The room gave off a disco vibe. Despite the fact that there appeared to be fewer people inside, everyone celebrated like maniacs — must be because there is something to be honored about. Everyone was dancing and gliding to the music, except for the adolescents on the couches covertly conversing with each other.
This private room can accommodate 15 guests, however, there were only 12 of them inside. The seven were partying, while the other five were relaxing on the couches. The main hall for the party was located outside this room. The most improbable aspect of them all is that they are all teenagers. Despite the fact that the club also includes middle-aged patrons, the teens outnumbered them.
"I can't believe it! It seems so unreal!" excitedly shouted the girl in a red-shorted dress with her cleavage almost out as she flirted with the guy next to him. The dress glittered, making her dress look so stunning like the disco ball shimmering in the room. While clinging to the guy beside her, her face glimmered as the smile didn't seem to fade from her look.
Her name is Brielle Fontaine, a member of the cheerleading squad in their school. The guy next to her whom she's flirting with is called Blake Cassano, the head captain of their school's basketball team.
"I know, right? I had no idea our school won!" said the other female on the right, who flirted with the same guy as Brielle did. She was dressed in one of the world's most fashionable outfits, a knee-length bow wrap dress. Although it appeared to be virtually displaying her "shouldn't-be-exposed" area, this style could be identified as one of her preferences.
Her name is Mikaela Berlusconi, the head captain of the cheerleading squad together with Brielle as one of the members.
"But the opponents—," the smile on Mikaela's face disappeared as soon as she remembered something. While her dejected expression was on display, she approached the table in front of them and poured an alcoholic drink into the glass, then added, "—They almost got us," and drank the alcohol without hesitation.
And yet, she clutched to Blake again, and her mood altered as if what she remembered was unimportant. "Pretty cool for our hard work to pay off, eh darling?" she said as she glanced at Blake's emerald, dazzling, and seductive eyes, smiling as if she was passionately in love while clinging to him even more.
Blake then smirked at her and said, huskily, "It was all luck. We all got lucky," and she felt butterflies in her stomach as she peered into his eyes. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, which surprised him. However, he didn't say no, so he leaned in to kiss her back.
Examining Brielle's face elicited an uncomfortable emotion while she watched them kiss, she pouted in jealousy and parted for a while with the guy she'd been clutching to.
"Eww. What the fuck?" voiced the guy on the other side of the table, Kieffer Gonzales. He was the one who falsely reported to their female teacher that a bomb was inside Calix's bag days ago.
Posing on the couch, Kieffer, together with his friend next to him, both stared at their flirty friends with disgusted faces. As the guy next to Kieffer, Austin, looked so done with them, still smooching passionately, he said in an irritated tone, "Really, Blake? Right in front of us?"
Still, Mikaela and Blake still continued to kiss as if they were doing it privately.
"So disrespectful now," declared Kieffer as he shifted his gaze onto Brielle who also looked jealous of the two.
"Hey, wanna kiss me instead?" Kieffer jokingly asked Brielle.
He stood up and engaged closer to her even if there was a table between the two of them. Nevertheless, Brielle refused and had such disgust painted on her face.
"You look so horrendous. I'm sorry," she replied, defending herself in case Kieffer will go further after her. And by that, the Blake guy and the girl stopped kissing. As soon as they both stopped, they laughed at their friend who totally got rejected.
"That's what you get for calling me my first name. I told you, right? Never call my name in public even if we're friends," said Blake with another smirk on his face while licking his own lips indicating that he's satisfied with Mikaela's kiss. This made Mikaela melt even more.
Kieffer was then being so defensive, "What? Me? I wasn't the one who called you by your name. It was Austin!" he said, pointing out to his friend beside him, casually eating some junk food.
"Yeah, yeah. It was me who called you that and so what? I don't care. You're being too disrespectful in front of my junk food," replied Austin as he leaned on the couch, topping his leg to his other.
Brielle, who was jealous earlier, shifted her facial expression from jealous to excitement after she remembered something. She turned to her friends and said, "You guys heard it? After the basketball league earlier, there was this news that spread throughout the court. We're gonna be famous because our school won the league," she sounded so thrilled. "Ahh, I still can't believe it. They said there will be a reward. I hope it will be cash, though."
Austin sighed. "Even if it will be cash, even if it will be a portion of food, you're not going to take anything from the reward. You're not even part of our basketball team so if I were you, I would shut up," he said without breaking any spaces between his statement. Brielle was then feeling embarrassed. For her, she was just trying to change the topic, and yet now she got needled by Austin.
"Don't get too excited. The school will be opening again and then we suffer again," said Blake to his buddies. "And now, for sure our dumb school will think we're studying now."
"Yeah, right," Austin said solemnly, "But, come to think of it, I heard the forbidden class would be part of us starting the reopening of the school. Did you guys receive the message sent by the school coordinators?"
With that topic, all of them had their ears widened and all of them except for the partying ones got intrigued by the matter.
"I received it, too," answered Mikaela. With a little bit of tremble in her voice, she continued, "This means they will come and join us all now, right? I just hope they won't create a mess." She clung to Blake again.
