03x23: Second Time's the Charm

Austin crosses his fingers for a partner to the FS Night while Erika give him a heads up on the Mastermind's plans.

SECOND TIME’S THE CHARM

 

     Austin was in school early, doing a little assignment from Sr. Jojo. He required a “model” about mitosis. The catch? It was a project for two people and Austin was stuck with Froilan.

     “Austin? Why so worked up?” AD asked.

     “It’s the Science thing. Froilan won’t help me one bit. I’ve been sacrificing my frickin’ movie nights just to get this son of a b***h finished. I would be sacrificing only half of my movie nights if I had a ****ing partner!”
     “You don’t?”

     “Nope. That’s because my quote unquote partner is such a useless piece of s**t that he can’t even color some fricking chromosomes!”

     “Really?”
     “Wanna see? Wait ‘til Froilan arrives. I’ll demonstrate.”

     AD’s expression immediately changed to a, “Oh… I get it… Sucks for you,” face when Austin mentioned Froilan.

    

DDN also had a new arrangement that day. Janella was in front now so sneaking a “hello” at her would be almost impossible to do subtly.

     He went back to CV after a while. Froilan was there, sitting in the seat beside his, talking to his friends.

     Austin signaled AD, she watched. Austin took out what he finished so far.

     “Hey Froilan, could you color these in for me. One of them’s red, the other is green, the o�"“
     “That’s okay. You can do it.”

     “Oh… well…”

     Austin colored them all in.

     “Could you cut them out?”

     “You can do that too…”

     “You have to do something!”

     “It’s okay.”

     Austin turned his head to AD, who gave a nod of sympathy.

     Austin continued doing the project when he remembered the quote of the day.

     “Hey, Sean, can you do today’s quote? I’m kinda backed up on work.”

     “Sure, no prob.”

     Sean went to the board and wrote his genius quotation: “It is better to make others happy than to be selfish.”

     “Nice one, Sean!”

     “I can’t think of anything, okay?”

     “You could’ve rhymed like, ‘It is better to make others happy than to make their lives crappy’. Rhyming makes the world go round.”

     “That’s fine!”

     Austin just softly chuckled.

 

Later, Sr. Geck continued on Word Problems involving Systems of Linear Equations but first, they had to do their “morning mental exercises” in Math time.

     “Okay, CV, Promath!”

     “S**t!” Sean exclaimed, much to Austin’s amusement.

     After that, they discussed Uniform Motion problems and he had Basti fold a paper airplane and throw it at the fan for demonstration. Nothing better than seeing to believe.

     Recess was relatively uneventful. Austin went to see Janella.

     “Good morning. So… have you thought about it yet?” Austin asked.

     “Hmm… I haven’t thought about it yet. It’s more like thinking about it.”

     “Oh, okay. I’ll wait.”

    “Dude!” Bianca said.

     “DUDE!” Ernst said as well.

     “Dude, you’re not a part of this,” Bianca said to Ernst.

     “Dude, what’s up?”

     “Can we stop saying, ‘Dude’? It’s getting annoying,” Ernst said.

     “Shut up…, Dude!” Bianca said to Ernst.

     “What’s up?”

     “Did she say ‘yes’ yet?”

     “Nope.”
     “Don’t worry. You got this.”

     “How do you know?”

     “I’m psychic, remember?”

     “No you’re not. I particularly remember you being super extra bouncy.”

     “Whatever.”

 

To prepare for the United Nations Day (despite being on a Sunday), Sr. Leo told everyone to make some flags. Austin’s assignment was Greenland. They basically displayed the flags in front of the classrooms.

     That was only one of the upcoming events. Another is the Green Day, taking place on October 28, the day of the FS Night. DRIX was slated to perform and they decided on Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold.

     Another was AP Day which will take place the day before, October 27, 2010.

     Lunch was also pretty eventful, especially for Austin. It started with him accompanying Ernst to Sr. Edmond to submit something.

     “So, Ernst, did you ask Maan yet?” Sr. Edmond asked while skimming through his paper.

     “Umm… no.”

     “Come on, buddy. You’re back to Square 1?” Austin asked.

     “I just… I… I…”

     Austin and Sr. Edmond just laughed as Ernst hesitantly joined along.

     “Well, I already asked,” Austin said.

     “And?”

     “Well… she hasn’t answered yet.”

     “That is none of my concern but good luck on that,” Sr. Edmond said, slightly giving him the infamous Sr. Edmond Teasing Smile.

     They went to the canteen and ate as usual. Then they headed to the library where they sat in the same seats as yesterday.

     “So, you are going to the FS Night, right?” Austin asked.

     “Yeah.”
     “What’s your costume?”

     “I’m not sure yet.”

