“You could try looking for a bucket of fish to befriend. Unless you’re looking for a fight. I won’t back down. Now go annoy someone else. I’m a little busy right now. Are you waiting for me to drag you out by the hair? I wouldn’t mind since it would be good exercise for me. No matter where you go, Daniela, you’ll never earn people’s respect. The only exception… would be hell.”
Daniela traded some words with Hector over hounding the Bartolomes by orchestrating Jude’s dëäth and taking the car shop away from Carlos. Hector reminded her that they were both accountable for Jude’s dëäth, and he had already told her what he wanted in exchange for the car shop. Danny girl tried talking him into giving in, all to no avail.
“I made my decision,” Hector said. “We go out on a date tonight, then you can have your car shop back.
Leon’s assistant started bombarding him with questions about the broken jars, and his reasons for moving out of his old house since he already lived so close to the shop. “Did you meet someone there? Is she cute? If she’s got another cute friend, can you…”
Leon gave the guy a look, shutting him up. “We need to bring in new customers. I’ll do something about the broken jars. Just round up the ones we can use.”
“Okay, boss.”
Neil and Bonita told Romina about the show Daniela had put up at Camila. They both had thoughts of resigning, but Jepoy and Mina counseled them to stay put until they found new jobs. Neil then asked his sister about her application, and Romina flashed back to the incident earlier with Leon.
“I got the job!” Romina squealed, and they all congratulated her.
“Why’d you frown then?” Neill asked.
“Oh, nothing. I just remembered something bad. But let’s not worry about that. At least, I’m employed again.”
“Yah. I can finally resign,” Neil commented playfully.
Romina promised to get them into the company once things went well. A maid came to ask Carlos for money to pay the bills and go grocery shopping. Nanny Esther looked on as Carlos dipped into his wallet and gave the woman some cash, promising to give her the rest later once he went to redraw some money.
Esther pulled the maid aside and told her to consult Daniela next time for the bills and expenses, and not bother Carlos since he had already spent a lot on his brother’s funeral. Carlos eavesdropped. He soon had a call from Gino, telling him about Hector reporting their father to the police.
On the drive home from school, Cassie told Kristoff about how she was disheartened because the new girls at Maxwell Integrated didn’t like her. Kristoff gave her a motivational talk and commended her on how nice she was. He then offered to walk her home but Cassie declined and got out of the cab.
A second later, a guy snatched her bag and ran off and Cassie gave chase. She eventually cornered him at a storage house and struggled for it, breaking some glass jars in the process. Leon walked in on the scene.
“What are you two doing here?”
Leon noticed the broken jars on the floor and subdued the thief as he tried to run off. Cassie explained the situation and Leon made the guy return her bag. He then called out for Felix (his assistant) to take him to the police station. Cassie thanked Leon and promised to pay for the jars she had broken. Mini-Daniela arrived home with a whole lot of shopping bags.
Carlos asked what was with them, and Mini-Daniela said she had gone shopping to blow off some steam since she had had a bad day. Carlos brought up the other unused stuff she had lying around, and Marga ranted on about what her followers would say if she used the same thing twice. Carlos tried talking some sense into her, but the brat only got upset, spouted some crap and actually walked out on her father.
Cassie told her mother about how she had accidentally broken some jars at a storage house, and her intention of paying back the owner with her savings. Romina then told her about the job she had acquired and gave her some money to use instead. Cassie decided to set that aside while she used her own money. During dinner at the mansion, Carlos looked on in glorious wonder as Marga ranted on about how Cassie was now in the Maxwell foundation school, with Danny girl egging her on.
Mini-Daniela spouted some more crap before leaving for school. Carlos was appalled at the diabolical morals his dearest wife was instilling in their daughter. He argued with her for not telling him about his father being at the police station. Daniela then told him that she had gotten the chance to talk to Hector there and they had made a deal so he could get back his car shop.
“Don’t worry, I’ll pay you back,” Carlos shot. “Since that’s all you really care about.”
Hector made a phone call and instructed the person on the other line to ready the deed of the car shop and return it to it’s owner. Alvin was appalled at his brother’s decision to give the car shop back in exchange for a random date with Daniela.
“What I want is Daniela herself,” Hector said. “The closer I get to her, the better things will be.”
“You’re a goner. You’ve got it really bad for that nutjob.”
Romina asked some neighbors about where she could get some jars to buy, and they told her about the new grumpy, good-looking guy who sold all kinds of jars in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Cassie told her uncle about the incident with the broken jars and Neil cautioned her to be careful.
