FIXated

Get into Trouble II

The homeroom session had just ended in class 2-C. World History was scheduled for the next session, but it seemed the professor ought to be late from their class as time passed without the next teacher entering the room. The students had grown restless while waiting in the classroom— groaning in frustration and glancing at the time on their phones or their wrists. Once fifteen minutes had passed, metallic screeching from chairs filled the room in chaotic unison, followed by voices calling out names and footsteps rushing to the other side of the room to join their friend groups.

The vibes in the classroom were evidently different, with how relaxed and loud the students had been chatting with each other. Raphael quietly observed them from his seat before turning his gaze towards the empty seat across from him.

Guess she isn’t around today…That explains it.

Still, it was better than hearing the silence and whispers in the room.

Then, he heaved a deep sigh as his fingers flipped through his textbook, seeing the same crisp white envelope lodged in between the pages. It reminded him of the same letter that he stashed somewhere in his room.

Could this be from the same person?

He never opened it, nor could he identify the person from the handwriting, but perhaps he should check it just this one time?

“Back off, everyone!” Feyline’s voice boomed in the room, loud and clear. That startled him as he turned his attention to the crowd of students swarming the classroom’s exit.

“I said BACK OFF! Get back to your seats!”

She insisted as grumbles and whines filled the place with students finally moving back to their seats. Others stayed with their cliques at nearby desks, huddling in a circle.

“You can all do whatever you like in here, but just stay inside in the room, alright? We don’t want to be causing trouble outside.”

After her announcement, a few compliant replies, disgruntled yeses, and frustrated groans of disagreement followed before she argued with another group who still insisted on doing so.

In the professor's absence, class representatives had to take over to ensure everything was in order. Raphael didn’t realize how frustrated she must have been keeping the class from going into full chaos mode after the fifteen-minute mark, but at the same time, it was an amazing feat for her to manage them in this situation.

“Hey, did you do your homework?”

“Yeah… did you get it?”

Right in the middle of the chaotic noise, Raphael overheard a conversation. Sitting next to him in the other row were two students who began discussing the Calculus homework.

His hand smacked on his forehead. Ah…right. I almost forgot about that. Isn’t that the reason why he opened this book in the first place?

He shifted his focus onto the textbook on his desk, quickly flipping through the pages, ignoring the letter for homework. At the end of the page, the last item remained unsolved. After trying to understand the problem for the nth time in a row since last night, he still didn’t have the correct answer.

What am I missing?

He quietly thought, tapping his pen against the wooden desk as he spaced out while pondering over the same problem.

“Someone’s stuck with his homework.”

A jaunty man’s voice spoke in a tease as Raphael glanced up, seeing Antonio’s face hovering above him with a huge grin on his face. Another figure peered over his shoulders with a warm smile, tilting his head to the side.

“Hey, Raphael, need help with that?” Alexis offered.

“Oh, um… I guess so. I think I am lost at this one.”

The two of them leaned into his book, reading it thoroughly. Antonio nodded while rubbing his chin pretentiously. “This is a piece of cake. You’re lucky Mr. Formula-Brain is here to help you.”

“Is it really?” Raphael snorted in disbelief.

“Says the guy who cried to me for help last night.” Alexis retorted, nudging his friend to the side.

“Oww… but to be fair, I knew how it’s done. Just that my brain’s busy thinking over other stuff.”

Raphael chuckled softly. Antonio never failed to amuse him with his quick excuses and witty replies like an automated response.

Alexis grabbed his pen off his fingers and began scribbling over a piece of paper. “Here… let me show you.”

Instead of giving him the answer to the problem directly, Alexis took the time to explain to him the reasoning behind using this formula and how it was applied in this equation. His instructions were clear and precise as Raphael slowly began to understand, finally solving it with his assistance.

“And… That’s it!” Alexis praised him, clapping his hands together after Raphael finished writing his answer. “I am surprised. You’re quick enough to grasp the whole gist of it! Unlike a certain someone.”

“Who? Antonio?” Raphael tilted his head.