      “How many times are you guys gonna double date?” Nica asked, sitting down beside Bianca.

     “As many times as Ernst wants,” Austin said.

     “What?”

     “Anyway,” Austin said, turning back to Janella, “same case with me. I’m thinking Woody but that seems too hard. Maybe Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon but I haven’t seen it yet so… yeah.”

     “Mm-hmm…” Janella said, returning to her book.

     “Hey, Ernst, what are you going to be?” Austin asked.

     Janella, Nica, and Bianca began to laugh.

     “Fine! Fine! Be that way,” Ernst said.

     “Why?”
     “The only reason you’re not laughing is because you’re not in DDN and DDN knows everything!” Bianca said.

     “Please elaborate?”

     “Winnie the Pooh,” Ernst said. “I’m Winnie the Pooh.”

     Austin stared at him for a while as Janella, Bianca, and Nica tried to hold in their laughter.

     Austin lost his composure and stood up.

     “Excuse me. I can’t make noise in the library so I’m taking it out.”

     “Oh, fine. Laugh it up boys… and Bianca. When I rock the FS Night, you will regret laughing at the most badass bear you will ever see that night.”

     Austin went out of the library to laugh as the others followed him. It was almost time so they waited in the hallways for the bell to ring. The marshals let them through and Austin hung around in the DDN room for a while.

     “So… Winnie the Pooh?” Austin asked Ernst while holding back laughter.

     “Jeez, yes! Is it such a big deal?”

     “No. No it isn’t. That’s just friggin’ badass.”

     “Glad you see it that way.”

     Austin approached Janella.

     “So… well… you know what I’m gonna say.”

     Janella thought about it one last time…

     “Oh fine… haha… we can be partners.”

     That was the defining moment of his life. Nothing, not a single moment thus far has ever made him happier. This was the happiest day of his life.

     He tried to keep his composure although his euphoria was seeping through the pores in his face.

     “That’s great! Thanks!” Austin said.

     “Well… that’s it for Lunch time…”

     “Right. Right. Hey, I’ll see you there, okay?”

     “Okay.”

     He saw Bianca, Ernst, and Nica giving him the thumbs up.

     When he got to the classroom, he told his best friends in CV about it immediately (individually).

     “Nice job, man!” Sean said.

     “That’s awesome!” Marise said.

     “Nice!” Ibarra said.

     “That’s AWESOME!” Mo-on said.

     “Lucky for you…” Renz said.

     “Why did I even consider telling you?”

     “Huh? What did you say? I was talking to Karl about how he got fifty pesos from someone in SC.”

     “Really? Lucky for you…” Austin told Karl. “So, Renz, you didn’t hear what I said?”

     “If it’s about Froilan sucking, yes I did.”

     “Oh, that’s great.”

     To make his day better than it already was, Sr. Jojo was back and more awesome than ever that day. He completely forgot about his lazy-a*s a*****e partner and had a genuinely great day for once.

     Guidance class introduced a new activity, the iLike Wall. They basically had to post a picture of themselves on piece of paper, the iLike Wall, and put it on a piece of Manila paper with other iLike Walls. They would put five Walls per day. Everyone else could write on the Walls with “I like your_____” or “I like the way you_____”.

     Aside from that, the school day was finished and Austin went the waiting area. He bid farewell to Janella as she went off to Woodridge.

     He spent the rest of the time with Ivan. He too was having the best day of his life although without the 100% approval yet.

     “But that’s good. You asked her and that’s the first step!”

     “Man, I can’t wait for the FS Night.”

     “Me too, man. My entire life was leading to this, I could just feel it. From the moment I walked through those gates seven years ago, I knew that my destiny was here. Am I being too pseudo-philosophical again?”

     “No, not at all.”

     “I’m gonna go back to the hotel. Wanna come with?”

     “Sure.”

     Austin teleported them to the hotel and they went in their separate rooms.

     After a while, there was a knock on the door.

     “Austin! Austin! It’s John. Get to the Tech Garage immediately.”

     Austin teleported there and waited for John to arrive.

     “Well, nice to see you here, Austin.”

     “Cut to the chase, I gotta find a costume for FS Night.”

     “Wait, did you ask her yet?”

     “I did and she said yes!”

     “Nice dude. Anyway, I did it! I got the Power Shift bullshit down. Test it out.”

     John opened the ramp at the back of the jet.

     “I swear Marvel’s gonna sue us,” Austin said.

     “Hey, as far as I’m concerned, this is real; the X-Jet is not.”

     “What do we call it? Sure as hell, it’s not the Anonymous Jet-Flier-Thing.”

     “Screw names, man. At least for now. Just test it.”

