House Of The Brave

 

 

He stood there with a huge mocking grin plastered across his face. 

 

Jack Aceson Juarez, an asshole that belongs to the house of Beta. 

 

He was wearing a white dress shirt and black slack, a little decent for someone who belongs in the house of Beta. His wavy black hair that normally covers his forehead was gelled back. He was leaning against the wall as he mocked me, but he still appeared so tall. His body was well built, he was a Basketball player after all. 

 

He flashed another grin revealing his teeth a little, "President." 

 

His dark blue eyes seemed to stare right through my soul. He was handsome, I will give him that, but his looks always annoyed me. His aura spelled conceited and cocky.

I heard he, himself, got promoted in his house. He was now the President of the House of Beta. 

 

House of Beta, the thought irks me. If I had to ranks the houses, that house would be the last in my list. 

 

Our house may not be the best since it still allows the caste system to work with the executive officer's permission, but the house of Beta was much worse than ours. I heard there were always punishments for anyone who violates their rules. It was said that their house has always been the strictest since the beginning. They have always been rough on their members. 

 

The House of Beta is the House of the Brave. Rumors had it that before they could take the House Oath one has to climb Mount Scion, which is located behind our school, across the forest. The mountain is not that tall but getting to the top was very risky, the forest was unsupervised, and the school has nothing to do with anyone who dies or gets injured there. The students in the school were never forbidden to go outside but they are told about the risks.

 

Beta took advantage of this. It was said that those who cannot climb the mountain would be treated worse than a slave. The house of Beta is definitely the worst.

 

I forced a fake smile at Ace.

 

Tony could sense the tension so when I finally pulled him and Anne away, they followed immediately. They probably knew who Ace was, he was quite famous around the campus.

 

We walked a few more steps and finally reached our House Lounge, the other two members of our committee were already there. They were on time, as expected, I did say we were going to have a meeting around five.

 

"President," the two members greeted and stood when we entered the room.  

 

Jamie Lyn Corpus, our secretary and Javie Ramirez our treasurer was standing a little too stiffly. Both of them were second years so I could understand why they were a little frightened of us. 

 

"Relax," Tony laughed at their reaction and headed for the sofa at the far right. The House Lounge appeared more like a living room, it had a calming atmosphere and most of the furniture was blue, it was pleasing to my eyes. 

 

Jamie and Javie tried to smile and sat down. I was exactly like that last year. 

 

I sighed and sat down on the other single sofa. I guess I had to start the meeting for now since in an hour there was going to be a meeting between all the houses. That means I had to see that asshole, Ace again. 

 

I just went through the same rules that we had last year. I did not have to change much in our house rules, only a few that were not taken care of last year. 

 

We did not totally ban the caste system in our house because it helps control the house members. The caste system could be used but the orders had to go through the executive committee first.  

 

I was thinking of allowing the seniority system to happen but since there was no fourth year in the executive committee, I did not go through with it. I have been thinking about how we would be able to get a hold of the fourth years, they might lash out on us, especially the President last year - Ivan Reasly.

I respected Ivan, in fact, I was expecting him to win President this year as well, so I was shocked that I became triumphant. He had a higher score than Tony, but he rejected the position since he could not believe he did not win the seat of the President. 

 

During the ceremony for the committee last year, he was not bitter, he was still civil. I wonder if anything would change this year, it frightened me a little. 

 

Knock. Knock. Knock. 

 

"The house meeting will begin soon," an unfamiliar voice from the outside shouted. 

 

"We'll be there in a minute," I responded. 

 

I had briefed them on how these meetings would work, I hope it goes well. I was the only one that was a part of our committee last year so they barely have any idea on what could commence during the meeting. Still, I believed in them. 

 

Upon entering the huge conference room where the mixed house meetings take place, I felt myself in awe. The place was renovated, it was modernized, it did not have the same design as it did last year. The flooring was marbled now, it was not wooden. The fireplace looked modern too. Maybe they always renovate this place, I would not know it was only my second year as a committee of our house. 

 

The other house's executive committees were already comfortably seated. The room was symmetrical and is cut into four parts, one side for each house. We took our place in the room and sat comfortably on the sofas and chairs. 

 

The meetings were always held in a comfortable manner that was why instead of aligned tables and chairs, there were sofas, bean bags, and swivel chairs all around. Like always, the teacher in charge of the meeting was the last one to be called. 

 

The atmosphere of the room got tenser with every passing second. No one was speaking, no one was even talking to their own housemates. At a time like this, a sarcastic remark would always come from the house of Beta. 

 

As if on cue, Ace spoke. 

 

"I didn't know we were having a competition of silence?" He laughed. 

 

It was beyond my league to answer a fool's question. I did not respond. 

 

Our house has always been labeled the quietest since it was one of our characteristics to the only talk when absolutely needed. Of course, as I had also predicted, the house of Zeta would be the one to answer back. 

 

"No," a guy I did not know answered. He seemed kind but at the same time, he also looked dangerous. He was someone new, that I was sure of. 

 

"Blunt," Abigail, the Vice-President of the House of Beta responded in a sarcastic manner. 

 

Abigail was someone I knew outside the school. Their family used to be a family of Mafia but now they are one of the most well-known corporations. Of course, there are still a lot of rumors claiming that they are running an underground business. 

 

I found myself rolling my eyes at the conversation that was happening right in front of me. Everyone else from my house seemed to be in awe by what was happening. I could not blame them. All of them had probably never met anyone else other than those who belonged in our house, of course, unless they knew that person outside of school.

 

I was starting to dread what was yet to come when I heard someone call out to me. 

 

"The House of Iota seemed to be awfully quiet, especially President Vandia." 

