Array
(
[text] =>

Chapter 7

Daniel's P.O.V

"You know the rules eh? Now, who would like to speak first?" Prof. Landon asked from the vacant table on the side of the room.

"I can start if Angelo wants me to." I offered.

"Yes, you can speak first." Angelo replied. He was standing confidently on his spot facing towards me.

"Thank you." I answered. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, my name is Daniel Bradley. I am standing here in front of you today to prove that having knowledge is more essential than money. I strongly believe that knowledge is the technology that rules the world, so the knowledge is more important than the money. The money comes and goes. However, knowledge remains with the person. He can utilizes it in later life and earn money out of it. Therefore a person has to entrust his time to earn knowledge in his growing age rather than spending time on the earning of money." I finished.

I held my right hand towards Angelo to let him know that it was his turn to speak.

"Good day..." He started. "It is my pleasure to stand in front of you today to learn the value of money over knowledge. My name is Angelo Grande, and I stand for money. Mr. Bradley, I have a question for you." He cocked his head towards me.

I nodded.

"Would you agree with me if I say that life is all about survival?" he asked.

"Yes. I agree." I confirmed.

"Thank you Mr. Bradley. That would be all for my first statement." He looked back at the class and waited for me to speak up again.

Everyone got confused from Angelo's statement but no one dared to interject. I shrugged then faced the class.

"As you said Angelo, life is all about survival. And I completely agree with it. That just proves that knowledge serves the best purpose in life over money. Knowledge is the natural possession of an individual to survive. Even from the very start, knowledge was the one who led our ancestors to cope within society to survive. And they didn't even have any money back then." I heard the class whispering to each other and some other were agreeing with me by nodding.

"Mr. Bradley, on the scale of 1-10, how do you need money?" he deadpanned.

I was taken aback from his question but I remained cool. "I say 10." I said. Considering that I have a kid to feed and school fee to pay, I should have said 15 to express how I really need money from that moment. However, I had to defend my account to win the fight.

"Very well Mr. Bradley. That would be all." His face was blank and it's hard to guess what he was thinking.

I coughed. I was actually surprised by his statements which doesn't made sense. It didn't even contradict my views. Well, I couldn't complain though because from the very start, this was a one sided argument and it was in favour of me.

"I do need money, yes. But I rather choose knowledge over it. Through knowledge, you can help and save a lot of people by giving them an inspiration to learn different things. It's not all about money. Knowledge makes money. As the saying goes, teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime ... unless, of course, he doesn't like sushi -- then you also need to teach him how to cook." I grinned.

The class resonated into fits of laughter. Professor Landon was shaking his head with a slight grin on his face.

Angelo giggled. "That was a good humour Mr. Bradley. I'm impressed." He said. I winked at him then his face suddenly went red. Was that a blush? He was blushing!

"However, I'd like to clarify a thing that you said." The class turned silent once again. His expression changed from pleased to serious. "You said you can save a lot of people by knowledge." I nodded. " I believe that is true. You can save people's lives; however, you cannot save them from life. Life is full of struggles. And most of the time, money plays the big role to loosen up those struggles of life." He trailed off.

The whole class turned into whispering cicada from Angelo's statement. Some others nodded and other looked like they were in a deep thinking. And so did I.

"Okay guys; please give us your final remarks for this argument. Please be reminded that the outcome of this debate will be affected by your last statement." Professor Landon instructed Angelo and me.

"For my final statement, I conclude that knowledge bears the success in everybody's life. It won't perish like money and by utilizing knowledge; we can create unimaginable things that money can't provide. Thank you." I finished off. The class applauded and Alex sounded his signature whistle.

"Thank you Daniel. Now, for Mr. Grande's final statement, shall we hear it please?" Prof. Landon told the class to settle down and listen to Angelo. Everybody turned to look at Angelo, including me.

"For my final remarks, I strongly believe that money is essential more than knowledge. Mr. Bradley agreed that life is all about survival. I don't mean to be rude, but for the sake of the argument, I have to say this. People often choose the things that they don't have. I am positively sure that I have this..." he said pointing his right index finger on his temple. "...same as am sure that I don't have money." The class sniggered. " I believe that whether you have a wide or narrow knowledge, you can still survive the life. As Mr. Bradley said, it is a natural gift and will not perish. But without money, considering the present state of the society, you cannot survive a whole life. That being said, would you tell me Mr. Bradley that you've chose knowledge over money because you don't have it in the first place? Think about it. That would be all. Thank you." He finished.

The whole class had their 'ohhhhhhh's' after Angelo's final statement. Other's whispered the word 'burn' and I had to look the class to find the culprit. Everybody was looking at Angelo with an amused expression including my best friend and the professor.

Angelo and I was still standing in front of the class until the professor stood between us. My face was tomato red from some unknown reason. I couldn't believe that Angelo remained cool all the time and the fact that he had opposed me using his simple statements.

"Okay class for the verdict. From Angelo and Daniel's view, which is more essential: Knowledge or Money?" the professor asked the class to decide.

It took 3 minutes for the class to make the verdict. When Joshua, the nerdy guy who was always sitting in front, took the decision written in a piece of paper and brought it to Prof. Landon, everybody's regular breathing seemed like had subsided.

"The whole class has decided..." Prof. Landon started after taking the piece of paper from Joshua.

I was getting antsy to hear the class' decision even if I know that I was the one who won the debate. It's just that I love hearing the glorious declaration of victory.

"...The class is in favour of..." I looked over Angelo and flashed him a victory smile.

"Angelo!" Prof. Landon announced.

My smirked was gone in an instant and was replaced by confusion.

