RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 1: METATHESIOPHOBIA

Ring, ring!
Ring, ring!
Ring, ring!

Marco fidgeted in bed as the loud alarm from his phone woke him up. He quickly came to his senses and stretched thoroughly as his alarm continued to blare in the background. He impulsively reached over to his phone and nearly knocked it off his nightstand trying to turn it off. He managed to succeed, briefly experiencing a moment of calm. As he rubbed his eyes, he got out of bed to prepare for the arrival of his school bus, signaling the beginning of another day at Pisay.

He walked over to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. The water from the shower briefly scalded him like it always does, which jolted him awake and eliminated all of his remaining grogginess. After finishing, he dried himself off with his favorite towel and went to the mirror to style his hair. “New quarter, new me,” he gleefully thought to himself. He got out and then changed into his summer uniform, ate his breakfast, put on his backpack, and went on his merry way out the front door as his mom waved him goodbye.

Marco smiled as he saw his school bus approaching his house from the distance. When it came to a halt, he immediately got on and sat next to his best friend, Brianna.

“Hey Marco!” Brianna greeted. “Hey...!” Marco replied. They sat in silence for a few seconds as they tried to think of something to talk about. The only sound that filled the air was the light grazing of the bus’s wheels as it grazed across the roads leading to Pisay.
“Sorry…wala akong maisip pag-usapan…” Brianna told Marco dejectedly.
“Uh…are you excited for the 2nd Quarter? I wonder what our perio scores are,” said Marco.
“Don’t talk to me about perio, man…bagsak ako sa Math nanaman…”
“Don’t say that Bri…optimism is a virtue…!”
“That’s easy for you to say…my grades are definitely gonna suck again. You’re probably gonna get straight unos like usual.”
“Not entirely true. I also get 1.25s.” They both chuckled afterwards.

They spent the rest of their time on the bus catching up with what they did over the weekend, which they usually do every Monday. The other students in the bus, of which there were five, stayed silent as Marco and Brianna continued to chat.

After about an hour, the bus finally entered the Pisay Main Campus and pulled up to the drop-off area just as all the students were making their way to the flag ceremony area. After they got off, they made their way to their designated lines, which were always right beside each other. On the way there, Marco noticed some light construction near the flagpole area that wasn’t there before.
“What do you think they’re gonna announce today…?” Marco asked Brianna.
“You already know…some club thing? New contest?”
“I don’t care about that.”
“You and me both, Marco. You and me both.”

Soon, Marco spotted his first period teacher holding up a sign for 11-E and promptly fell in line, with Brianna making sure to line up next to him. As the student council members set up the flag ceremony, he thought about his performance during the previous quarter’s perio week. There had recently been an increase in difficulty, and in Marco’s mind, he aced all his exams. Nothing could keep him down.

Soon, the flag ceremony started and everyone went through the motions, including Marco. He was finding it hard to pay attention to what was happening, instead focusing on the growing line of latecomers on the sidelines of the flag ceremony area.
“Ha, suckers…” he thought to himself. After a few typical announcements and club promotions, it seemed like they would proceed to the PSHS hymn, but that was not the case.

The campus director of Pisay Main suddenly showed up, walking up to the microphone and calling for everyone’s attention. Marco was fairly confused by this and listened to whatever he had to say very intently.
“Why is he here…?” he whispered to Brianna.
“No clue,” she whispered back.
“I have something very important to disclose for Grades 11 and 12,” the campus director said in a very disappointed tone.

“Several stacks of your periodical exam answer sheets have gone missing.”

Immediately after saying this, the students began loudly muttering to each other, trying to process what they’d just heard. Even more so were the Grade 11 and 12 students, who were in complete shock and having reactions ranging from pure disbelief to genuine anger. After hearing this, all Marco could do was stand still. He simply couldn’t believe that this happened. It can’t be true. Brianna covered her mouth with her hands, also in disbelief. Soon, the students’ voices became louder and louder until the campus director took to the microphone once more.

“To clarify, we have searched far and wide for the missing stacks. We are currently carrying out a thorough investigation to track them all down,” he explained.
“If we cannot find the sheets within the next few weeks, then the affected students may have to retake the periodical exams.” This explanation prompted even more worried and confused murmuring among the students, with some of them trying to come up to the campus director to ask questions about what happened. Several students became agitated and started loudly voicing their disappointment with what happened in the form of booing.

Marco felt absolutely shattered. He felt all the noise around him being drowned out as the thought of what he’d just learned completely took over his mind. He started to breathe faster and began to lean on his knees with his hands. All that hard work he put in, all those tireless hours studying and preparing for every possible topic and type of question - all for nothing.
“Marco…okay ka ba?” a concerned Brianna asked.
“I’m fine…” he told her dismissively.

Eventually, the students got so unwieldy that the campus director decided to end the flag ceremony early and send everyone to their classes.
“Bye, Marco…” Brianna called out to him as she followed the crowd through the Admin Building. Marco followed close behind, unable to show any particular emotion as a multitude of thoughts were running in his mind - none of which were pleasant. He stared at the ground as he walked up to SHB 405, thinking about how he may have to retake the perios that were lost, if he had any that were, and that he would most likely get a lower score. The perio was a week ago, he thought, and exams are measurements of how much information you can temporarily cram in your head and not how much you actually learned.

Soon, he arrived at his first period class, Math, and sat down in his seat. All of his blockmates were still talking about what happened at the flag ceremony, wondering whether their perio papers were lost. Marco continued to sulk in his seat until his Math teacher, Ma’am Lareigh, arrived. Ma’am Lareigh started the Math period with a brief silence, knowing the gravity of the situation. “Bago natin simulan ang klase, gusto nyo bang pag-usapan yung in-announce sa flagcem...?” she asked the class.

Marco’s hand immediately darted upwards, as he was desperate for answers.
“Were my perios part of the missing stacks?” he asked when Ma’am called upon him, which prompted some death stares from his blockmates. Although slightly taken aback, Ma’am began to answer his question.
“Yung perio answer sheets ng Block A, C, E, F, at G ang nawala natin. Lahat nun. Econ, Fil, Eng…at tsaka Math rin. Kaya oo, nawala yung sayo,” she replied in a slightly disappointed tone.

“Thank you, Ma’am…” Marco meekly replied to her.
“Nu ba ka naman…apektado rin kami…” his seatmate told him sternly. Marco slowly bowed his head down in shame as his blockmates started asking other questions.
“Kung hindi namin mahanap yung mga papel ninyo, talagang kailangan niyong i-retake yun. Hindi sila magbibigay ng libreng perio, may mga blocks na hindi nawalan ng papel kasi…” Ma’am replied to another student asking a question.

After the bell rang and Math class was dismissed, Marco lumbered over to the next room for SocSci double period. The time quickly breezed by after he accidentally fell asleep during the discussion, as he’d stayed up late the previous night thinking about his perio scores. Luckily for him, he was seated at the back, and Sir was only going over the basics of their alternative assessment, which he’d already thoroughly read about on KHub. Soon, the bell rang once more and woke him up. He put on his backpack and headed all the way down to the Kalachuchi Lane to get some fresh air.