Page 72 of Chasing Mr. Prefect

“You think?” Gian said and Liana shook her head in defeat, muttering phrases.

“What do I do?” I asked them, teary-eyed.

“Well,” said Liana, who was caught up with some form of determination as she stood in front of me and wiped my face free of tears. “You can hunt him down but, at this point, you can only wait until he’s ready to talk to you.”

Cholo did not turnup to class the next day, not even the day after that. I called Kuya Chip but he was in Bicol for a work thing.“Sorry, Vinnie, but did something happen?”he asked and I lied through my teeth because I did not want to talk about it again. I dialled Kuya Chan and Asher but they didn’t know either. Seth told me during class that Cholo had mentioned the Korea trip and said that maybe Cholo had used that day to go to the Korean embassy and that I should not be worried.

I was at a loss already when I got a text.

Patricia Co

Come to my office, I need a word.

NOW

I had no choice but to hurry. Her room was in the far end of the second floor’s west wing. I did not bother knocking and just entered the door.

“Hi,” I said. Miss Co was glaring at me from her desk. “Wait. You know?”

“Yes, I know,” she said, voice even, but her eyes told a different story. “Please sit down, Miss Exconde.”

I closed the door behind me, feeling defeated. The way she called me Miss Exconde did not go amiss.

“Please, I’m really sorry,” I said tearfully. “I want to fix it but I can’t do that if I don’t know where he is.”

“This isn’t a grade I can fix. I can’t force him to talk to you if he doesn’t want to.”

“I messed up,” I conceded, holding both palms up in a sign of peace. “Please, Miss Co, I’m begging you. I have to fix this.”

“Take a seat, please,” she ordered, as I was still standing near the door. “He didn’t enlist you in BA 199 or get you an internship. Why did you even think that was possible?”

I blinked, not at all expecting this turn of events as I sunk into a seat.

“What? Summer said?—”

“One of Atsi’s bosses liked the video. They’re always looking for interns and they need the ones with an artistic flair this time around for a new campaign,” my professor continued. “He asked Cholo who made the visuals and, of course, he mentioned you. The boss wants students to come in for an interview and you were one of the short-listed people, period.”

Gulping the golf ball in my throat, I waited for her to continue her scolding.

“For Feasib, well, youdidneed group mates, did you want to end up with a group you barely know?” she went on and I shook my head in response.

I let out a breath I did not realize I had been holding and Miss Co seemed to take offense from it.

“How do I get him back, Miss Co?”

“Well, worry about that later. We have a bigger problem at hand,” Miss Co said, massaging her temples. “I was planning to handle the launch incident within the club and myself as your organization advisor, but Summer reported it to the disciplinary office.”

I felt my bones turn into jelly. It was a good thing I was sitting, because it felt like the ground vanished from beneath me.

“Even with your glowing progress report, the disciplinary faculty advisor did not approve my motion to fully dismiss your case, citing that the incident shows you have not learned your lesson. They wanted me to add more conditions. There isn’t much the student prefect office could do as the faculty advisor supersedes their authority.”

“It wouldn’t look good for the student prefect office to intervene, anyway,” I breathed. “Summer really has it in for me, doesn’t she?”

Miss Co sighed. “Said it was standard procedure. She is one of your chairpersons, too.”

“Makes sense,” I conceded.Could this day get any worse?“What do I need to do?”

She brought out a stack of paper with the university logo and scanned the pages.

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