Sometimes, karma is a beast.

“Hahaha! Mga yagit!”

Three girls from an elite elementary school in Zamboanga City (Pilar or Ateneo, I couldn’t remember – all I knew was that they had clean, spotless blue uniforms) said these words to us during a working break at the Regional Science Spelling Bee in 2005 or 2006.

I would only know later on in my life that they were among the elite schools in Zamboanga.

“Boble ya kamo, mga bobo,” they continued – Well, if we were as dumb as they claimed, how come we reached the final round of that language competition?

My friend and I certainly didn’t look like rubbish, even though we came from a public school. Maybe I didn’t look handsome and dashing, but I was sure that I didn’t look like a beggar.

Well, we are sure that karma is a beast, but we also knew that we had to take some part of it into our own hands.

Since the rules of propriety and common decency required us not to talk back and fight girls or hurl insults about their physical appearance, we decided to fight back in some other way.

At the top of the bleachers in the Don Pablo Lorenzo Memorial High School (DPLMHS – just another typically crowded public school) gymnasium, there was a case of packed iced water that was free for everyone to take.

“Buta ta ice water canila,” I told my friend. The highest point of the bleachers was situated 20-30 meters above; that should make for a great splashdown.

“Niya, dali,” he replied. He was also excited to do this.

We went up there and drank from a couple of plastic packs, while scanning our eyes for the Tres Marias who bullied us.

Finally, they were walking in the footpath below, holding hands together and talking about things that we would never even dream of in our lives.

So sweet. Hmmmp. Time to make them cry, I thought.

At the count of three, my friend and I dropped two dozen packs of iced water on the unsuspecting girls below.

The water-filled packs exploded like balloons on their heads, completely soaking them in water. Meanwhile, the several packs that it the sand also exploded, hurling sand towards the girls below.

We walked away from the case as quickly as we could. Given the fact that there were many who looked like us, we could easily mix into the crowd.

Before the start of the second round of the competition in the afternoon, we heard the following announcement on the public address (PA) system:

There is a complaint about someone dropping ice water on their students. Please be honest and talk to their coaches to apologize. Thank you.

Of course, we were not going to turn ourselves in. Besides, they have no way of enforcing that rule, for all the CCTV cameras in the gymnasium were not working – we knew that for a fact as we roamed around the bleachers and saw the empty security room.

After half an hour of waiting, the main round for the quiz bowl started. There were 15 words to be spelled, such as hippopotamus, Mississippi, and aardvark, among the other mind-numbing items that they threw at us on that afternoon.

Especially this one: This refers to a small swan. Cygnet.

I spelled on my paper…c-y-g-n-e-t…

After an hour of torture, it was finally over. It was time to wait for the results.

Little did we know that we’d get another chance to avenge that insult later in the afternoon, when they announced the overall results of the competition.

I ended up getting a silver medal for my overall performance, as well as a GOLD MEDAL for grabbing the top spot in my respective category (I forgot the name, lol).

Meanwhile, the girls who threw insults at us had to go home with bronze medals and certificates of participation. Hah.

How do they say it? Karma is a spicy girl? Karma is a beast?

It was one of my sweetest moments indeed. Heh.