CHAPTER 53: THERE'S SOMETHING START FROM HERE

Finally, the marching band members make their return today! Actually, the competition ended days ago but Film said that since they were already there then they might as well treat it as a vacation and enjoy themselves. Ugh! I’m so jealous! The photos they emailed to us were not helping either. Om and I nearly threw a fit on the floor in front of the computers out of envy. T________T Waaah. Sure, I’ve been to Europe before but when I see a bunch of my friends being there together, it looked much more fun. Not only that, Film decided to mess with Om by sending photos after photos of nong Mick to him. He looked so dang cute, seriously! It must’ve been the cold weather (which was nearly in the negatives) there which caused nong Mick to have these permanent flushed cheeks in all of his photos. He looked adorable and quite precious! I kept glancing at Om as we went through the photos together. He had no discernible reactions to this. Hmph! I noticed that the photo of nong Mick taking a bite of an XXL size burger (it’s huge, it’s almost the size of nong Mick’s head) made Om break into a smile. Aha! There was the reaction! Heh heh heh. (Anyway, why am I so concerned with his personal life?)

As for the result of the competition? Well…how should I put this…? I immediately made an international call the day the competition finished to Film. I was incredibly nervous, but I was certain that my friends would win some sort of a trophy no matter what. I was stunned to learn the answer. Film sounded somber when he told me that they didn’t win a single thing for our country and our school. I admit, I was still and my hands were real cold. I was speechless. But it wasn’t out of anger, disappointment or anything as such. All I felt was pity and sympathy for my friends. I was there, I knew how hard they worked and how much efforts they put into their constant practices. They didn’t eat or sleep properly. Every breath they were taking were musical notes. Even at night, Film put on a busy status in MSN since he was preoccupied with adjusting the placement for the band members during their marches. I wasn’t very involved with this (other than feeding them, drafting their absent request forms, making changes to the notes and offer some ideas for their marches here and there), and yet I was exhausted just watching them going through the motion.

But since the this is the result of the competition, there wasn’t much I could do other than offering my condolence and making some small talks to cheer him up. I don’t think Film felt any better though. He probably wanted to take some rest after working so hard for months. I hung up and could only hope that he’d be able to accept what happened. Om and I ended up brainstorming on how to lessen the blow of losing once everyone arrives home.

Anyway, they’re coming back today. Om, a handful of seniors and I are at the airport to welcome them home. (Om keeps complaining about how he has to be here again when he was here to pick up hia Aun a couple of days ago.) Before the plane lands, we spent hours on what to say to console them. We wanted something that sound the best and to show how much we care and appreciate them. We wanted to to help them feel better, even for a little. As it turns out, those bastards…

…march from the gate with a trophy in their hands!

Those sons of bitches! My lips shake in anger with my finger pointing at each everyone of them as they celebrate by playing all their instruments. They parade out of the gate as they joyfully proclaim their achievement.

Ugh! Which curse word should I throw at them first?! Bastards! I was thinking so hard on how to console these guys. I was going to be a good friend and a good upperclassman. But they played a trick on me?! As it turns out, they’re 2nd runner-up winners in this competition. Goddamn it, I shouldn’t have spent all that time feeling sorry for these assholes. Damn it, damn it!

I snarl at Film who has an obnoxious grin on his stupid face. I’ll get you back for this! He’s boasting how great they did during the competition and how they actually placed in top 3 at an international event. (He doesn’t even feel bad about tricking me.) The rest of the club members apologize for keeping this from me and I learn that Film forced them into doing this. Bastard. So not only you’re evil, you decided to drag everyone else down with you? But never mind that. Since everyone else felt guilty about playing this prank on me, they decided to buy a bunch of gifts as souvenirs for me. Hahaha. It’s fine, I suppose. I love free stuff. How am I supposed to carry all these home though? -_-

In the midst of chaos, my eagle eyes spot nong Mick and Om splitting from the group to be on their own. Heh heh heh. I actually didn’t notice this at first. I was too busy with joking around with Knott and Per. (I didn’t get to smack their heads for days, my hand got lonely.) But thanks to Film being his nosy self, he tapped on my shoulder and pointed this out to me. Even though I’m not that nosy myself, I still turn to see what’s going on. (I swear, I’m not a busybody at all!)

