03x33: One Month And Nineteen Days

Celebrating his newfounf freedom, Austin gets his life back as another chapter clowly opens itself up.

ONE MONTH AND NINETEEN DAYS

 

    The next day was one of the best days of his life. He was free from the gallows of heartbreak that hang from above.

     “Aren’t those Edwin McCain lyrics?” Ernst asked.

     “Yes… yes they are…”

     “Oh, just asking…”

     That day, Austin also brought back the Quote of the Day. It was from The Truman Show: “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.”

     Charge continued to spread through the halls as Austin waltzed through the day without a single word to Janella.

 

The next day’s quote was from Psycho: “We all go a little mad sometimes.”

     During Filipino, students were playing Charge but s. Becky was indifferent. She did finally ask.

    “Awstin, saan ba galling yung ganun-ganun?” she said as she did the Charge movements. (Awstin, where did that thing come from?)

     “Miss, kasi nung CCP practice yata, nainip sila kaya naglaro sila ng Charge. Tuluyan na siyang kumalat.” (Miss, during CCP Practices I think, they got bored so they played Charge. It continued spreading from there.”

     “Ahh...”

     During P.E., It was health class. Sr. Anton was telling them a story regarding STD’s involving his crazy sex-addicted neighbor and one of his friends. Owen asked after the story, “Sir, where do you live?”

     During Lunch, Queennie had Pizzas since it was her birthday.

     “Happy Birthday, Queennie!” Austin said.

     “Thanks! Get some pizza!”

     Austin got a slice but Ernst also got one.

     “Queennie, security breach!” Austin said.

     “It’s okay. He can have some.”

     “He didn’t even greet you. He doesn’t even know what today is!”

     “Happy Birthday, Queennie,” Ernst said with food in his mouth.

     They spent the rest of the time in the Library. Anton was reading a gymnastics book. To their left was a meeting with all the officials of their batch and Sr. Geck.

     “This is so perverted. Look at all these positions!” Anton said.

     “Oh, what the hell. I’m 14, ought to have irreverent fun while young right?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Look, you can draw Ernst at the bottom and all of these will make sense.”

     Ernst and Anton began laughing.

     “If you thought the Terminator was scary, well, Ernst is the Denominator!”

     They continued laughing.

     “Look at the names of these positions! Sit and Reach? The Lame Dog Walk? Oh my�" JUMP ROPE?!” Anton exclaimed.

     “How the hell does that work?”

     “I don’t know!”

     “You know, I think they just switched the covers! This isn’t a gymnastics book. This is the friggin’ Kama Sutra.”
     Anton laughed loudly as Austin left the Library.

     Ms. Sharon once again left them for the period. Marise sat beside Austin as they copied some more slides.

     “I don’t know why but he suddenly pulled my pants down in the middle of the court. A*****e!” Austin said.

     “Ivan Handog?!”

     “Yeah. I will never live that down…”

     “Haha, any more stories?”

     “Well, in fifth grade… I think I was either gay or just a child in a 10-year-old’s body. Redundant, I know...I brought a teddy bear to school every day. Granted, I did like girls back then and a fifth graders definition of ‘gay’ is extremely inaccurate. Seriously, you wear pink and they call you that. Such retards…”

     “Teddy bears?”

     “I occasionally brought Mickey Mouse but that was only on special days. I had one which was a Baby Mickey Mouse; his head would turn 360 degrees. Everyone loved that guy. Sadly, I turned eleven years old…”

     “Haha… any more stories?”

     “In first year, Ernst licked a straw. That’s all that comes to mind.”

     “I heard about that.”

     “Oh yes, in sixth grade, before the whole fiasco with the powers, the entirety of 6-Albay went to Enchanted Kingdom. I wanted to ride the Rio Grande Rapids but there was no one who wanted to go with me so I rode it myself. You know the waterfall near the end. I was with strangers and I got soaked.”

     “Tough luck.”