     Austin sat in the pilot’s seat and John in the co-pilot’s. They put on their seatbelt and Austin started it up. He set the band to ghost power and flew it to the surface of the island.

     “Do you have any idea what could’ve happened if I failed?!”

     “Yeah, the plane would’ve crashed and you’d have to start again or I could fix it but since that isn’t the case, good job!”

     John sighed in relief as they flew the jet back to the garage.

     “So, Sunday, we attack.”

     “Aren’t you gonna practice flying first? Driving is a cakewalk compared to flying.”

     “It’s alright. I’ll tell the leaders tomorrow. We strike on Sunday.”

     Austin went back to his suite and finished up the project before going to sleep.

     Suddenly, something woke him up.

     “Austin!”

     “Huh?”

     “Hey. Austin!”

     Austin opened his eyes. It was Erika.

     “D****t, Erika. You can’t just barge into my room in the middle of the frickin night! What time is it?”

     “It’s 3:30 in the morning.”

     “I have school in three hours, forty-nine minutes, and something seconds. What do you want?”

     “I’m just here to tell you that the component worked. Scarlett said that our readings stabilized after the process.”

     “Is that all? I gotta get back to sleep.”

     “Austin, you are not attacking the Mastermind’s base on Sunday.”

     “What?” Austin said, waking up a bit.

     “He knows.”

    Austin sat up. Erika was seated in a chair near the balcony.

     “How the hell does he know?”

     “The psychic fields around the school are weakening. Does your President know about it?”

     “Dr. Suarez? She always keeps it up.”

     “Well, you better check on it because he knows and he’ll round up his troops and set up all of them at the gates He’ll train them day and night and they are ready to kick your a*s at any time. If you carry out on Sunday, I can assure you, you will fail. Worst case scenario is he’ll kill you all and he gets you.”

     “So what do you propose then?”

     Erika stood up and grabbed Austin by the shoulders.

     “Do you even have an attack plan?! Tactics? Do you even train your team?”

     “Yes, Not exactly, and no”

     “You are marching in a warzone with nothing!”

     “Look, most of our team were in the ASG and they trained to the bone take me down. If they can take me down, we can take the Mastermind down.”

     “Okay, you’re face to face with the Mastermind. What do you do?”

     “Uh…”

     “Exactly. Nothing, eh? He grabs your dance partner and says, ‘if you don’t hand me your powers on a silver platter, I’ll splatter her brains all over the wall’.”

     “Wait, how do you know that?”

     Erika slapped him right across the face.

     “OWW! What the hell was that for?”

     “You aren’t focused, Austin! Put your mind in the place that needs it! So, what’s your plan? Blow up the place? Murder the Mastermind. Take Spike as a hostage? What?”

     “We’ll round up his army, blow up the base, fix them all and sap them of their power.”

     “Trust me. He knows that. That is exactly why you will fail.”

     “Then what do you propose?”

     “First of all, get the psychic field fixed. Polish your plan. It doesn’t matter if it takes months. Don’t plan when, just plan how. Once you have your plan sorted out, attack. Don’t think when, just spontaneously decide to attack. Go there and carry out your plan.”

     “Why are you telling me this?”

     “We’re on your side now. Derek sent me here.”

     “Why didn’t he tell me himself?”

     “Because you wouldn’t listen. Look, I don’t know if we’re friends or what but�"“

     “Poof, let’s attack now.”

     “What?!”
     “You said spontaneous. We’re attacking now.”

     “I said plan first! Are you out of your mind?! What the hell is wrong with you?! For a few minutes can you please set your mind straight? I waited for your perfect day to finish before telling you this. Look, congratulations on the dance partner, congratulations on getting your adviser back but this is the more pressing matter.”

     “How do you know all this?!”

     “I’m the spy. I thought you would know that by now seeing as you know my power.”

     Austin realized just how absent-minded he’s become.

     “Look, I understand that you are confused right now but if you keep making these dumb decisions, you won’t make it to your dance. You’ve become lazy and stupid, Austin, no offense. Schoolwork, fine, you have inspiration but what about the rest of your life?”

     “I’m just trying to bal�"“

     “And you’re failing. Balance is hard for us right now, Austin, I should know. We’re not in the Mastermind’s plan anymore, he will look for us, he will succeed, and he will kill us, me, my sister, Derek, and Nelson. When that happens, it’s up to you.”

     “He won’t kill you. I won’t allow it. Stay here, in the island, all of you.”

     “Austin…”

     “Look, that way we can work together. Derek and I will get along.”

     “Everyone else is going to hate us. Austin, it’s going to be fine.”

     “Erika just�"“

     “There’s one more reason I came here and not Derek.”

     “What?”

     Erika took out a small box and gave it to Austin.

