It wasn’t the stiffness in her neck, the rough texture of the pages on her cheek, or even the sunlight barging in at full force in the usually dark library that woke her up, but the gentle hand on her shoulder shaking her into consciousness.
“Wake up.”
Svea recognized the voice as belonging to Nik. She slowly opened her eyes to see him looking almost as fresh as a daisy, although she very well knew that he was overworking himself as much as she was.
“What time is it?”
“Seven. Let’s go get you some breakfast first and I’ll brief you in. A lot has happened overnight.”
He put a hand around her shoulder and they walked like that to the dining room, which was nearly empty. That reminded her that since it was the day before the competition, they had no class. Most of the final two weeks before the break and after the mid-terms exams were usually reserved for re-sits or extracurriculars anyway, so it wasn’t like they were wasting time on silly competitions. Although nothing about the debate felt silly, knowing that she would compete with the likes of Hendrick.
They sat at a table furthest away from the odd two or three students who still woke up early on a day without class and after the aroma of the herbal tea had revitilised her a bit, she dared to ask Nik to share the news.
“Jacy was practicing late last night and injured his ankle, so Shiro has replaced. But don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. He was in the hospital for the rest of the night and he’s now in his room to rest. I happened to be awake when they were bringing him in the dorm and he looked fine.”
“That’s still awful, I should go check on him!” She truly didn’t peg Jacy as the type to get injured easily, so the surprise in her voice was genuine.
“Yes, but after you get some rest or you’ll get hurt just like him.”
Nik had a point, she felt weaker, but she figured a walk in the forest would be more rejuvenating for her than sleep. All the time spent inside the library was making her feel claustrophobic. More important though was Jacy’s state. She briefly wondered how come even after this, they’re still considering letting the competition go on. She was ready to take the exam again instead of going through this unnecessary thing that felt like a recipe for mental breakdown.
“Do they know about our own change in the team?”
“Yes, Kyle was in our room yesterday and Tyler told him. And since then…well, that’s the second news. We had another change. I fear it might have been because of him.”
The first change, she had been privy to. To determine who would compete in the debate rounds, the ‘red-liners’ as they called themselves had a general knowledge quiz to determine who had the most information to back-up any arguments they would have to make. She placed first and the boy in second place, a third year, was to be her partner, but by then end of the first day of practice it was decided that they couldn’t work well together. The third one in line was Dianne, the girl she met on her first day of school. They’d often talk on the hallways when they saw each other, but it wasn’t like they were really friends. The only friend she seemed to have was Tyler, the two bonding after the boy found himself staying away from everyone in their group except Nik and occasionally her. Nevertheless, she liked Dianne and figured she’s have better chemistry with her than with the guy who not-so-subtly tried to correct her every single practice round on the grounds that he was older.
The second change, as Nik explained, was to the tennis team. They had played a few matches between them in order to decide who the three players were. Nik, despite not being the athletic type, surprised everyone. It was as if he was controlling the ball, the precision of his hits easily getting him the opportunity to play the single one. There was another boy, part of the rugby team, who was athletic and thus did really well, then the choice came down between two students who both played tennis for a while in their early years. One of them was Hien, the other girl she met during her first day, the rumored girlfriend of the student president himself. Most of the red-liners said that it was unlikely for the green-liners to have a girl on the team, but Nik was more concerned with ability, which she had, so they chose her, trusting the miracle kid who impressed them all with his skill. But right before coming to find her in the library, Hien sent Nik a text saying she had already asked the other boy to replace her.
“So you think Kyle said something to her?”
“When Tyler told him that she was on the team, he was worried that she would be pulling the team down, as their side has only male players, and he wanted us to have a fair chance.”
Svea could totally imagine him saying that, considering that Tyler was one of the red-liners and the brothers had barely made-up after the whole cheating fiasco – which Svea was also surprised no one mentioned to the teachers. She supposed that was the influence Kyle had, so him convincing Hien to quit was more than plausible.
“He has no idea how good she is. How can he do this to his own rumored girlfriend; discourage her and then pretend it’s for her sake?”
“I doubt there really is any romance between them,” said Nik, “although there may be feelings on her part.”
He had a point. Kyle didn’t seem like one to put love above anything. She wondered if you could love someone knowing that you’d never come first to them. If such people existed, then she was in luck, because her soul belonged to the forest, yet her heart was simultaneously aching for a connection, for someone who she’d never feel the need to trick or punish in the name of Mother Nature. And maybe she was looking at him.
