There are two things I really hate in life.

  One: missing my morning coffee.

  "Work for me, Heiden. Be the one to take the Phoenix's Grace."

  And two: people telling me what to do.

  "It's just one expulsion, right?"

  "Ha?"

  "As long as a class is less than thirty, the opportunity will always be open."

  "Wait... you-"

  "Yeah, a job's not my forte. Mayaman kami, I don't need a salary."

  "Wait, hey! That's not-"

  "I'll be taking my leave, Miss Irene. I still have chores to do."

  "Hey! Heiden! HEY!"

  That was a week ago.

  Now here I was, Monday morning, half-asleep and fully bitter. I stayed up till midnight, overslept, and worst of all-no coffee.

  Man, this day's already a tragedy.

  "Yo, Zero. Sabog ah. Ano'ng ginawa mo kagabi?" Mernard leaned into my desk as I placed my bag into my chair. I wanted to shove him away, but I rejected the idea. He's asking what I did last night since I probably look like a zombie. But the way he's grinning, he's probably thinking of something inappropriate.

  "Yeah, Kinda tired. Nagbasa ako ng lecture." I explained to him, saying I'vred read my lectures just to have something to say. Well, it would be rude to leave him hanging. He's been talking to me frequently since last weeks. I think it's him considering me as a friend? Or maybe an underdog will be a much more accurate term.

  "Luh. Nag-aral ka? Oh my god, p're. Himala!"

  I think there's nothing wrong with studying?

  "The next thing I know, you achieve scroes far higher than mine. Pagka-ganon, don't talk to me na lang." Aren't you the one talking to me? Seriously, can the chairs be rearranged?

  "Yeah, that won't be a thing. It's making my head crack." I answered. On a serious note, my head really hurts a little. Coffee...

  "Sus, tapos mataas na bigla quiz mo sa'kin sa quiz bigla."

  Who knows, who cares. My Americano...

  "So, you coming ulit?" I lifted my eyes. He's probably referring to their 'scavenger hunt' again.

  "I don't think so. I need to balance my life." I need coffee...

  "Aww, sayang. We have a new spot." He kept talking to me that it is getting irritating. "Hays, okay. I'll be with Jacob and the gang muna, brotha." The man in front of me raised his fist. I looked at it hesitantly, before raising my own to bump with his.

  I sighed deeply. Finally, some freedom.

  "You have an odd group." Iona, who seemed to have been listening to us while reading a book, commented. "You, of all people, have a group of friends. Congrats." Then why does your voice sound so sarcastic?

  "I feel more like I was adopted by them than welcomed." I answered honestly. Even I don't know how I got included with them. "And you, of all people, are talking to me. Wow."

  The woman beside me shut her book so forcefully that I almost jumped. She then proceeded to give me a glare.

  "You're pretty great at lying with a straight face, Heiden."

  "I don't-"

  "Reading your notes? Seriously?"

  "Just because I got so low doesn't mean I won't be motivated to rise."

  "Ohhh, inspiring. What a role model. What's the secret as to why you don't slip with your words?"

  "You're still not over that?"

  "I won't be over that. Especially when you are the reason why we are to sink to the Vulture Status." Yeah, this girl won't let go of that just easily. Right the next day after Miss Irene talked to me-before beginning her lessons-she revealed the points we got from the pre-test.

  By points, I meant the four bird status. Apparently, she was planning to reveal the concept of the Phoenix's Grace (minus the allegory) to the class. She revealed how we as a whole just got 100 points while class 1-C to class 1-A got 200, 300, and 400.

  She also revealed the way raven status was privileged the most and vulture status being almost rejected after graduation. Of course, it was a shock to everyone, and I received more intense glare from Iona since then. But since last week, this is the first time she brought that up to me. In fact, this is the first time she talked to me since that rooftop incident.

  "It's not just me, you know that."