     “Derek made a bunch of those. He told me to lure you to the mall, right? I think part of what motivated him to do that was guilt.”

     Austin opened the case and it was a dart.

     “Guilt that he was using the remains of Isaac to help him. He still blamed you at that time but he’s mellowed down now since we got fixed.”

     “This is Isaac’s blood?”

     “Yes. Don’t try to duplicate it. There are A.R.M.’s in there which will prevent you from doing that. I can only take one since Derek counts them every night.”

     “How will you explain it?”

     “I’ll handle it. Anyway, use that wisely. You have one shot. Remember, plan your attack!”

     Erika flew through his wall and out of the hotel. He saw a portal form outside. It closed and he was alone again.

     He put the dart in a drawer in the base and got some orange soda from the fridge and drank it there. When 5:30 hit, he prepared for school and went to the classroom.

    

Very few people were there but one of them was Clara. Clara was a close friend of Janella’s and she was one of their main shippers last year.

     “Hey Clara.”

     “Austin, how’s Janella.”

     “Great, you see, I asked her to the FS Night.”

     “And?”

     “She said yes.”

     “That’s great!”

     Somehow, Clara kind of knew it despite not being psychic.

     He wrote the day’s quote: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies,” from The Shawshank Redemption.

    

Throughout the day, Austin was making the plans for the attack but he knew nothing about tactical planning or whatever it was called.

     “John!” Austin called. “I have another favor to ask.”

    “What?”
     “I was tipped that the anti-psychic shields of the island were down.”

     “Dr. Suarez handles those.”

     “I know. Can you make a mechanical one that won’t break down?”

     “Hmm… I guess.”

     “Oh yeah, the attack isn’t on Sunday.”

     “What? When?”

     “The question isn’t 'when?'. The question is 'how?'. We have to plan but first, we gotta fix the anti-psychic shields.”

     “Okay. I’ll work on it later.”

     During Recess, Joel approached Austin, much his dismay.

     “Hey, Austin, I saw you happily skipping about yesterday and I was wondering why.”

     “None of your business!” Austin thought.

     “Well, she agreed to go with me on the FS Night. Knowing me, that is the best thing ever.”

     “Oh… okay. Good for you…”

     Joel walked away slowly as Austin went back to the classroom.

     Later that lunch, Janella found out about this.

     “Hey, Austin…”

     “Hi there. What’s up?”

     “Did you, by any chance, tell anyone?”

     “Just my best friends.”

     “What about… Joel?”

     “Oh. Him? Well, yes, he was my best friend last year so…”

     She remained quiet.

     “Hey, I’m sorry I told him.”

     “It’s okay.”

     “Is he going?”

     “Nope. He has no reason to.”

     “Oh…”

     The day continued going downhill when Ivan told him his bad news.

     “That sucks, dude!” Austin said.

     “I know.”

     “Hey, It’s gonna be alright. TEAGS will be your partners. We’re gonna rock that dance floor like crazy… unless they play Justin Bieber songs. I’m gonna kill those speakers if that happens.”

     This made Ivan smile a bit.

     “Hey, don’t give up. I got turned down last year too, remember? But I tried again and I know they say Third Time’s the Charm but looks like mine is the Second Time. Just don’t give up.”

     “Thanks for the advice.”

     “No problem, buddy.”

     Austin went back the classroom. Basti was doing his Math homework just before Sr. Geck walked in. Everyone watched as Sr. Geck slowly and quietly sneaked around to Basti’s seat, trying to hold back laughter.

     “Basti… IT’S A HOMEWORK! IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE AT HOME!”

     The class erupted into laughter. Basti smiled slightly.

     “No, it’s okay, continue but do it faster.”

     He passed by the back where he saw Jasvir’s “stylish” hair.

     “Jasvir, nice hair.”

     There was this running gag of Sr. Geck complimenting Jasvir’s hair, possibly sarcastically but he never quite got it.

     “What? Jasvir again?!” Sean complained.

     “Oh, so you don’t like me to compliment Jasvir?” Sr. Geck asked.

     “No, sir, I mean, it’s okay sir.”

     Sr. Geck went to Sean as everyone was laughing.

     “Let’s have it your way… Sean, nice hair.”

     Sean smiled as everyone laughed.

     It was that time again. In the following paragraphs, you will experience: Sr. Geck’s Judgment Day Part II.

     He told everyone to stand up just like last time but started it out differently.

     “Those who are confident that they don’t have PTC’s, take your seat.”

     Maan, Ymara, Austin, Alecz, Justine, Basti, and Migz looked at each other, before somewhat hesitantly taking their seats.

     “B-5, G-10, G-6…” he began. After a while, he decided on names instead.

