Jack Of Arts

September 1, 2010 5:30 AM, Wednesday. Tayaw who just woke up, is still replaying the events of the previous night in his head. Even though the ROH Factory wasn't even half filled during his gig, it did not devalue the approval he received from the customers, Rudy, Amelie, and Chala.

Rudy, handing him 100 BGC last night, sealed the deal, and Tayaw will come back tonight for his first official gig. Amelie looked at him differently than the first time they met. Chala who initially wanted him to find another part time job, became supportive and wanted to know when else would Tayaw perform so he can watch.

Today is also his first day at Northwestern. He's excited to go to the university not to learn, but to look for the friends he made in his old life. He knows that they would not know him at all at this time, but that does not stop him from looking forward to seeing them, and hoping they would get to know each other earlier.

After taking a shower, having his breakfast, and a ten-minute walk, he finally arrived at Northwestern's stadium. What is normally used for football matches and practice is filled with Northwestern's new freshmen, some with their parents, for the school orientation.

Tayaw's attention, unlike most freshmen present, is directed at another direction. His eyes are currently darting around looking for his Percussive Corrections mates. He spotted Hoon, the future lead guitar, first, a few bleachers down from him.

Then Inson, the future bassist, sitting not far away from Hoon. He could not find the others yet. In his past life, Tayaw and his friends first met in their junior year, in their Engineering Economy class. They also shared a class in Surveying which is a class that gave them the opportunity to get closer to each other.

After the orientation, Tayaw attended his first lecture, College Algebra. He read ahead during the summer vacation, so he found a seat among the corner most section at the last row of the lecture hall seats to read anything he pleases.

The lecture hall is just as huge as he remembered and the professor spotting what he's doing is very unlikely. He basically did just as he did during the Algebra class in the rest of his lectures aside from Chemistry. He always found Chemistry difficult. Unfortunately for him, he did not share a class with any of the friends he wanted to see which made him realize that their class schedules were still the same as the one in his other life.

Tayaw chose to eat alone during the lunch break to contemplate his plans and whether or not to look for his friends now, or just go with the flow and let them all meet naturally. If he wants to look for his friends, he has to know first where they are, which currently, he has no idea. He also has to consider that his friends currently are kids who just entered college.

He has no idea of their mental states. Even if he found them all now, then what? He does not know what to do or how to proceed. Despite that, he also does not want to wait until junior year to meet them. He wants to do things differently this time. Therefore, he decided that if he meets any of his friends around the campus in passing, he will introduce himself to his friends immediately and try to make friends.

He also thinks that even though he knows what will happen to his friends in the future, he has no right to change the lives of his friends just because he wants to change his own life this time. Tayaw will still try to form the band as early as he can and help with their studies, as organically and as naturally as he can. He will not try and force anything that might change his friends as people.

While having lunch, Tayaw's phone rang with an incoming call from Chala. "Hello Tayaw. Have you had your lunch yet?" Chala greeted over the phone.

"I'm having one right now. What can I do for you, Mr. Rotala?" Tayaw said.

"Well, a few hours ago, Topaz finalized everything in the contract. They will also send you your up-front advance on your two books, so if you have time this afternoon, please check your bank account. If my calculations are right, there would be two deposits of 9800BGC and 10500BGC for the Children's version and the a.d.u.l.ts' version respectively. The 18% and 12% cut will be sent to me anytime this afternoon too." Chala said cheerfully.

"Thank you Mr. Rotala. I will spend it well." Tayaw said, also happy with the news. "You finally got your first pay! Even though there will be no more of that for some time until the first 3500 sales of each your books, I'm positive we can cross that soon." Chala said in congratulations.

"I hope so too. If you're positive, then I can only stay positive as well. You are more experienced with the trends than me, so I trust your judgment." Tayaw said.

"Well, don't trust me too much, Tayaw. Trust your books instead. Although it's a compilation of your short stories, that's also where its strength lies. Your stories will be known by children of this generation, just like you wanted." Chala said to encourage Tayaw.

"By the way, you're playing tonight right? Can you help me with something?" Chala said with a slight hesitance.

"Yes. What's up?" Tayaw asked in curiosity. "Well. Can you invite Nelly to see you perform?" Chala embarrassedly asked.

Tayaw was confused who Nelly is, and suddenly remembered "Nelly? Ms. Lei from the Writer's Guild? I thought she's married?" Tayaw isn't an idiot to not see what Chala is getting at.

"Well, she was but never really remarried.." Chala informed Tayaw.

"Mr. Rotala, as much as I would like to do you a solid here, but I only met her once. She liked my book, but that's all the impression I made on her. I don't think she will travel a 30 minute train ride from the Guild office to Zolano Street just to see me." Tayaw said not wanting to promise Chala anything.

