20: The Great Pretenders part 2

Ashmille left the school early while Drino stayed.

“Hey, man,” Terryl hi-fived Drino. “What’re you up to lately?”

“Nothing much worth mentioning. Why? How about you guys? I haven’t heard from you.”

“Says the one who has no time for us,” Terryl scoffed.

“Pardon me, I haven’t had much time to go with you guys. Last year was the most stressful year.”

“But we still make time for a couple of drinks.”

“Ugh,” he sighed heavily. “In one more month, I’ll get the drink that I deserve!”

“As you should. Your bloated eye bags deserve a shot.” He pointed at Drino’s eyes and laughed.

Drino touched both of his eyebags. “They’re that bad?”

“Not as bad as your shape, but yeah.”

“Recently, I travel weekly to the province every weekend to work with my programmer. I’m making sure that the app is as seamless as it can be.”

“Good to hear that you’re doing well with it despite your lack of rest and lack of drink.”

“How’s your thesis doing?”

"Since I’m kinda the unofficial leader, we usually hang out at my place for the first few months. We soon realized we never actually get stuff done right because I keep distracting everyone with my pets, my playful little cousins, or video games. So Anthasia stepped up and said we should do it at her place. Jeron’s cool with that, and he waits around for someone to give him a task. We had a bunch of back-and-forth debates about random ideas. There were three different spots suggested. In the end, we just played a board game, and whoever won got their idea picked. Jeron won. His idea was actually solid—accessible and convenient for all of us to get to. The funniest part? Anthasia got stuck with the part of the thesis nobody wanted to do because she placed last in the board game," he chortled.

“Jeron is having a good time.”

“But for sure you wouldn’t want to be in our thesis group if you aim for high grades.”

“Yeah, hahaha!”

“Savi and her group sometimes drop by at our house to ask for help whenever we have a group meeting there. Her group is more hopeless than ours.”

“Oh, poor Savi.”

“They tend to have a lover’s quarrel a lot, especially Anjoe is slacking off with his friend.”

Drino smirked. “You guys always make things fun.”

“You’re not having fun with yours?”

“I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that… I miss hanging out with you all.”

“You might look weary, but I can tell you’re enjoying yourself way more than before.”

“Really?”

“It must be because of your research pal. The current girl you’re always with.”

“Ashmille?”

“Yeah”

“I admit, she contributed a lot to my maturity. She’s not even my official thesis mate, but we’re like thesis buddies for helping each other out.”

“And you’re spending more time with her than us.”

“Just like how I did with my programmer.”

“Indeed. You’ve left us for the two of ‘em. Your circle is now the nerdy peeps,” he snickered.

“They may seem nerdy, but I learned a lot from them. And none can replace you guys, so stop sulking.”

“Speaking of sulking, it might not look like it, but Anthasia is worried about you.”

“How is she?”

“She might not approach you the same way as before, but she misses you so much.”

"I miss you all as well. I will make up to all of you, especially to Anthasia. I know that she really cares for me, that’s why she acted that way. But this is my way of getting out of my comfort zone. And so far, I am not regretting it even though it was way harder than expected. I underestimated the challenges I encountered, that’s true. Yet, I am glad I did all of this, for a change. I hope you guys are all doing better even without me, but I guess it’s a no?”

“We’re definitely doing way worse without you, dude!”

They both laughed.

“Seems like it. Feel free to drop by at my house after our thesis defense.”

“I won’t pass up your invitation.”

“It’s been a few months since I truly committed myself to my studies," he said with a soft laugh. "I never thought I’d take my acads seriously. Who would have guessed that I am this eager to graduate on time and achieve high grades in this major that I hadn’t paid much attention to before?”

“You’ve become mature.”

“I feel that as well. And I think it’s a good thing.”

“On second thought, we’re a bad influence on you,” Terryl snickered.

“How come?”

“Because you’re doing better without us. It’s like I’m talking to a grown-up and study first version of Drino.”

“Don’t say that. I’m still the old silly Drino you’ve known since high school.”

“Anyway, we won’t be bothering you for a while till you get a passing grade on your thesis and graduate.”

He smirked. “I appreciate it.”

“We will visit a bar tonight that Anjoe’s relatives own. I’ll meet up with them at 6. Do you wanna come?”

“I’ll pass on that. Next time, after our thesis defense, for sure. I promise.”

“I was certain you would decline.”

“Thanks for the invite.”

“Aight. I’ll go ahead. See you tomorrow and good luck!”

“Same with you.”

They bumped their fists.

“Don’t get too drunk! You’re supposed to drink after the defense, not before,” Drino called him out.

“A quick snack or two, then I’ll be on my way home.”

“I don’t trust you with that.”

“You’ll see me tomorrow, then judge me,” Terryl smirked.