     “Kristina, take your seat. Arianne, take your seat. Sean…”

     Sean sat down.

     “Did I tell you to take your seat? I just wanted to say… nice hair.”

     Sean stood back up as the class laughed.

     “Aldwin, take your seat. Jericho, take your seat. Jib, take your seat. AD, take your seat. Marise, take your seat. Mey, take your seat. Paula, take your seat. Chili, take your seat.

     “Owen, you are… the top 12 of this class!”

     The class applauded.

     “WOOO! OWEN!” Austin whispered.

     “Aldrich, you are the top 13!”

     The class applauded.

     “Jade… congratulations! You are the top 11!”

     The entire class was shell shocked from this revelation. They applauded way louder than before.

     “Okay, take your seat down you three. Sean…”

     Sean looked at Sir. Geck.

     “I’m sorry but… you can take your seat.”

     Sean sighed in relief as he sat down.

     “Jeffrey, take your seat. Sang Woo, take your seat. Aika, I’m sorry but you are not safe, take your seat. Joven, I’m also sorry. Froilan.”

     They predicted correctly.

     “Try harder, okay? Take your seat. Ibarra, you’re safe, take your seat. Tasha and Pat… you are safe.”

     The two of them sighed in relief.

     “Karla, Bade, you are safe! Let me announce some of the top 10. Number ten is Justine.”

     They applauded him.

     “Rica is number nine.”

     “WOO!” Mo-on said. The rest applauded.

     “Clutch is number eight.”

     “YES!” Clutch exclaimed.

     “Clutch, want to say anything? What are your plans for next quarter?” Sr. Geck asked.

     “I want to kick some people off the top ten, sir.”

     “OH?!” The class exclaimed.

     “Really? Okay, good luck with that. Number seven is… Dorothy.”

     They applauded.

     “Okay, let’s finish the PTC’s already. Bettina, Giannina, Karl, and Renz, try harder next time, okay? Take your seat.”

     “Okay, those who sat down in the beginning that haven’t been called, stand up.”

     Maan, Ymara, Austin, Alecz, Basti, and Migz stood up. Number six, Migz.”

     They applauded pretty hard.

     “Number five, Alecz…”

     Once again, applause.

     “Number four… Ymara.”

     Austin’s surroundings began to blur. He’s launched up into the top 3 but which one.

     “Number three…”

     Austin’s heart was pumping harder than before.

     “Basti.”

     This was it, it was him or Maan.

     “Number two…”

     His heart rate slowed down since he knew that Maan would take it. She always did and she probably always will. The chances of him getting the nu�"

     “Maan.”

     Austin’s train of thought was lost as his surrounding disappeared into a flurry of colors. He fell in his seat and started breathing extra fast. Pat started fanning him with air as some of his classmates laughed. It was uncertain if the laughing was with him or at him.

     “Austin, breathe!” Pat said.

     “I can’t believe it.”

     “Are you okay?” Sr. Geck asked.

     He couldn’t reply.

     “I don’t know how but I just input the grades and what came out was this. Congratulations, Austin.”

      “Thank you, sir.”

     The rest of the day could be skipped altogether. Austin went to the base after school to check on John.

     “I finished the Anti-Psychic Shield. Watch…”

     John pushed the button on the cone shaped machine and it began to beep.

     “Try to fly outside the island and read my mind.”

     Austin did as told and as promised, he couldn’t do it.

     “Great job, John. Now we can start planning…”

     Aside from planning for the attack, Austin also asked someone to make his costume. He was going with Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon.

    

That Sunday afternoon, Austin visited Woodridge.

     “Hey, Austin, come on in,” Berna said.

     “Who is it?” Janella asked.

     “Austin.”

     She dropped her Wii remote but it was saved by the strap

     “Wow, that’s one of the times the strap helped. What are you girls playing?”

     “Mario Kart Wii. Darn it, Janella, I told you to pause!” Berna said.

     “I was losing.”

     “Well, good for you.”

     “Hey, Janella, get your powers back yet?”

     “Umm… I haven’t tried. I’ve been living the classic life without powers for a week and I only sort of miss it.”
     “Oh. That’s kind of good, I guess.”

     “Wanna play?”

     “No thanks, I just came to check on you.”

     “So you’ll be going now? You just got here.”

     “Maybe I’ll stay for a while. Want me to pick up Kyle?”

     “Nah, maybe he’s busy,” Berna said.

     “Oh well.”

     “Hey, Austin, who would win in a race between you and Janella?”

     “Me, no doubt.”

     “Hey!”

     “Yoshi is totally badass. The chances of me losing with Yoshi are lower than the chances of it raining in the desert.”
     “You’re on!”

