The Continuation

ack at the makeshift dressing room of the ballroom, all the models were once again in their more comfortable jeans-and-shirt get up. It was only three hours before the ship reaches England and the girls were trying to catch up with each other’s affairs.

“Ang sarap naman ng buhay niyo,” Sheila said.

“Bakit naman?” Jane answered.

“’Eto na ‘yung profession niyo… You just walk around in cute little outfits and then you walk out with thick wads of cash.”

“Kung alam mo lang,” Christie said as she took off the Cartier earrings that she wore for her strut.

“’San ka ba after nito?” Sheila asked.

“London,” Christie answered. “May pictorial para sa bagong fragrance ng Givenchy na kailangan nang i-shoot ngayon. Wala kasi silang pakialam kahit malamig eh. Advertisements for next season’s releases are always shot this season... daw”

“Good luck,” Sheila simply said as if Christie were joking. There was just no way you could have a shoot in London for a perfume ad, at least without freezing. “Malamig pa ngayon ah… Sana hindi outdoor yung shoot. Anyway, babalik na ako ng Manila bukas. In-invite kaya ako ng La Salle para magbigay ng speech…”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Grabe tayong magsaya dati…” Sheila finally said. “Parang hindi na tayo magkakahiwalay… parang walang graduation… pero ngayon…”

**

At the port, a Hummer limousine was waiting for Christie. Upon her arrival, she bid her company goodbye and was immediately escorted inside the car. She was driven straight to London for several hours until she reached the hotel where a reservation was made in her name. When she reached her hotel, she saw that it wasn’t anything like Monaco’s six-star hotels. But still, it was nothing short of impressive. Since Christie wasn’t feeling like testing the extent of the hotel’s snootiness, she immediately hung the “Do not disturb” sign on her knob, placed her things on the counter, and finally, she collapsed on the colossal four-poster in the middle of the room.

Come morning, she received a phone call from the concierge at an ungodly hour. She learned that the shoot had been cancelled due to unpredictable weather conditions. It was simply unbelievable… They were actually thinking of making an outdoor shoot (for a perfume ad) at three degrees Celsius. There’s no definite date, but the shoot, she learned, would be done within the week. She could still hang around, give herself a break, and loiter around the busy streets of London.

**

After having breakfast, Christie immediately set out to give herself a tour of the strip. She checked out the array of stores selling pastries, souvenirs, and sweets as she passed the length of the street. It was then that she noticed a familiar face guarding an immense Gothic landmark. Standing in the uniform of a British soldier (with the shoes, the hat, the rifle, and all) was the kindest person in IV-Simpliciano, Erik Reyes. Despite the recognition that momentarily flickered through his face at the sight of Christie, he didn’t move, speak, or make a sign whatsoever. Like every single British guard, he was just there seemingly petrified. Just like good old Simpliciano days.

Seeing for herself that talking to him won’t do any good, she immediately set out to the nearby coffee shop which claimed to serve the best coffee in all of England. She sat herself outside the shop where she was promptly served. She didn’t notice another familiar face entering the restaurant just as she was taking a bite of one of the complimentary breadsticks… Until…

“Christie,” the lady called out.

Christie looked up and around when she thought she heard her name. She hoped it wasn’t another obsessed kid who could establish a cult dedicated to her the moment she asked for it.

“Nakita ko yung sa Bvlgari pati ‘yung sa L’Oreal. Ang ganda mo dun ah.” said Julie Ching.

Christie looked behind her and saw Julie dressed in Burberry and Prada.

“Hi Julie,” Christie said. At that, another former Simpliciano student came out from the restaurant – Vanessa Lorenzana.

“Hi Vanessa,” Christie said as she saw her.

“Hi Christie,” Vanessa answered.

“Si Erik ba ‘yung nandon?” Christie motioned toward the gates of the enormous structure which Erik was guarding.

“Oo.”

“Tahimik pa rin?”

“Oo.”

“Consistent...”

For a while, the three of them were talking about how things had been going for them. It turned out that Julie was already going up the ladder in the European entertainment industry. She had already made performances in Berlin, Madrid, Milan and Barcelona as a singer and she had already been receiving calls from various recording companies (mostly from America) offering her contracts. Vanessa, on the other hand, was making it big in England as the owner of several highly respected restaurants. Most of her restaurants were already in compliance with the future standards in service and were rapidly making themselves known to celebrities and the big names in politics. One of her restaurants now has a five-month waiting list while two others have already become venues for some of MTV’s ultimate party shows. The only people who ever really posed any competition were none other than four other products of IHMC education: Andre Sinoy, Diana Agsaoay, Cindy Gumba and Clara Legarte (also the owner of Legarter Garter Company) – the only four people who were able to equal Eggman’s [Vanessa’s] achievements in the same field.

