LOGINShare
Chapter 145: Damage Control
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
Phenomenal PenHi! Thanks for reading my work. If you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to Rate, Vote, Comment and Follow! I update daily, so stay tuned!
Related chapters
The Boyfriend App Chapter 146: Eudoria Holmes
“I just might take you up on that tutorial offer – er, as long as it’s free. I’d hate to be stuck in a lower section for all of high school.” “Sure it’s free. It’s the least I can do for what… you’ve done for me.” Kate cringed in the bathroom stall because of how cheesy the line came out. She heard Francine standing up and flushing the toilet, probably to remove all traces of her smoking. Interestingly enough, Kate never caught any smell of cigarette. She supposed it was probably because her mind had been hyper-focused on her predicament. The imagined fishy smell of her menses had been like a haze around her head but now that she had a way out, courtesy of Francine, she could stick her head above the haze and breathe again. When she was ready, Kate slid the barrel bolt open and stepped out. Francine was waiting for her in the vanity area. Kate, smiling sheepishly, tried to prevent any hint of surprise or judgment from crossing her face. She kept repeating to herself like a mantra:
The Boyfriend App Chapter 147: Making Friends
As thirteen-year-old Kate and Francine walked to the seminary clinic, Francine raved about how cool Nurse Judy was. “She’s my idol and I want to be just like her when I grow up. I used to hate the thought of becoming a nurse, mainly because my parents keep shoving it down my throat…” “Why?” “I don’t know. I guess they want me to be like one of our neighbors who’s now working as a caregiver in the States. They want me to be like that and send lots of dollars to them and my sisters. My older sister is already studying Med Tech but I guess that’s not enough for them.” “You’re a middle child?” “Yeah. You?” “I’m an only child.” “Really? I envy you. This uniform I’m wearing used to be my sister’s. As you can see, it doesn’t quite fit.” “Are you taller than your older sister?” Kate asked incredulously. “Yeah, I am. But only by a couple of inches. My sis is tall too. We all take after our father.” Kate fell quiet because Francine said “father” instead of “pa” or “dad”. In the Philipp
The Boyfriend App Chapter 148: The Big Secret
Mr. Romero opens his trademark vintage briefcase and out of it he takes out… a small black box with six stubby antennas. It’s about the size of a smartphone but thicker. It looks like a very sleek voice recorder. It has only one switch on its side, red and indicating the on/off symbols. “What in the H-E-double hockey sticks is that thing?” Principal Aguilar asks. “It’s a cellphone and wi-fi jammer,” Nurse Judy answers instead of Mr. Romero and all Everesters intone in unison: Ohhh. “A what?” Principal Aguilar asks. “A jammer,” Nurse Judy explains, “blocks signals between a cell tower and all devices within a certain radius.” Turning to Mr. Romero, she asks: “What’s the range of that thing?” “It’s not that powerful,” Mr. Romero defends. “About eight, nine meters.” “Why the fudge do you have it?” Principal Aguilar thunders. “Turn it off right this instant!” The CC sisters wince every time the principal, an active member of their community, uses a faux-curse. The Catholic students
The Boyfriend App Chapter 149: LGBTQIAP+
There’s a controversial section in the CITS Student Handbook that states: | DEFINITION OF IMMORALITY Concepcion Integrated Technology School is a Christian institution whose objective is to provide an educational program and environment animated by Christian religious belief, traditions, teachings and doctrine, the exercise of which is protected by the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, and to promote within its academic community values that are Christian in orientation. Immorality which refers to acts that are contrary to Christian morals, teachings and values as defined, described and/ or discussed in A Catechism on the Christian Religion, including but not limited to scandalous sexual and/ or violent conduct, fornication, pornography, prostitution, engaging in premarital sexual relations, rape, homosexuality, adultery, incest, sexual abuse, “free union”, “trial marriages”, “live-in arrangement” and unions outside marriages as provided and discussed in A Catechism
The Boyfriend App Chapter 150: Prof. Nate
