Project Artifice

CHAPTER 10: FIRE WITH FIRE

I am running out of time before the next class. Sabi kasi nina Charlotte na wala raw kaming klase dahil wala 'yong prof. Naniwala naman ako at 'yong ibang kaklase ko then someone came into our room and told us na kanina pa kami hinahanap ng prof namin. So tumakbo silang lahat to save our lives. Ako? Naglalakad lang ako. We're already late, kahit ano pang gawin nila and it would not change the fact na mapapagalitan kami.

Nasa unahan ko si Lucas na wala ring balak tumakbo. Wala naman akong balak kausapin siya, sinabi ko lang na nasa unahan ko siya. Mukhang parehas kasi kami ng nasa isip.

Few more steps at nasa room na kami. From the outside, I can say na tahimik ang lahat at nakatungo because that's how it is. 'Pag galit ang teacher, nakatungo ang lahat, 'yong iba nagpapaikot ng ballpen sa kamay nila, nagdra-drawing, at iba't iba pang paraan para magpalipas ng oras. Ako? Tinititigan ko 'yong teacher at inoobserbahan ko siya kung paano magalit. Halimbawa, kung lumalabas ba ang ugat sa noo niya na kulang na lang ay mag-Super Saiyan siya. Kadalasan, pagkatapos magalit at mag-walk out ng teacher, mga ilang saglit na katahimikan at maghihiyawan na ang lahat.

Saming dalawa ni Lucas, siya ang unang pumasok. I took a very deep breath bago pumasok, mabo-bore na naman kasi ako e.

Humanap ako ng free seat. Nakita naman ako ni Jek at tinawag ako.

"Kanina pa ako naghihintay sa inyo sa room na 'to. Are you cutting my class? At lahat pa talaga kayo ha. Sinong pasimo nito?" [voice muffles down]

Tiningnan ko ang buong paligid until Jek poked me.

"Tayo ka raw, Master." sabi niya sakin. Tumingin ako sa harap and saw our teacher looking at me. Or should I say glaring at me? I stood up.

"You there, you were the last to arrive, What's your name?" tanong niya sakin habang nakataas kaliwang kilay niya.

"Christian." I said blankly.

"Ikaw ba ang pasimuno nito?" nanlaki ang mata ko. Why me?

"huh?"

pag tingin ko sa likod ko i saw a couple of other people also standing, isa na dun yung grupo ko except kila Emma at Liz, surprisingly nakatayo din sila Charlotte at Abigail...

"I asked, who is responsible for this?" biglang balik nya sakin.

brain quick analysis...

if i tell her na akala namin na wala sya kaya kami umalis na ng room, for sure she can deflect that by saying na we wrongfully assumed... what angle can i use?

"uhm..."

nyeta bat ba ako naipit dito, si charlotte naman nag sabi eh... oh shit... CHARLOTTE. wait... no...

hindi ko pwedeng iblame si charlotte, she already hate me enough, but if i dont talk now, pwedeng isa sa group ko ang magsabi na sila charlotte ang nagsabi samin na walang prof... damn brain, think!

on the side bigla kong nakita si liz na magtataas ng kamay, shit, ito na nga, ipagtatanggol nya ko for sure.

"It's my idea!" I suddenly blurted out.

fuck why did i say that... nagulat ang lahat, including me, but that bought me a few more seconds to think.

I closed my eyes, focused my brain at the task at hand, deep inhale, then at the same time that the air in my lungs emptied out to my mouth I opened my eyes, everthing became pitch black with deafening sounds...

command lines:

'Open all doors.'

'Activate Skill: Deduction'

'Students'

'Teacher'

'White Board'

'Cartolina'

'Lecture topic'

'Water Cycle'

'Limit doors to Science'

'Open data bank'

'Extract Information'

'Execute.'

"So what made you decide that you can simply just tell the whole class to skip!?" galit na sabi nya.

"20 minutes in the class kanina and you were still nowhere to be found ma'am, as per the handbook, we can leave the classroom if there is no instructor after the first 15 minutes of the class..." yung kaninang naka tungo na si charlotte ay biglang naka titig na sakin, yes girl- i just saved your ass.

"so no one bothered to look for me in the faculty office!? magagaling na kayo nyan!? ugaling public talaga kayo, what would happen if magpaquiz ako ngayon regard sa topic!!! masasagutan nyo ba? diba hindi!!! kasi wala kayo para maturuan-" she continued to rant.

"uhmm..." i stopped her "I understand your frustration, but none of this would have happened if you arrived on time..." lalo syang naginit at namula... "additionally, baliktad yung arrows mo sa visual aid, condensation's arrow should go up while precipitation should go down and-" i spent the entire 5 minutes explaining the whole topic of watercycle which includes real life scenario of hurricanes, and other additional shits like tornadoes and soil erosion. isang malupit na setup para sa checkmate move ko "so going back to your question, i believe we would have aced your quiz right now unless you also included in your quiz the exact names of the typhoons and their international names..." checkmate. i used the quick 5 minutes to refresh and teach the whole class about the topic, so now kung sakaling magpapaexam sya, they would know what to answer.

there was dead silence...

Umupo ako kahit di pa ko pinapaupo. Pansin ko ang napakatahimik na atmosphere sa loob ng room. This is great. I know na hindi nila inexpect 'yon.

Napalingon ako sa kanan ko. I noticed someone at the door na bigla ring umalis. Hindi ko napansin kung sino but I feel like nakita ko na siya before. Weird.

The silence was broken when ng bigla nyang pinatawag si charlotte, umupo yung prof namin sa harap after nyang kunin lahat ng visual aid nya, kinausap si charlotte sabay umalis na sya ng kwarto...

"uhm guys... attention please." medyo nangangatog na sabi ni Charlotte,

"so sabi ni ma'am may science fair daw next week and need daw natin mag participate lahat, so we need to create a five person group tapos gumawa daw tayo ng project na dadalhin natin sa exhibit."

kita sa mukha ng iba na medyo awkward sila towards charlotte, alam kasi nila na sya talaga dahilan kung bakit umalis kami ng kwarto in the first place...

Inakbayan kaagad ako ni Goya at Jek. Siyempre automatic na 'yon na sila ay kagrupo ko. Kailangan na lang namin ng dalawa. May mga lumalapit sa amin na tinatanong kami kung okay lang ba na makigrupo sila pero hindi ko trip.

Bigla din lumapit si Abigail out of the blue "Idol! Baka naman pwede ko sumali sa group mo oh, hahaha"
"Sure! Pwedeng pwede!" biglang sagot ni Goya, ay nyeta talaga basta babae ang dali bumigay.
"hahaha Salamuch!" biglang sagot ni Abigail, 'salamuch?'
"ayos master isa na lang kailangan natin" singit ni Jek
"kung kailangan nyo ng lugar para mag experiment, pwede dun sa bahay namin" offer ni Abigail, well I guess may perks din pala na kasali sya sa team.

Habang naguusap usap kami kung ano magiging experiment namin ay lumapit si Charlotte.

"Puwede ba akong sumama sa inyo?"