 

It was Ace. No one else likes to call me by my surname except him. He had turned it into the word I hated the most. I gave him a glance, but I did not utter a word. 

 

"What? Don't you have anything to say?" he smirked. 

 

I gave him a small smile before I shook my head. I was not scared of him; I just did not feel like answering. I was stingy with my words, always have been and always will be. 

 

"Funny, your house truly is the quietest among all. Maybe because all of you have no brain cells to respond at all," he scoffed. I felt Tony tense up next to me, I thought he was going to say something back, but he calmed himself down immediately. 

 

I had told them during our meeting just now that they should never respond to the other houses, never, unless the teacher in charge is in the room. 

 

The house of Beta was always the first one to tattle on the other houses whenever something goes wrong, it would be foolish to fall for their trap. Most of the time the House of Zeta would fall right into it. 

 

The houses were getting very tensed up, so it was rather ironic that one house, Kappa, was sitting prosperously at the side. They were minding their own business as if none of what was going on mattered.  

 

The house of Kappa has the kindest students. 

 

They were too kind to the point that they would gladly help the other houses win. The house of Kappa has never won, not even once. They had climbed up to being the runner up a long time ago, but they have never touched the champion's trophy at all. 

 

No one sees them as a threat, they were more like a friend to all the houses. They were also the only house that has no regard for the Caste system. They treated everyone in their house as equals. 

 

Ace was about to say something to me again when Miss Randell Garcia entered the room, together with another teacher who I was not familiar with, I guess he was new. 

 

"Getting heated up as usual, aren't we all?" She smiled and greeted us. 

 

Miss Randell is one of the few staff in this school that has always been here. She would often tell the students that Scion was her home, she stayed here all year round. She used to be from the House of Kappa and when she graduated, she was offered a job here. She had gladly taken it. 

 

She was kind, she truly had the heart of a Kappa.

 

She began the meeting by introducing herself, later on introducing the other teacher she was with. 

 

"I am Professor Lakee, Joseph Lakee. I used to teach at Harvard but I was given the opportunity to teach here for a year and so I took it. I major in Science and Math," He smiled and introduced himself. He was probably around his 40s, he looked old, but he seemed kind. 

 

After Mr. Lakee introduced himself, the rest of us were asked to introduce ourselves too.  

 

I was able to take note of all their names and their position at the same time, I was familiar with most of them anyway. Right after we have gone through the round of introduction Miss Randell continued with the meeting, she started with the same old recollection of rules between the houses. 

 

First, full-on house wars are still prohibited. 

 

Second, an executive committee officer's resignation will result in a house points deduction. To be specific, half of the points that they have would be deducted.

 

Third, romantic relationships between two houses will result in clearance of house points.

 

Forth, challenges can only be conducted with Honorable House Umpires around. Only the existing games would be allowed to be used. If any was going to be added, it had to be added today and today alone. 

 

Fifth and final, House Presidents bear the burden of getting punishment when the previous rules are not followed.

 

Right after she explained all of these, the games for challenges were talked about, a few more games were added but everything else on the list had remained. These challenges were mostly only applicable to the third and fourth year since they are the only ones who can socialize with the people from other houses which barely happens.

 

Challenges help these students settle personal grudges against each other while others do it to gain points. When you win a fight, an automatic amount of 50 points goes to the winner's house. The only rule is both of the house members would have to agree. So, if a house member challenges one but one declines, it does not go through. Of course, challenges cannot occur from students of the same house. 

 

After settling these basic concerns, Miss Randell asks us what each house would be doing for their house initiation. As usual, most of the houses said the same tasks. 

 

Our house members were required to write a ten-thousand-word essay on the word Wisdom. The house of Zeta requires the newbies to find a button in a pool of beans, literally a pool. The house of Kappa requires their students to donate something of value to the donation box of the school. 

 

But the house of Beta had changed their initiation. 

 

"How would the House of Beta initiate their new students?" Miss Randell had asked. 

 

"We are requiring our students to each kill a Mother Pig," Ace said bluntly.

 

I felt anger rise within me. The house of Kappa which was very nature friendly started to complain, even Anne started to get annoyed.

 

"What kind of initiation is that?" Anne spoke. 

"A round of applause for the first speaker of Iota," Ace laughed. 

 

"It's sickening," I muttered under my breath. 

 

"It would help them become braver," Ace growled. There was something in his eyes, but I could not quite figure out what it was. 

 

"What happened to your old initiation?" Nathan, the President of Kappa spoke.

 

"It had no thrill anymore, thus this isn't against the rules, right?" Ace was the only one speaking in their house. The rest of the members seemed to be reluctant about going through with their new initiation. 

 

I continued to scan the faces of the executive members of Beta, only Ace seemed to be in favor of it. I wonder why he would push through with it when the rest of the committee did not seem to want it. I was about to raise another complaint together with Anne when I felt Tony's hand on my arm. He simply shook his head. 

 

"This is better," he said in a low voice. 

 

I gave him a questioning look, "How?"

 

"Going up on Mount Scion had killed some of the students of Beta before, had it not? Killing a mother pig can only give you a few broken bones at most, they are still mammals. They don't have the instinct to kill." 

 

Tony continued to explain how this initiation was better compared to their old one. After he had finished, I found myself in awe of Ace. 

 

No wonder the committee of Beta was against it, it really was easier compared to last year. Was this really Ace's idea? Judging from the rest who were reluctant to agree I could only conclude that it really was his. 

 

Still, what made him change the initiation? Could he be that dumb to think this was tougher or was there kind blood in him somewhere? 

 

I felt myself applauding him in my mind.

 

Even if he was the president, it was hard to go against the rest of the members of Beta, especially if he was alone.

 

Good job, Juarez.  

 

 I guess there was a tinge of humanity left in the House of Beta.