"I see. But still give it a try, please?" Chala said not giving up.

This really subverted Tayaw's impression of Chala. He always thought that Chala, the charming, friendly, confident man, who always make good impression on others, can easily talk to girls, but this really was a surprise to him.

"I will try. But next time, talk to her yourself. It's not like you don't have good qualities to be proud of." Tayaw said relenting to Chala's request. "Hey, I can charm the ladies. It's just Nelly is different that my style isn't to her liking." Chala replied.

"Alright then. If she comes, you'll owe me." Tayaw said, finally understanding. Indeed, Ms. Lei indeed appears to be someone special.

"Okay. Hey. You're still a kid, and you already know how to collect favors. Anyway, thank you." Chala thanked Tayaw and ended the call.

3PM soon came, and Tayaw's classes are over for the day. He found an ATM machine on his walk home to check his bank account. Including the 4300 BGC he saved up, there is now 25600BGC in his account.

If he doesn't care about saving up, he can probably buy a brand new Toyota Corolla 2010 for 20000BGC if he knew where to look, or a second hand 2008 Honda Civic.

What he plans to do with his money for now though, is to look for a well-insulated studio apartment he can live at alone and practice his guitar and singing without disturbing his neighbors and saving the rest. If his book does well, he will tell his parents about him being its author and use the money he just received to pay for his tuition.

Arriving at the café where he met Chala yesterday, he found a table and ordered coffee and some snacks. He pulled out his phone and dialed Ms. Lei's office number. After a three rings, Ms. Lei picked up.

"Hello. Writer's Guild Ouigab Office, how may I help you?" Ms. Lei greeted with a business tone.

"Hello Ms. Lei, this is Tayaw. Are you free to talk for a minute or two?" Tayaw replied.

"Oh! Tayaw! Of course, it's not much to do at this hour." Ms. Lei said.

"How are you enjoying my manuscript? Have you finished reading all the stories?" Tayaw didn't immediately state his intentions.

"I like it so far. My son also asked me to read Hansel and Gretel again the other night. I have to say, your stories have a certain charm in them. So, have you found yourself an agent?" Ms. Lei asked.

"Yes Ms. Lei thanks to you, I found an agent." Tayaw said, hoping not to bring up who he hired.

"That's good. That is just a first step. The really hard part is finding a publisher for your first book. I wish you luck!" Ms. Lei said to Tayaw professionally.

"The thing is, I already signed a book deal, ma'am." Tayaw said to Ms. Lei in a sheepish voice.

"WHAT?!" On the other side of the Phone, Ms. Lei's exclamation gathered the attention of the people in the office. Ms. Lei just waved her hand as if telling them not to mind her.

"It's been only two weeks since I've seen you. Which publication signed a deal with you?" Ms. Lei said in a lower voice.

"It's Topaz Publishing." Tayaw simply replied.

"Topaz? That textbook printer company? They're finally trying out other things, huh?" Ms. Lei said with a scoff.

"Yes. They offered me a good deal and also said that my book is their gateway to expand to other types of books. How can I refuse after they said that, aside from the money?" Tayaw chuckled.

"Well. A book deal is a book deal. Congratulations then, Tayaw. I expect a copy of the book soon, with your signature in it, got it?" Ms. Lei said.

"That's actually related to the reason why I called you. I want to invite you for a celebration of my book deal. Are you by any chance free tonight?" Tayaw finally asked.

"By chance, I actually am. My son is staying with his father this week so I don't have someone to go home to tonight. Are you asking me for a date? I don't date kids, young man." Ms. Lei as she teased Tayaw a bit.

"That's good to hear. Don't worry ma'am, my agent will be there with me. It's just that I have not made friends with anyone in Ouigab yet, so there's only you and my agent I can celebrate with." Tayaw said in half-truths.

"May I know when and where this celebration will be?" Ms. Lei asked, not yet deciding to go.

"It will be at ROH Factory at Zolano Street, at East Ouigab. I hope you'll be there at 5:30PM" Tayaw replied hoping that Ms. Lei is willing to take the trip.

"Oh! I know Zolano Street! I used to hang out there when I was in college. It's only a few minute-drive from where I live. Sure, I'll meet you there." Ms. Lei finally decided to go.

"Thank you ma'am. You can also expect a small gift from me. You can call me at this number too, in case you want to ask for directions." Tayaw thanked Ms. Lei, thinking of giving her a copy of his manuscript of the a.d.u.l.ts' version of Grimm's fairytales.

After his call with Ms. Lei, Tayaw immediately called Chala. "Hey Mr. Rotala! Groom yourself well tonight!" Tayaw said and immediately hung up on Chala just for giggles.