Oh, and don’t let me get started (but I will anyway). Nong Mick gave me this doll (a souvenir from that country) about 5 minutes ago and now he’s giving a huge box of present to Om. (Totally biased!) But wait! There’s more! Om also has something for nong Mick too. I see him handing a small box over in exchange. (Hold on a sec, which of you just flew back exactly…?) At any rate, I’m so curious as what those presents are. I really wanna know! My meddlesome symptoms are showing (though they’re always there.) I try my best to pry the answer out of Om but he refuses to tell me. He doesn’t say a word about it. Not a single hint is given about what he gave to nong Mick. Whatever!

It’s not like I wanted to know! (Really?) (Not really. I think it’d be easier to trick nong Mick into telling me when Om’s not around. Heh heh.) I decide to quit pestering him since I have other things to worry about. The school wants to hand out certificates and a plaque for the marching band members since they’re a 2nd runner-up winner. It’s wonderful, now they’ll have something to show off their success and they can use that for their portfolio. The only issue I have with this is that…the school wants me to go up there and accept the plaque since I’m the president of the club. -_-“

So do you really think that I’d be so shameless to do such a thing? (Well…I might be at times since it’s how I lead my life but there’s a time and place for everything.) Film deserves to be up there and accept the plaque after all the things he has done. He was the one who managed to sign up and get accepted. He was the one who took the underclassmen there for the competition. He was the one who coached them during practice, chose the songs, change the notes and keys. He has done so many other things for our club too. It’s to the point where I can honestly say that if it weren’t for him when we wouldn’t have won this trophy. So if that’s the case, how can I possibly be so arrogant and accept the plaque myself?

I have to admit, it’s such a heavy burden having to do this. And despite Film telling me and insisting that he doesn’t mind me going up there and accepting the plaque just as how things have always been done, I still can’t do it. I end up feigning being late to school and get to do 50 squat jumps as punishment by the Masser. It’s a nice trade so that Film be the one accepting the award. Sure, I have a slight regret that I don’t get to be with everyone in front of the flagpole but I’m glad that I get to see the photo of Film smiling wide holding the plaque that he rightfully deserves.

It’s time for a party! I glance around the room and see all the club members that have assembled here during the lunch break. All 20 or so are hanging out in the clubroom. I still think I can afford to feed them. But what should I get? Roasted duck or pizza…? I shouldn’t be thinking out loud though since Per is already dialing 1112 right behind me. -*-

Hello! This is *** School’s music club, we’d like to order a large Hawaiian, a large chicken trio, a large seafood cocktail, and a large vegetarian. Cheese crust for all orders please. What else should we get? Oh, 5 orders of the chicken wings, 2 orders of the breadsticks. No, we don’t want the Pepsi, we have that here. Huh? What was that? Oh, Mum wants spaghetti? Sure. And an order of the ham spaghetti please. Oh! I almost forgot about Knott’s favorite, the cheesy spinach. Anyone wanna order anything else? Lasagna too? Okay then.” That’s enough already! Are you trying make sure I’m broke for the rest of the month?! I quickly snatch the cell phone away from Per and end the call. “That’ll be all, p’. Please deliver it at the usual place, the music clubroom in the F Building. Thank you.”

“Jeez, p’Noh. What’s the rush? I didn’t even get a chance to ask the delivery man to buy the noodles from the shop by the streets, aw!” Goddamn it, Per! Go to the cafeteria if you want noodles! Dickhead!

I toss his cellphone back to him while doing some calculations in my head. I wonder if I have enough money. -*- I guess I do, I might need to live by eating hay for the rest of the month though. Why am I buying pizza for these jerks who tricked me in the first place anyway?!

