The Blood's Elegance

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

MONEY IS EARNED TO BE BURNED

It was true that most of the people who are now owners, the president, or the CEO of the businesses graduated in Business Management, but there were some who did not take the program and can be seen now as successful in their own business. No wonder they had such amounts to spend for this simple, very unnecessary activity that only aims to welcome us.

"You will have thirty minutes to find the five tokens."

The president took over the vice president's words. Her observant eyes, as if calculating my thoughts based on my facial expressions that I tried to hide, linger on me. She laughed. "Are we so extra?"

I was right. She knew what I  was thinking. Her laugh was what they were doing. Extra. Overacting.

"This is your foundation, my dear schoolmates." Her voice must have roared in the entire gymnasium. It rendered everyone speechless, and  as I tried to see if students from other programs had heard us, they were all busy in their own business—laughing in the stories probably being told by their seniors, dancing with the songs of their members, and only chatting. Those weren't what we were doing. We were the only ones so focus on our effort given that it was not our very first day as a student. "You should learn how to love the path that you are going to take, and we, as your seniors, are helping you in that case. We wanted you to love the very basics of business. You are all grouped, and that is teamwork, for a business can't stand with the business owner alone or the sole proprietor. Collaboration might arise between partners or investors. There would be a need for the participation of the customers and the people who will lend you the money to continue the business. They are also known as creditors."

"Are we putting so much effort? Maybe. Maybe not. It's a small thing actually, and when you got into our age, nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one who are running a business, you will realize that the amount we spent is nothing compared to the amount of money we will earn," the secretary added.

These students who had their business... If they were saying that the amount of prizes were small money, then they must be earning large amount of money.

"We are the business management students. Now, we shall continue the game. That part"—she pointed the bleachers with the label C—"to the side of the stage would be part of group one. The remaining part on that side would be of group two. The opposite part of group one's would be for group three while the opposite part of group two's would be for group four. The stage and the entrance would be for group five. Your thirty minutes start now. See you at exactly 12 o'clock."

Since we are group four, we would search the bleachers D to F, and that was the part mostly occupied today because of this orientation. I turned around and looked at our members.

"What's our plan?"

"Since it's a three-section bleachers, let's divide our group into three." We listened to the shy girl who became part of our group in exchange of Seth. In order to lead a group, you need to set aside your shyness, and that's what she did. "The three of you would be for the bleachers D, and the three of you would search in bleachers E, while the rest are in bleachers F."

And by the words 'the rest' she was pertaining to herself, Adi, and me.

"Let's go!"

On our way to bleachers F, we introduced ourselves.

"I'm Ivory. I'm glad to be teamed with you."

"The feeling is mutual."

I knew that our search to find the tokens won't be that easy. Our group members, who arrived first, had to excuse themselves from other students from interfering their session. We had no idea what the tokens look like. Are they similar to casino or arcade? Or do they have other image? Do they seem like coins? The facilitators didn't elaborate it. What we needed to do was to find two similar items in this area.

"I found one."

One of our members raised his hand holding a gold-like coin.

"Who is he?" I asked Adamaris in a low tone.

"I don't know, too."

"I found another one!" Ivory showed us another token she got from section F.

"It was easy," one of our members commented, but he was abruptly contradicted by Ivory.

"No, it's not. The seniors purposely put the tokens on those spots, so we can easily found them and have an idea of what the token we would be searching looks like. Nevertheless, we already had two in our hands. That leaves us to three."

Our victorious shouts were stopped when a man wearing a yellow shirt that states his program came to us. Electrical engineering student. His hair fell on his forehead which nearly covered the spectacles he was wearing. He combed it upwards and for a moment, I saw how cute he would be if his hair was brushed up. He looked like the nerdy cute boy who is good at studying and also good at attracting the girls.

My thought flew away the moment he spoke.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing here? You are disturbing our session."

Ivory represented our team. "We're sorry, but we have our activity, and that is to find tokens here. We will only be here for a few minutes, but we will highly appreciate if you would lend us some hand. It is also okay if you prefer not to."

"I bet you are from Business Management."

We nodded.

"Well, the ribbon in your arms gave it away. Besides, students in your program are always competitive. They never fail to make activities that will make other students envious in having such active members."

"We would be very grateful if you could give us some help, or we can just find the tokens ourselves, but we cannot swear that our groups in here together would be peaceful."

The man let out a soft chuckle. "Well, we might help you. It's better than telling some horror stories. All of us are sick of it. The only problem we have is you might get disqualified if we participate in your activity."

"The president didn't say anything about it, so I think it's okay." Ivory faced us. "What do you think?"

We agreed.

"As far as I can remember, there was no rule stating something related to this."

Surely, the seniors thought about this—that the bleachers would be occupied by students from other programs—before giving these areas to us. They should have added a rule that is concerned to getting a help from an outside force, but there was none. They probably did it intentionally to let us ask others.

"If your members would join, then we would gladly accept it."

"They would. They were bored here, too." He glanced at his members who were waiting for his decision, too. "Right, guys?"