  "Yeah, but you deserve the most blame since your score was so impossible to miss." Iona shifted her chair so that she could face me directly. "Heiden, ano bang gusto mong mangyari?" She then paused, as if waiting for an answer. What do I want to do...

  "I want to drink coffee. I'm feeling sleepy."

  Iona scoffed. She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms.

  "Ah yes, Heiden and his deflection tactic." She seems to be really annoyed. If I was correct, the next approach would be an insult. I mentally prepared my mind for any attack she would do. However, before she can even talk, another party started walking towards our direction.

  "Excuse me." Both me and Iona shifted our gaze to the man who had just reached our chairs. "Um, I think you both know me-"

  "If it is about the study group again, I refuse." The woman cut her off almost immediately as he started talking. Study group?

  "Oh, you got me." The man awkwardly smiled. " 'Di na ba mababago isip mo?" The man asked if Iona won't change her mind, but she never gave a reply again and submerged herself to her book. The man looked at me instead. "Heiden, right?"

  I think the rest of the student body refers to me as Zero.

  "So um, I'm Vincent, as you probably know. And uhh, we have this study group we are arranging. No offense but, I personally like you to participate." Ahhh, so it's that thing. Well, I respect the man's formality, but I'm a little skeptical...

  "Is it meant for me alone?"

  "Ahh no. It's a group, remember?" Yeah, and two people are already a group, technically. "We have other people, mostly girls. But I've also got some of your friends to join." Friends? I looked at the three boys ogling the hallway like it was a catwalk. Yep, makes sense why they joined.

  I observed the man. He seemed sincere, and his smile is what I can say as genuine. Well, as expected from one of the hottest men in our section. Ohh wait, so that is why the group is mostly girls. Man, this guy is a natural magnet of the opposite sex.

  "So uhh, can I count on your presence?" I thought about the offer for a while. It's a good offer, but to devote my time to additional studying...

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Well, if I want to be a normal student, I think it is a good idea.

  But the time... I don't think even my morning coffee can accommodate the energy I would use...

  I wonder...

  "Hello?"

  "Oh, sorry." I apologized as I noticed him waiting. Ahhhh, I still can't decide. "Can I think it through muna? Is it okay?"

  "Ohhh." The man seemed disappointed by my answer but her remained composed. "Well... sige. I'm not rushing. Take your time thinking." The man thanked me for taking time listening before taking his leave. No wonder this guy got a lot of attention. He's smart, respectful, and helpful. He's a walking green flag-too good to be true.

  I watched him go back to his seat. I wonder what he's hiding...

  My thoughts got interrupted when I heard the familiar click of heels upon the floor. My class obviously heard them too as they immediately went back to their respective chairs. It was not long before our homeroom teacher entered the room with her almost all-black outfit. Same as always, yet she's carrying a box?

  "Good morning, class."

  I sat properly as the rest of the class greeted her. The teacher made a quick survey of the room, her eyes not missing its usual routine of giving me a glare. This has been the custom of the last few days. She didn't bring up the conversation again, nor did she call me again for another negotiation. Well, not like I would come...

  "Miss, why are you carrying a box?" Some of the students, also noticing the box in Miss Irene's hands, also can't help but ask in curiosity. It was an odd box, after all. It had a very intricate design like it was carved for the purpose of gaining attention. It was about the size of a shoe box, or a box for flavored juices commonly found in the school cafeteria. The only difference is that this one seems to be made of wood laced with dark varnish and a touch of gold paint.

  It is almost some sort of a magician's gimmick device.

  "Oh this?" The teacher looked down at the box as she let it rest on the table. A very small sound came from inside it, like there is something colliding with each other. "You'll know later. But first, we'll be conducting an officer selection."

  Officer selection... I guess even a school like this won't be spared to such an act of formality. Most schools in this country do this kind of thing just to have some students to be errand personnel or class representatives.

