Felix Culpa (Valmont's Consigliere/CamRen)

Love Thy Neighbor

CHAPTER ONE

R e e s e

🎶 Panic! At the Disco, High Hopes

"Count... off!" Our class marcher, Earl, made a face while rolling his eyeball towards the left. The boy clearly hates the man walking toward him. Hindi lang din siya maka-angal, eh. Grades, importante ang grades. Who wouldn't hate the man? He's always 'do this, do that' and not a single gesture of being grateful. He's making us work to the bones like we're some kind of robot.

"Eleven!" I shouted my number, lifting my hands off the shoulder of the girl standing on my left. We were all accounted for. Taking a glimpse at my shadow, I realized that I wasn't the tallest one. It was the girl standing behind me with the next element.

"Mga buddy, umayos, para 'di tayo mabilad." Clearly, our Dean's favorite toy is Mr. Zulueta. Wala naman akong pake sa bagay na 'yon, ang akin lang talaga, eh, makatapos. Unipormeng-uniporme na'ko. Oh, wait, yeah, boards first, yep. Gotta ace that, one take. "Everybody, greet."

"Good morning, sir!" Everyone from the Valiant, our class name, greeted the bald man with a weird mustache. Well, except me, of course. I just mouthed that lame-ass greeting. Valiant? Sheesh! I still believe that it should be Tyrant. It sounded badass, as I recall reasoning out from the whole class. At least, my friends sided with me in the debate. There were rumors, actually, that they were gonna change our class name to Matikas. Now, that's better.

"I need the list of the members, Zulueta. Maayos na ba ang listahan?" The battalion commander handed him a blue logbook, in which I believe, all of the thirty-six students' names were written there including me. Well, I hope. Last year, a dude and a girl from the Dimalupig class weren't able to get deployed. They didn't pass the test, sabi nila. Turns out, kelangan lang pala nitong Dean namin ng taga-bukas at sara ng pintuan niya.

"Okay, listen. We will be dividing you into groups; from Alpha to Foxtrot," says the man wearing a beige long sleeve, rounding up the names for attendance with his hoarse voice. "Centeno!" The guy repeated her name, three times already. Still no answer from the certain student, Mr. Morada turns to me. "De Leon!"

"Sir!"

"Napano ba 'yan?!"

I moved my right foot behind my left for an easy twist. Facing Teegan in her dozed off state, I flicked her nose. "Teegan, open your eyes before the hell-mouth eats you alive. Galit na galit na si Morada." Teegan didn't move. I laughed when a loud grunt was heard, coming from the girl whose eyes are closed. I believe this is one of her talents. Hmm, all of those MRT rides have paid off. "Morada, twelve o'clock, dumdum."

"What? I was kissing someone in my dream, you pussy." My best friend boxed me playfully on the tummy. I fought back, stepping on her shiny, black combat shoe. "You little-" I went back to my original position, witnessing how pissed our Dean was. "Sorry, sir. I slept really, really late last night. Ito po kasing si Reese, nag-share ng Netflix movie list, ayan tuloy."

"So, kasalanan ko talaga?"

"Oo naman, yes."

"Stop. I don't wanna hear about your lame excuse, Centeno." I can't help to burst into laughter. I stopped the moment Rivera shushed me. "I would love to tell your father about this, though." The tall girl secretly tapped my chest twice, mouthing a bite me, faking soft sobs.