Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

CHATBOX

The Best Ephemere Team Ever

Kristine Andal

Sponsorship letters sent last night!

Thanks @Vinnie Exconde for powering through and arranging everything!

Seth Agoncillo

I just wanna flex our Pub rookie @Vinnie Exconde for making the letters interactive

Summer Tiu

Interactive??

Seth Agoncillo

In the letters, Vinnie embedded sample videos for each sponsorship package. Legit stuff man

Kristine Andal

Everyone will want to be co-presentor now LOL

I smiled at my phone.

Before I knew it, I was taking the event officer part way too seriously.

The letter headers were done as early as Saturday and, as promised, I had sent Cholo the sample package offer video.

As I delivered per the terms set, Cholo stayed true to his word by contacting the authorizing teams. By Tuesday morning, ExtRel had approved the new template but strict orders were given to keep it within the Ephemere team lest the whole club started asking for brand-new templates.

By the end of the week, the marketing team sent out their sponsorship letters, the Promotions Team had sent out collaboration proposals to influencer connections, and the Logistics Team was close to securing a discount with a big-time lights and sounds supplier that did international events.

Everyone was in high spirits by the time we wrapped up our last meeting for that week. I was just about to leave the room when Cholo came up to me with a folder.

“Lavinia, can you take this to Miss Co, please?”

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Project status report. She’s our advisor and she had asked for that,” he said. I took the folder from him. “That includes your milestones for the past month, too. You need that for the progress monitoring for your disciplinary case.”

“Oh,” I said, remembering that other deal. My face must have fallen as Cholo backpedaled.

“I know, it’s just been a month but we’ve done a lot. You’ve done a lot,” he emphasized. “At this rate, you won’t even have to worry about failing 170. You’re doing well. Keep up the good work.”

I knew this was Cholo, judgmental prefect brat whom I wrote off after our first proper conversation but I could not help but feel my heart swell after he said that.

“Wow. That’s big, coming from you. Thank you.”

“I’ve been meaning to say this but I just never got the chance. Sorry I made you feel you weren’t up to the tasks.”

“I appreciate that. Sorry about kicking the chair you were sitting on. That wasn’t cute.”

“That’s fine. You were cute.”

“Anong sabi mo?” I said but he had walked away to talk to someone else.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come iiin,” said a voice from inside the faculty room.

I opened the door and let out a sigh of relief as I saw that Miss Co was alone.

“Hey, Vinnie! What’s up?”

“Cholo asked me to give you this?” I said, holding up the red folder. Only now did I notice that it had our club’s logo on it.

“Wow, this is a lot,” Miss Co said, inspecting the folder. “Sit down.”

“Club’s notes, not my progress report. But Cholo said to show you that because it has my stuff, too.”

Miss Co nodded to signal that she had understood, her eyes already skimming the document.

“I’m surprised. This is amazing,” she said after a while, a smile reaching her ears. “I’m so proud of you!”

I felt my cheeks heating up.

“What did Cholo write in there?”

“A lot! I mean, I know I volunteered you for this but?—”

“You thought I would be hopeless?”

“Not hopeless, come on,” Miss Co replied. “But you do have a temper, so…”

“Miss Co, I’m temperamental, not lazy.”

“This, here,” Miss Co exclaimed, pointing towards me with her palm up. “ Temper .”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, realizing my voice got louder.

“Sorry, let me try that again. I’m temperamental, not lazy, and I’m doing my best.”

“I know that. From the looks of this, Cholo does, too.”

“Then why are you all acting surprised?” I asked, pouting a little. “I know Cholo wrote me off that day, but I didn’t expect you to do that, too.”

Miss Co stared at me for a bit before folding her arms and leaning back into her office chair.

“Okay na? You’re done?” she asked me, the way a parent would address a tantrum-throwing child.

I made another face at her.

“I just said I’m proud of you. I didn’t say you were hopeless, and for the record, I never wrote you off. I’m just happy with your progress. That’s all. Pwede ba ‘yun?” Miss Co said, leaning towards me now with an affectionate smile.

I looked away because it made me a bit uncomfortable.People in my life usually looked at me with only three expressions: indifferent (kids from school), patronizing (authority figures), or scared (my family). Seeing affection was unfamiliar and daunting to me.

I acted out when I thought my favorite teacher in the world wrote me off. Now that I knew it was the other way around, my instincts were telling me to run.

What the fuck, Vinnie.

“Sorry. I jumped to conclusions. It’s probably the hunger talking. I’ll go home now,” I said, thoroughly embarrassed and leaving my seat in a hurry.

“Vinnie?”

“Yep?”

“There are people who believe in you,” she said, which made me look back. Miss Co, always the wise soul, must have noticed how uncomfortable I was earlier that she avoided my eyes now, focusing instead on the rest of the document. “I hope you do, too.”

“Thank you, Miss Co,” I replied, not knowing what else to say to that.

She gave me a warm, encouraging smile before I made my way out.