Just a few hundred miles away, Anton Javier, a man of twenty-one years woke up with a start.

**

Waking up to the music of South Border piping through the headphones of my 704-gigabyte MP3 player, my thoughts were immediately turned to IV- Simpliciano. I remembered those days when we officially declared Rainbow as our song and “we’ll do anything just to win” as our motto. I was wondering if we could bring back all those days when our voices reverberated through the fourth floor halls and our green, mung bean-spangled banner flashed proudly and brilliantly through the sea of spectators in the Saint Francis gym. For several minutes, I was just laying there in my hotel room, still in the things I was wearing when I got off the ship.

After freshening up, I switched the TV on and momentarily surfed on the channels available. It was quite fun. Every channel caught my attention since I was in England where everybody (especially those on TV) speaks English. In the end, I decided to keep the TV on Deutschewelle since their news is almost always quite interesting. After doing a little bit more inspecting on the Louis Vuitton crate which I had with me in my room at the boat, something mentioned by the newscaster had caught my attention.

“After spending quite some time being called just ‘the sick man of Asia,’ the Philippines had made an astounding recovery from being a financial wreckage to being ‘the new tiger of Asia, reborn,’” the newscaster said. “As its new generation of leaders emerged to prove their worth, they had contributed greatly to various creative and scientific disciplines and that led to the betterment of their economy.”

I always knew in my heart that it would be our generation who would raise our country up from the ditch… I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of my former classmates on international news because of being able to do just that. True enough, Chris Matute was later featured in the news program.

“As a graduate of his country’s most prestigious Catholic university, Sony’s new high-ranking leader – Chris Helbert Matute – had shown that he is not only intending to put Sony on the map for good, he is also making Sony’s name a universal constant for quality.”

I was thinking… This guy has no idea.

He probably didn’t even know that the guy he’s talking about also single-handedly boosted my old high school’s reputation by making a name for himself in the corporate world.

In time, I eventually decided to just change the channel since there is a good chance that the newscaster would run through Chris’s litany of accomplishments – things that half the Filipino people knew everything about. I switched the channel to BBC and saw the news report about the result of a recently concluded NBA game. To my surprise, as the newscaster was droning on with his report, I saw a clip featuring Michael Saldanha in the Lakers’ jersey playing it hard and making a fool out of everyone else in the court. I didn’t really know where he picked it all up, but his prowess in basketball was already something to be feared. Despite his size (which had already increased to gargantuan proportions), his speed grew lightning fast and he was making increasingly daring steals – all the insurance his team needs for victory.

After that, the humanities portion of the show had begun. It featured more artists from the Philippines (again!) who had flourished abroad. Filipinos were all the craze those days, it seemed. More specifically, Filipinos who were connected to me one way or another… because when I saw the persons who were featured next, I saw that they were none other than Walt Disney’s greatest cartoonist since Walt Disney himself, Jonas Lechuga and the Philippines’ modern-day Fernando Amorsolo, Katrina Ignacio. Also featured were the newest addition to aging Ozzy Osbourne’s band, Glenn Dominic Geling and The Dynamic Duo of Dance – Jason Marquez and Albert Young – Hollywood choreographers who seemed to be on top of the list for all music video producers.

Here are all the people I knew. Living like stars and pimpin’ it to the finest. That made me think… Who am I? Yeah, I know I’m Anton Javier… But what have I done for the world? There was no identification of any sort in my Kenneth Cole wallet or in the Louis Vuitton crate to suggest my occupation at that time… If only the old man would give more important information other than the rules of this nonsensical game he’s playing with me.

I picked up a couple of magazines that were on the side table. They were the most recent issue of GQ and O magazine. Who the… Why is there an O magazine in my room? I immediately pulled the drawer to check if there were any other magazines to be read. And then I saw it. The bunny and the standardized white font… there was no mistaking it.

“Ooooooooooh… Playboy!” I suddenly said out loud.