Cassie decided not to spend too much of her allowance so she could help with their daily expenses, but Neil told her to focus on her studies while he and her mom handled the rest. Daniela discussed with Savannah about the deal she had had with Hector. Savvy cautioned Daniela to be careful since Hector could have a hidden agenda. Danny girl said she was born ready. They then talked about the work in Camila.
“Can we accomodate everything?” Savvy asked. “You accept too many offers.”
“Our workers have no choice but to beat the deadline. I am the boss and everyone in this company has to follow what I say, or else, they can go work somewhere else.”
Romina had a phone call from an employee at SikaTuna, telling her that she was needed in the office because they had a problem. Leon looked on as Mina hurried away.
“Danny, we have a bigger problem,” Savannah said back in Daniela’s office as soon as she came off the phone.
“What?”
“Our ship broke down in the middle of the ocean.”
“And that’s my problem because?… Look at me, do I look like a ship mechanic?”
Savvy then dropped the bømb. “Danny girl, all our current supplies of fish are on that ship.”
Daniela looked on, shocked and speechless. The Mean Squad walked in on Marga standing outside the school gate with Mikoy. They started their trash-talking. Marga asked them to stop and Nadya asked if she really liked Michael. Like always, Mini-Daniela started degrading and belittling Mikoy, and Mikoy gave the girls a piece of his mind.
“Shut up, charity case,” Nadya barked. “We weren’t talking to you.”
“Not everything can be bought, Marga,” Mikoy countered. “You’re right – you have money and I don’t, but I don’t need money to have actual friends.” He then turned to the other girls. “If anyone is a charity case here, it isn’t me.”
There was problem at SikaTuna as their freezers were malfunctioning. Romina suggested a solution, but miss Bibeth, the leader of the team just talked her down and demanded for the mechanics of the factory to be called in to fix the freezers. Daniela complained bitterly to her team about their workers getting stuck at sea. Savannah suggested that they transfer all their fish as soon as possible, though wondering how they would be able to do that since the ship was stuck in the middle of the ocean.
“Let’s charter another ship to make the transfer,” Danny girl declared.
Bratty lapdog was in disbelief. “Savannah, find me a ship. Right now.”
“Danny, a huge ship isn’t anything like a taxi.”
“I…said… now!”
Savvy and the rest of the team jumped into action. Cassie told her friends about the new job her mother had acquired when they asked about her. Kristoff mentioned that Romina was probably better off at the new company than Camila. He and the girls were amazed that Cassie was considering being a working student, thinking of selling some of her stuff so she could support her mom with the expenses at home.
Kristoff, Fatima and LJ gave their support. The bell rang just then and the girls said their goodbyes and left for class. Kristoff however pulled Cassie into a hug before leaving. Mini-Daniela looked on. At the factory at SikaTuna, miss Bibeth was ranting on as the mechanics had failed to fix the problem with the freezers. More ranting as the fish started to smell.
Left with no other choice, Bibeth then gave Romina the goahead with the idea she had suggested earlier. A man claimed that Daniela had hired her to investigate the Mangubat brothers. He started rambling on about their childhood crimes, but Kulas didn’t care about their background since all he wanted was to find out how exactly they were responsible for his son’s dëäth.
The guy promised him results. Gino came over and announced that they had gotten back the car shop. Jessa tried convincing Kulas to drop the case, but the old man was determined to seek justice for his son’s mürdër. Mini-Daniela was quiet upset as the Squad kept talking about Mikoy and how he had supposedly deceived them. They then brought up the rumour about Kristoff being considered for the captain of the basketball varsity team.
“But he and Cassie are still together,” Maureen mentioned.
“What does that make Marga?” Nadya mocked. “The side chick? The second choice?”
“Like that will happen,” countered Mini-Daniela. “I’m always number one, and that applies to everything.”
“Well, for once, Maureen has a point, especially since Cassie’s just a five minutes walk away.”
Kristoff came by just then and Marga invited him along with some basketball players for lunch. The guys seemed excited but Kristoff turned her down, and off he went. Romina went to the fish market to buy some tuna. Meanwhile, Daniela came to check up on Savannah since she was taking too long to buy the sardines they needed, lest the company suffer a huge loss. She then noticed Romina there and went over.
“I assume you’re also here to bargain for some of these smelly fish,” Danny girl began. “Are you also gonna sell them at the market like the others?”
“I’d love to humor you,” Mina said. “But I’d rather not waste my breath. You could try looking for a bucket of fish to befriend, though.”
Daniela then noticed the SikaTuna staff ID Romina was wearing. “Are you waiting for someone to pick you up? Just like my dad did?”
“I don’t know why you’re here, but I don’t care,” Romina said, picking up up a tuna. “Unless you’re looking for a fight. I won’t back down. How about I treat you to sushi in front of everyone here? Is that what you want? Now go annoy someone else. I’m a little busy right now.”