     RING! RING!

     “Hold on. Hello?”

     “Austin, it’s John. Get here now!”

     “Why? What’s wrong?”

     “Hurry!”

    “What was that?” Janella asked.

     “Something’s wrong on the island. I gotta go. Sorry.”

     “Oh, no prob,” Berna said.

     Austin teleported back to the island and went into the base.

     “What is it? What’s wrong?”

     “Nothing’s wrong. I was just gonna show you that the Anti-Psychic Shield needs a constant supply of power so I made a power generator which is a smaller version of the one in the hotel.”

     “Is that all?”

     “Oh, and you might wanna check the Mutant Bond. Have you ever noticed that the Mastermind isn’t on there?”

     “No. That’s because he’s not connected to any of us. There are thousands of mutants. The Bond only shows the ones you want to see.”

     “You know what I’m getting at here, right? We take one of the henchmen as hostage. We force him to see the Mastermind in the bond so we can find out his true identity. Then we can go from there.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “Let’s do some research. If we find something interesting, we can use it to weaken him. Maybe remind him of how his pet dog used to beat him when he was a kid.”

     “Interesting… but don’t you think he’ll be one of those ‘I am no longer that man’ type of guys?”

     “Hey, it worked on Darth Vader, it’ll work on him. Let’s continue planning.”

 

Monday was a free day and planning simply continued. Austin also saw a few movies that day. Bourne Identity was real good, Casablanca went up in his favorites, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was always there.

     He also watched their graduation tape. He was surprised at how different they all looked.

    

Tuesday came and the graduation tape was all that was on his mind.

     “You looked like a derpaderp back then,” Austin said.

     “What the hell is a derpaderp?” Sean asked.

     “Derpaderpa teetly teetly tum.”

     Sean rolled his eyes and went away.

     This continued in the DDN room.

     “You were like, puffy haired,” Austin said.

     “You were like, short,” Nica retaliated.

     “Bianca! You were so derpy back then.”

     “What is that?”

     “Jeez, you’d think more people would watch South Park.”

     “I do,” Michael said.

     “I know who Kenny is,” Ernst said.

     “Shut up, Ernst.”

     “Ernst, you are so lucky you weren’t here in 6^th Grade because I would be teasing you like the derpaderp you are,” Austin said.

     Ms. Sharon started them up on figures of speech by letting the listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence. This was one of Austin’s favorite songs as well as one of his favorite topics in English.

     As for the rental business, Ms. Sharon loved Pulp Fiction and Austin gave her The Hurt Locker. He has a very strong disagreement with the Academy regarding the Best Picture Winner and he wanted Ms. Sharon’s opinion.

     Marise rented (500) Days of Summer which was one of Austin’s favorite movies. Aside from that, there wasn’t much action in the rental community.

     During recess, Austin was all worked up over the attack plans.

     “Hey, what’s wrong?” Janella asked.

     “I have no knowledge in tactical planning. I feel helpless. John’s doing all the planning.”

     “Well, he knows what he’s doing, most likely.”

     “Of course. DotA will do you good in these situations.”

     “Hey, just relax, cool down.”

     Janella grabbed his arm and literally cooled him down a bit.

     “Well, that felt nice. Thanks.”

     “Ever since the Joyce situation, I learned to literally cool down. And I got my powers back.”

     “Oh, right. That’s great.”

     “Anyway, it’s almost time.”

     “Right. See you later.”

     “Yeah…”

     Austin went back to the classroom for TLE. They went straight to the Culinary Arts Lab.

     Nothing really special happened during this time except for one thing. Sean was in charge of frying duty and he got hit by oil… a lot. It hit him in the arm, in the face, and unfortunately, in the eye.

     He was fine though but in pain.

     They had a small presentation in Computer regarding Database Management Systems. They had to make a skit like a talk show, interviewing experts in Database Management Systems.

     Austin’s group had Owen and Jasvir as the scientist, Austin and Marise were the hosts, Jeffrey was the bouncer, and the rest were the audience.

     Nearly everything was improvised. Jeffrey being a bouncer became an in-joke in CV immediately. Ms. Laurice called Austin aside. Austin feared that it was because of some risqué material in his improv.

     “Austin, do you mind if I sign you up for a host in the big events?”

     “Seriously, miss?”

     “You’re really good at improv.”

     “Oh, thank you miss. About the recommendation, I’ll do it if I can pick my partner.”

     “We’ll have to try her out too but okay.”

      “Thank you, miss.”

     During Lunch period, in the library, Austin told Janella about the Ms. Laurice thing.

     “So, Ms. Laurice asked me something.”

      “Yeah?”
     “She said she wanted recommend me for host in those big events. She says I’m good at improv.”

