03x38: Single Awareness Day?

Austin tries to tell Autumn how he feels on Single Awareness Day AKA "Valentine's Day".

SINGLE AWARENESS DAY?

February 14, 2011

 

     It came once a year: Twenty-Four polarizing hours. You either love it or hate it.

     It was one of those days where you just want to either rip your eyes out to prevent yourself from seeing the horror or… well… an alternative won’t make sense.

     February 14 was a special day. For one, it was a holiday. What makes it more special is that it has two different names: Valentine’s Day or the more popular Single Awareness Day or S.A.D. for short.

     The morning practices were hell. They were practicing the movements for the “Hangin” verse.  Tennet Rojas was in charge of this.

     She kept on saying “Sana naman nakikinig kayo, diba?” which loosely meant, “I hope you’re listening”

     Johan replied with “’Sana’ lang naman daw eh.” (She just “hopes”)

     Another thing that made February 14 special, at least in Seton, was that it usually fell on the Annual Teacher’s day as well.

     Usually, during Teacher’s Day, the Teacher’s were to chill out while the fourth years handled their job. Unfortunately, some retard made the decision to change this Setonian tradition for this year.

     This was especially sad for Austin because this was one of the few times he was actually there during Teacher’s Day because the Math Competitions usually fell on this day.

     It also sucked because Austin was not celebrating Valentine’s Day. He was indeed celebrating Single Awareness Day. The catch? He vowed to change that before the day ends, even just a little.

 

During Math time, Sr. Geck mentioned a “Single’s Night” later that night. It was a get together with some of the teachers like Ms. Mac, Sr. Edmond, and Ms. Anne. This holiday was definitely felt.

     During Filipino, Austin sat beside Owen.

     “Owen, you know who my Autumn is yet?”

     “No. Wait, let me guess.”

     Owen looked around.

     “Marise?”

     “Wait, how’d you know?”

     “Holy s**t, that was correct?”

     Austin’s face dropped.

     “That was a guess?”

     “Haha, don’t worry.”

     By this point, Austin was feeling kinda stupid that Mo-on, Bianca, Clutch, Rica, Ernst, Alyssa, Sean, Nica, Janella, Ibarra, Patrick, Renz, Ivan, Jib, Aika, and now, Owen knew about it and yet she did not.

     A while later, he decided to talk to Marise about (500) Days of Summer. Throughout this talk, he wanted to tell her already.

     “And that ending, man, inspiring as hell,” he said.

     “Say it! Just tell her! If you truly are indeed a beholder of the XY chromosome, tell her RIGHT NOW!”  Austin told himself.

     “Yeah. It gives me hope.”

     “YOU ARE LOSING THE PERFECT MOMENT!!!!!!!”

     “Same here…”

     “HAPPY VALENTINE’S MISS BECKY!” Owen yelled.

     “LABYU MISS!” Jib continued.

     “Perfect moment ruined. Thanks Owen…”

     Later during the lunch rehearsals, Sr. Geck sat down on the stairs and ate some French fries while they were practicing. This gave them a taste of what they were giving Sr. Geck. No pun intended.

     When they got back, it was AP time. There was something on the board:

 

I <3 Maan

-Ernst

 

     Everyone was too worried about the test to notice but Austin noticed it and silently chuckled to himself.

     In the middle of the test, Austin saw Sr. Leo turn around and laugh to himself, seeing the writing.

     “Alecz, kindly erase the writings on the board,” he said, raising his brows and emphasizing at the word “erase”.

     Alecz did as told while laughing silently. The rest of CV followed. Austin never did find out who wrote that.

     Sr. Leo also mentioned their activity for the following day. He mentioned that the activity caused Friends to be lost and relationships to be broken. It was left ambiguous until the end of the day.

     Finally, it was TLE Time. The periods were shortened to make way for the Intrams practices so the double period was only eighty minutes long.

     Austin sat beside Marise in the AVR, forcing himself to tell her. Unfortunately, he failed on all accounts.

     Near the end of the two periods…

     “Hey. Happy Single Awareness Day,” he said.

     “You stupid, lame-brained, n00bish, disgustingly corny, cheesy, and terrible at pick-up lines ignoramus slash nimrod! If only I wasn’t half your mind, I would rip you to shreds you c**k-sucking son of a bi�"“

     “Happy Single Awareness Day too, haha,” she said, smiling.

     “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that….”

     “Holy s**t, I can’t be talking to myself…”

     “Yes you a�"“

     “Hey, we should make a logo for S.A.D. I mean, For the other holiday we got a baby in diapers. For S.A.D. we should have…”

     “I know! Cupid’s characteristics, name ‘em,” she said.

