Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Boyfriend App : Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

The second item on Kate’s acad year planner is winning the Student Council election, which is set on September 27. The campaign period is two days, the Wednesday and Thursday right before. It’s going to be a flash campaign and then the votes will be cast between the two party lists: Kate’s GEEKZ Party and Maricar’s Angels Party. Because Lor is unenrolled this sem and has just entered her second trimester of pregnancy, Kate and Maricar have officially become seatmates. Based on Maricar’s sitting angle and tortured look though, she’s ever-ready to jump to her feet and sprinkle Kate with holy water while shouting: “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Because Kate is determined to graduate a valedictorian, she isn’t going to do any of the sort and yield the throne of valedictorian to Sister Sunday. Kate herself came up with the name GEEKZ. It’s an acronym (her inner Miss Grammarly couldn’t help it) and stands for Global Enthusiastic Energetic Kid-at-heart Zoomers. Kate eschewed all the cliché ca

“Omo!” Kate exclaimed. “It’s true!” Nathan said, bursting with excitement. “Last month, I got accepted by Big Break Entertainment as a trainee and I’ve since been practicing dancing and singing. My personal therapist said all the dancing – this is what’s really baffling her – was fueling my drive and speeding up my overall recovery. Very energetic choreography still makes her nervous tho.” Nathan chuckled. “Probably because of my age, I was able to tolerate a higher intensity of therapy. I feel pain and exhaustion with my nerves, not my muscles. But I just dance through the pain. I keep reminding myself that – because I’m a Filipino and not a Korean, because I’m disabled, because I’m the secret younger brother of an idol etc – I need to work twice as hard. I give dancing my 200%. Like swimming to the deep end and not caring about how far I get from the shore. When I do that, I get in the zone and fall into a trance-like state, where there’s no pain, no loneliness, no limit to the h

“That was beautiful. What do you call it?” “You Are My Extra Life.” “Extra life. That’s gaming terminology, isn’t it?” “That’s right.” The newly debuted boy band are guesting on a Korean talk show. They’re all wearing suits and are crammed on one couch while the host, a middle-aged Korean man who is fluent in English and has a British accent, is sitting on a chair perpendicular to them. The idols proceed to introduce themselves one by one: “Annyeonghaseyo! I’m Cyber. I’m the leader of DMG and I’m also the main vocals and songwriter. I like motorcycle racing and computer games, especially COD and Dungeon Raydens.” “Konnichiwa! My name’s Rintaro. My nickname is Sonic because I’m a wicked fast dancer and my hair’s spiky. In my free time, I like doing kendo, archery, drums and cooking. I make a mean carbonara.” “Hi! I’m Reggie. I’m the maknae and, no doubt, the cutest member of DMG. Even though I’m the youngest, my hyungs should stop asking me to cook kimchi-bokkuem because I can

The day after elections, Saturday, Kate and the GEEKZ undergo a free (and voluntary) Leadership Training. There are students from other grades and sections as well, but mostly from senior high. The defeated Maricar and the Angels also attend. In the training, each group is given a pen-and-paper group survival game by Mr. Romero a.k.a. “Squidward”, Personal Development instructor-turned-gamemaster. It’s a Lost at Sea scenario: you are shipwrecked and stranded in a lifeboat in the middle of the South China Sea. You’ve managed to salvage 15 items from the sinking ship. Please rank the items based on their importance to your survival. Mr. Romero hands out individual ranking charts. In the first column is the list of items: a sextant, a shaving mirror, some mosquito netting, a 25-liter container of water, a case of Army rations, maps of the South China Sea, a floating seat cushion, a 10-liter can of oil/ petrol mixture, a small transistor radio, 20 square feet of opaque plastic sheeting,

It’s Homeroom PTA meeting on Monday and Mr. Lapuz goes to CITS to hear the latest about her future-valedictorian daughter from sleek-haired Mrs. Lim. Between husband and wife, Mr. Lapuz is usually the one more deeply invested in Kate’s academic standing. Kate thinks it’s because her Pa was a high school dropout while her Ma at least graduated from high school (when high school was still just a four-year affair). Kate doesn’t think it’s simply because it’s easier for her Pa to get leaves at the auto repair shop than her Ma at the diner. And so, Mr. Lapuz splashes some Nenuco Agua de Colonia baby cologne on his pulse points because he was a ’90s kid, puts gel on his hair and molds it into a fauxhawk, dabs some of Mrs. Lapuz’s Vaseline on his mustache and combs it deep, puts on a gold chain and, finally, dons a Hawaiian shirt whose top three buttons he leaves undone and the tail he tucks into his tight jeans. He caps, or rather underscores, everything with a pair of boots. Looking like