With that in mind, Blake scoffed and rolled his eyes as if he was against the idea. "Those guys are nothing. No need to be alarmed. Think about it, guys," he shoved the girls away beside him and got serious by the moment he acted as their leader. The girls showed disappointment on their faces but they didn't let Blake flirt with them again. Instead, they opened their ears and waited for his sentiment.
Blake leaned closer to the table while performing hand gestures. He continued, "Why would that kind of gossip spread around the campus? But not outside? This means those assholes are just acting tough from the beginning. In short, they are all idiots and they're all nothing."
"Yeah, but---" emitted Kieffer.
"Don't worry," Blake verbally amputated, "We just have to surpass their evilness if they're really evil, right? No need to discuss this further. We will be the ones to take them down. Let's have them beg on their knees and let's show them who's the real boss," he looked at them one by one and made sure they would agree with him.
"I heard they're called prisoners. That's what they're known as, right?" asked Brielle.
Austin then looked after her, "If they're the prisoners, then we are the laws."
As the both of them chatted, Blake realized that he had already persuaded them with his words. Since they saw Blake as the most respected man in the school, every move he's making and every word he's saying stood already as the truth, that's what they believe, so they must follow him. He's the captain of their school's number one basketball team, he's the top achiever in the top class, and the most important thing of all, his father is one of the billionaires in Italy, Leonardo Cassano. Their family owned the Cassano SpA, Europe's second-largest confectionery company, and Vecchio, the world's largest producer and retailer of glasses and frames. It's no surprise that his classmates and everyone around him will respect him without reservation.
After that, he stood up and walked out of the room, his hands in his pockets. Acting coolly, he appeared mighty and high as he walked up to the main hall's stage, where the two entertainers, a male singer and a female pianist, cheerfully performed. But then Blake ruined the show by seizing the singer's microphone without hesitation.
Not so long after he had the mic, he tested it by tapping the mic three times. After realizing the microphone's working well, he directed it to his jaws and said disrespectfully the words, "Stop the music, please." Even though he said it, his face nowhere showed his patience and kindness.
The female pianist then stopped playing the piano after she realized the singer wasn't singing anymore, and that, another person was now holding the mic. She left so confusedly after not knowing what was happening.
Blake's buddies, who had been left inside the private room, instantly followed him and were taken aback when they heard his voice through the speakers. They had no idea Blake would behave in this manner. When they saw he had the microphone, they did not stop him. Rather, they stayed down on the stage and delighted in cheering for him.
"Hey, everyone! Listen up!" Blake spoke with his face so profound. Following his call, all of the guests and the customers in the club paused and stopped what they were doing. As soon as they recognized his voice, they all turned to him at once while they wait for his words.
Seconds later, Blake continued as he confidently faced them all, "Our school will start allowing the prisoners to be free on our campus. If you've received the message earlier, the council says that the prisoners in the forbidden classroom will start taking us over once the school will reopen again. This means that they're free now. Do you guys believe that? Prisoners? Be part of us?"
The audience fell silent and then looked perplexed. They hesitated, immersed in thought about what they had to decide.
"Will you allow the prisoners to have us bow down to them?" Blake persisted. Now that Blake had addressed it, they would like to concur with the majority. And the majority has determined that they will not allow being taken over by Class 11-5. Since almost all of the visitors and guests were from Bihira High, they immediately understood the assignment.
"We heard the news in our school years ago, right? They are called prisoners because all of them committed unforgivable sins. And now that the school already allowed these prisoners to feel freedom by being part of us, how would you feel about that? Of course, we won't allow that, right?"
All of them were now convinced. They've finally decided. Once the students in Class 11-5 began their freedom and responsibility to the school, they will keep throwing them over until they are back where they should belong.
"All of us are one, right? Then who shall take over the school, us or them?" Blake shouted to make the crowd speak up about what they'd decided. His friends were the first ones to agree with him. They screamed their answers. "Us!"
"Louder!" shouted Blake on the microphone to point out all of the customers to hear it clearly.
"Us!" the whole crowd agreed.
Walking down the stage, Blake once again got the crowd lively while still holding the microphone. "If the school will allow, then we won't. Are we clear?"
"Yes!" shrieked the mass.
Because we live in a "winner takes all" competitive world, education has always been a tremendous unfair competition. The disadvantage has always existed, concentrated in the poorest, adding to their misery.
"Then, what shall we do? Destroy them or let them destroy us?"
Avarice, pride, fear, hunger...
Them, the greedy, scream like a roaring wind that bites and claws.
"Destroy them!" the crowd responded.
Each bias and unfavorable stereotype stems from a selfish drive masquerading as a virtue.
"Nice job, everyone! Have a good night," his ending phase.
There is a lot of difference between assisting another soul and exploiting their suffering for our personal advantage, and deluding ourselves that they are the same. Feeding the needy is not the same as forcing them to work so long that they are deprived of family life, good health, or enough time to follow their own interests and curiosity.
Love heals and assists; greed masquerades as assistance while enriching itself at the expense of the other. One offers joy, while the other brings hardship. The rudder of our collective ship is not, and has never been, in the hands of the destitute.
