Intramurals had been the most anticipated event in Sinatra University. Aside from the fun and excitement brought about by the various games it had, it was also the time of the year when almost all the famous and good-looking students usually exposed themselves readily to the eyes of their supporters and admirers.
Being known to be the home of champions and "Mr. Universes", the College of Engineering and Architecture had achieved that utmost reputation of having the most number of supporters, may it be from their own college or from another. That day, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun shone the most painful, almost everyone who was involved in Sinatra had gathered together inside the massive Sinatra Gymnasium to witness the final basketball game between the two rival colleges: the College of Business and Governance and the College of Engineering and Architecture. These two had been rivals of all rivals since 2005 and it would really shock everybody if the friction between them had lessened overtime. Of course, it had not, as manifested by the various chants and booing inside the arena from both their supporters. Some of their supporters even brought with them both handmade and ready-made paraphernalia just to show their loyalty to whichever team they were supporting. Almost everyone was already ready, even the players from the Business and Governance were already warming up inside the court. However, the Engineering team had not arrived yet, which, by no means, worried their supporters. For goodness' sake! They had been Sinatra University's basketball's champion for four consecutive years and their supporters were not really in the mood of giving the honor to other colleges, especially to their rival college, the College of Business and Governance. But it seemed like this year, unfortunately, they were running out of time. The referee who was somehow a fan of those players tried to wait for them for a couple of seconds. But then again, no players from the College of Engineering and Architecture had arrived. And even though it was disappointing on his part, he still had to do his job, fairly and squarely. This time, he was already approaching the announcing area and was probably ready to announce the victory by default of the other team. Luckily, just in time, as if it was a scene from an action movie, the whole team of Engineering basketball players showed up with their team captain, Vaness Brandon "V" Jalandoni, at their lead.All were in no doubt pretty boys, but got a little or perhaps totally messed up. Bruises and bloodstains were seen both on their bare skins, especially on their faces, and on their uniforms, which definitely made everyone furrowed their eyebrows. Where on earth had they been?Their coach, Coach Jared, tried to call them to ask what happened to their appearances and to somehow give them a little sermon for their tardiness. But no one among the team members glanced on his direction, not even one, for all of them really looked agitated and disturbed. Hands curling into fists and feet walking so fast toward the other team's direction, these men meant business. All of them were ready to fight and ready to destroy. The Business and Governance's team captain, Miko Alcantara looked slightly appalled by the engineering's appearance, but pretended to welcome them with a smile and greeted them."Hey V, what took y-"
But before he could finish his sentence, he was stopped in the middle of it by a deadly punch by V."What the hell?!" Miko shouted and tried to punch back but he was beaten by V to it. V punched him again on his face, and it was in that moment that the signal for the school year's basketball court riot was made. A lot of people, coaches, security guards, and announcers tried to stop the commotion. Some of them even tried to call the police because the fans from both teams were also joining in the fight. Describing the gymnasium as a mess was an understatement. It was a sight to behold. Fortunately, after so many attempts of stopping the riot, the security guards and even the teachers were finally able to drag each member of the teams out of reach from one another. V was dragged by his coach out of the commotion while the others were pulled by some of the security guards. A couple of seconds after, the commotion somehow subsided and all the players were now heading outside, together with all the other people who were involved to settle things out. V was one of them. But before he finally got out, with coach Jared trying so hard to drag him, his eyes caught sight of a very pale young lady in a somewhat black hippie-like attire with no slippers on her feet. She was so strange that even the other members of the team and some of their supporters took notice of her. She was just standing serenely at the corner while looking at the sight before her. And her eyes, which seemed to lack of any emotion, now turned to V's direction. They caught each other's eyes for a few seconds, and for the first time since earlier, weirdly, V finally got into his senses. He suddenly became aware of what they had just done and what was currently happening. And into his mind, he shouted, 'shit!'He finally broke from the stare and looked at the commotion. Everything's messed up. A lot of people, even those who were not directly involved got into trouble because of that one punch from him that started it all. But he got more annoyed by the fact that he was not really the one who really caused it in the first place; it was because of some dirty actions made by their opponents. He tried to calm down and think. But it just seemed weird to him that after some time, when he glanced back at the lady's direction, the lady was still looking at him. He felt awkward, of course, who wouldn't anyway? So he decided to just ignore her and continued walking till they reached the outside of the gymnasium and finally proceeded to the Dean's office.