“All those in favor of implementing Plan B,” Kate says, which is how she watched Dion do it last year, “please say ‘Aye’.” “Aye,” everyone says. “Aye aye, cap’n,” Terra says. “All those opposed?” Kate asks. Silence. “Any abstention?” Silence. “The motion is carried,” she proclaims. “We will be implementing Plan B and Nate will be the one to execute it.” Kate picks up the claw hammer and bangs it on the pad of her armchair. As she does, the SD card bounces up. Gasps are heard from everywhere in the room. “Yiii!!” Kate’s eyes widen while the SD card flies as though in slow motion. In a split-second, she’s torn between catching and recoiling away from it, as though it was the last of an endangered species of butterfly. A little anti-climactically, the SD card lands noiselessly on the floor. “I’m so sorry,” Kate says as she doubles over on her armchair to pick it up. Straightening, she blows on the tiny device like a kid employing the 5-Second Rule. “Don’t worry, Kate,” Terra
The Boyfriend App Chapter 151: Suzanne
“Okay,” he says, finally putting down the marker and turning to the audience like a teacher. “Who here knows how to fold a Suzanne?” “A what?” Kate asks. “Suzanne. It’s the perfect paper plane. It currently holds the world record for farthest distance flown. It holds the unbeaten record of 226 feet and 10 inches.” “Whoa,” the council members mumble. “Why does it have a girl’s name?” Francine asks. “That’s because John Collins, the guy who designed the paper plane, named it after his wife.” “Aww,” all the girls intone. “That’s sweet.” “All right,” Nate says. “I know how to fold and make a Suzanne. But one of you guys will have to throw it.” “I think Babylee should do it,” Kate says. “She’s got the strongest arm among us.” “I’m afraid it’s not just a matter of strength,” Nate says. “Brute force risks ripping the plane. The thrower must understand the technical aspects, the physics of flight. “Gosh…” Kate mutters nervously. “It’s okay,” Nate says. “We have time. Let’s review th
The Boyfriend App Chapter 152: Rooftop Memories
“I’ll do it,” Kate finally says when no one seems eager to volunteer. “Good,” Nate says. “How about the rooftop? Do we have access to it?” “Maybe if we borrowed the key from the janitor,” Babylee says. “But that would raise questions about our plan.” Silence. Another chime from the school intercom makes them all look up. “Attention. Attention, students. Will Nathaniel Policarpio please report to Principal Aguilar’s office?” It’s followed by the same distant roar of feminine screams and gossip. Kate imagines the rest of the students in the STEM building, most of them unaware of what’s going on, can’t wait for the school bell to ring for lunch. They’re in for a big surprise, not only because of Cyber but also the new security arrangements at the exits. Kate feels a blast of envy at their carefree ignorance. She wishes she too only had the upcoming midterms to think about, and not the fate of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in CITS. Terra lets out a deep sigh and says: “I can hack
The Boyfriend App Chapter 153: Crash Landing on You
“You want me to do it, Kate?” Babylee offers. She shakes her head. She’s been doing warm-up exercises to loosen her body, especially windmill arm exercises. The Suzanne is safely resting in the center of the rooftop, atop Terra’s briefly-door-key spiral notebook. “No, I have to be the one to do it,” Kate replies as she continues psyching herself up, looking as though she was a pole-vaulter about to launch herself over the building’s edge. “You and Terra just keep a lookout for the movement of security guards below.” Kate’s now standing on the south edge of the building. The heavily guarded and screened building exit is actually on the southwest corner of the first floor. Terra is discreetly peering down there now, scanning it for patrolling guards, while Babylee is crouched closer to where Kate is, keeping watch for both patrolling guards and the rare passing vehicle on Campus Drive. At first, Kate worried about Terra because the last time he was here he was stripped down to hi
Latest chapter
The Boyfriend App Epilogue: The Microscopic Villain