Leaning to my side as I reached for it, I accidentally tipped and rolled over to the floor. In effect, I was only able to get the thing that was preventing the front cover from view. My back had never hurt so much. Slowly, I got up and pulled the drawer with more force, revealing the dratted magazine and the model on its cover.

Hey… That’s a familiar face!

Looking back at me through the picture was none other than BURAI!

Oh my…

Looking down on the lower portion of the cover, I saw something written in boldface.

“EX-NUN TURNS HEADS IN FTV’S SUMMER PARTY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.”

That was it… I immediately shut the drawer. I saw too much. My fragile little mind had been corrupted by the wretched little magazine. But then I remembered. There was something in the subtitle about a priest? Drawing a deep breath, I opened the drawer and zoomed my eyes on the subtitle only.

“Little do people know, she’s already married to an ex-priest who goes by the name Chukoy Nabong.”

Okay, I believe I now have the permission to go hysterical. Maybe I should just contend with the O magazine over there? Perhaps life would be more wholesome that way.

Scanning through the pages, I ended up with the section concerning the working of the Angel Network. They have awarded another teacher, Maricar Garcia, for being the best teacher of 2009. Written all over the pages were some of her students’ comments on her.

“She told me I wasn’t stupid… That I would become somebody someday as long as I don’t give up,” reads one comment.

“She told me that I can make it no matter how much of a burden life is,” reads another. “Through her, I learned that coming from a broken family only makes me a stronger person than everyone else… That I’m not any less than these people around me. Because of her, I now recognize my worth as a person. I no longer base it on my background… but rather on my potential as a person.”

I wonder how Alphonse would react upon coming across this article. After all, best teacher of 2009 had a big crush on him during year IV at Imma…

Switching to GQ, I flipped the pages to my favorite section of the issue. On that specific section, they present the people whom they could hail as man of the year. Scanning down the list, a certain name had caught my eye – Gregorio Gonzalvo. Another business professional from La Salle? I’m starting to regret not having applied there.

After deciding that I’ve had enough of reading and hanging around in my room, I immediately took the keycard and went out. The keycard, which uses state-of-the-art technology, opened the door (without me lifting a finger) by using the salts in my body as a transmission medium. In effect, the door became like one of those in the mall which slid to the side as the sensor detected a customer making his way through. The bonus, however, was one has to have the proper keycard in order to go through this door.

I took the elevator to the rooftop patio. As I was looking for a place to seat myself, I saw a familiar, yet considerably Imeldific woman. She had a talent for singing, I know. But as much as I’d like to call her attention, there are about five SWAT-trained body guards who protecting the life of Atty. Terry Vivar, the administration’s spokesperson and legal counsel. At that, I proceeded to the table in the southeast quadrant. Suddenly, there was a small explosion in one of the rooms below.

Everyone gasped in shock. And in no time at all, the general manager of the hotel appeared to pacify the crowd that had begun to turn tables and chairs in an attempt to escape.

“Everyone please proceed in this direction,” says the GM as he motions toward an emergency exit. “The Police will be here shortly.”

Trying to calm down, I made my way to the direction he pointed. As I passed him by, I saw his pin shining in gold and the name that it bore. Could that possibly be the same Dino I knew from Simpliciano? Seeing that I was slowing down a bit, he started talking all gibberish.

“Excusez-moi, messieurs,” he began a quick statement.

It took a while for it to rub in but when I heard him say “… sortie” I suddenly realized… he was instructing me to go through one of the emergency exits… in French.

Quite impressive, really.

By the time I reached the bottom flight, my legs were already killing me. The second injury of the day was quite harder to endure especially in the cold of the outside world. And then, I heard it.

“JaVIER!” called a familiar voice. The last syllable was so distinctly stressed it reminded me of an orange cat I used to see in the comics section….

I spun around and saw behind me three people who were apparently fellow escapees. In between renowned Muntinlupa psychiatrists Cherry Pascual and Nikki Tabanao was none other than Dr. Edgar Sarmiento (Doctor of Education) who was still in Garfield slippers.

I forced a weak smile to them despite the whole predicament. And then… a Lamborghini Gallardo came to a halt in front of the four of us. As the door opened like the hatch of an escape pod, a guy in a suit stepped down and said, “Mukhang kelangan nang asikasuhin yung accommodations niyong apat ah…”

Looking up to the commotion inside the building, Alphonse Macaraeg suddenly asked “Anton… Ano na nga pala nangyari sa Stat natin?”