In the midst of our fun chat and music, and while we wait for our food to be delivered, Per suddenly runs his mouth off. “P’! So when we were all gone, were you lonelyyyyy?” The nerve of him to ask. I glare at the guy with tiny eyes who thinks he’s acting cute but he’s really not.

“Yeah, I was! You weren’t around for me to curse at!” I tell him as I smack him in the head once. Per rubs the spot with his light-skinned hand and mutters some complaints. “Jeez, and here I was feeling concerned for you. You were alone with p’Om, I was just wondering if you two were doing something freaky together.” Do you actually have a brain in there?! I stare at him with my mouth open. Om is choking on air when he hears what Per is saying.

Bang!

“Yo. So it wasn’t enough that Noh smacked you? You needed me to do it too, asshole? Lemme tell you something. No matter how desperate I may get, I’d never do anything with that bastard. I’d rather poke a hole in a pillow and fuck that instead.” Yeah, yeah, yeah! I nod rapidly and agree with Om. But two seconds later, I realize that sounds a little off to me. Was this jerk insulting me just now?

“Don’t come and beg me to scrub your stupid back again then.” I point at his face, feeling irritated. The guys in the room howl in laughter. Om isn’t phased by this so Per continues with another blow. “Jeez, p’Noh. He doesn’t need you for that anymore since he has….”

“Shut the fuck up, Per…!”

“Oops!” The entire room laughs even louder now. They’re all clapping in glee. (Of course, I am one of those people. Hahaha.) Om’s face is red. He’s pointing at Per as though he wants to fight him. On the other hand, nong Mick is so embarrassed that he’s nearly ripping the sofa as he tugs at it. (Please don’t rip that, I don’t wanna sew it up again.)

I chuckle as I watch Per gets on the floor and apologizes to Om. I figure that this war of words is finally over but Film says something out of the blue. “Aw, Per. You have no idea what you’re talking about. My friend here is so overprotective. God forbid if the kid gets bitten by a mosquito. When I took him abroad, Om kept emailing me non stop, asking me if someone is sick, if someone has allergies, if the weather is too cold, if we can eat the food there and reminded me not to eat anything too spicy. What a dick. It was like he thought I had no idea who he was really referring to! If he was so worried then maybe he should’ve flown there too!” Ahahahahaha! That’s hilarious! Did that really happen?! I had no idea! Every time we checked emails from Film, Om looked totally normal, (if anything, it looked as though he didn’t really care much) but as it turned out, they’ve been commuting in private the entire time!

I’m cracking up so hard that my stomach hurts. Om has been utterly destroyed. This is so satisfying! He’s pointing at Film’s face as if to remind him to watch his back. I glance at nong Mick to see how he’s reacting to all of this.

At this point, why bother putting up a front?!

I join the guys and tease Om. His face is changing color. It’s not just him though, because the more Om reacts to this, the worse it is for nong Mick. Ha! I’ll make this bratty friend of mine admit it today, no matter what!

“Noh, who are you to get on his case? What about you? You basically treated the student council secretary like a slave when we weren’t here.” How is the spotlight on me now?! I flinch and stare at p’Dew’s face, feeling puzzled. “What?!”

“Fi told me everything this morning. You made Phun draft document, change the water filter, fix the light bulb and you even dragged him to help you carry the books from Kinokuniya too!” Damn that Fi! I always have to watch out for him, don’t I? (Or he’d go around talking about this.) What was I supposed to do though? Ngoi wasn’t around and it’s not like I can rely on Om. Since I had someone who was willing to help, was it so terrible to accept his offer? U__U And what is this? Why are these jerks laughing?!

I watch Knott laughs on the floor with his eyes closed. He adds something to the discussion. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve noticed this ages ago. P’Noh is the only one who can mess with the student council secretary. He used to cut in lines and asked p’Phun to buy something for him at the supply store. And when we have a concert, p’Noh was the only one who had the guts to go up to p’Phun and made him buy like ten or twenty tickets! Hahaha!” My god…this guy. Why are you digging into my past? Just as I am about to cuss at Knott, who has been infected by Per, that damn Poom interrupts me.