     “It was very refreshing but yeah. Hmm… I can’t think of any more embarrassing stories.”

     “But that was still a lot of stories, right?”

     “Optimism. A rare currency in a world of pessimistic douchebags. Take Renz for example, even when he smiles, people pick on him.”

     “I know… that’s sad.”

     “Okay, done copying?” Ms. Sharon said as she reentered the classroom.

     She checked the notebooks before dismissing everyone.

     On the way home, Austin ran into Alyssa and Rica.

     “Sr. Geck has really good plans,” Alyssa said.

     “Like?”
     “All those guys who spin notebooks, they’re gonna put them to good use. There’s too much awesomeness to share but let me tell you, its’ gonna be good!” Rica said.

 

That Saturday, Austin and Kyle went to the Power Plant Mall to see the Green Hornet.

     It was okay…

     “So you’re definitely over her?” Kyle asked.

     “Yes and it only took me one month and nineteen days.”

     Kyle remained silent.

     “What’s the matter?”

     “It’s Berna.”

     “Holy s**t, did she�"“

     “No but I think she is.”

     “Don’t worry about it. Paranoia gets the best of us, turning these skepticisms into self-fulfilling prophecies.”

     “What?!”

     “If you become paranoid, your actions will eventually lead to what you’ve been worrying about in the first place.”

     “Oh…”

     “Anyway, we have to read this novel in English. I chose the Kite Runner. It was really good but now I have the urge to read a good book.”

     They went to National Book Store and Austin looked around.

     “Holy crap, look at this.”

     “What?” Kyle said.

     “They compiled all seven Narnia books into one gigantic volume! It’s thick. The guys who said that the Narnia Books and the Bible were similar, well, thickness is one aspect we can all agree on.”

     “Well, yeah…”

     “I wonder if they have Lord of the Rings.”

     “Oh, brother…”

     “Got something against Frodo?”

     “No, can you afford it?”

     “Of course I can afford it. I own a hotel.”

     “Where people stay for free.”

     “That’s beside the point, my dear Watson.”

     Austin took out some money and bought the five books: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Narnia Collection.

     “Where’d you get that?”

     “It’s one enigma you’ll have to solve by yourself.”

     “Oh come on, did you steal it?”

     “Nope. It’s as real as real gets.”

     They went to the parking lot and into the Anonymous.

     “Anyway, you’re the only person I can undoubtedly trust in this entire planet so I will tell you where the money came from.”

     “Alright, where?”

     “Natural income. I updated the databases in the Island and I got 1 percent of the total income of a major fast food chain by providing them with supplies. They upped it to 5 percent. As for the source of the supplies, I used duplication. No decrease in quality, just an increase in quantity.”

     “So…”

     “Five percent was still pretty big so, say hello to a crapload of cash.”

     “Do they even ask where you got it?”

     “I wore a disguise. You know I can do that. They believed I was a colleague of their… you know what. It’s a terribly long story but what matters is this:" he said before taking a long dramatic pause. "I have money now."I’m sending this to Island fund.”

     “What do the databases have to do with it?”

     “They keep my savings. The database is an entirely false identity used for bank accounts, e-mail accounts, et cetera. It is my greatest achievement.”

     “So… that’s it? That’s the secret?”

     “Pretty much… yeah…”

     “Okay then.”

     They drove to the school. On the way there, it was fairly silent.

     “Hey, buddy. About your romantic dilemma, don’t worry about it. Remember the s**t about the paranoia. Avoid that at all costs…”

     “Sure thing…”

    

The next day was pretty uneventful save for the evening.

     “Hey Austin,” Nica texted.

     “Yo.”

     “Are you mad at Janella?”

     “Maybe… I dunno myself…”

     “Why?!”

     “I told you, I don’t know…”

     “Aww… Okay…”

     He really didn’t know. Al he knew was that he was no longer going to let Janella control his life, directly or indirectly.