  While it does aim to assign students for maintaining peace and order, its actual purpose and clinical procedures get more simplified as the reputation of the school gets lower. Some are even too lazy to conduct proper proceedings so they just choose people instead of the normal democratic process.

  I wonder if this class and this school will be different. I don't remember any of my experienced officer selection needing such box, after all.

  "I'm sure you all are curious about what the purpose of this box is. But I'm afraid I can't spoil the fun. After all, I don't plan to do those boring traditions you all are used to." The teacher, who seemed to have read everyone's mind. "How about we make it a little bit more fun?" She added as her lips curved into a smile.

  I don't like that smile. If not for her manipulative behaviors and our talk last week, I would have brushed it off. But that smile looks a lot like the 'I always get what I want' smile.

  "I want everyone to open the link I've sent in our group chat." The teacher sat at the edge of the table as she crossed her arms. Does this teacher not see the chair behind the table?

  Anyways, as she ordered, I retrieved my phone from my pocket and immediately looked for the link she sent. I clicked it, thus redirecting me to a website. It looks like the common website that you would see when answering a poll on the internet. Except, there were only three input fields: First Choice, Second Choice, and Last Choice.

  "Did you all open it already? Good. Let me explain what your students are supposed to do. We are going to conduct an election for the five officer spots used in Crestborne: namely, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Public Relations Officer.

  "If you are on the website already, I'm sure you can see the three input boxes. We'll be using that for the Officer Selection. What I'd like you to do is put names on those depending on your choice, but don't put your own. Put who you think best fits any of the five positions to your first choice. Put who you think will be best to support him on the second choice."

  Well, that checks out so far. But why three choices? Why not five? Is there a plot twist here again? Yeah, I wonder what that is...

  "For the last choice, let's change it a bit. I want the development of the whole class, and I don't want to discriminate against anyone even if just for this selection. I want you to put in the third box the least student that you want in the selection."

  Murmurs erupted in the class. Why wouldn't it? This is just...

  "Miss, weren't we supposed to vote for the person who we think was the most capable?" Vincent, who seems to have been confused by the concept, spoke. The rest of the students agreed with him.

  "Yes, but that's just too cliche and optimistic. Even real life politics don't work like that. What I was trying to give you here is the opportunity to grow. And I don't mean only the capable ones, I want to include even those that you don't think are deserving of it."

  Ohh... ohh. This teacher...

  "Don't think much of it. And it's not like you would take the officer selection seriously if done the normal way. This is for the development of the class. You have five minutes to think about who you think is deserving and who is not. After that we would proceed with phase two." The teacher then gave me a side-eye. "Vote wisely, everyone."

  I have a bad feeling about this.

  - - -

  As we were voting, Miss Irene explained how phase two would go. Basically, it's like this:

  The five students would be chosen from the anonymous vote of the students. The top five students would be chosen to make up the student body. After five minutes of silence, instructions, and constant side-stare from my classmates, the result was then projected to the board.

  "Wow, you are surprisingly lower than what I've expected." Iona, who was also looking at the results, can't help but comment. Who wouldn't? Even me didn't expect it.

  Vincent Louie de Louvre: 29

  Iona Belmonte: 26

  Luscious Claire Reyes: 25

  Heiden Costello: 23

  Nana Himiko-Mendez: 22

  ...

  I expected to be in the top five, there's no escaping it. But I didn't expect to have a score less than 25. I guess not everyone wanted me on the list so they voted for someone else to be the least favored? Well, Vincent was obviously the first choice. At least I'm glad the three hooligans didn't end up among the top five, I doubt it will make the officer work

  "Miss Maldita, does that placement make up the class officers?"

  "No, of course not, Mr. Nobody. Phase one was to extablish the five who will make up the position. The first choice doesn't immediately mean they are the president." Miss Irene, who was just tapping on her laptop, now held the box in her right hand. "This will decide which one is which."

  Miss Irene inserted her other hand inside the box. From there, she retrieved five identical plastic balls about the size of a marble.