“Take care and all the best tomorrow. Don’t let your members down, group leader!”

“Watch our presentation so you’ll see!”

***

The day that all senior psychology students are nervous has come.

“As discussed, several months before your final thesis defense, we drew random names to assign presentation slots. We have 8 groups in this class. Each group may have a different set of jurors. You have a maximum of 45 minutes to present. It is advised that you arrive in your assigned classrooms 15 minutes earlier so you can set up your slide deck and your resource materials. Lunch time is 12:00 NN-1:00 PM. During those hours, the jurors will take their break. Kindly prepare some refreshments for your panelists, too.” Professor Montey concluded. “For the first presenter, it is Terryl’s group in room B at 10:00 AM.”

“Yes, Sir,” Savi says, seeming uneasy. They looked not ready for this, yet they were the first group to present.

“The second group presenter will proceed in room A at 11:00 AM.”

The next group noted what their professor announced.

“The third presenter is Ashmille Feder. You’ll be designated in room B at 11:00 AM. The fourth is Alejandrino Montezales in room A at 1:00 PM.”

“Why at 1:00 PM, Sir? Am I not supposed to do it at the same time as Ashmille’s time, but in a different room?” Drino asked.

“A group of students who are also conducting their presentation have booked the room for that time for an hour. So, your time slot has been moved. The same goes for the groups who will present after you.”

“Got it, Sir. Thanks.”

“Fifth group in room B at 1:00 PM. Sixth group in room A at 2:00 PM.”

“Sir?” Terryl spoke.

“Yes?”

“The sixth group who will present would be us, right?”

“Where were you when we discussed this?”

“Sorry, Sir, hehe. I forgot.”

“Yes, it’s your group with Anthasia and Jeron. You might have forgotten your groupmates, too.” Some of their classmates laughed. “The seventh group will be in room B at 2:00 PM, and the last group in room A at 3:00 PM.”

“I have a concern, Sir,” Terryl interrupted.

“Do tell us.”

“Our group would like to volunteer to be the first presenter in place of Savi’s group.”

“What are you saying?!” Anthasia confounded.

“I don’t want to present first,” Jeron complained.

“And Savi’s group would be okay with that?” The professor followed up.

“Yes, yes, Sir!” Savi exclaimed with delight.

“Terryl’s group and Savi’s group have switched in time slots. If you need a last-minute consultation with me, I will be in the faculty room. Best of luck to everyone!”

The professor returned to the faculty room, and the students dispersed.

“You’re unbelievably stupid! We only have less than an hour left. We’re not yet ready for this.” Anthasia scolded Terryl.

“You’re digging our own graves,” Jeron added.

“Excuse me,” Drino excused himself and went out of the classroom after the meeting adjourned.

“Where you goin’, dude?” Terryl asked him.

“I forgot my flash drive where my slide presentation is saved.”

“You didn’t save it in cloud storage?” Anthasia probed.

“I did. But it was not the updated one. Gotta go home and be back before my time.”

“Watch our presentation first. Ashmille’s going to watch, too.”

“Okay, I’ll stay for an hour,” Drino took a seat at the back corner of the classroom.

“He looks tired,” Anthasia whispered while preparing their slide presentation.

“As he should be. He did his thesis on his own.” Jeron commented. “Thank goodness I teamed up with you. I might be dead by now if I didn’t.”

“You got extremely lucky, while it was unfortunate for Drino and me.” Anthasia rolled her eyes.

“Come on. Still bitter about it? I’ve been a good groupmate, haven’t I?” he looked at Terryl for validation.

“You can continue your fight after the presentation, alright? We shall begin,” Terryl interrupted them. “Savi, y’all watch us too?”

“Of course! We gotta learn from the experts,” Savi affirmed.

They begin preparing their defense. Not long after, their 3 panelists arrived, and they started their thesis defense. 35 minutes later, they were officially done with it and passed.

“Congrats, man. You all did it!” Drino congratulated them.

“We barely did. At least, we got the above passing score. Don’t forget our drinks after this.”

“Alright,”

“You might forget your flash drive.”

“Oh, yeah. Gotta run.” He checked the time on his phone. “See you in a bit.”

Drino left the room to claim what he had forgotten to bring.

“Hey, Te-” Anthasia got interrupted.

“Thank you for waiting and watching our thesis presentation.” Terryl approached Ashmille, who was sitting. “I invited you because I want you to see our efforts for this to be done.”

“Thanks for the invite. I didn’t expect it. I’ve been planning to watch some of the group’s presentations while waiting for my turn. I found your topic challenging, but your good selection of interviewees to support your hypothesis made me like your study more.”

“I like you, too.”

She raised her eyebrows, looking confused whether she heard him right.

Terryl nodded. “Yes, Ashmille. I like you.”