Inside the Dean's Office, Mrs. Sonia Ariolla, the dean of students, was pacing back and forth in front of all the players who were in her office as of the moment. Not only the commotion that they had done made hervery irritated, she was also annoyed by all the mixed smell of the boys' odors that seemed to be suffocating her entire being."What a disgrace! I did not let all of you students to participate or even have that intramural meet just to give this headache to me!" she shouted at everyone."We are very sorry, ma'am. We'll assure you that it won't happen again and that the two of us, Coach Marlon and I, are going to talk to these boys regarding this matter," explained Coach Jared as he gave his signature death glare to his team."Well, of course, I am expecting the both of you to do so."~~~~~~~~~A lot of sermons came out of Mrs. Ariola's mouth, but nobody even bothered to explain himself. After some time, they were all
Class went on and everything seemed to be back on track with V. After the break slash interruption given by the sudden appearance of the new mysterious girl in their class, he suddenly gained his long lost consciousness and began understanding the lessons easily. Well, he's smart though. After a couple ofminutes, the class ended and that time was his time to go to his next class, which, a bit suspiciously, was also Ligaya's next class of the day, and who was now finally sitting beside him. He found it peculiar but decided to not give a notice about it anyway.~~~~~~~~~~~A hundred miles away from Sinatra, a group of aged women were having a meeting. All of them were having that game face on and were really serious whenever they utter or do something within the circle."Why did you let her go, Mamang Turiya? How certain are you that she's doing the right thing?" one of the women asked."It is not for us to decide whether o
Still feeling some ache throughout his body, V tended to savour the feeling of being rested on his bed for another hour. However, he was met by the sudden realization about how on the face of the fucking earth did he get on his bed when all he remembered was he was somewhere near La Primera the nightbefore and was attacked by his enemies and caused him to bleed so much? He immediately opened his eyes to reassure himself that he was really in his room and as he did so, his eyes were met by the presence of his friend Marco who was examining him. He immediately got into his senses for he was shocked to see his friend's face so close to his, and hurried to get off his bed, away from Marco."What the hell was tha-..ugghhhh!" V attempted to confront his friend's weird examination but got interrupted by the pain on his belly."V! V, are you alright, dude?" Marco hurried to V but V just raised his free hand to let Marco know that it's fine and that he d
Surpried was merely just an understatement. Those three words were, in no doubt, astoundingly shocking. But just when V thought that that was it, Ligaya continued to speak the more shocking part of her statement."My guardian asked for you. . .to be bound to me when the day comes that no one in our bloodline will bealive anymore except me." She uttered those words with utmost sincerity and the two boys in front of her; Marco, who was facing her and V, who was facing his back on her, were both taken aback. "I am not asking you to marry me and I am not expecting you to like this idea either, because to tell you frankly, I don'tlike it as much as you do. Lucky for us, a relative of mine was still alive. . .But I'm afraid things wouldn't go the way I planned them to be, and I still have not found the Vermilion which can defy the evil dwellers and can grant wishes yet. An information has been delivered to us that it is located in your world, that's why I a
Back at the subdivision where V was living, everything still felt weird. Ligaya remained in the kitchen, doing her stuff while V discussed matters with Marco in his bedroom."To be honest, dude, I think you've gone crazy," started Marco who was now playing with a tennis ball while sitting on a couch at the corner of V's room. Tet V was silent, and Marco could tell that he was contemplating about everything."So, did you really mean it? Are you sure you're letting a stranger stay in your house for a month?" Marco added."What else can I do? I've already said it. Besides, she saved my life. Not the saving thing she was saying seven years ago, but the saving that she did last night. She saved me and without her, I could have been a cold corpse right now. It's the least I can do. And mind you, letting her in does not necessarily mean I believe what she said. You know me, idiot.""That's the spirit, dude!" he was about to give a high five to him but V di
On the other side of the world, where the evil dwellers had settled, a man whose name was Hudlao was looking furiously at his subordinates, as if they were a bunch of useless trashes."Idiots! What do you mean it vanished? Are you trying to make a fool out of me?" he shouted to them with all his might. He even produced some force that knocked all of his subordinates out."We are very sorry, our Greatest. But we really tried our best to locate her zest. It's just that, some strange force was meddling and distracting us. And now, the sign has already vanished." A grotesque-looking man, who seemed to be the leader of their team explained everything to Hudlao. Hoping against hope that his master would somehow understood them. His name was Iko."I don't need your explaination, Iko. I need you to find that stupid girl as soon as possible!"However sincere and accurate the explanation was, it was still pointless for
It was 8:35 when V woke up again to prepare for school. He's already late but he seemed relaxed while getting out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. But the serenity was immediately cut short when Ligaya's presence showed up before his eyes."What the fuck?!"He was so shocked. Never in his entire existence did he encounter something like this. Still wearing her usual facial expression, Ligaya was standing while leaning on his bedroom's doorframe, arms crossing like a boss."We're late," she said matter of factly."So?!" V couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't make himself comfortable with a lady's presence while he was half-naked, and so he tried to cover his naked torso with the towel that he had used earlier to dry his hair off. On the other hand, Ligaya did not answer and just stared blankly at him, not intimidated at all."Okay, look, I..I don't have to explain my
Later that day, after the incident that happened between Ligaya and V's friends, the boys were now having their conversation about it."You should have seen her face earlier. Jeez, it's like she is already plotting some murder scenes in her mind." Benjie said at once while applying what seemed like holy water on his arms like a lotion. The same thing was done by the others as well. They were all totally frightened and disgusted."She's haunting, dude. I can't believe you let her stay in your house while you're wounded. With that look of hers, I wouldn't be surprised if she had hurt you," Dan commented."What are you talking about? As if she could match my strength and combat skil--...wait, you knew?" V couldn't believe his ears. He was really surprised that Marco betrayed him on their deal to not tell anyone about Ligaya in his house. But it seemed like he's already late."Fine. As if I have a choice. That bastard reallt couldn't keep things for himse