  "What I have here is five identical balls. Each of them has a paper inside containing the five positions. The five electees are to pick one of these inside the box. Basically, the position would be random. Does anyone have complaints about that?"

  I can see that almost everyone wants to question why this phase was necessary, but I don't think anyone would like to have an argument with her.

  What is this teacher planning?

  "I guess not. I would like to start from the very last row. Heiden, you come here first."

  Ehh? Me?

  I looked towards the teacher as she dropped the balls back in the box. What is she...

  "Heiden, we still have lessons. Double time." Why does it have to start with me?

  I walked towards the front with a heavy heart. I can feel the look of the rest of my classmates. I took a deep breath as I finally arrived at the teacher's table. Miss Irene was looking at me, but her eyes were devoid of emotion.

  I examined the box when I got a closer look. As I have evaluated a while ago, it does look like a magician's box. It has a rectangular hole on top, but inside of it was pitch black. I can't even make out its interior. The balls, which turned out to be slightly larger than that of a regular marble, were resting on one side of the box.

  Wait... that's odd...

  I inserted my hand inside the box and touched one of the shorter corners. I was right. It was very subtle, but the base of the box was slightly inclined with the lower side-to her direction. That's... really odd.

  "Speed up, Heiden. We don't have all the time in the world." The teacher who seemed to be impatient, jiggled the box slightly. I immediately picked one ball; I don't want to be yelled at. Upon closer look, there really is a slit cutting the ball in half, but it was colored white so you can't really see what's inside. I guess this is where the ball opens.

  "Do I open this now or-"

  "Open it later once everyone picks one ball, go back to your seat." Oh, so she really is keeping the suspense. I just bowed slightly and started walking back as she called Iona next. In my mind, the structure of the box was filling out my thoughts. That inclination... that's very odd. It almost feels like...

  Ohh... ohhh... is that it?

  "You took too long, anong hinahanap mo?" I stopped walking as Iona, who was now in front of me, spoke. She seemed to have noticed me examining the box and questioned what I was trying to find.

  "Nothing, just sleep deprived." I've reasoned. Iona was about to talk again if not for the sudden loud thud of the box hitting the center table that made both of us jump.

  "Iona, Heiden, mamaya na ang tsismis. We have an ongoing officer selection here." Impatience showed on the teacher's face as she glared at both of us. Iona immediately apologized as she half-jogged the rest of the walk while Miss Irene was making the box stand of its base again. She seemed to have made its wider side hit the table.

  I made a mental smile.

  So we're playing this game, huh?

  I diverted my path and instead of going straight to my chair, I headed towards Vincent who was sitting right in the middle. He was chatting with Claire, the top three of the results a while ago.

  "Hey, Vincent." The man who had just noticed my presence said hi to me as well. He excused himself from the girl before asking me what I wanted. "I made up my mind. I'll be joining your study group."

  The man's face immediately lit up upon hearing my words.

  "Oh really? That's great. And fast."

  "Yeah, I realized I really need it. Especially now that I was about to be part of the class officers."

  "Yeah, that sucks." The man chuckled a little bit at my misfortune. "Well, can I ask you a favor first?"

  "What is it?"

  "You and Iona were close, right?" Well, I wouldn't call our interactions 'close'. "Can you, uhhh, convince her to join the study group? We really need her help."

  "I don't think I can convince her."

  "Well, just try it. Please?" I remained silent for a while. Well, I can try.

  "Okay, I'll try but don't expect much." I answered as the teacher called the next student. I started walking back to my chair when Vincent thanked me. I squinted my eyes a little as I slowly massaged my temple.

  "Hey...!" Suddenly, I just felt I humped into someone. I opened my eyes to see Iona about to fall on my side. I immediately opened my palm holding the ball to catch her mid-air. Yet doing so caused the ball to drop. I watched my ball as it bounced with another ball-Iona's. She dropped hers also. I watched the two objects roll on the floor and under my desk, taking note of their direction.

