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Chapter Seven
The New Principal in Liberty High
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"WHAT'S ALL this?" Tanong ni Chaos sa amin. Tinutukoy niya ang mga papel na nakakalat sa sahig habang kami naman ni Effie ay nakasalampak ng upo sa sahig, trying to figure out what the trail of paper means. Ilang araw na naming sinosolve ang mga nakasulat sa papel. Hindi na natuloy si Daeril dahil busy siya bilang vice president ng student council.
Chaos continued, "in case na hindi niyo nakikita, I have a fractured arm and broken ribs. Ilang araw na ako rito but I still need rest tapos dito pa kayo nagsosolve? Hindi na kayo naawa sa akin."
Humarap ito kay Effie. "And what is she doing here? I thought helping her on that Rea Dizon case is enough."
Effie smiled. "I'm here to help."
"I don't want to drag another student in this case. Friday is enough. Baka ikaw din ay biktimahin ng beast na yun."
Pinakita ni Effie ang note na natanggap. "You're too late, Chaos. I already received one so that means, I am part of your group now."
"No—"
"I helped you get into the police station, I helped you solve a code. I think I'm worthy to be part of your group?"
Ilang minutong tinitigan ni Chaos ang mga mata ni Effie. "No." Madiin niyang sabi.
Effie pouted. "Please? I want to be part of your Project Indigo."
Kumunot ang noo namin ni Chaos. "Project Indigo?" Sabay naming tanong.
Effie nodded. "Yup. Project Indigo. Indigo means a protector of people's rights. Isn't that what we are doing? Bringing justice which is actually part of our rights as a human?"
Tumango-tango si Chaos. "You're wise. Exactly like what Friday said. You're in and now that you're part of my group, it means I'll protect you too."
Effie grinned. "Thank you!"
"Now, how do we solve this puzzle?" Tanong ni Chaos.
"Ihiwalay natin ang mga papel na may linya at ang mga blankong papel. Then we connect those papers that has lines." I suggested na agad namin ginawa. Ginaguide lang kami ni Chaos sa gagawin since hindi siya pwedeng umalis ng kama niya.
Nang mahiwalay namin ang mga papel, pinagconnect namin ang mga linya.
"It doesn't make sense." Saad ko nang may mabuo ako nang maliit na hugis bilog mula sa papel.
"Mine either." Sambit ni Effie na nakakuha nang maliit na hugis triangle mula sa papel.
"Something is not right..." Chaos uttered habang nakahawak sa baba at nagiisip.
Tumingin ulit ako sa mga papel na nagkalat. Ano ba kasi ibig sabihin ng mga linyang yan?
There was a moment of silence between us until suddenly, Chaos spoke.
"There are almost two or three cutted lines every paper. It's impossible that the puzzle is a figure or a drawing. What if they are letters that forms a word?" He deduced.
Letters? To form a word? Pwede rin. That explains the extra lines when I formed a small circle on the paper.
"How do we know what letter to form?"
Chaos grinned. "Leave it to me. All you need to do is to follow what I say."
Tumango kaming dalawa ni Effie at sinimulang bumuo ulit ng puzzle.
"Friday, connect the lines again to form a circle. In the alphabet, it stands as O." Utos ni Chaos at bumaling kay Effie. "The triangle you formed, it stands as A in the alphabet."
So, mayroon na kaming O and A.
"Do you see that curved line into C?" Tanong ni Chaos. Tumango ako.
"Connect that to that short straight line. It forms into small letter E." Sabi ni Chaos.
Pinagpatuloy namin ang pagsosolve hanggang sa makalipas ang limang oras.
Binasa namin ang malalaking sulat.
TO FUSS OVER THESE BETAS
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"YOU'RE LATE." Sambit ni Chaos nang makarating ako sa storage room ng Liberty High. Nilibot ko ang tingin sa buong room.
"You renovated the storage room?" Tanong ko, ignoring what Chaos said.
Tumango si Effie. "Chaos said we need a place to crash if we need to investigate what happened to his family."
Tumango-tango ako. "Saan niyo naman nakuha iyang lamesa?" Tanong ko. May pahabang mesa kasi sa gitna ng storage room.
"Sa basement. May mga desk doon na hinsi nagagamit so dinala namin yun dito sa storage room. Hindi naman kami nahirapan since nasa basement lang din ang storage room na 'to." Sagot ni Effie.
Tumingin ako kay Chaos na kanina pa tahimik at nakatingin sa akin nang masama. "You're late." Puna nito.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm late. I overslept at nagpasa pa ako ng assignment kay Mrs. Santos." I explained.
