03x37: Advent of Autumn

A Chapter by RA Fernandez

Continuing on with the preparatons for the Intrams, Austin continues to cope with the coming of Autumn. Meanwhile, Jib is missing a witness...

ADVENT OF AUTUMN

Last Friday was the quarterly Parent-Teacher Conference. Therefore, when Austin got in the classroom that Monday, the chairs were all screwed up.

He and Ibarra moved the chairs to their proper place to “Gonna Fly Now” from the Rocky soundtrack thanks to the loophole in the rules and Austin’s new speakers (which were egg-shaped. It can be separated into two halves.)

The quote of the day was from The Usual Suspects: “The greatest trick the devil ever learned was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

During Filipino, CV went on their usual routine. Owen and Austin talked about Full Metal Jacket. Eventually, the topic shifted to Scott Pilgrim and Marise joined in.

Meanwhile, Ms. Becky was yelling at Jib for reading Chinese Cinderella during her class.

During Bio, they continued their discussion about the female reproductive system. Whenever Sr. Jojo asked a question, Maan was the only one who answered.

“Girls, hello? Are you here? Is Maan the only girl? Okay, from now on, Maan is G1, okay? There are now forty-one girls in CV, ha?”

They broke into another laughing fit.

On the way back, Austin spoke to Ibarra and Marise regarding the directing strategy known as “Enforced Method Acting”.

“You know the scene in ‘Alien’ where the chestburster… well you know the scene. The actors knew that something was going to happen but they didn’t know what exactly. When that thing burst out, their reactions were real. That is how I’m gonna direct some scenes.”

“But how will you do that with a musical?” Marise asked.

“Legitimate question… Hmm… Maybe let Renz break into ‘Like a Virgin’ out of nowhere?”

“Haha, good idea.”

“So Ibarra. You’re going to portray Sir Norvin, aren’t you?”

“What?” Ibarra said in a deadpan manner.

During the cheering practice, the batch got out of control. Ivy Quindoza stood up and yelled (read: shrieked) at the batch. They stayed quiet for about two hundred and seventy-four microseconds before resuming the noise.

Finally, Basti was about to try to calm them down. As he opened his mouth, Napa stepped forward all of a sudden.

“SECOND YEAR. QUIET!!!!!” she yelled at the top of her voice. Basti was blown back a little.

Somewhere, the announcer in Mortal Kombat was saying, “FATALITY… NAPA WINS…”

That was pretty much the first day of the week.

Tuesday was a pretty stale day as well. Sean, Austin, and all of the other guys in CV who had already seen Full Metal Jacket were saying the cadences. The [particular favorite was, “Ho Chi Minh is a son of a b***h!”

During Computer Time, Austin quickly finished his job and played a little Donkey Kong.

As for the Lunch practice, Renz’s lunchbox was scattered and passed around like the plague.

The practice was virtually non-existent until Sr. Geck came marching in, somewhat furious.

“It has been twenty minutes and you still have not accomplished anything. Because of that, from now on, there will be no more practices during Lunch. The practice in the morning, let’s get rid of that as well.

“You know that I am now the subject of mockery in the faculty area? First year on the job and I was placed with you guys. You know what they call you? They call you the ‘Worst Batch’. Are you going to confirm that you are indeed the ‘Worst Batch’?”

There was a long period of silence. This period was enough to calm Sr. Geck down.

“Alright, let’s come to an agreement. For the Morning Practices, what do you want?”

They asked it to be moved a few minutes later.

“Okay, fine, let’s move it a few minutes. For Lunch? 1:20 is the call time. Would you like to change it?”

They asked for it to be moved to 1:30.

“Okay. 1:30 it is! Now that we have agreed, you have no reason not to come. Alright, it’s time. And I believe Ernst is now wet from being showered with my words.”

Everyone laughed at this.

“Sir, that’s okay. At least he’s inspired,” Austin said.

“Oh… Okay then. Everyone, back to your rooms.”

During Math time, they handled some radicals. It was fun for Austin but utter mindf*ck for everyone else.

After Math Time was Filipino. Most of the boys rushed to the comfort rooms. Austin saw Jib talk to Sr. Geck before going.

When Ms. Becky arrived, she asked as if it happened every day, “Saan yung iba?” (Where are the others?)

“Miss, CR.”

At this moment, Jib got back.

“Jib, hindi ka nagpaalam,” Ms. Becky said (Jib, you didn’t ask for permission)

“Miss, nagpaalam ako kay Sr. Geck!” (Miss, I asked permission from Sr. Geck!)

“Hindi kita nakita, Jib.” (I didn’t see, Jib)

“Miss, tanungin niyo pa si Sr. Geck! (Miss, ask Sir Geck!)

“Hindi, Jib! Hindi ka nagpaalam!” (No, Jib. You didn’t ask for permission!)

