All the students are gathered there, the seats are all almost filled. Even with all that population, the hall is very quiet like a funeral gathering. Weston sits on one of the chairs at the back, Lorette and Santiago sit in the chairs in front of him. “Mic testing…” echoes around the room. About three seconds later, the VC comes in stage. He has a sheet of paper in his hand which he slaps on the lectern. Without greeting, he gets straight into his speech that seems to have been seething in his head since a million years. “What more can you guys do?” His voice is the normal tone surprisingly. “If you want to die, why don't you go home and do that? If you're tired of your lives, go home and end your lives!” He holds up the sheet of paper in his hand. “Let this be the last time something like this ever happens here. You all have businesses, some of you are already CEOs! Do I have to have reporters lurking a

“Okay. Was trying to save your damn self before but now I see you don't deserve an inch of my pity. Let's facetime so you don't think I'm playing a record for you.” She hangs up. It seems like eternity before she calls again. His daughter's face comes on the screen. Weston's hand is trembling, the phone almost falling from his hand. His daughter looks kind of…pale? She's wearing a head warmer. She's grown slightly compared to the last time he saw her. He can't form any words as he stares at her. She's looking at him. No smile on her face. His heart sinks. Normally, she smiles at him. Did…did she overhear him shouting at Ivy over the phone? “I'm sorry,” oddly is the first word that comes out of his lips. She doesn't say anything. She's just staring at him. “Happy birthday,” he says.She doesn't say anything. “You're cool?” He tries to ask but again she doesn't say anything.“Remember our

“Well…” Santiago runs his hand through his hair. “You could be lying. I need to go inside and see that you really had an appointment.” “You lost, huh? Is it so hard to admit it?” Jose taunts.The three of them go inside the tattoo gallery. Again, Weston is met with another shock. The room is just the moderate one with sofas for people to sit on, a few mirrors here and there. What's even more surprising are the two men Weston sees there. They look more…well…they look more like janitors of the place. But again, he is more surprised to see Santiago going to one of the guys and asking for a handshake.“Hi, Jose. Thought you said two of you are coming,” one of the men says.“Yeah. We were supposed to be two but you know there are some people whose daily job is to mooch off people all over the campus,” Jose says. The man walks over to Jose and gives him a hug. “Nice to see you again.”“Me too. Meet my friend. His name is We

Weston chuckles. The past four weeks have been fun, especially with Santiago and Jose getting along. Well, with Weston's experience with Santiago, Santiago only gets on the toes of people he is friends with. “Jose, you were saying?” Weston quickly interrupts the argument before it escalates to something bigger. Jose rolls his eyes on Santiago and turns to Weston. “So, the four of us went there and got some fancy little stuff that won't be easily noticeable on our forearms. Man, it was painful. I cried, to be honest. I mean, we all did but there was this guy who cried the most. But guess what,” before they can answer, Jose is already talking again.“This guy got to school and showed his girlfriend. Instead of telling us the pain was getting unbearable, he didn't say anything. He didn't come with us to dinner that night. By midnight, man already fainted. He was rushed to the hospital and ended up exposing all of us.” Santiago chuckles. “He wanted