Chapter 3

An hour later, even before dawn breaks, the Catacutan brothers are already inside their respective classroom in Purvil High, doing what typical nerdy and bookish boys such as themselves always do: reading.

Newton, Copper, and Leo are already in their junior year, and they are the Top One, Top Two, and Top Three student in their class, respectively.

Hawk and Tesla are in their senior year, and they are Top One and Top Two in their class, respectively.

It is the day of their final Exam.

The whole brick-walled school is almost eerily silent that day. Giant waves crashing and smashing against the rocky seashore rumble from a distant. Thin branches rustle and dead leaves litter the ground, swirling and whirling as the cold intangible hand of the monsoon wind touches them in an almost rhythmic and melancholic way. Behind those oak doors, the almost ghostly sounds those students are making as they whisper and murmur under their breath, asking:

"What is– ?"

"How many sides– ?"

"Who invented– ?"

"What year– ?"

"What book– ?"

And the answerings:

"Study of life."

"Twelve sides."

"Alexander Graham Bell."

"1851."

"On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection."

All students are very busy looking at their textbooks and netbooks, mumbling and grumbling as they try to memorize every possible lessons that might get included in their test papers. Most of them even have their eyes closed, with their lips moving in such an erratic and humorous way that they almost look like they are actually doing a silent prayer to their favorite deities, asking those cosmic beings to help them pass the exam, perhaps.

Meanwhile, the Catacutan brothers are also busy looking at their books, apparently reading.

Tesla is holding a hardback copy of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion in his left hand, his other hand gently massaging his right temple.

Hawk is reading a hardbound edition of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Newton is enjoying a paperback edition of The Case for Christ written by Lee Strobel.

Copper is gazing at an e-book version of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown on his netbook.

And Leo is browsing on his smartphone and proof-reading a story on Wattpad titled The Doombringer written by some unknown aspiring writer by the name of Galileo926.

All students and professors at Purvil High know that the Catacutan brothers are introverts. Loners, to be exact. They prefer to be left alone. The five of them. Together inside the big bubble that they mutually created, and that just adds to their charisma and mysteriousness that capture the attention and curiosity of those good people around them. Almost everybody find their seemingly closely-knitted brotherhood very sweet of them. A perfect example of brothers loving each other.

The five boys look remarkably the same: prominent forehead; light-coloured, brittle and slow-growing hair; thick lips, pointy ears, small deformed teeth, flattened bridge of the nose, and very pale complexion. They also have thin, wrinkled, and dark-colored skin around their sharp yellowish eyes.

The boys wear long sleeves and hoodies to hide their faces as well as to protect themselves from the intense heat of the sun which might instantly kill them if exposed even for a very short period of time...

The school bell blares at exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, much to all students' delight. Almost every student have these tired and sleepy looks on their faces as if they just spent the longest day of their entire life doing something that they really did not want to do in the first place. Sadly, the students' "sufferings" are not yet through, much to their amusement and dismay, for they still need to check the mountains of test papers that they brought upon themselves since those are their test papers.

It is almost five in the afternoon before the task is done.

"Newton Catacutan! Copernicus Catacutan! And Galileo Catacutan! Triplets got perfect score to all subjects... again!" Mrs. Iporac, the English Professor and class adviser of the junior class declares in front of the students. She starts clapping her hands, a smile plastering her long face as she looks at the seemingly embarrased triplets. All the students follow suit. Shrill applause floods the entire class room.

In the other room not far from where the triplets are...

"Hawking Catacutan and Tesla Catacutan! The twins got perpect scores to all subjects... again!" Mrs. Jumao-as, the Physics Professor and class adviser of the senior year declares in a high-pitched voice that echoes through out the room that would have been comical under other circumstances. The fat lady beams at the twins then claps, deeply impressed. The other students follow suit. Deafening applause floods the room and reverberates through the hallway like sonic tidal waves.

All are clapping their hands... except Deepak and Cody, who are just secretly giving the twins a murderous stare. Both are clenching their teeth and their hands balled into fists under their respective desks.

On the other room, Kirk and Nathan are also doing the same thing, although they are both clapping half-heartedly and non-commitantly as they stare at the triplets, mentally beating them to death.

These four boys hate the Catacutan brothers for as long as they can remember. No. Hate will be a such weak word to use. Despise will be a more suitable term to describe what they feel about the brothers.

They hate the fact that the Catacutan brothers are always on the limelight. Always catching everyone's attention.

And the grades! All their hard-works and studying from sunrise to sunset until late at night are still for nothing! Still unrewarded. Unappreciated. Those blood-suckers are always ahead of them. They cannot even surpass them let alone level with them in the final scorings no matter how hard they try.

Deepak, Cody, Nathan and Kirk feel cheated. They believe they are being cheated. They felt that the Catacutan brothers, those hateful vampires, are doing that on purpose. Doing it just to spite them. Stealing away the fame and popularity that are supposed to be theirs. What are rightfully theirs if not only for those spoiled brats who seem to think that they own the whole goddamn school and the world!

To add insult to injury, all the hot chicks in the school have a crush on the Catacutan brothers, not because they are good-looking boys for they are obviously not; in fact, most people in Lonely Island think that the Catacutan brothers are so hideous to look at. No. It is mainly because they are undoubtly smart boys. Girls seem to like smart boys. They find it hot and sexy. And partly because the brothers are rich. Filthy rich, in fact, that they can even buy the whole Purvil High if they want to. But that is just an understatement. The Catacutan brothers can even buy this whole goddamn island! That is how rich they are. Their fancy white mansion situated at Brainstorm Lane and their state-of-the-art robotic system are proofs enough to settle everyone's doubt and scepticism about it. And they also have a very famous eccentric scientist father who is already featured a couple of times in Forbes magazine and Popular Mechanics.

Very unfair! Those vampire doesn't deserve all those privileges.

And they must do something to stop this fuss once and for all. They must act quick.

One way or the other.

And soon!

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