Daniela then resorted to buying the entire stock of fish at the market as Romina went back to bargaining with the seller. She offered double the price Mina was paying, and the fish vendor was more than happy to give in. “But Camila Sardines doesn’t use tuna,” Romina pointed out.
Daniela picked up a tuna. “We do now. Sir, who will you sell this fish to?” she asked the vendor.
“To you, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” Danny girl then turned back to a scowling Romina. “See, Romina? You shouldn’t take what isn’t yours. But then again, that’s just who you are.” She then asked them to wrap up the fish for her.
“Good on you,” Romina taunted. “It’s a miracle to see you actually used your money to help these people out. But what really warms my heart, is the fact I’m the reason they got double the profit.” Mina offered a mocking smile as Danny girl stormed over to Savvy.
In class at Maxwell Integrated, the teacher asked the students to take out a yellow paper each for their answer sheets. Cassie gave Mikoy one of the papers when he requested for it. The teacher stepped out to have a talk with someone and Trina, one of the girls who had snubbed Cassie the other day came over and also asked for a yellow paper in such an arrogant manner. Cassie gave her a piece, and the girl asked for another. And another. And another.
Cassie eventually gave her the whole piece, exasperated. More trash-talking followed. Mikoy then gave back the paper he had asked Cassie earlier and took a piece from Roxanne instead. Back at the fish market, Savannah was stupified to learn that Daniela had bought all the tuna which Camila didn’t use just to piss Romina off. Daniela told her to either sell them or give them away. She then told her about Mina’s ID, wondering why SikaTuna had hired her.
“I don’t know,” Savvy said. “But you spread that rumour about her after she left, right?”
“I think I need to start an investigation into Romina’s new company. I won’t let her get back on her feet. She looked pretty confident since she got that job, but that won’t last long.”
The Bartolomes were glad to have the car shop back, even as Carlos revealed that he had asked Daniela for help to make that happen, not caring how she had managed to do it either way. Carlos then stripped Kulas of the management position since he had pawned off the car shop the last time he had been put in charge. Back in class at Maxwell Integrated, the teacher commended Cassie for getting the highest score and proving that she was a Maxwell Prime awardee.
“That’s really nice,” Mikoy commented as the class was dismissed. “Perfect score. I bet if I went inside your head, I’d get lost.”
“I doubt it,” Cassie said. “I just recognized some of the questions from last year that came up again.”
Mean Squad 2.0 stood nearby, complaining bitterly about how unfair it was for Cassie to be in the same class with them since she had won Maxwell Prime, and would definitely be winning everything from now on. More trash-talking as Cassie and the others listened. Cassie went over to confront the most vocal of the group. “Do you have a problem with me, Trina? I’m always here to listen.”
“There’s no problem, ma’am. Unless you’ve got one.”
“I just want a peaceful class, and a safe environment for learning. I’m sure you three want that too.”
“Wow. Bossing us around when you’re not even class president.”
Trina walked off with her Squad. In class at Maxwell International, Marga was basking in the praises being hailed at her for getting the highest score in their exams. She bragged about how she would continue being number one till the end of the school term. “She didn’t even get the perfect score,” a student commented. “She just got the highest. If it was Cassie, it’d be perfect. She was always the smartest one.”
Fatima and LJ seemed amused, even as Mini-Daniela stormed over and ranted on about how she wasn’t even on her level. Nadya went to drag her away before their teacher could walk in on her drama. Mini-Daniela kept spouting more crap about how she was the queen and how no one could compete with her. Jepoy brought some fish vendors to Romina so she could buy the tuna she needed for the new company she was working for. Mina thanked them for coming, and the vendors were glad to do business with her.
Daniela came over. “Classic, Romina. I can’t believe you haven’t given up trying to reach your quota. I already bought everything.”
“You only bought their wares, Daniela,” Mina countered. “But you can’t buy other people’s trust and respect. That’s why they’re selling their fish to me.”
“Even if I doubled the price?”
“Daniela, we’re all friends here,” Jepoy cut in. “Your money can’t buy us, but I’m pretty sure it can buy a new ship so don’t trouble us anymore.”
“That’s right. We’ll only sell our fish to Romina,” a vendor added.
Romina locked eyes with Daniela. “Are you waiting for me to drag you out by the hair? I wouldn’t mind since it would be good exercise for me.”
Danny girl gave Mina a look. “Let’s go, Savannah. We don’t belong here. Unlike her, her personality stinks like these fish do.”
“No matter where you go, Daniela, you’ll never earn people’s respect. The only exception… would be hell.” The fish vendors were laughing silently in mockery as Danny girl stormed off with Savvy.
