Today was the day we announce the groups for sports fest. So far, Sarah hasn’t been terrorizing me… How could she, when I’ve been distancing myself from her? I didn’t ask if she was going to change her plans or anything of that sort, or if she was going to remove me from her team. I was in the dark.

Chelsea, our junior and secretary, passed the papers approved by the principal and told me to distribute them among the high school students. She was in charge of getting them to the elementary and pre-elementary students.

Sarah was at the broadcasting room, announcing that the events for the sports fest will start in two weeks. I went around from classroom to classroom, giving the paper to the teachers for them to announce to their students about the teams and schedules.

The rest of the afternoon was going to be the first meeting of our groups. After, I went to the classroom and sat beside Keith. I wasn’t a hundred percent confident with the groupings.

“For the Red Team, Aldwin, Simon, Matthew and Deon.” The teacher announced. “Claire, Michelle, Lisa and Sarah.”

She… didn’t change my group. What about Vivian?

“The Blue Team members are Maisie, Lilia, Carol, Keith, Brendan, Liam and Howard. The Yellow team, it’s Candy, Porshia, Kim, Victor, Olivier, John and Carl. The green team, Anna, Leslie, Flora, Vivian, Jason, Terrence and Louie. ”

So she didn’t do anything to their group. I can see Sarah’s girls cheering amongst themselves, teasing those who didn’t end up in Sarah’s team. Their leader wasn’t able to witness their banter since she was still out at the broadcasting room making announcements.

“Hey Deon, why didn’t you go straight to her after giving the papers?” Keith asked me curiously.

“Ahh… Well… I’m already here…”

“Well, it seems like we’re enemies from now on Deon.” He gave me a proud smirk as he puts his hands on his waist. “I’m massively jealous of you though, bro. You have the queen on your team.”

I return the smirk with my own competitive grin. “Right. Good luck defeating me then.”

We both laugh at each other. Soon enough, we had to go to our respective team rooms. I walk between Simon and Matthew, the boys I barely hang out with, but I’m still pretty friendly towards. The pace of my footsteps slowed down as we got closer to the room. My eyes look to the other building across the one I’m at, and see Vivian in good terms with her teammates. Letting out a small nod, I turn around to enter the classroom and is greeted by Sarah.

“You didn’t go to the broadcasting room.” She looked me in the eyes.

“Oh… yeah. I was at the classroom.” I avert my eyes.

She let out a small scoff which makes me frown. I let myself in the classroom and sit beside the guys. The chatter from the underclassmen seem excited about the team composition. We had quite a bit of athletic teammates. Then I hear them discussing about the team captains. Our school’s tradition was a democratic one, and they would always choose team captains from the senior class.

Matthew seemed like a great candidate for the boys since he was the fastest runner among us. There’s no question about who the female captain will be since most of the team already have their eyes on Sarah. It seems like Sarah was also welcoming the idea of Matthew being the captain since he was the hot topic amongst the ladies.

As I was relaxing into my chair, a small but excited girl stand up and slam her hands passionately on her desk. That caught everyone’s attention.

“What if Deon becomes our Team Captain?” She points at me with the widest grin at her face.

That caught me off guard.

“Deon! Stand up please!” She marches over to my chair and pull at my arms.

I lean backwards, not welcoming this thought. “I’m not very sporty…”

“Come on!” For a small girl, she really has a lot of strength in her. She managed to get me up. “Look guys! Intimidation Factor.” She waved her hands at me. “The other teams would probably have Keith, Victor and Louie! Who are all very sporty, but we have Deon! He’s maaaasssivvee! I also recall him being strong since he was the last one standing at last year’s tug of war, giving his team victory. Guys, what do you think???”

Everyone laughed at how silly her idea was. I couldn’t help but laugh as well. Michelle was the one laughing the most at this thought. She could barely breathe. Claire pat Sarah’s shoulder and said, “This isn’t a bad plan. Anyways, you two get along so well at the student council.”

Exhaling in defeat, I give in to what my group wanted, despite the fact that this is too silly. I get off my seat and look towards Sarah. Please free me.

The role of Team Captain meant that we’d have to be the ones leading everyone into victory, spearheading the cheerdance practice and just making sure everyone has fun. I wasn’t completely against that… except my partner just had to be Sarah Bravura. It never ends.

The seniors and a bunch of talented dancers from the lower years choreograph a dance for the cheer dance competition. Sarah’s taking the backseat as Michelle and the dancers plan the steps. Instead, she makes herself useful by planning out who will be playing the different games. Mastermind was the only board game Sarah joined in. She was the champion of the high school division since first year. Strategy games were always her thing, but she has a special way of reading people that lets her crack their codes with ease. I played against her last year, and I lost horribly.

I join the tug of war, basketball, obstacle course and life saving competition. For the board games, I picked Chess. This was a strategy game that I’ve played in tournaments outside school. I’m pretty good.

Sarah leads the writing of the cheers we’d let out after we finalized the lineup for the games. Those who weren’t a part of the choreography session would help out with perfecting the rhymes. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon. I almost forgot that there was this odd tension between Sarah and me.

Michelle told me to stay after the others left so we’d practice the dances. I was not excited. My position in the formation was right beside Sarah. Front and Center. Going along with the practice, we stayed for quite a long time. We laughed at our mistakes and just enjoyed the afternoon like normal teenagers.

It was just after sunset that we all started to go home. I was planning on leaving with Matthew, but Sarah called me out. I tell him to go ahead without me.

“What is it?” I stand in front of her with a considerable amount of space between us.

Her fingers fiddled in her arms impatiently. “You’ve been quite cold lately, Deon.”

I feign ignorance. “Really?”

She frowned at me. “I know you’ve been avoiding me. Spit it out, do you have beef with me?”

My eyes focus on the ground then towards a random tree away from us. “I don’t know. The question is, do you have beef with me?”

“Right now I do, that’s why I’m calling you out.”

A sigh escapes my mouth. “We’ve known each other since we were children… Yet here I am wondering if we’re even friends.”

She let out a laugh, a bitchy one at that. “So acting coldly towards me is how you show me that you see me as a friend? Is that what friends do now?”

I look at her dead in the eyes. “No.” There was no hiding the spite in my voice. “Because here’s the thing. There’s a pattern with you Sarah… and I was an idiot for not realizing it any sooner. You used to be friends with Anna, few years later, you completely ignore her. Come high school, you befriend someone only to terrorize her completely. What the living fuck is wrong with you? Then I call you out for your actions and then I ask for any hint of assurance that you wouldn’t hurt or betray the trust that I give you not just as your class president or your classmate since childhood but your friend then get nothing in response.” My hand covers my face with annoyance. “I cant trust you Sarah. Not when I can't even tell if the people around you matter to you or if you’re just using them for your own benefit.” All the blood in my body went to my face and gave my skin a pink tone to it. I’m at the point where I cant bother myself with her lies, with her response. No. That doesn’t matter to me now.

Sarah remains speechless. There was no point to this conversation. I look up to the sky, silently asking the world why I’m in this situation when all this drama could be avoided. That’s when something catches my eyes. Someone was at the second floor and is about to pour water over Sarah. It was as if my body moved on it’s own, I tried to move in to push her out of the way. I failed.

Instead the both of us are soaked in dirty water. This… massively pissed me off to no end. It was the same for Sarah, she is more livid than I am. Our conversation ends as we both sprint at top speed towards the direction of the culprit.