“Noh goes around and shamelessly tries to get everyone to buy the tickets though.” Exactly! It wasn’t just Phun, okay? I would be thanking the keyboard player for defending me if he hadn’t finished this thoughts. “It’s just that Phun’s the only one who is willing to buy the tickets from him. Hahahahaha.”

What?! Asshole! What a betrayal! I turn to point at his face and he laughs. Should I kill him now or torture him first? But before I can decide, the clubroom door opens.

Creeks

“Are you guys having a party? You ordered so many pizzas.”

“Woooooooooooooo!” Goddamn it! You really are psychic, aren’t you?! Why do you always show up at the right time?! I stare at the student council secretary with my mouth agape. Phun is here with the delivery man. Everyone in the room goes wild as they start hooting and hollering. Some are banging on the drums too. Hold it right there! If you guys don’t stop then I’m not paying for the food! I’m being serious now!

I scratch my head as I wade through all the monkeys in the room so I can pay for the delivery and check if everything is there. At least I can take a break from all the teasing, I suppose. I stare at the guy that just got here. “Why the hell are you here?!”

The student council secretary, as expected, is taken aback by my question. “Eh? The delivery man doesn’t know where the F Building is. I saw him standing at the gate looking confused so I brought him here. Plus, he was carrying a bunch of stuff.” Well…that makes sense. I grab the money from my pocket to pay the delivery man, plus some tips, as I listen to what Phun has to say. (Yep, I’m broke.)

“But I can just leave.” Hey! Now he’s upset after causing trouble for me?! I glance up at the student council secretary who begins to show signs that he’s not pleased with this. With haste, I drag him by the arm inside the clubroom before he can make a fuss.

Naturally, my action triggers a roaring response from everyone in the room. They proceed with the cat calls but once they see my expression, they all stop. They know that if they were to keep that up then they wouldn’t get to eat. (Haha.) I’m holding all the cards after all.

Phun and I slowly bring everything to the middle of the room so that everybody can have an easier time getting the food. But before a box of pizza lands on the floor, the entire pie is gone when the vultures begin their descent. Were you people starved or something? I scratch my head as I watch the chaos unfolds before me. Phun has already stationed himself in a corner of the room. It’s madness in here. The guys are yelling for the topping that they prefer. Knott is getting dizzy since he’s sitting closest to the pizzas. It’s your unlucky day, I guess. I’m out of here.

I chuckle at what Knott’s going through before I manage to snag two slices away (hehe). One is a chicken trio and the other is the seafood cocktail for Phun.

“Oh, that’s okay. Let the guys enjoy these.” Is this really the time to be considerate of others?

I shake my head and shove a slice into his hand. It feels like Phun half-halfheartedly turns it down (probably less than half, to be honest). Just you wait. “Just eat this. I paid for it anyway. Not to mention that we ordered a ton of food. There’s enough for everybody.” And see that? I told you he wasn’t serious. Now that he hears what I have to say, he practically jumps and snatches the slice of pizza from me. What a glutton. I know that the seafood cocktail is your favorite.

Phun takes a bite of the pizza and he elbows me once in the ribs. “So you’re so rich that you’re treating all your club members like this? You should pay for our meals more often then. It’s not like I eat a lot anyway.” Can you not bring that up now? -*- This is stressing me out quite a bit, you know. -*- I furrow my browns once I think about all the cuts I’ll have to make this month in order to survive. Damn it, I shouldn’t have been this generous. “Like hell, man. I’m broke now.”

“Hahaha, that’s what you get for trying to act like you’re everyone’s sugar daddy.” So not only you don’t feel bad for me, you decide to rub salt in my wounds? I glare at him but he’s too busy watching nong Mum trying to divide up the spaghetti into equally 5 different servings. (What the hell for?) I guess he has too much time on his hand.

