever you do, hope something good happens.”

     He replied:

     “She just called me. She said she hates me. It's over for her but not for me. I still love her. I always have, I just didn't tell her. I don't know why. I'm willing to continue our friendship if she is. I'm not mad at her. Joel's just a person who requires attention. I'm not telling you to keep it a secret, you can tell her if you think it will make things better.”

     Joel’s secret was that. How trivial and anticlimactic…

     “That's Joel's secret? If it is, it's really not much of a secret.

     “Anyways, she probably might get her bracelet back from me tomorrow.”

     She couldn’t have said it better. She sent another one.

     “Wait...so she's planning to ignore you unless you and Joel become friends again? If she's planning to do that to you, what about Joel?”

     Austin replied with a simple, “same w/ him” and wrote another status message.

     “I just realized that my true friend was the person I was torturing all this time. Thanks Ernst De Vera for staying loyal to me this entire time and I’ll try to lessen the crap you go through.”

     He posted it but still, nothing. He didn’t want to accept it. Was this real? He buried his face in his pillow to hide his tears from himself. He realized he was acting like a girl. What the hell was happening to him. Then he received a message from Janella over the desk phone since she didn’t have a face book.

     “I’m not siding with any of you, I just want you two to make up. Now that it’s almost summer, that’s the time you’re gonna fight?”

     Austin replied:

     “You still don’t understand… I can’t trust him anymore, Janella. Even if I forgive him, I know it’s a lie.”

     She replied:

     “Remember when he sat beside me during AP and you forced him to recite. Then you took his seat and he took yours. He was really jealous then. Even last Tuesday, he was really jealous. It wasn’t obvious but I knew since he wasn’t talking to me and he was even glaring at me.”

     Austin couldn’t reply to this. She was one-sided and closed-minded but Austin had been completely blinded.

     Janella did send him another message:

     “That happened to me before, Austin. I had a friend and I got mad for no reason. Until now, I am still regretting it. I was the reason why I lost my friend. It’s been almost 2 years. I didn’t talk to my friend and I didn’t apologize either. You might regret this the same way I did, Austin.”

     Austin was desperate at this point, with his emotions calmed. He asked one question, the wrong one:

     “Are you still mad?”

     She replied soon after.

     “YOU’RE REALLY EMOTIONLESS, AREN’T YOU?! Thank you for everything! From now on, I don’t know anyone named Austin. The Austin I knew is gone!”

     At this moment, Austin died. He felt his heart stop beating. He felt the world stop spinning. He loved her so much. He felt like the dumbest thirteen year old ever to let an amazing girl like Janella slip away.

     He tried to cope with the Facebook method again.

     “It happened. Heartbreak wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. That’s because I’m not dying like I expected.”

     He was lying on Facebook. He was dying.

     “If I am really like that, I’m sorry. Even though you don’t know me anymore, if you need someone to talk to, I’ll always be here for you. Even if you hate me, feel free to approach me anytime. My feelings for you haven’t changed.”

     He received another message soon after.

     “Hold my hand as I say goodbye, catch the single tear, falling from my eye. Don’t feel sad, you have done no crime. Say the words ‘I Love You’ for the very last time.”

     Austin was now in a blender of emotions. Was this a wrong send? It was form Janella. He couldn’t think anymore due to the tears streaming down his face. This was the first time he had cried this hard in years.

     He was in the classroom, day dreaming. A rumble woke him up and he went outside. Everyone was there. He looked at what they were staring at and it was the ground far away, it had started to crack.

     All of the s**t he went through, he survived and yet he couldn’t survive through this?

     He was being kicked around in the base. A guy kicked him across the head and he fell into the dome, bleeding. He set it to manual and turned it to maximum.

     How could a simple thing like this affect him so greatly.

     He was sitting in the base, celebrating his victory. Out of nowhere a man grabbed him from behind and the first thing he saw were the spikes extending from his body.

     “Message sent”

 

Austin had finally said the words. “I love you, Janella. I always have. Ever since the first day.”

     The reply arrived. He was calm again and almost out of tears.

     “Please. I’m begging you. Just do that for me and I’ll be happy.”

     Austin finally conceded:

     “Okay, I’ll forgive him.”

 

He was calm again. His life came back and his heart started to beat again. The world started spinning again and he finally got a hold of himself. Soon, he received another message.

     “Austin, can you wait… until 4^th year?”

     Austin replied:

     “Of course, I’ll wait for as long as I have to.”

     He meant this wholeheartedly. He was going to wait.

 

He went on Facebook again in a very opposite mood.

     “I love her so much right now. Anyway, Good night Facebook, See you in SUMMER”

     He closed his laptop and closed the lights. He looked out of his window and saw the night sky, looking more beautiful than ever.