Everybody congratulated Angelo, who was by the way, couldn't believe about the class' decision.

I for one couldn't believe it as well. I was betrayed by my classmates.

"I'm sure there has been some mistake. Guys?" I looked towards the class with my puppy dog eyes, hoping that they'll admit that they were just messing up with me.

"Just accept it mate, Angelo just beat you! You just finally found your nemesis!" Kyle, the big chubby man snorted.

I looked up at Prof. Landon as if to ask for some explanation. He seemed to read what was on mind and so he ordered the class to settle down once again and hear him out.

"The class has chosen Angelo's side for the reason that he proved money is better to have than knowledge. This was supported by his statement, I quote..." he said, scanning the sinful decision paper on his hands. "People often choose the things that they don't have. Now the class had determined that they have natural knowledge within themselves, and money is what they needed the most. Thus, choosing money which is Angelo's side." He remarked.

The class seemed satisfied with the outcome. Everyone was very pleased that someone had finally defeated me in my own game.

Angelo walked back to his seat on the back after a moment of his victory. I trotted to his seat and seated next to him. The whole class was by then busy chatting about what just happened. I heard some girls comparing their boobs with Scarlet Johansson. The guys were discussing about Transformers and how they had to endure their bladder before the movie finished for almost 3 hours.

As I told Angelo before, everyone's been back to their old selves and was friends with each other again. And those who decided to make a scene and walked out just after their turn, they went back to class when it was Angelo and I's turn. That also gave me an idea that they were just waiting to watch my fall down. Traitors.

Speaking of Angelo, he was dazing off while looking outside the window. No one seemed to notice us so I took that chance to talk to him.

"Hey Angelo, congratulations. That was the greatest debate I ever had." I mused, taking his attention to me. My heart rate started to increase when I saw his eyes instantly turned from chocolate brown to shiny pearl-like-black.

I gasped.

"What's the problem? Is there something in my face?" he asked worriedly.

"No, there's nothing on your face. It's more like on your eyes..." I responded.

He looked confused.

I leaned in just mere inches away from his face so that I can properly look at his dark eyes.

"Your eyes...." I leaned closer to his eye level. My eyes were looking through his dark orbs. "It's no ordinary, they're pure black." I trailed off.

He quickly turned his face away from but I didn't miss the terror that suddenly clouded his expression.

"Bloody hell" he whispered. He fished out his Iphone 5 and turned the front face camera on. He looked at own eyes. He was more than surprise that I was.

Angelo quickly searched for his aviator inside his bag. He wore as soon as he found it and left the class running.

"Dude! I need help!" I screamed over Alex; who was talking to a group of boys about the Transformer. He was a fanatic of it.

I quickly ran after Angelo with Alex trailing behind me. What I saw next had my blood boiling as hot as molten magma.

Angelo was trying to break through Derek's grip. His back was facing my direction. I was about to attack Derek when I heard Angelo spoke.

"Let.Me.Go." I froze on the spot. His voice was firm and authoritative. As if he was born to command all living things.

Alex tapped my shoulder. He had a confused looked on his face. I supposed he didn't hear Angelo telling Derek to let him go.

"What's happening..." he was cut off when he saw Derek leaning closer to Angelo's face. "Well, this is quite a show. The sperm supplier has finally showed up." He shrugged.

"Shut up would you. Let's just help Angelo to get away from his dirty hands." I snapped.

I was about to jumped in towards Derek to punch his erotic kinky squalid face when Alex pulled me back to my spot where we were hiding. "Dude, calm down!" he whispered yelled.

"How am I gonna calm down if he's hitting on my guy?" I said abruptly.

Alex pursed his lips and quirked his eyebrow. "YOUR guy? He doesn't even remember your first name. All he knows about you is your last name. And in case you haven't known yet, he is not yours."

I then realized what I said.  I frowned. All I want to do is to take away Angelo from Derek's filthy hands.

"Mate, Angelo can handle Derek. That guy has sharp fangs and claws. Believe me." He told me grinning. "Just wait."

Derek tightened his grip in Angelo's and that made me want to kill the whore right on the spot.

"Well, well. Look what we have here." Derek said, leaning closer to Angelo.

"Get your hands off me!" Angelo shouted.

"Feisty. I like it." The whore god remarked.

"Who are you? I need to go now." Angelo keeps struggling to get off Derek's grasp.

"Now now cutie, unless you tell me your name, I won't let you go!" Now this whore was ticking my nerves off.

Derek lifted up his left hand to take off Angelo's sunglasses. "Let's see those beautiful eyes cutie."

The place suddenly felt silent. Only my heartbeat was all I can hear. I looked toward Angelo's direction only to find a paled face Derek.

He was staring right through Angelo. His face was pale and he just froze right where he was standing.

"Now. Let. Me. Go." Angelo told Derek. The venom on each word was leaking.

Derek released Angelo's arm. His face was still pale as if all the blood was drained out from his face.

Angelo hurried to get away from Derek. He pressed the elevator button. After a couple of seconds, the elevator door open and Angelo came in. He pressed the close button until he disappeared from our sight.

"Dude, what happened to Derek?" Alex asked, confusion written on his face.

"I guess, he just had a taste of Angelo's fangs and claws." I trailed off, looking towards the still paled and shaken Derek.

"Bother! I forgot to give back his hanky." I fished out Angelo's hanky from my pocket.

"That means, there's a reason to talk to him next time." Alex replied, patting my shoulder.

"Now, I'm excited to get home and tell my little Jared that I found an angel." I said, grinning excitedly.

[text_hash] => cc114440
)