The current atmosphere in the room? We’re having a lot of fun. There are all kinds of sounds and music being played by various instrument. For example, someone would blow the trumpet each time Om takes a bite out of his pizza. (Hahaha.) This is because Om stole Art’s slice of pizza. (Truly despicable.) So we all have to bear with Art’s trumpet noises every time the Lose-A-Friend pizza is eaten. (New came up with this name since it fit’s Om terrible actions.) Aside from that, nong Heng is playing the krap. Wait a second, where did you get those? When did you steal those from the traditional Thai music room? -_- (Don’t forget to return them, I don’t wanna listen to Pan’s nagging, he’s a Sepha.) I glance over to where nong Heng and Per, who is popping and pretending like he’s Chin Chinawut with the help of empty pizza boxes as props. (Whatever floats your boat, man. -_-) This is taking a toll on me, someone needs to tell him to stop.

Just as I am sweating bullets, Phun suddenly laughs loudly. He’s watching what used to be 5 neat servings of spaghetti (which Mum meticulously divided them up) being devoured by Om (who has finished his Love-A-Friend pizza). Ahahaha! I knew it! If you’re too slow then you will miss out for sure when it comes to food. Art plays the trumpet in protest. Mum runs over to grab a trombone and plays into Om’s ears, joining Art. Hahaha. I guess Om will be the only one full by the end of this party.

Since everyone is bringing out their instrument, we decide to play actual music. The underclassmen have their wind instrument out and they play the original version of ‘Disco’ by Groove Riders. I grab the microphone so I can be p’Burin (I have the looks). Normally, I can’t sing this unless I’m wasted. Let’s just pretend I’m drunk on soda for today, hahaha. The words we sing barely make any sense, people would be surprise to learn that we actually won something from an international competition. Ah, well. It’s good to let loose once in a while (even though we let loose on a daily basis).

Phun watches us play in our messy and disorganized ways. (The amplifiers aren’t connected. There are only the sounds from the wind instrument, acoustic guitars and tambourines.) He’s even clapping along to the rhythms and enjoying the party with the rest of us.

And now he’s being the perfect guest. While everyone else is singing and dancing (including me), he’s off cleaning up what’s left over with Ngoi. And I mean cleaning everything, the food, the used utensils and such. Why is he so damn nice? Ugh, this is exactly why Fi went around telling everyone about all the things Phun helped me with last week. I was going to change the water filter myself but Phun happened to be there and offered to help me. Then he offered to help me change the light bulb too. I’ll swear on anything that I didn’t start out asking for his help!

This is nice though. He’s cute how he’s real obedient and helpful. I’m just letting him help Ngoi clean up the room while the rest of us bounce up and down singing ‘Everything’ by Scrubb.

“It doesn’t matterrrr if you have someone elseeeeee as long as you looooook my waaaaaay…I’m happy on the insideee-ideee-ideeee. I don’t care if you have someeeeeoneeee, I don’t care what reality is likeeeeeee!”

Crash!

Crunch!

“Shit!” Three strange noises are heard (respectively) and Om stops howling right away. Those noises came from under his feet. Everyone freezes. All eyes are focusing on the source of those noises.

Holy shit!

The dust settles and we all see that Om had managed to stomp into a cardboard box nearby. And if I remember correctly, that box contains… Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Film drops his guitar and falls to the floor. That’s the box of trophy that they  won from abroad. It’s the result of their hard work that took longer than half a year to achieve.

“Fuuuuuck! What the fuck did I just do?!” Om, understandably, freaks out as he hops away from the cardboard box. The whole room is quiet. It all happened so quickly. This is too unbearable

I blink rapidly as I watch Om hops away. My heart is pounding. I don’t want to accept this as fact. It can’t be the box that contains the trophy. It just can’t be. I refuse to accept that I heard a shattering noise when Om stepped on that box. But there’s not use in doing that…

“Why is everyone so quiet? The part’s over already?” Damn it, Phun! Now it’s not the time to be asking that stuff!

Everyone in the room turns to look at Phun as though they want him to fix this. I’m the only one looking away because I know that even the school’s student council secretary can’t help us now.