This argument went on for about three minutes before reaching its climax.

“Miss, tanungin niyo na lang kasi si Sir Geck!” Jib pleaded (Miss, just ask Sir Geck, please!)

“Hindi, Jib.” (No, Jib.)

“Miss, nagpaalam ako. Kahit mamatay na ako mamaya!” (Miss, I asked permission, even if I die later if I didn’t.)

“Jib.”

“Miss, promise!”

“SINO TESTIGO MO?!” (WHO’S YOUR WITNESS?!)

Jib leaned next to Austin.

“P*tang Ina, Iihi na nga lang, kailangan pa ng testigo.” (D****t, You’re just gonna take a piss, now you need a witness)

They also began teasing Sean that he looked like their CCF teacher from sixth grade, Sr. Jomar Gabito.

On his way back to the hotel after classes, Austin stopped by the base. Derek was there, working on his project.

“So, Derek. Plan on telling me what that is any time soon?”

“Fine. I got inspiration from your Anonymous and Pegasus.”

He took out what he had been working on. Turns out he was just painting it.

“This is the Oplo. You activate your power and the gun absorbs it until it is overwritten by another power. This allows anyone else to fire a blast of a power. Let’s say a pyrokinetic or a space-manipulator can create a flamethrower and a Telegun respectively.”

“Oh, cool. How many do you have?”

“Five. Only this one is painted though. It’s mine.”

“Hey, good idea. See you.”

Wednesday began without much of interest.

During Math time, Sr. Geck had been recently using some of the time for “homeroom”. After all, he was their first period and there was a small ten minute grace period before the first class.

This time, he told people to get themselves something for their birthday, a personal gift. He also talked about the experience of going to mass alone or to the theater alone.

After a few minutes, they finally got to the lesson which was interrupted once more by Froilan mentioning Sr. Jomar. After teasing from everyone, Austin included< Sean finally snapped.

After a few more minutes, they got to the lesson once more.

Austin was finally wracked with guilt and apologized to Sean.

During Bio, they watched a documentary about reproduction. One part was a camera moving through the urethra of a male. Joven likened it to “Space Mountain”. Cue Laughter.

During Lunch, Mo-on challenged Ernst to a game of Charge. Austin went ahead to the library. When he got back out later, Mo-on was screaming and yelling in the hallways. The reason was reasonable: Ernst defeated him.

Another thing: Ironically, Marise rented (500) Days of Summer that day.

During their practice, Janella asked Austin if he told her yet. Austin said no and she urged him to tell her. Whether she had ulterior motives or whatnot, Austin didn’t know. Neither did he care.

The sections were split up to learn the initial moves that would be based on Tai-Chi.

“CV, DDN, SK, go near the catwalk,” Sr. Geck said. At this point the catwalk was sunny. “SAR, SC, near the Biodome.” Again, Sunny. “DOR, go under the bridge.” Obviously, it was covered.

“YAY!” DOR cheered as they went off to be taught.

The ones in charge of teaching CV were Gabe Cruz, Tennet Rojas, and Jan De Guzman. The steps were complicated but simple enough to learn. After a grueling hour, they finally got it.

They also formed the first formation which was referred to as the “Blocks” formation. It was simply a block of cheerers at the left, another at the right, one at the back, and a triangle of dancers in the center.

Lance, Johan, and Austin were pulled out by Sr. Alan for training in the Library. After thirty minutes of grueling mental math, they walked across the second floor to place their things back. As they passed by, they saw the second formation: It was an ankh.

They went down and Sr. Geck placed them at the ends of each “arm”.

They finally sampled the cheer, actions, and formations and it was a great day in terms of progress… at least in the cheering front. Austin was not able to tell Autumn.

Thursday was a pretty mixed day. They resurrected the lost verses of the Lakampati cheer:

Aming hiling, Micherenz,…, dinggin

Kamukha ng bakulaw

Pwet ‘sing laki ng bulalakaw

Sing amoy ng tae ng bangaw

Bibig niya’y puro singaw

Lagyan mo ng asin, sisigaw siya ng “ow”

Lagyan mo ng magic powder, siya’y magiging “cow”

Kung may yayakapin ka, yakapin mo siya “now”

Kung hindi, papatayin niya ikaw.

(Translation: Our desire, hear Micherenz/ Looks like an ape/ His butt is as large as a meteor/ He smells like the excrement of an overlarge fly/ His mouth is full of sores/ Put slat on it, he’ll shout “ow”/ Put magic powder, he will become a “cow”/ If you will hug someone, hug him now/ If not, he will kill you)

They worked on two more verses and the respective actions that day.

In the end, they had a simultaneous assembly with the freshmen. Ernst imagined a gigantic animated “VS!” sign appearing in the middle of the two batches, Scott Pilgrim Style.

In Homeroom, Sr. Geck talked about the star apple.