     “Small, cute, I guess, white-skinned, angel wings…”

     “It should be big, ugly, dark-skinned, and have demon wings.”

     “Like Renz?”

     They both broke into silent laughter

     “Precisely,” she said.

     “And the diaper?”

     “Oh jeez, that should stay.”

     “And the arrows?”

     “They should cause anyone to become single.”

     “Oh, Renz doesn’t need arrows for that. One look at his face and�"“

     They both laughed silently again until Sr. Norvin flashed a cute little animation.

     “Aww, how cute!” Kristina said.

     “Thank you,” Renz said.

     If Austin was drinking something, he would have done ten spit takes in a row, despite only having a mouthful of water.

     “Feeler!” Kristina exclaimed.

    

During the practices, Sr. Geck told them to shout one loud “IMORTAL” after twenty counts.

     “GO!” he said.

     20… 19… 18…

     “I-MOR-TAL, IMORTAL!”

     14… 13… 12…

     “I… MOR-TAL, I… MOR-TAL”

     5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

     Sr. Geck waved his arms in a downward motion, anticipating a loud shout.

     “ImOrtAaAAll…” the batch said, epic fail style.

     “Ang panget niyo!” (You guys look terrible!) Sr. Geck said. Everyone laughed. “Alright! Once again! GO!”

     After a while, they got tired and counted as if they were constipated. It was hilarious.

     When the sun reared its ugly head, Ms. Anne was the one in charge of them.

     “Okay lang 'yan, pagkatapos nito, lahat tayo magiging ‘sing kulay ni Jack!” she said (It’s okay. After this, all of us will be as dark as Jack!)

     “You know, guys, Ms. Anne has never failed before,” Sr. Edmond said. “Don’t let this be her first time.”

     “Nuuuxx!” the batch said in unison.

     “Mga ganyan, kayo niyo ng sabay-sabay, yung cheer naman hindi!” (Things like that, you can say in unison but the cheer, you can’t!) Ms Anne said jokingly

     “Oo nga!” (Yeah) they said in unison again.

     “Kita niyo?” (See?”

     During one of the runs, Sr. Jojo was near the front. They were doing the “I-MOR-TAL, IMORTAL!” part when suddenly, Sr. Jojo let out his trademark laugh which broke everyone out of their concentration and into a fit of laughter.

     “Sorry! From the top!” Sr. Jojo said.

     Anyway, after all that, they finally went back to their classrooms. Austin gave Sean a DVD of Groundhog Day which he had just seen lately and absolutely loved.

     As he went back to his seat, he saw Marise there.

     “Here it is, the perfect opportunity. Do it!”

     He was slowly inching towards her. Finally, he bucked up and got rid of all anxiety. He sat in the seat beside Owen’s empty seat. It was only the two of them in this corner of the room.

     “Hey, Marise.”

     “Hi.”

     “Hey, do you know who my Autumn is yet?”

     “Oh my God, this is it.”

     “You can do it!”

     “Not yet…” she said.

     “Well… you wanna know?”

     “Sure, why not?”

     “On this Valentine’s Day, I think you should know who my Autumn is…”

     Cue awkward silence.

     “Well… who?”

     “You…”

     The following seconds were extremely crucial… Finally, she smiled.

     “Well… It’s okay.”

     A smile immediately flashed across Austin’s face.

     “Nothing will change much,” she continued.

     “Still best friends?”

     “Yeah.”

     She gave him a high five as he stood up.

     “Well, gotta pack up.”

     “Me too.”

     Austin waved his hand across the air and drew his backpack towards him. He put it on.

     “Need help?”

     Marise waved her hand as well and the same thing happened.

     “Nope, haha.”

     “Well, see you.”

     “I guess…”

     Austin went towards the CV-Hallway boundary line. He turned around and said, “Marise, Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     “Happy Valentine’s Day too.”

    

He happily walked down the stairs with a smile on his face that was bigger than any smile that had ever been on this face since the beginning of time.

     As he got into the Anonymous, he heard the click of a gun. He looked to his right and there was Derek, the Oplo pointed directly at him. It was glowing orange.

     “Super strength… Derek, what the hell is going on?”

     “Nothing is going on here Austin. Or at least nothing will as long as you drive.”

     “What?”

     “Pretend that everything is okay and drive, now.”

     “Look, Derek. I’m in a good mood right now, do not break it. A steep fall from high ground can�"“

     “Don’t give me that bullshit!”

     Austin blasted him with darkness control as Derek pulled the trigger, sending an orange beam at him, hurtling him out of the car into an open space.

     “Austin, you okay?” Renz asked, standing over him.

     “Yeah, just pushed a wrong button.”

     “Okay then…”

     Austin went back in the car, changing the band to Power-Sap.