  "Sorry, I'll get it." I spoke as soon as Iona finally regained her balance. I immediately got down on my knees and reached under. I put one ball on my left hand and the other one on the right. I stood and handed her the one on the right. "Here's your ball."

  The girl looked at me, and to the ball. Then back to me, her eyes were full of suspicion. She was about to speak again if I hadn't interrupted her.

  "Please take it. I don't want the teacher getting the wrong idea." I looked at the teacher's table. Miss Irene doesn't seem to have noticed us and is more focused on the girl named Nana. The girl seemed to be examining the box also, to the way in which she is taking her time talking with the teacher about its design. Even from a distance, Miss Irene looks very annoyed.

  I looked back at Iona as she looked at the ball again. She shook her head before grabbing the ball.

  "Thanks." She sat down on her chairs right after. I also sat down on mine.

  I inspected the ball in my hand. It really does look identical

  Let's see how this plays out.

  - - -

  After a while, all the top five finally took their own balls. The anticipation was very thick in the air.

  "I guess that's everyone." Miss Irene looked at each of the electees, her gaze lingering long when it fell to me. "You may now open the balls. Read the paper inside and announce your designation starting from President to Public Relations Officer."

  And so the crisp sound of the plastic balls being cracked open filled the room. The tension is palpable as everyone waits for the result.

  I looked at my ball again. Well, this is my fate, I guess? I pressed the two surfaces of the ball slightly and let the object split into two. A folded paper dropped from inside it and landed on my table. I gently grabbed it, my hands automatically unfolded it at will.

  After a while, all the top five finally took their own balls. The anticipation was very thick in the air.

  "I guess that's everyone." Miss Irene looked at each of the electees, her gaze lingering long when it fell to me. "You may now open the balls. Read the paper inside and announce your designation starting from President to Public Relations Officer."

  And so the crisp sound of the plastic balls being cracked open filled the room. The tension is palpable as everyone waits for the result.

  I looked at my ball again. Well, this is my fate, I guess? I pressed the two surfaces of the ball slightly and let the object split into two. A folded paper dropped from inside it and landed on my table. I gently grabbed it, my hands automatically unfolded it at will.

  "What... the hell...?!" I stopped midway when Iona half-whispered a yell beside me. She was wide-eyed, looking at her paper with surprise. She muttered for a few minutes to herself until her eyes showed clarity. She diverted her look at me, eyes as murderous as a growling tigress. "You...!"

  I just stared at her, not reacting in any way. It felt like we were sizing each other. I can feel the growing confusion in the room. No one was still admitting who got the Presidential position.

  The girl beside me clicked her tongue, her eyes spelling the world surrender. She closed her eyes, gripping the paper tightly in her hand as she stood up.

  "Iona Belmonte." Iona announced her name first. She gulped midway before she delivered the rest of her sentence that felt swallowed than omitted. "...hereby accepting the position of President."

  Murmurs erupted from the room. Many were shocked, many were giving their applause. But at the center of it all, there is Miss Irene, whose confusion was slipping through her indifferent eyes.

  I wonder what she's thinking.

  "Vincent Louie De Louvre, hereby accepting the position of Vice President."

  I wonder if she's questioning what went wrong.

  "Nana Himiko-Mendez, hereby accepting the position of Secretary."

  The teacher's eyes lighted up then, as if her mind reached enlightenment.

  "Luscious Claire Reyes, hereby accepting the position of Treasurer."

  I stood up, tucking the little paper in my pocket. The teacher then looked at me, her eyes a mix of amusement and annoyance. In her lips there was a little smile that was too forced to feel natural.

  She knew. Took her long enough.

  "Heiden Costello, hereby accepting the position of Public Relations Officer."

  I shrugged a little.

  A tooth for a tooth, a cheat for a cheat. Well played.

  - o - o -