During English time, in Sean’s group’s report, they misspelled Francis Bacon as Francis Beacon. Ms. Sharon was appalled.

“He’ll come back from the grave! His name was murdered! It became ‘beacon’ all of a sudden…”

The class laughed at this.

During AP, Sr. Leo once again threatened to put Duct tape on Mo-on’s mouth.

The true highlight of the day was CCF time. Autumn, Clutch, and the rest of their group had screwed up in the reporting. Ms. Mac got mad. It was the ultimate disappointment for her. She mentioned that Marise was not working anymore, as Vice President and in other matters…

When they were dismissed, the silence was not just deafening. Deafening would be a grave understatement.

To make a bad day worse, the batch once again failed in the discipline department during the lunch practices, pushing Sr. Geck to yell at the batch to get out of his sight, except for the dancers/leaders.

These two events shook Austin to his core, and pretty much a whole lot of people.

Enter Sir Jojo and Biology.

They finished the video and in the discussion, Sr. Jojo asked who the prematurely born babies in the class were. Froilan raised his hand, which triggered a golden comeback.

“Froilan, are you premature or immature?”

The class broke into laughter.

“Are you sure that when you came out, your cry wasn’t ‘Weh! Weh!’? Haha!”

Even Froilan was laughing at this.

On their way out of the AVR, Austin caught up with Ibarra just as Froilan hit his crotch on the arm of a chair.

“Ow… My bird…”

Austin and Ibarra laughed out loud as they continued outside.

During Music time, they continued the rehearsals. Once again, the cast was really good. Owen’s acceptance speech of his victory was especially rewarding. In short, it was hilarious.

Through the past few hours, Austin was still fighting within himself whether to tell Autumn or not…

Friday was an eventful day. The practice in the morning was really good. However, today was also Austin’s MTAP competition with Lance and Johan.

Austin was actually nervous as he ate some buttered toast in the auditorium, waiting for the freshmen to finish.

When they finally sat down and the contest began, Team Seton found themselves doing fairly well.

Well enough to win first place.

It was the first time it had ever happened. First place was an honor rarely received. Austin couldn’t believe it. He was even more bewildered that Johan and Lance weren’t crying tears of joy like he was… faking. But he was sincerely very happy and accepted the gold medal with much pride.

They ate at McDonalds where Kuya Paolo got some fries from the Gold Medalist’s table without permission. Austin didn’t care if he lost some golden fries as long as he gets to keep the golden medal.

When they got back, it was CCF time and Austin sat behind Jasvir and Marise. Despite arriving in the middle of the discussion, he was still able to recite due to euphoria.

During Lunch, Austin sat at the Patola table. For some reason, there was a bear on the table. For some reason, Austin’s natural fifth grader drives were kick started. For some reason, he yelled…

“BEAR!”

“What?” Alyssa asked.

“BEAR!” Austin said, pointing at the bear.

“What?” Janella asked., grabbing the bear.”

“BEAR…” Austin said, reaching for the bear. Janella began to manipulate the bear.

“What the hell is happening?” Nica asked as Justin shrugged.

“BEAR!”

Janella made the bear wave. “Hello,” she said in a high-pitched “bear’ voice.

“BEAR!”

“I must look retarded, huh?” Janella asked Alyssa who solemnly nodded.

“BEAR!”

“Get him to stop!” Nica said.

“Hey guys,” Mo-on said, entering the vicinity.

“MO-ON, BEAR!”

“What’s with Austin?”

They shrugged in unison.

“BEAR!”

“Austin, shut up!” Nica said.

“BE�" SEAN, BEAR!”

Sean was passing by and glanced at Austin. He went back on his merry way.

“Stand back, I can fix this,” Bianca said, pulling Austin’s chair back. She aimed for his face and gave him a good ole slap.

“What? What happened?” Austin asked.

“You went crazy over this bear,” Janella said, pointing out the bear.

“BEAR?!”

Bianca slapped him again.

“OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!”

“For yelling the B-Word!”

“I did not say ‘b***h’!”

Bianca facepalmed.

During the practice, Sr. Geck demanded the boys to give him a more bass like sound. He also complained that the pronunciation of the “mor” syllable in I-MOR-TAL sounded like “more” when it should be a stiff “mor”.

They also began calling Sr. Leo, “Katsupoy” due to his hairstyle (Where the bangs formed an upside-down V)

”KACHOO!” Mo-on said, pretending to sneeze. “POOOY!”

Once more, Austin wanted to tell her but he just can’t.

“You stupid retard!” he said to himself.

The defect in his mental mechanisms caused him to go in a semi-catatonic state during English class where he sat between Renz and Mo-on.

“Phlegm…” Austin said as his new madness mantra.

“What’s with you today?”

“Phlegm…”

Austin leaned near Renz.

“Phlegm…”

“What?”

“You know Renz, I just noticed, you have flabs.”