     “No rash movements, Austin. Drive.”

     Austin put his ID in the slot and slowly approached the Power shift with his hand. Derek placed the gun right beside his head.

     “Get your hand away from the Power Shift, Austin. We don’t want a mess.”

     “Well, I do.”

     Austin quickly grabbed the Power Shift as Derek Pulled the Trigger. Nothing came out. Austin stepped on the gas as the Anonymous wheeled out of the parking space and into the parking lot.

     “Alright, Derek. You fooled me for two months straight. I gotta admit, that was a job well done.”

     “I try, Austin.”

     Austin drove the Anonymous out of the school and into the Island’s open field.

     “What do you want Derek?”

     “I want you to pick up Scarlett, Erika, and Nelson and let us go in your car.”

     “Look, Derek, I don’t care what happened over the past few months but if you’re working for the Mastermind, I won’t even think twice about sapping you of your power and dumping you in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You know damn well I hate betrayal.”

     “Well, the Mastermind can burn in hell for all I care. I just want my family to get away from all this nonsense.”

     There was something wrong. Derek was impulsive but he would never threaten Austin at gunpoint. This felt too sudden.

     Austin lowered his left arm and tried to switch the band to Psychic powers so he can reach into his mind. He was able to change it without much notice.

     Austin then tried to read his mind. Then he was the victim of a splitting headache.

     “I see you, Mr. Fernandez!”

     “NO!!”

     Austin took the Anonymous into the air and tilted it to the right. He forced the door open and tried to force this man out.

     “Mr. Fernandez, no need to react so violently to one of my illusions.”

     “GET OUT OF MY CAR!”

     Austin fired a psychic orb at the illusion but it passed through it.

     “Mr. Fernandez. You have twenty-six days.”

     “ You’re going to have ten seconds if you don’t get out of my head right now. I have had enough of your bullshit!”

     “Calm down, Mr. Fernandez!”

     “SHUT UP!”

     The headache was getting worse. His eyes were shut, trying to get rid of the pain as the Anonymous swerved out of control in the air. To make things worse, the illusion grabbed Austin. HE felt very real.

     “LET GO!”

     “Austin!”

     “LET GO OF ME YOU B*****D!”

     ‘AUSTIN!”

     Austin opened his eyes and he was in the ward. Kyle, Mo-on, Ernst, and Patrick were there.

     “What happened?”

     “We found you in the Anonymous. You crashed it on the far side of the island.”

     “Does Marise know I’m here.”

     “No… why does it matter?”

     Austin heaved a sigh of relief.

     “Anyone else know I’m here?”

     “They know of the crash but they don’t know what it’s about.”

     “Well, technically, we don’t know what it’s about either,” Patrick said.

     “Right. What happened?”

     “I got in the car and Derek was there, pointing a gun at me. I activated the Power Sap and drove the car out. I switched to psychic because he was acting strange and I wanted to know what was going on. Suddenly, the Mastermind’s talking to me and s**t. He starts giving me a migraine and tells me we have twenty-six days.”

     “Twenty-six days ‘til what?”

     “I don’t know.”

     There was silence in the room.

     “We have to warn team Alpha.”

     “No, Kyle. Not yet. Wait ‘til I’m out of here. That way we can tell them another story of how we got this info.”

     “Wait. Why would the Mastermind tell you when to be ready?”

     “Maybe it’s not when he’s gonna come after me. Maybe it’s when he’s going to try…”

     Kyle stood there for a moment.

     “Fine. But we warn Team Alpha as soon as you’re out.”

     “Thanks Kyle.”

     He went out of the room.

     “Hey guys. Guess what?”

     “What?” Mo-on asked.

     “I told her.”

     “You sure that wasn’t part of the ‘illusion’?” Patrick asked.

     Austin thought of this. Deep inside, he knew that it happened.

     “Of course it was real…”

     “Congratulations then,” Mo-on said.

     “Orange soda?” Patrick asked.

 

A few kilometers away, in the basement of the hotel, Derek was struggling, his arms and legs tied with anti-rad ropes and his mouth sealed shut, in a closet. The closed was locked from the inside as a guard stood outside it.

     Derek kept pounding on the door. The guard took out his syringe.

     “Look, cousin, it’s only for a few more minutes. I just gotta wait for The Mastermind to give me the signal. All I have to do is sneak in a give him this shot.”

    He transformed his head back into the head of James Landers.

     “And no need to worry. You won’t remember a thing.”

     “Landers, go for it.” The Mastermind said to him telepathically.

     “On my way.”

     He transformed into Nurse Jen as he took out a gun and fired at the closet.

     Soundproof gun. They should really sell this in stores… Landers thought as he went up the stairs and went towards the Base…