For Ecto, New Year’s is more or less the same as Christmas. The same warm, gooey feeling. The same close-knit spirit. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has banned the manufacture and sale of firecrackers, the shooting of which has been a well-loved tradition for centuries and can be traced all the way back to the Spanish colonial era. The exact inventors and originators were the Chinese, who believed that noise would drive away bad luck and bad spirits. According to Mr. and Mrs. Lapuz, the Filipinos seem sadder now, having been robbed of the most thrilling and spectacular means of making noise. But according to health and safety records, hospital personnel can rest easier because the ERs wouldn’t be packed with casualties this time around. Just the New Year’s before last, it was like a war zone on the streets what of households competing for the biggest bang to welcome the new year. Many men got drunk out of their minds and then tried to light a firecracker with the non-PC name
The Boyfriend App Chapter 175: Ecto's Stocking
After Mass, Kate and Nate buy rice cakes at the town square. One is the awesomely purple puto bumbong and another the yellow bibingka. They also buy roasted chestnuts and bring all the treats home to Mr. and Mrs. Lapuz. On one trip to a very crowded shopping mall, Ecto sees a Santa Claus impersonator. Curiously, the Santa is Caucasian and not brown-skinned like most of the Filipinos. Of course Ecto has already figured out by himself that Santa isn’t real. To his surprise, after they get back home, Kate insists on teaching him the hooman custom of hanging a stocking. On the desktop of her computer, Kate shows him a folder that she has named “Ecto’s Stocking”. She then goes through all the trouble of changing her wallpaper to a fireplace and dragging the folder onto the 2D mantelpiece. “What for?” he asks her through her smartphone’s loudspeaker. Her smartphone is open and showing the My Dream Boyfriend app, right into the inside of Ecto’s bedroom. Ecto’s wearing a knit sweater
The Boyfriend App Chapter 174: The Holidays
With a little help from Terra, Kate downloads the My Dream Boyfriend App again with some customizations. Because Ecto isn’t bound by any one platform anymore, he’s capable of some manner of fission, where he splits and replicates himself while also dividing his consciousness among all his manifestations. It’s like Doctor Strange’s clones when they were fighting Thanos, but in Ecto’s case, each and every duplicate is much more than an illusion and is a sentient and perfect version of himself. This allows him to be both in Nate’s microchip implant while back in his virtual bedroom inside the My Dream Boyfriend app on Kate’s smartphone. At any time, he can also perform fusion and re-absorb his manifestations. Terra removed the boyfriend creation window because of course Kate doesn’t need it anymore. Ecto wanted his virtual bedroom exactly as it was. He could easily “slide” into his other cribs anyway, like the old orange, pink and red Provençal one on Dungeon Raydens which he was able
The Boyfriend App Chapter 173: The Truth
It’s already 6 pm when Nate finishes his social host obligations and comes looking for Kate. He doesn’t need to look hard though because earlier, Kate sent him a text saying she’s waiting for him in the Council office. Nate has a spring in his step and is smiling ear to ear. The scratches on his face are still stinging but, before the closing ceremony, Nurse Judy cleaned and applied Band-Aid on them. Nate can’t hide his excitement in seeing his GF again after they’ve taken care of all their responsibilities. {That kiss on the track was supernova-hot. I hope we make out too.} When he finds the office door locked, oddly enough, he knocks and calls out uncertainly: “Kate?” He hears her move inside the room and then the door swings open. The sight of her face wipes his smile off. She’s been crying in the dim. She has the look of someone who has just had herself a good cry. Her eyes look cleansed and exposed, indeed like pure windows into her soul. Her lips are tightly set in a line, as
The Boyfriend App Chapter 172: The Anagram
Kate is alone in the Student Council office tidying up. Nate’s off wrapping things up with his manager and the film crew and saying goodbye to everybody, including his bandmates. The trophy that STEM 12 won is now in the 12-Everest homeroom, because the bulk of tournament champions is there. Kate’s classmates are all posing with it and gushing at how shiny it is. This year’s Intrams was perfect. Kate couldn’t ask for anything more. She has once again been reminded of the importance of having balance in life; of, as cheesy as it sounds, having both a sound mind and a sound body. It felt good to do something physical, to be away from the rigors of school work and the false urgency of the Internet. But the heart of the matter is, she’s blissfully content because she has a boyfriend and she didn’t make a mistake in choosing him. In fact, she made a brilliant choice. An undertow to her joy is a silent prayer that she has finally broken the curse that she felt had hung over her ever since