“Phun…can you just tell me that I just didn’t step on the box with our trophy in it?” Om, don’t be an idiot and live in denial now. I shake my head at my friend who’s begging the student council secretary. Phun stands still with a trash bag in hand while blinking his eyes.

“Hm? No, you didn’t step on the trophy.” Why are you helping him? -*- I glare at Phun like I want to pick a fight with him, yet he still has a carefree expression on his face. “You really didn’t.” Listen to that jerk, how would he know better than us?

I shake my head, speechless. Finally, I decide to just walk over to assess the damage myself since Film is still lifeless in the middle of the room. I might as well open it up and check how badly it’s broken. We might be fortunate enough that it isn’t so bad and it can be fixed, which I’d be more than happy to do (and collect the money from Om afterwards, heh).

I inhale and hold my breath as I open the cardboard box with my eyes shut tightly. I honestly don’t want to see the trophy in pieces. However…

The trophy isn’t inside the box?!

What?!

“Where’d the trophy go, Film?!” This is worse than a broken trophy! I shout in panic in Film’s way who’s sitting in the middle of the room. He returns the panic expression.

“I don’t know! It’s not in there?!” Film answers. He looks as though he’ll go into a shock any minute. An inexplicable feeling of horror washes over me. “It’s…it’s not in here.”

“You’re looking for the trophy? It’s over there.” Phun voice interrupts us and we look at where he’s pointing.

Phun is pointing at the cabinet where we keep the other trophies that my club has won. One of those trophies is the supposed missing trophy! What is it doing there?! I didn’t put that there! I was too busy partying. (Unless it grew a pair of legs and walked itself over there?)

Phun reluctantly continues with the explanation as though he’s afraid that everyone is angry with him. “I was afraid that you guys might break it so I put it there. Sorry if I started you.” He explains softly like he’s feeling guilty. He’s still hesitant, fearing that I might cuss him out.

“Yaaaaaay!” Ah! Phun! I’ve never loved you more than this moment! Everyone proceeds to jump around and celebrate. They’re shouting from the top of their lungs and mob around the student council secretary. Phun is baffled, hahaha. We’re so happy that we’re crying. Film, Om and I secretly wipe away the tears of relief. This trophy is very important to us and we were stupid for being incredibly careless. If it weren’t for Phun then I have no idea what would happen. He’s our hero today.

I smile at Phun, who is standing in the middle of the crowd thanking him while looking confused. All he can do is nod over and over. It seems he still doesn’t realize what an incredible thing he has done. It may sound like I’m exaggerating but my heart really did sink to the floor when I heard that shattering noise. I’m certain that everyone else felt the same way. So when we learn that what we feared didn’t happen, we can’t help but show how thankful we truly are. (By the way, that shattering sound came from a broken glass. Om got a cut on his foot and he didn’t realize it because he was in shock.)

“We would’ve been done for if it weren’t for p’Phun!” Mum leads the crowd with a praise. Phun scratches his head out of embarrassment since everyone verbally agrees with Mum.

“Whoever p’Phun ends up dating must be sooooo lucky! He’s handsome, smart and very attentive too. And if his girlfriend doesn’t love him then she must be so stupi–!” It’s too late. They can try to shut him up but I heard everything. I stare back at the guys’ faces. They have flustered smiles on their faces as though they want to apologize on their friend’s behalf. They don’t need to worry though, it’s not like I’m upset!

“I’m not that great, Mum.” And Phun immediately steals everyone’s attention once he speaks, including mine. I raise my brow at the handsome jerk who has a small grin on his face. He looks back at me before he continues to speak. “I just want to do whatever it takes to bring a smile to your club president’s face, that is all.”

“Woooooooooooo!” Can you not be such a cliche, Phun? I can’t help but let out a chuckle while everyone else is hollering. Hahaha, I’m not sure if he said it as a joke or he was serious but it made me feel really good.

“Thanks, man…” I whisper to Phun while everybody is helping clean up the room before the next period starts.

Sometimes, when you learn that your smile is worth something for someone, you have a reason to smile.

And now I know who I will be smiling for from now on.

=]