"If you continue being late, you're out of the group."
I shrugged, "okay."
Chaos's eyebrows furrowed. "That's it? I get an okay?"
Tumango ako. "If you want me out of the group, then fine. Much better, I guess." Pagtataray ko.
"I'm kidding." Biglang sabi ni Chaos.
"Ikaw? Nagjojoke?"
Hindi ako pinansin ni Chaos sa halip ay tumayo ito at kinuha ang mga papel na sinolve namin sa hospital.
Oo nga pala, nadischarge na si Chaos sa ospital. Daeril paid for the remaining balances since walang relatives si Chaos na pwedeng magbayad ng hospital fee niya. May benda pa ito sa right arm niya at bawal daw magbuhat nang mabibigat.
"Anyways, hindi ba tayo malalagot dito? Ginagamit natin ang storage room without consent." Tanong ko.
Si Effie na naman ang sumagot, "since late ka, hindi mo naabutan si Daeril kanina. Sabi niya ay pwede nating gamitin ang storage room. Kung may makakita man daw sa atin, sabihin lang daw natin na may consent tayo mula sa kaniya."
Tumango-tango ako. "Mabuti naman ay tumutulong siya sa atin."
Humarap ako kay Chaos. "Have you figured out what that message means?"
Umiling si Chaos. "I was up all night thinking about this message but I can't think of any answers, pero mukhang may karugtong pa ito," he continued, "are you sure these are all the papers?"
Tumango kaming dalawa ni Effie. "That's all."
Chaos sighed heavily. We were all silent until the door suddenly opened and Daeril entered the room. "What are you doing here?" Inis na tanong ni Chaos.
"I paid your hospital bills and that is how you treat me?"
Chaos crossed his arms. "Then I'll pay you. Installment."
Umiling si Daeril bago tumingin sa aming tatlo. "You need to go to your classes. A new Principal arrived and he is going to introduce himself to every classroom." Utos ni Chaos.
May bagong principal? Anong nangyari sa dati naming principal?
Biglang tumunog ang bell. Hudyat na simula na ang klase. Agad kaming lumabas. Niligpit muna namin ang mga gamit namin at saka nilock ang pinto gamit ang duplicate key ni Daeril.
Since Chaos and I are classmates, agad kaming tumungo sa classroom namin.
Usap-usapin ang bagong principal daw sa Liberty High. Ayon sa narinig ko, nagresign ang dating principal dahil sa mga nangyayari sa school. Ang pagkamatay ng dalawang estudyante at ang nangyari raw ten years ago. May sumpa raw ang Liberty High kaya umalis nalang sa puwesto ang principal.
"Guys, tahimik na, please. Nagmessage si ma'am. Hindi raw siya makakapasok pero anytime ay baka dumating na ang bagong principal at tayo pa ang managot." Sabi ng class president namin na si Ruby.
The whole class didn't listen but as if on cue, the door opened at awtomatikong nagsitakbuhan papunta sa kani-kanilang upuan ang mga kaklase ko habang kami ni Chaos ay tahimik na nakaupo sa mga upuan namin. I am sitting at the front row in the middle while Chaos is sitting at the back right corner.
A tall, intimidating man entered our room and there was defeaning silence among the class. Biglang bumilis ang tibok ng puso ko at parang kinabahan. I don't know but the way the man walked so slowly, it reminded me of the man who entered the storage room in the precinct. His aura is so scary that I can't look at him directly. It's either nakatingin ako sa desk ko or sa blackboard.
The principal faced us and looked at each one of us. When his eyes met mine, I suddenly looked away out of fear. I glanced at the door. Parang anytime ay gusto kong takbuhin ang distansiya at lumabas ng classroom.
"Good morning, class 10-C. I'm Alnand Timothy Albert, your new principal." He said in a strong tone of voice.
Nagpatuloy ito sa pagsasalita habang tinitignan kami isa-isa. "Now that I am your new principal, I create the rules. I only have three."
"One, no PDA. It's making me sick. Two, no staying in school after class hours and three," tumingin siya sa akin at sa likod na hinala ko ay kay Chaos, "no working with the police or solving any murder cases. Leave that work to the police. If ever a report come to me that one of you has been solving murders, you will be terminated immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Sagot naming lahat.
So we are now forbidden to answer and solve crimes? What if another crime happened and it has a connection to the beast?
Lumingon ako sa likod and there I saw Chaos, staring at the principal intently.
I breathed heavily. I think this is going to be one hell of a ride. Now that the new principal has gotten in our way.
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