     “Oh! That’s good!”

     “But I said yes provided that I could pick my partner.”

     “Oh…”
     “You wanna try out?”

     “Austin, I’m sorry but…”

     “Well, you’re the only person I wanna host with so your answer’s my answer.”

     “Austin, don’t throw this opportunity away just for me. You can do it.”

     Austin thought about it for a while but the sad thing was that his decision didn’t matter. Ms. Laurice never followed him up on this offer.

     Later that day, Austin went to the newly installed portal beside the school which led to Finds, a convenience store beside the school in the city. The only way they could access it before was through the basement of the hotel but this was more convenient.

     Austin sat down with Cedric Perez, Arianne from his class, and Ivan Immenzo.

     He and Ivan weren’t exactly friends since he was one of the reasons why he got all the powers.

     “Austin…”

     “What?”

     “Look, I’m sorry about what happened two years ago. I was young and you know how young people are.”

     Austin thought about it for a while.

    “Fine, apology accepted.”

     “Hey, Austin, do you jerk off?” Cedric asked.

     Austin did a spit take with his drink.

     “What the hell kind of question is that?”

     “Fine, scrap it. Arianne, do you�"“

     Arianne almost did a spit take.

     “Cedric, don’t,” Arianne said.

     “Sheesh. I’m just asking.”

     Arianne rolled his eyes.

     “Hey, don’t you guys have school?” Austin asked.

     “Semestral break. Woohoo!” Cedric said.

     “Lucky for you, ours is still in three days.”

     “Haha, good luck with that.”

     Austin went all out here, complaining about Sr. Mike initial impression and Froilan being a complete lazy a*****e.
     “Anyway, I gotta go. See you sometime.”

     “Bye, Austin,” They said.

     “Hey, follow me up on my question,” Cedric said.

     “Screw you, Cedric!”

     “Screw you too, buddy!”

     They both laughed at this as Austin went in the campus and teleported to the island.

    

The next day was officially AP day.

     Austin and Janella were talking to each other while seated on the tables. Sr. Geck reprimanded them and they softly laughed at their minor predicament.

     AP day started with a few documentaries about Nelson Mandela and other stuff. Then they went to the exhibits.

     There was a fortune telling exhibit called “Mayan Calendar.”

     “Hey, Austin, try out the Mayan Calendar,” Sean said teasingly.

     “You know I don’t believe in that stuff but what the hell, huh?”

     “You know I was kidding, right?”

     Austin went to the Mayan calendar and put his hand in the middle, reaching for a piece of paper. He took it out and unrolled it.

 

“May tinatago sa’yo ang minamahal mo.”

 

     This bothered Austin a little. It translated to, “The one you love is hiding something from you.”

     Austin shrugged it off as fiction and went with the others to the other exhibits.

     It was a pretty boring day but the schedule returned to normal after lunch. Ms. Anne commented on the party.

     She said it was good overall. She said that the music group was okay.

     They had to start a new project, a Christmas Party for CV. Once again, they were in charge of music and they were performing Crazy for You by Spongecola and Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects.

     When Austin got back to his room, his costume was already on his bed. He sent the payment directly to the tailor’s room.

     That night, he watched How to Train Your Dragon to get into character sort of but he just ended up enjoying the movie and not taking mental notes about the character.

 

October 28^th finally came. They had the opening ceremonies for Green Day wherein all the class presidents planted a tree in a corner of the CWS.

     They lacked participants for the Junk Art contest so Austin joined in. With him were Ibarra, Mo-on, and Rachel.

     They were putting together a small robot. Mo-on made a papier mache head and asked Ibarra and Austin to dry it in the sunlight on the bridge. Austin could just heat it up if there wasn’t an anti-power clause in the rules.

     Austin and Ibarra were waiting for the head to dry up when they got bored.

     “Hey, Ibarra, you know the game Charge?”

     “No.”
     “It’s a pretty old game but it’s still cool. Basically you have to beat your opponent. There are three kinds of offense. The bang, worth one charge, the spell, worth three charges, and the slash, worth 4 charges. All three types have a specific defense. Bang is to Shield; Spell is to Absorb; Slash is to… whatever this is.”

     Austin demonstrated the hand positions for each of the aforementioned attacks and defenses.

     “At the beginning you clap with your opponent with both hands twice, giving you two charges. You can only use two charges at the beginning. From there, you only clap once. After the clap, you can either attack, defend, or charge. Charging gives you one extra charge. If you successfully defend against an attack, let’s say I bang and you shield, you absorb the charge I used for the bang. Get it?”

     “Sort of.”

     “Alright, let’s try.”

