Chapter 04

Valentina's Point of View

Weeks later, the busy atmosphere was still there. Practicum, pageant practice, and dance competition practice. My body was exhausted, and I couldn't feel my arms and legs anymore from continuously walking around with 7-inch heels every day, trying to do b-boying, and walking back and forth for the practicum needs.

I looked at Nikkita, sweating, standing beside me inside the gymnasium. I handed my handkerchief, "Don't be too nervous, Nikki. We're gonna do just fine," I looked at her and gave her a thumbs-up, yet she shook her head and held out both of my shoulders, "Freya, I can't do it. We can't do it." I flicked her forehead twice and glared at her. "Of course, we can, Nikki. We are not trying to be perfect, but we won't regret it later as long as we try our best. Okay? You get it?" she nodded, so I reached out for her hand and squeezed it.

Nikki and I are inside Gymnasium B, where the practicum will be held before selling the food starts. It is still 7:45 a.m, and a few of our classmates are here already. Maybe they were as nervous as the both of us, so they decided to go to the venue earlier than the said time. A couple of minutes later, Kayline and Kendra entered the gymnasium with several men behind them, holding out large paper bags. Whispers filled the room, some of those were gossip, and some were praises, "What do you think is that?" Nikki squeezed my hand, so I looked at her and shrugged.

"What are you gossiping about, Amore? Are you jealous of us?" Kayline stopped before us and looked at me while raising her eyebrows. I looked at her head to toe and smiled, "Wake up, Kayline! Are you dreaming? Stop thinking that all of the people are talking about you. Are you a celebrity?" I asked her, which made her cover her mouth and roll her eyes. Kayline dragged Kendra away from us and walked to the other side of the gymnasium.

People start entering the gymnasium since some students are allowed to watch our practicum inside the gymnasium. Most of them are players of sports since they are excluded from remaining classes before the University Week starts. A group of baseball players entered the gymnasium, holding out a banner, "Oh, it's your name, right, Val? Valentina Amore, ace your practicum. XoXo from your fans club," I glared at Nikki, but she shrugged and laughed at my reaction. I released Nikki's hand and walked in their direction, "Hi," I greeted them, looking at them one by one. "She's Valentina? Wow, bro. She's pretty. I didn't know Sajan likes a hot chick like this," a guy looks at his teammates, which agree with him. "Hotter and prettier than the KKK's," they laughed about it, not minding me in front of them. So this was Sajan's plan. Sajan was one of the varsity baseball players in our school. I've known him since he's the one who helped me when I cramped my legs while practicing on the field where they play.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them without hesitation. They looked at each other, trying to point out who's gonna answer my question, "I brought them with me, Valentina. Is that fine with you?" I looked where the voice came from, and it was from Sajan, raising a bottle of water with lemon juice and handing it to me. The players started nodding continuously, which made me chuckle, "Sure. But please, don't shout later, okay?" They positioned their hands like they were following some kind of chief. Someone cleared out her throat. It was Nikkita, so I turned my back and looked at her, giving me the 'explain what is happening' look. "Oh, before anything else, this is Nikkita, my best friend. Nikkita, this is Sajan, captain of the baseball team," Nikkita just nodded at him and looked back at me— looks like she got that attitude for me.

"The practicum will start in 5 minutes. Please prepare your dishes," Agapius is Mr. Luxus' assistant standing at the gymnasium stage. I smiled at Sajan, "Good luck, Val," he smiled back and pushed his team to sit at one of the bleachers for the audience. I held out Nikki's hand and dragged her to our table.

Nikki and I began to put up the sample dishes we had prepared for the practicum. Our containers are well plated on different plates so that they can see the uniqueness of each of the food for our training. Nikki and I looked at each other when we were satisfied with the food we had put up on the table. I reached for Nikki's hand and squeezed it, "Don't be nervous, Freya." Nikki said that made me chuckle, "Says who is sweating," we laughed.

Mr. Luxus appeared on the stage with Mrs. Primrose, Clint, and Cion. A pair of eyes are fixed on me, and I feel that Cion's eyes' are melting my whole body— not in a way that I am in love with him, but he really knows how to make me uncomfortable. Mr. Luxus received the microphone for Aga, "Good morning, students. You're early here, huh? Are you really excited about the practicum?" he chuckled and looked at each of us. "Before we start, let me introduce our dear judges. Mrs. Primrose, our beloved Head Mistress," Mr. Luxus introduced Mrs. Primrose as she waved her hand and smiled, "Mr. Clint Avenir, one of the stockholders of the university," Clint smiled and looked at me, assuring me that everything would be fine. "And Mr. Cion Querer, our Student Council President," I tried to dwell my sight on our dishes instead of looking at Cion.

"Earlier, we had draw-lots for the placements of groups presenting first. Yet, Kayline and Kendra offered to be the first ones," Kayline and Kendra giggled as they whispered to each other, maybe praising how good they could be. "For the second one, we have the Treats and Tricks, followed by Delicious Cave, Meal Wellbeing, Meal Turbo, Fifth Infusion..." I looked at Nikkita when I heard our group name, Fifth Infusion. "So we're at sixth out of the thirteenth, right?" I nodded and grabbed a small notepad on the uniform we both decided to wear for the practicum. "What are you doing?" she asked, looking at me and the pad in my hand, "Getting ready for the battle, of course," I gave her a big sweet smile that made her squeal.

