Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

G ood news: the school was not going to suspend me. But I would probably get kicked out anyway.

I should have been nicer to Cholo when he asked me to explain; perhaps he would have given me a much lighter punishment. I had no room to complain because the girl who pulled my hair in class was the one who got the full punishment. Looking back, that explained why she was at the dean’s office and why I was sent to the head disciplinary prefect’s instead.

Cholo was there so he knew I did not start it. Not that I was innocent or anything. I should not have risen to that classmate’s bait, as she was a known bully who got a kick out of annoying people, but my temper got the better of me. It was a stressful midterm week and I was going to end it with a presentation for Marketing Management, which was Miss Co’s class. I did not have a problem with the subject but having to talk in front of the class was what pressured me. I hated public speaking.

“You were there,” I had stressed earlier after Cholo called me an ‘annoying little piece of work.’ “You heard her. It wasn’t even Q&A yet but she kept interrupting me in the middle of my presentation, asking questions that had nothing to do with the case. She did it to the other group last week and in our other subjects the week before that. It gets particularly bad in Business Law. I mean, we’re in the same block. Surely you’ve noticed that?”

Cholo’s smile vanished at that point.

“Look, I’m not saying I’m innocent and shouldn’t be punished. But someone had to call it out and say ‘Hey, this isn’t okay.’ It’s a form of bullying. I’m surprised you, as a disciplinary officer, haven’t given her as much as a warning. We need to stop letting her get away with it. It has to stop. Honestly, I did you all a favor by asking her to shut up.”

“Fair point,” Cholo conceded but his stern expression stayed. “But maybe you could have said it more nicely. That kind of language wasn’t appropriate for class, was it?”

“Come on, what’s the big deal? I just asked her to keep her mouth shut.”

“No,” he said with a flourish, making a big deal out of leaning back on his swivel chair, “You said ‘Can you do me a favor and shut up for five seconds? I’m getting dizzy from the smell of rancid tuna and it seems to be coming out from your mouth.’ ’’

I cringed, feeling my face burn, because that part was true and I had no excuse for that. Sure, that bully belonged to that clique of annoying rich kids who thought the rest of the world was beneath them but it did not give me the right to insult her in class or at all . Not my best moment but the damage was done.

“Fine,” I said, face burning. I knew it was my turn to concede. “I’m sorry.”

As expected, my apology did not cut it.

As we were already in university, they could not give me detention or make me write lines on the board. Suspension had been a consideration but Miss Co shot that one down and told Cholo that I would be brilliant for the upcoming management club event at the end of the second semester.

“For Ephemere ? ” Cholo had asked in a deadpan voice, disbelief evident on his face.

That stung. I felt a little insulted.

“You said you needed someone with a good eye. Weren’t you watching their group’s marketing plan? That was brilliant,” Miss Co told him. “And it was for an event, too.”

“Yeah. I can handle events,” I said in an attempt to defend myself. I had half a mind to say that three-fourths of that marketing plan we presented in class was my doing but it did not feel like the right moment to brag.

“Yes, in a case environment. In theory . But Ephemere will be different. Demanding sponsors, real stakeholders, kids whose school expenses will be coming from the event proceeds,” Cholo countered, raising an eyebrow. “Plus, the people in the current Ephemere team held directorial positions once or twice before applying for this.” He turned to me. “You, on the other hand, are hardly visible during club events. Didn’t we apply to Dresden Management Club the same year?”

“Yes. We were in the same department.”

“Yeah, that part I remember. You never showed up again after our batch’s induction night. And that was, what, two years ago?” Cholo said, folding his arms and turning to face Miss Co. “Are we seeing the problem here?”

Again with the feeling of wanting to shrink. That bit was true. The club had a good name and I thought having their name on my CV would be good content once I graduated. They had these fancy names for things and I thought employers would be none the wiser. I did not want to get too involved as I thought it would eat up my study time so I only exerted minimum effort.

“On top of the other things I mentioned, we will have meetings twice a week. Wednesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.,” Cholo recited, making a note on the form I filled out earlier, still with the deadpan voice. “That’s for updates because we are doing this event hand in hand with the College Student Council. Sometimes, we’ll need to call up and meet with prospective sponsors, mostly in BGC or Makati, but if we’re lucky they’ll agree to meet us near here.