Antonio’s face leaned in closer to them, giving them judging stares as he whispered. “Bro, I swear that only took me a minute or so too.”

“That means the whole night.”

“Hah! Not me, but for you!”

The two started another friendly argument after Antonio pushed his friend’s patience a little too much. Raphael just quietly watched them from his seat, smiling at them. Then, he noticed another familiar figure approaching them from the side, arms slouched forward, and head drooped low.

She let out an exasperated sigh while taking a seat on Raphael’s desk. “Gosh, why can’t they just wait for another half an hour before the session ends?”

“Oh, Feyline…” Raphael acknowledged her presence. “You good?”

Feyline waved her hand dismissively at him. “It’s all good. Just a bit frustrated.”

“Hey, Fey, can I grab some snacks for us?” Antonio teased.

Feyline crossed her arms with her eyes narrowed. “Really, Antonio? You want me to smack some sense into you?”

“Of course not!” He laughed nervously.

Ping!

A notification bell resonated, coming from Antonio’s pocket, saving him on time from Feyline’s slap as he pulled it out.

“Oh? Look guys… The Predators posted something.” He exclaimed.

“Aren’t they suspended?”

“Apparently… not when it comes to uploads.” Feyline scoffed.

Predators? What are they on this time? It piqued his interest as Raphael leaned in to Antonio, having a closer look at his phone screen.

The new video was titled: Exposing the Untouchable/ Our APOLOGY. It was a brand-new segment, not the usual content based on their previous posts. As Antonio pressed the play button, the video began with their apology, confessing their wrongdoings about the last incident involving Adrian. They knelt on the ground, begging for forgiveness, accompanied by sad music playing in the background.

“This is all performative, isn’t it?” Feyline commented.

“How do you know?” Raphael wondered. Performative? Is this all an act?

“It’s how Utubers do these days when they commit something atrocious,” Antonio explained. “Sometimes, they hold out a guitar, singing a song to apologize, while others do the extreme, making up fake stories to excuse themselves or crying rivers of tears to get their audience's sentiment.”

“At this point… it’s just content slop. Just to get clicks.” Alexis concluded. “They like the drama after all.”

“That’s absurd.”

Raphael shook his head in disbelief to think that even an apology video would be used to make content. He never understood why, but perhaps it was all for the grind? As predicted, the video panned to them in another scene with Adrian sitting on a bed, pretending to be still injured in the infirmary. The two walked side by side with heads down, offering him gifts and flowers.

“See? This is the get-well-soon type of story.” Antonio pointed out.

“Gosh, I have seen this countless times.” Feyline rolled her eyes. “Don’t they have anything new?”

The apology segment ended with Adrian accepting it, but there was apparent hesitation in his nod. Despite his assuring smile, it appeared like he was threatened from the side. A short collage of photos and videos of them spending time with Adrian flashed on the screen.

“Aight. This is absolute trash.” Antonio scoffed, skipping through the scenes for a minute, but the video still had a good length before reaching the end.

“There’s still more?” Raphael furrowed his brows.

Alexis nodded. “Yeah… It’s probably the highlight out of everything here.”

“Exposing the Untouchable...” Raphael reread the headline once again. “Who’s that?”

“Tanya…. Tanya the Untouchable.” Feyline snapped her fingers. “One of Sylvia’s crew.”

Now that she mentioned Sylvia’s name, Raphael recalled who Tanya was… the tall one with wavy locks tied in a high ponytail. She always had that scowl resting on her face, adding to her intimidating aura. But what does ‘exposing’ mean in this context, especially to her?

“Here… let’s see what this is all about.”

The video played once more, starting with Mikey coming up another story with Adrian being in danger, but this time getting involved with Sylvia’s group, and the Predators came to the rescue to save their ‘friend’.

It looked like an action sequence straight from an anime with all the edited VFX, and their punches appeared to have more impact with the added emphasis. However, nothing hit her.

She dodged everything.

She was Untouchable.