That's it. They were waiting for his permission. The members of electrical engineering cheered us on. Their loud vouces caught the attention of other human beings inside the gymnasium. When I moved my eyes around, on my left side, I spotted Seth. He waved his hand at me and mouthed something I wasn't able to comprehend. I smiled.

"Let's go! Stand your asses there, lazy bums."

I diverted my eyes away from him.

"Don't think we're joining because of you," one muttered.

"Their batch got my type."

"Totally my type," the other guy seconded.

The man, their leader I assumed, punched his member. "You jerk. I thought you have a girlfriend?"

"I'm single when I am with beautiful girl." Our eyes met. He winked. I raised my brow at him and licked my lips. It caught him off guard. "Especially that one."

Someone passed between our line of sight. The man who was hitting on me groaned in pain. He glared to the guy who did it. To my surprise, it was the man who was with Ayuna the other day.

"Sorry."

"Where are you going, Gab?"

So, Gab was his name? Could it mean Gabriel?

"I'm starting." Gab approached Ivory. Because she was just a few feet away from me, their conversation reached my ears. "May I know how does it look like so I can help?"

Our leader—I gave the label to her 'cause she act like one—placed the token on his hand. Gab began checking every seats. We moved to find the remaining missing tokens.

Five minutes had passed, we still did not see the third token. It was indeed easy... for the first two. Now, the real challenged was making us fired up. Adamaris, Ivory, and I inspected our section. We did a thorough search on the floors, but there was none. We knelt on the floor and examined every chairs. It's tiring as there was no tokens taped on the seats. I sighed. I almost gave up when something gold, very small gold image, captured my attention. I scrutinized it. O stands for outstanding, and the sheet that states the meaning of the letter really stood out. The metal sheet was not attached properly, and they used it to hide one of the tokens, but I cannot reach it. Frustrated, I blew out a heavy breath, my forehead creasing from this stressful activity.

"Let me try."

I didn't notice Gab beside me. We almost kissed, goodness! My immediate reaction saved me from that awkward event.

He inserted his finger on the slit, but it was bigger than mine, so he cannot push it out.

"Let me. My finger was thinner than you."

I tried my forefinger, but to no avail. I used my pinky finger. Still, the small space was making it hard for me. I whispered a curse.

"Come on."

I pushed my finger a little deeper. I swore that the metal sheet scratched my skin, but it was alright as long as we can take this out, and we did!

"Got it!" I yelled, excited and tired after the trouble that I went through to get this little piece.

"Finally!" All of them had their eyes on me. They flaunted the four tokens they had on their hands. There was a big smile on their lips. "It's now complete. Let's got back before anyone else come before us."

We gave them our thanks and rushed down the bleachers to run back to the bleachers A where the seniors are. No one had finished the quest yet but us.

"Congratulations!" Cellyn shook our hands followed by other officers. "Because of that, you can choose your prizes."

Our members shouted happily. Three of them, including Adamaris, chose the ticket to the upcoming concert. One picked the Violet's fountain pen. One received the voucher from April's Bakeshop. Some questioned it.

"Why? I love cakes."

Ivory and a guy took the Galaxias insulated vacuum stainless steel water bottle for her morning run.

"Can I have two entrance tickets?" someone asked. We laughed.

Cellyn shook her head, laughing at the guy's absurd question. "Obviously, no. All the prizes are reserved for the forty-five participants."

"That sucks, but it's okay. At least, I only have to buy one ticket." The vice president gave it to him. "Thanks for this," he said, waving the piece of paper.

Their gazes went to me. "What?"

"Choose now," Ivory commanded.

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

I didn't know what to choose. I cannot pick one. Can I just pick all? Not that I'm being selfish...

"The tickets to the concert," I muttered slowly, making sure that I made the right decision in my mind. Cellyn gave one to me. "Thank you."

"Enjoy."

"I will."

The concert will occur two weeks from now. Maybe Adamaris can go with me. I would ask her next time.

After a few minutes, the remaining groups arrived. The last to come didn't get to choose their prizes that freely. Their members can only pick from what was left.

"Our activity for today resembles what you would experience when you enter business world. That is why I grouped you with complete strangers because that's what might happen someday when you find your partners, investors, shareholders, creditors, customers, and other important persons who will take part in your business. You need to build a good connection with them despite being unfamiliar. Your asset, other than your present economic sources, would be your skills in communication, the way you handle the pressure when facing a higher status or intimidating person. Why didn't I ask you to pick a leader? Because each of you can lead your group and voice out your opinion, and that is what you need to understand. There is no leader in a business. The president represents the company as a whole, but he still listens from his members because a good leader consider his members, and when there is no member, there is no leader. All of you are leader, all of you are member. Other students not from our program are the potential creditors, investors, and customers who can lend you a help and take a big part in your achievement.

"Now, the rules in how you have your prizes. Your teamwork helps you achieve success. The better the foundation, the greater the success. When your team is striving to achieve one goal, it helps you to easily acquire benefits for your part because all of you are seeing one clear vision ahead. And business world is also a world where survival of the fittest is the rule. If you don't use your resources appropriately, it will lead to losses until you found the business you worked hard for crumbling into pieces."

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