Same deal with logistics suppliers for the venue and then more meetings within the team itself for arranging promotions and publicity materials. Can you handle that?”

I gulped. Meetings twice a week? I could hardly manage my time for academics and everything else in my life. For one, I lived on the opposite end of Metro Manila and just going home already took two hours. Studying was always after dinner and I could not imagine having to readjust my whole routine to fit all those things in. All this for an event I was not even going to get anything from since club activities were not graded.

Also, I was handling six major subjects this semester and I was hardly surviving with my current study routine. How would I even start all the things he mentioned without failing everything?

Cholo must have noticed the look on my face. “See?” he said to Miss Co, breaking into my thoughts. “You’ll have to think of something else. We can’t put her in the event.”

“Wait! I haven’t even said anything,” I said, taking offense. This guy probably thought I was useless. Some switch in my brain had flipped and I now considered doing this club thing seriously. I hated that I cared about what this Prefect Brat thought but I so wanted to prove him wrong.

“That’s the Vinnie we know!” said Miss Co, clapping her hands together like a kid. “You’re game to do this, right?”

“Damn it, Patsy,” Cholo said to Miss Co. “Pwede bang ‘wag ganyan? Nakakaasar, eh.”

“ ‘Patsy’ talaga?” I blurted out. They’re close, too? I knew Miss Co’s first name was ‘Patricia’ but I never dared call her that thinking it would be inappropriate.

Miss Co looked taken aback and sat up straight, as though to remind us that she was still the adult here. “Sorry, Vinnie, we happen to be related. I’m his older cousin and he thinks I’m messing with him or something. Except I am not. I think this is a good solution. You get to earn goodwill back with the disciplinary office and keep your good standing and he gets extra help for his event, which is badly needed as one of the officers backed out last week,” said Miss Co, cutting us both off as Cholo opened his mouth to respond. He rolled his eyes instead. “Cholo, stop calling me that in school.”

“Okay, Miss Co. I’m running late for a sponsorship meeting,” Cholo said, all traces of his earlier mischief gone as he folded up the sleeves of his flannel shirt. “We need to settle this now. Given Miss Exconde’s track record, putting her in my event is a risk. We need to think of something to make sure she’ll take this seriously.”

My track record? Really?Sure, I was not running for summa cum laude like he was but it was not like my head was on the academic chopping block.

Jerk.

“Of course, she will,” Miss Co said in my defense. “You and Summer can start assigning her stuff, monitor her club activities, and rate her contributions to Ephemere.”

“If she slacks off?” asked Cholo, writing something down on my form.

“Then I give her a failing grade for BA 170,” said Miss Co, folding her arms and looking at me. I wanted to protest as the subject was only offered in the second semester of every year. Flunking it would delay me from graduating by at least a whole year.

“Fair enough,” said Cholo, who looked defeated as there was nothing else he could do. He signed my disciplinary hearing report form, separated it from what I assumed was the carbon copy, and passed the original to me across the table. He looked at me the way an adult would regard a kid who has done something wrong and then stood up and got his backpack. “Lavinia, meet me next Wednesday at the club room. I’ll introduce you to the team before our meeting.”

“Okay, but?—”

“Don’t worry, we’ll go easy on you,” he said with a smile and then he left the room.

“‘Tangina, scumbag talaga,” I whispered and then I turned to Miss Co, whose eyebrows are in danger of disappearing into her hairline again.

“Language.”

“Sorry. Are you sure you’re related?”

“He’s not that bad. I mean, look. He’s let you off the hook,” Miss Co said, tapping the original form Cholo passed me. I raised an eyebrow as I realized Cholo had cleared me of all complaints and that today’s incident was not going to make its way to my permanent record, with conditions.

“No shit?” I slipped, incredulous. After all that judgy talk?

“Yes but Vinnie, do me a favor,” Miss Co said as I grabbed my backpack. “Prove him wrong, won’t you? Don’t mess this up.”

Yeah. As if I needed any more pressure.