(Forth's POV)
cont...
I considered Lam as my closest friend in the campus so I always told him all my observations about Beam. He would always give his ears without judging me for all I said.
Actually he seemed to know my feelings more than me.
I couldn't say that I don't like Beam... but I couldn't also say that I like him.
All these times, I only thought that I was just curious about his personality and how special he was for driving those women mad. I heard, they called him the casanova...
...and I don't like it.
During the contest, would you believe that I didn't plan of singing that song? I had practiced a different song for the competition. A more upbeat song to energize the audience, and not that confession song.
I just decided to change it when I saw him and Kit pranking their sleeping friend.
I was so nervous at that time, because I was not really a type of person who would be on stage in front of a big audience.
However, upon seeing his smile...
... I was calmed down.
And that song popped out of my head.
So, without a practice, I played it to the person with the brightest smile for me.
If he had just looked at me when Kit asked me for whom did I sing that song... he would realize that I was looking at him when I answered 'for you.'
But his eyes were on Kit, and Kit turned to his friend so he didn't see it, too.
I just covered my embarrassment by laughing out loud since I guessed, they didn't like my answer. And I felt like an idiot for saying it.
If I uttered the words my heart was shouting, I was afraid I would lose that smile.
So, it's better to keep it to myself.
Keep it to see more of his captivating smile...
Keep it to maintain the friendship I struggle to build with...
And keep it, though I was ripping a million times when he's with somebody else.
Beam posted pictures about the night we partied together after the competition in Facebook. I didn't dare to open it, because it only reminded me of what I saw that night.
Of course, I could never change the kind of person he was.
I'm just a friend. And will remain a friend.
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.
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A month passes by fast than we have expected. We did dozens of homeworks, paperworks, and quizzes. Aside from that, we had to attend a meeting with the seniors after our class. If someone was gone or late, we all received punishments.
I am actually wondering if I entered the right faculty. Sometimes, I thought of transferring to other faculty that doesn't have this torture.
But then, I would be considered weak if I decided to quit.
Therefore, I am still here until this big day for us.
It's the day we have to get the consent from the seniors to be their juniors.
They are standing at the field's benches where the flag we have to capture is behind them. They only gave us a vague instruction as to how we could get the flag from them.
Think if SOTUS.
What about it? Are they asking us to define it? To explain it? To shout together?
We are all in complete bewilderment.
And we only have until 7 in the evening to get the flag.
"Shit! I don't think they have any intentions of giving us the flag."
"Are they kidding us?"
"Maybe, we have to drag them down to the ground to get it. Heheh!"
"If only we could do that. They would surely fail us all."
Those are our exchanges of words as we think of the ways to get the flag from them.
Think of SOTUS.
For the past months, what have they been teaching us? What do they want us to be as Engineering students? Why did they do those things?
We decide to gather altogether as what they always told us to do. We sit on the ground with our arms around our friends necks.
"P'Kong, can we get the flag?!" we shout.
"No, you can't get the flag!" P'Kong's booming voice echoes around.
We all bow our heads to show that we respect his decision.
After several minutes, we raise again our heads and shout,
"P'Kong, can we get the flag?!"
"No, you can't!" Same answer.
Still holding at one another, we sing the anthem of our faculty.
There are people from different faculties, who are just passing by, stare at what we're doing. Of course, they would never understand it.
Some laugh, some watch us with curious eyes.
We just continue with what we are doing.
None of us dare to throw tantrums because we've been under the scorching sun for several hours.
We triy every thing we have learnt from them, but we still get a NO for an answer.
No one dares to break our form just to save him or herself from this misery. We are here together, so we should also be in this suffering together. If we thought someone is at his/her limit, we are helping our friend. We would be sticking together until the end...
And we reach the deadline without the flag in our hands.
"Engineering class '61, I want all of you to bow your heads!"
We follow. I hear someone stifling her tears for we know, we fail to prove our worth.
A lot of things are running in my mind. Things we should have done. Things I should have been done (but it's not related to this activity. It's more on personal.)
Could we just let it go?
Could I just let it go?
Suddenly, all the lights go out, and we hear P'Kong's solemn voice.
"Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity, Spirit. That's the meaning of the acronym SOTUS. Each year, we're passing it to every new batch. Each year, we're testing you if you're capable of handling difficulties in your life.
If you're a weak person, you must probably not here anymore. But, you're strong. Stronger than what you think of yourselves.
In this life, you would encounter a lot of adversity. Life, will always throw stones at you.
But because you have the values you've learnt from your seniors,
order within yourselves,
tradition you keep in your hearts,
friends that united you as one,
and spirit to persevere no matter what happens,
you could always win this life...
Engineering class '61, you showed that you deserved to be called as our juniors..."
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.
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Everyone is holding our breaths. We are all waiting for what else P'Kong is going to say.
.
.
.
"...raise your head and send a representative to get your flag."
A tear drop from my eyes when I hear him say those words. I couldn't believe it's happening. We all thought that we failed...
We send Lam as our representative to get the flag. We're still holding our breaths as he comes up on the benches and passes by the seniors while wai-ng at them to get our flag.
When he finally has our flag and waves it in the air, that's the time we cry out of joy!
It would definitely be one of my memorable moments.
"We did it!"
We shout as we hug each other.
Thanks to SOTUS, I realize what I have to do.
*****
A/N
Again, the idea of flag capturing event was from "Sotus the series". It's one of my favorite scenes, aside from confession night, over the phone drama, bridge and rooftop scenes.😅😅 I altered it a bit, so, please to all Sotus fans, like me, don't condemn me.