Failure Is Unacceptable

Michelle: "Hello?"

Christine: "Michelle? Can I talk to you for a second?"

Michelle: "Sure Christine. But why are you sniffing so frequently? Let me guess."

Michelle paused for a moment to reflect, then she resumed speaking.

Michelle: "You encountered another problem in school. Is that right?"

Christine: "It's true Michelle. I'm a miserable failure."

Michelle: "Christine, don't say that."

Christine: "You don't understand. Earlier, while we were working at the photography assignment at the studio, Avril unexpectedly came to work drunk. Then she poorly assembled the lights, all of which fell and broke the bulbs on it. My project with her, Philly and Tricia..."

I paused for a moment to sniff some more tears before speaking again.

Christine: "...We all failed horribly. Now we must pay the damages. I feel terrible."

Michelle: "Christine, I feel disheartened for you and your group. But with all the damaged lights, the studio is useless. And my group is coming up next. Well, I must talk to the professor to inform her about what happened. Then I'll go back to you at the campus. Just stay and wait here, okay?"

Christine: "I'll wait. Farewell."

I hung up the phone, returned inside the campus and sat on the bench while sobbing quietly. Never before in my college life has failure crept on my veins.

But this was not the first time I let myself down in school. There had been a few occasions in which my test papers or assignments receive a fresh stamp of F on it.

I always pride on becoming an exceptional student. Any grade above 85 is very satisfactory; anything less is unacceptable.

The most dreadful part, however, is when my grades hit below 80. I always take it personally whenever a mediocre grade like that shows on my projects or tests.

Upon entering college, I genuinely seemed to hit the right notes with each class assignment or project. Up until then, my academic grades hovered between 2.0 and 4.0 which is broadly acceptable parameters for me.

But not on that very calm Friday afternoon.

As I continued weeping uncontrollably on the school bench, Philly came out to approach me. She was also teary-eyed upon her arrival.

"Christine, I'm sorry for what happened today," Philly tearfully said to me. "I know how badly you wanted to pass this project with me and Tricia. But Avril, she neglected us. Our project, poof. It disintegrated, and that was my fault."

"No, don't condemn yourself," I promptly replied as Philly sat down. "Tricia and I are equally responsible for what happened. We all failed to execute our duties properly. Everyone should have executed our parts well, and when one disappears, one of us must compensate for the loss. It's a team game, and we let ourselves down."

Philly and I tearfully embraced at the bench and continued crying. Just then, Michelle promptly made her way and comforted both of us.

"Girls, even my group failed as well," Michelle politely explained. "We can't utilize the lights anymore. Same with the others. Even Ella's group."

"It's my group's personal responsibility," I replied gloomily to Michelle. "All of us must pay for the damages we caused. And the entire lighting set costs P 100,000. We can't collect that much money."

Just as all hope was dashed, Michelle snapped her fingers and made a startling revelation in front of Philly and myself.

"Christine, I talked to the professor on the phone regarding the incident and she was initially furious about what happened," Michelle announced to us. "But in the end, it was her class' responsibility for such an incident, so she convinced the whole group to pay P 100,000 for the replacement of the lights."

"That's not good," I reacted bitterly upon hearing the news. "Then again, we had no choice."

Philly stood up and started talking to Michelle.

"We're precisely 36 in the whole class," Philly added thoughtfully while wiping tears off her eyes. "If so, each of us will have to pay P 3,000 to replace the lights, right?"

"Exactly," Michelle unanimously approved. "3,000 of our own money is not that hard to pay."

"But what about Avril?" I strongly asked while standing up. "She was the one responsible for all of it."

"Like I said, paying the damages is the responsibility of the whole class," Michelle reiterated. "Even Avril might have a hard time paying that amount."

"In any event, I'll go report Avril's case to the discipline office," Philly said reassuringly. "She not only caused extensive property damage, but also arrived under the negative influence of alcohol which is unacceptable inside this campus."

"Go for it," Michelle encouraged Philly. "This school does not tolerate the reckless and the lazy."

"What about the project itself?" I questioned Michelle on the matter.

"I asked the professor about it, and she thought about booking a studio somewhere in Makati tomorrow," Michelle replied. "Don't worry, she'll talk to me on the phone later tonight and then I'll inform you on the Facebook group page regarding the matter."

"That's encouraging," Philly commented positively on the professor's possible plan. "Except that my group only has three members now that Avril is out of the question."

"Like I said, the professor will talk to me later and then inform you on Facebook as soon as possible," Michelle repeated thoughtfully. "Just keep your lines open."

For now, as Michelle hugged Philly and myself, we were mightily relieved that our project would not be a failure. But this does not mean the project is scrapped.

Later that night, I was inside the bedroom with my laptop open. I logged on to Facebook and waited eagerly for Michelle's private message.

At 10:00 p.m., a beep emanated from my laptop. A message had been received.

Michelle wrote:

"Class, the professor notified me that she had just booked a day-long shoot at a local studio somewhere in the Makati Business District tomorrow. Everyone of us are required to come to the studio at 9:00 in the morning and assemble at the parking lot. As far as groupings are concerned, she wisely decided to abolish all of that and naturally make it a class-wide project. That's all for now. See you tomorrow."

Consider it a very encouraging news for Philly, Tricia and myself. We were all given a second chance.

And so I went to bed with the profound realization of a new opportunity. Tomorrow should be fun.