The Boyfriend App Chapter 171: The Cheater
“OMG!” Mr. Romero says the word in everyone’s mind as they watch the pitiful scene. “Policarpio’s crawling to the baton exchange. Quick! Somebody help him! Help him!” Reggie is the first to break the spell of paralysis. He leaps over the rail and onto the track. He and Jared manage to run towards him before the alert CAT volunteers practice crowd control and stop others from joining. Reggie reaches Nate’s side. “No!” Nate screams vehemently. “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! I have to do this by myself.” “But hyung,” Jared says, having stopped next to Reggie, “you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to prove anything.” “Yes… I… do,” Nate grunts as he crawls forward foot by precious foot. “Let us help you,” Reggie pleads. “You don’t have to do this alone.” “Don’t come closer!” Nate barks, spittle flying between his gritted teeth. In what feels like eternity, he reaches the changeover zone and Kate’s crouched form. Her eyes are glassy and full of pity for him. He hates that loo
The Boyfriend App Chapter 170: The Race
By Friday morning, STEM 12 has won a total of 7 champion ribbons and several ones as runner-up. This makes them a leading candidate for overall champion. As Kate has anticipated, the non-sports events buoyed them. Apart from Francine and her escort winning Mr. and Mrs. Intrams, Grace and her benchwarmers won the bench cheer. It didn’t hurt either that the Bali Girls minus setter Lor were at the top of their game. And Nate, to everyone’s astonishment, is actually a Filipino Usain Bolt in the making. {Your BF’s Superman,} Nate’s words have been echoing inside Kate’s head since Wednesday, along with the news reporter’s: {Idol, social catalyst and Internet detective. Is there anything that Cyber can’t do?} But STEM 12 didn’t exactly win all their wins. Just like in last year’s Intrams, several games have been forfeited. An opposing team either failed to meet the minimum number of players required to start the game or failed to appear at the venue within the 15-minute grace period. On CIT
The Boyfriend App Chapter 169: Music Madness
The crowd of hysterical girls in front, held back only by a cordon of CAT cadets from junior high, are screaming the names of DMG members: “Cyber! Reggie! Jared! Sonic! Neo!” Seemingly from out of nowhere, they’ve whipped out banners and signs. Instead of the usual glow-in-the-dark Korean lettering for an evening K-pop concert, there’s a slew of English ones interspersed with the name of a particular artist or of the whole band. | IT’S MY BIRTHDAY CYBER, YOU ARE MY PRESENT DUMP KATE TAKE ME I WOULD SELL MY SIBLINGS FOR YOU I LOVE YOU MORE THAN FREE WIFI DON’T STOP INSPIRING ME! CAN I BE YOUR HAIRDRESSER? ALL I WANT FOR X-MAS IS A PIC WITH JARED DMG We have 5 fingers enough for 5 wedding rings SPIT ON ME CYBER | An English-speaking Filipino director is riding a crane and shooting high up in the aisle of the audience seats. His staff is scattered on the edges and near the stage, operating or holding up every manner of equipment. DMG plays their covers of the most popular s
The Boyfriend App Chapter 168: Within the Walls
On Tuesday, they have the same brain-hurting and nose-bleeding calculations in Physics and Chemistry. The only thing different is DMG’s closed-door rehearsal at the chapel-slash-auditorium 500 meters east. Nate has been exempted by Principal Aguilar personally from any school work or quiz. The whole campus is abuzz and on edge at every sighting of truck and van with tinted windows down Campus Drive and onwards to the auditorium. Kate has also prepared paper lots in an empty pencil case for the Secret Santa next month. She lets every Everester pick their recipient, including her own name. Kate has set the budget at “No Fixed Price” because she knows not all students are financially comfortable. When only two pieces of folded paper remain (one for Nate and one for her), she picks her recipient and is both excited and nervous to see that it’s Grace. She keeps the last piece of paper, of course unopened, for Nate. {Huh,} she thinks to herself afterwards. {What gift can I give somebod