     Austin and Ibarra played Charge for a while before Kuya Philip, one of the moderators for the junk art contest, told them to go back to the activity area. They finished their charge game while Mo-on and Rachel continued the robot. They wondered what Austin and Ibarra were doing and Austin simply replied, “We’re playing Charge. One of these days, it will be restored to its former glory and Ibarra and I will be there to witness it.”

     Back at the classroom while waiting for something to happen, Sr. Geck called Austin, Maan, Ymara, and Basti and told them they were going to be Ushers on Math Day, November 12, 2010. They had no choice anyway so they said yes. Sr. Geck asked if there was anyone they’d recommend as an usher. Austin had only one person in mind and Sr. Geck knew who this was already.

     The others were improving the Pocket Landscape in front of the classroom.

     Austin went to the music room in the second floor of the gym to check on DRIX.

     “Hey, how’s it going?”

     “We’re almost ready,” Bam said.

     “Guys, remember,” Enriko began, “you sing, ‘frickin nightmare’ not ‘****ing nightmare’ okay?”

     “Hey, where’s Luis?” Austin asked.

     “I don’t know. Probably in the DDN room.”

     Fast forward to the awarding ceremony, Austin went to the stage of the Gym to place their entry.

     The judges were looking for an SK student to move their giant origami crane. Austin saw Ivy from SK.

     “Hey, they’re looking for people to move your crane.”

     “That’s why they’re moving it already? See?” she replied in the sassiest and most disrespectful tone known to mankind. Austin looked back and the judges had found some SK students.

     They finally began the awarding ceremony. Before everything else, there were some jingles constructed by some member of each batch.

     After that, it was DRIX’s time to shine.

     Bruce began to play the intro and Austin looked back at the row behind him where Ernst was in between Bianca and Janella.

     Rica, Alyssa, Mo-on, Austin, and Ernst went crazy when Jolo sang the first word into the mic, “NIGHTMARE!” complete with the awesome guitars.

     “Now your nightmare comes to life!”

     Austin and Ernst we going crazy here, much to Bianca and Janella’s dismay.

     Unfortunately, Luis’ mic was louder than Jolo’s and he was exhibiting signs of the “I-forgot-the-lyrics” syndrome.

     “Nothing stops the madness turning, haunting, yearning, pull the trigger!”

     “Ernst! Chorus time!”

     “I know!”

     “You should have known, the price of evil, and it hurts to know that you belong here, yeah Oooooooooh, IT’S YOUR F****N’ NIGHTMARE!”

     Austin’s face was in awe. Obviously, Luis didn’t attend the meetings. Everyone else went crazy, Ernst included.

     “While your nightmare comes to life!”

     They continued the song. Down in the bottom of the bleachers, Sr. Chris was covering his ears.

     The verse was inaudible once again. Finally, it was the second chorus.

     “Ernst, second chorus!”

     “You should have known the price of evil, and it hurts to know that you belong here, yeah. No one to call, everybody to fear, your tragic fate is looking so clear, yeah. Ooooooooooh, IT’S YOUR F****N’ NIGHTMARE! Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

     “D****t, Luis,” Austin said.

     When the last chorus hit and Luis sang it uncensored again, the entire gym went crazy. Austin rushed down to talk to them.

     “Guys! I swear to God, I censored it!” Jolo said.

     “Luis, I thought we agreed on ‘frickin’, not a full blown f-bomb!” Ivan said.

     “I’m innocent, d****t,” Jolo said.

     “Great job guys. Luis, what the hell? Still, Bruce, Enriko, Bam, Ivan, the instruments were amazing.”

     “What about me? I’m innocent!” Jolo asked

     “No offense but you should’ve switched mics,” Bam said.

     “Hey, it’s Miss Anne,” Ivan said.

     “Ms. Anne, I am so sorry for that,” Enriko said.

     “It’s okay, this is only the first time after all but next time, try to keep it PG.”

     Finally, it was the awarding ceremony.

     During this, Sr. Alan called a few names. Janella was one of them. They were led to Sr. Geck and Austin knew what was happening.

     He asked her about it later and she said she would think about it.

     In the end, DOR won best Pocket Landscape and DDN won best Junk Art. CV landed second place and third place respectively.

     They cleaned up the classroom. The weird thing is that CV wasn’t very celebratory in their second place victory. Austin, Mo-on, Ibarra, and Rachel were relatively happy to have won third but those who worked on the landscape were not very happy.

     They put their robot on top of the blackboard to watch over CV. The only reason it was called the Guardian of Compostela Valley was because Austin and Ibarra gave it a sword and jet boosters.

     That was the end of Green Day. Janella said that she would be hanging out in Rica’s house with Mo-on and Alyssa. Austin bid farewell for now and went back to his suite to get ready.