“Not gonna lie. I am fairly impressed,” Feyline admitted, getting excited with every move, especially watching how Tanya swerved left to right with ease.

“Is that why she’s called Untouchable?” Raphael tilted his head.

“Obviously.” Antonio laughed, nudging him to the side. “Heard she was a black belt in Taekwondo.”

“That explains it.”

In the next scene, Tanya finally retaliated, hitting them hard with her kicks. Although Mikey did well to dodge her attacks, she was still ruthless. Flipper seized an opportunity to catch her off guard, but it failed horribly.

“Yikes.” Antonio grimaced after seeing blood sputtered out of his lips, getting smacked on the face with Tanya’s heel. “Now… that one is real.”

It was followed by a flurry of blows, intentionally painting a narrative that the Predators were being beaten mercilessly by her. Raphael couldn’t tell whether it was edited or not with how seamlessly the videos were pieced together, while the action sequence looked impossible to stitch together without cuts.

“How did they get to film this with her?” Alexis was baffled.

“I bet they really got in a fight,” Feyline concluded. “See? All the blood stuff is real…even her hitting them hard…It feels too realistic.”

Her observations were on point as Raphael looked closely into the scene, noticing the cuts on their faces and the slight dents in their skin with each hit. If the whole Adrian story was an act, then what was the actual reason for them getting into a fight with Sylvia’s crew?

They didn’t strike him as someone confrontational, especially in a brutal fist-fight. That reaction befit more of the Predator’s crew than Sylvia’s.

He was perplexed.

Once the Predators fell on the ground, unconscious. It cut to Sylvia’s face, smiling in delight while applauding and assuring Emma that it was all taken care of. The video stopped with Mikey’s face appearing back on screen, now covered in bruises and patches.

“Look what they have done to my friend and me!”

His voice cracked, expressing his anger while Flipper came forward limping, making exaggerated pained noises.

“Mikey, I can’t accept this. Why do they get away with it …. But us? We get punished.”

“Guys, we need your help.” Mikey pleaded before pointing his finger to Sylvia’s image on screen. “Make this video reach ten thousand likes, and we’ll expose her next.”

The moment Mikey said those words, Raphael froze on the spot as his mind began thinking of the possibilities. He remembered the incident in the morning with the Predators, who had offered him a chance to join a video.

He swallowed a hard lump. Exposing her…Sylvia?

Does that have something to do with their offer for the next video? But why would they need me?

“Rebels versus Predators. Now, that’s a movie I would watch.” Antonio snickered. “Place your bets on who’s gonna win in the end.”

“Isn’t the obvious answer Rebels?” Alexis rubbed his chin.

“Who knows? I bet my luck on Predators for 50.” Antonio confidently declared, holding out a fifty bill in his hand.

“Same. I choose Predators too!” Feyline professed, handing out another fifty. “…I mean she’s no better than the Predators too, to be honest.”

“You guys… It’s Sylvia’s crew. No doubt.” Alexis insisted. “A hundred bill for that.”

“Boo! That’s lame.” Antonio jeered.

“Say what you want, but you’ll see in the end, Antonio.”

Raphael felt an arm wrapped over his shoulder and pulled him closer. Antonio’s voice murmured a question in his ear.

“Dude. You’re awfully silent. Who you bet on?”

He snapped back to reality, still confused as he turned to him. “W-who? What are we betting on?”

“Rebels or Predators.” Feyline reiterated, eyeing him closely.

For a moment, Raphael thought about it carefully. His eyes wandered to the seat across him— It was still empty. That relieved him. Both options were equally messed up, but if he were to choose, one had the upper hand.

“Then… I choose“ He stuttered before taking a deep breath. His answer took a lot of courage, as it took a while for him to mutter out a name.

“… Sylvia.”

He had decided, sending Feyline and Antonio into a frenzy of friendly ridicule at him. Alexis gave him a thumbs up, the only one who approved of his decision. Despite that, Raphael managed to put up a small smile on his lips, amused at their reactions.

However, another question still lingered in his mind.

After everything she has done, should I even tell her of what’s about to come?