"You're really cool, Freya. I'm a big fan," Nikkita chuckled, making me laugh. Mr. Luxus called out for the attention of Kayline and Kendra to go on to the platform, "Hi! We're the Prettygenix, offering you a meal that will make your heart shatter into pieces," Kendra and Kayline giggled. "For our appetizer, we have the bacon-wrapped shrimp. These are sweet, savory, salty, crunchy, and delicious and are good as starters." Kendra introduced their appetizer, so I looked at the judges eyeing the bacon-wrapped shrimp. Mrs. Primrose pushed the plate away from her table, shaking her head.

"Is Mrs. Primrose vegetarian?" Nikkita asked as she as well observing Mrs. Primrose. I shrugged, "Maybe," I hid my smile when I remembered that we spent a week not sleeping so that we could just adjust our meals for the vegetarians and non-meat eaters. "Our side dish is shoestring fries; it is a super-thin and crispy potato," Kayline then introduced their side dishes.

Minutes later, Kayline and Kendra's group got a 9.3/10 from the three judges and an 8.4 from Mr. Luxus. As they went down the stage, they blamed each other for not getting a perfect 10. The practicum came by, and now it's our group's turn. "Fifth Infusion, please head to the platform. You have 5 minutes to prepare your dishes," Nikki and I looked at each other and nodded, "We can do this, Freya," I smiled and held out the other large paper bag. We gave each of the judges a rounded lunch box and an insulated vacuum flask bottle.

I heard murmurs from my other classmates, but I didn't mind them; it's our business to take care of. "You can now start." Mr. Luxus commanded us, so Nikki and I stood on the platform, with a table in front of us, and placed an extra rounded lunch box and an insulated vacuum flask. I received the microphone from Agapius and smiled, "You might be wondering why our group has this mere lunchbox and a vacuum flask." I smiled at them, "Well, the only objective of this practicum is to have a desirable dish, and having food in a lunchbox is desirable as long as it can satisfy your hunger," I started off with Nikki. I know they might wonder about ours since we decided to put it up in a scenario like this.

"First off, we have the roasted baby potatoes with pesto, which we have as a side dish. Our lunch box also offers summer rolls with dipping sauce as an appetizer. The summer rolls are made out of vegetables, and the dipping sauce is from fresh mangoes. The bomb of the lunch box is the mushroom risotto, which serves as the main dish for our lunch box," I stopped talking and looked at the judges and Mr. Luxus, who were eating our lunchbox. I give the microphone to Nikki, but she shakes her head, "I can't do it, Freya. Can you finish it?" Nikki is manipulating the camera we put up together with the projector so that others can see the meal that we've prepared. I nodded at her, "Lastly, we have creamy butternut squash pudding for dessert." I returned to the platform beside Nikki, waiting for the judges to finish eating.

Mrs. Primrose looked our way as she finished wiping the side of her mouth, "Fifth Infusion, if I am not mistaken. What's the connection of your group name to your food?" Nikki held out the microphone from my hand, making me smile; this was her time to shine. "We all know that infusion means an inward flow that helps fill something, and that something is your stomach. We have four meals that we've prepared, yet to have the 'infusion,' you need to drink something up to have that 'flow' to fill in completely in your stomach," she explained, looking at Mrs. Primrose, who is beyond impressed at the explanation she prepared for such question. "And that is inside the vacuum flask; you can open it now. It's a lemon ginger kombucha. Our group altered some of its ingredients. Also, it can be enjoyed as a hot or cold drink," Nikki and I looked at the judges, drinking the kombucha that we tried to experiment with.

I heard a clap and a loud roar from the bleachers, "You are amazing, Nikki!", "Go Fifth Infusion. We're gonna buy all of your food" "You rock, Valentina," Nikki and I laughed when I saw some bats sway continuously like a lightstick in the air, yet Agapius scolded them not to do that.

"Thank you, Fifth Infusion. Now, for your scores," the scores flashed from the judge's screen, including Mr. Luxus'. He gave a 9.7 and smiled at us. Mrs. Primrose gave us a 10 and gave us a small clap. Clint, giving us a thumbs up while pressing the button, gave us a score of 10. I saw Cion glance at me before pressing the button and revealing an 8.7. Boos and shouts from the bleachers can be heard, definitely from Sajan's group.

"You can now go out and prepare for the afternoon activity," Nikki and I bowed down and uttered a simple thank you; I glanced at Cion and immediately rolled my eyes when I felt his eyes fixate on me. Sajan's group began to walk down the bleachers to come with us out of the gymnasium. "You did great, Valentina." Sajan acknowledged me. I smiled, "We just did our best, Sajan. Thank you and your support, too," I held out the paper bag in my hand, yet he immediately grabbed it. Sajan's teammate retrieved the paper bag she was holding from Nikki's hand. "We're not disabled, are we?" Nikki and I started walking away from the gymnasium with the other baseball players.

I can't stop thinking about Cion. Does Cion really hate me for meddling with things?