***
The grand classroom where the welcoming speech had been made was repurposed for the debate in a way that made all the spotlight fall on the students, and consequently all the pressure. No one among the green-liners wanted to have to resit the exams, nor did those falling in the middle. So it was up to Hendrick, Gwen and the three tennis players to prevent that from happening. The debate would be scored by the teachers, but since the room resembled an auditorium, they were placed all the way in the back, sitting in the shadows. The only light turned on was the one towards the stage, where two benches were placed facing each other, yet still slightly turned to face the staff member who would chair the debate and the minimal audience. Hendrick had imagined that less people would be interested in the intellectual battle and more so in the physical one, and upon entering the room he found that the audience was minimal indeed. Since both competitions took place roughly at the same time, the real battle royal was said to be on the field.
The rhythmic tap of the tennis ball against the ground allowed Shiro to focus on anything else but the crowd of students chattering and moving around before the match. While warming up, he saw from the corner of his eye when Iv arrived holding an injured Jacy, but after that he tried to black out the crowd. He wanted to focus on winning, not because he was afraid he couldn’t, but because it wasn’t in his nature to loose, which made him competitive, a trait most people here shared, but none to the extent that he did. He was also trying to focus on Hendrick, checking in on him to see how he and his debate partner faired and consequently how Svea was holding up as well. He saw Jabari was also preparing, so he went to share the news he got.
“They’re doing good.”
“I know, Iv and Jacy just got back and told me Hendrick and Gwen won the first round.”
Jabari went back to stretching, but after a few seconds it seemed to have finally dawned on him.
“Wait, how did you know?”
“Telepathy. I asked Hendrick for permission to get in contact with him throughout the competition. Works faster than a phone call.”
“And can he feel you in his head?”
Hendrick was distracted, something that didn’t happen all that often. Him and Gwen were nearing the end of the second round of debate and while they were still doing well, he could tell his fumbling at the beginning left an opening for his adversaries to come back with even stronger arguments. He wouldn’t mind Svea winning, on the contrary he hoped she could have avoided the second exam altogether, but he also knew that the green-liners and those placed in the middle would cause a riot if they had to take it now that the opportunity not to had been dangled in front of their faces. No matter what, some students would get all the blame and the hate. For once in his life, he wanted to be seen as a hero, at least to some.
Just say you want to win for the sake of winning. Cut the tragic backstory.
There it was again. The presence in his mind that had distracted him, but now it came with a voice. His voice. He maybe should have thought twice before allowing Shiro to probe his consciousness. It didn’t feel bad per se, more like the pressure of a headache without the actual ache. There was something about the telepathic connection that also went beyond his head. It made his stomach flutter, got his senses into overdrive. That was what got him distracted. This new, odd, sensation.
A sudden image appeared just as the juries announced that Svea and Dianne won the second round. It was as if he was holding the racket in his own hands and hitting the ball in a swift move that had the crowd going wild. He realized he was seeing the match from Shiro’s perspective, and if that was what he chose to show him, then it was clear he was intending to show off his skills. It worked. It did look impressive.
“What’s going on with you?”
He was brought back from Shiro’s perspective to his own by Gwen, who was preparing for the last and final round, as were Svea and Dianne on the other side of the stage.
“You really need to focus on the next one.”
I would, he thought, if only you didn’t distract me.
If only you didn’t distract me.
Rare were the times when he had heard a voice in his mind that wasn’t his own or belonging to someone of his kind. Most people he possessed or simply mentally connected to couldn’t ‘talk’ back, so to hear Hendrick’s voice was slightly unexpected, even with the knowledge that Hendrick wasn’t most people. This was in a way confirmation of something he had long known, but out on the field in the middle of the game was not the right time to dissect this. That one second of astonishment was enough for his opponent to get past him. He supposed that was pay-back for distracting Hendrick from his own competition. Still, at the end of the match, Jabari and him were the clear winners. It all came down to the last game between Kyle and Nik.
***
Jabari watched entranced as both Kyle and Nik dominated the field. The former radiated strength and athleticism, and his experience was plain to see. But Nik’s way of playing was almost supernatural. It was as if he directed the ball on a clear path seconds before it even touched the racket. The way he moved on the field as well was so smooth, no stumbling whatsoever, it felt as if there was no effort at all, which was a clear contrast to the power Kyle exuded and the energy he clearly put into every move. It was as tense of a match as everyone had expected once they found out that Kyle, who had played from a young age, would compete with what can only be called a prodigy.
Towards the end of the game, there was no clear winner. If Kyle won, it would be a clear victory. If Nik did, then there would have to be a rematch. The rules as made by Kyle, Jabari assumed, did not account for him loosing. Considering how the game progressed, they should have. There was no clear procedure for the off chance that there would be a draw at the end of the competition. At one point, the debaters and their small audience had also joined and it only took one small head shake from Svea for them to know that she and Dianne had lost. They all seemed happy for Hendrick – for Gwen, too, who couldn’t stop clinging to him –, but also anxious for Svea, who Hendrick was now comforting instead of celebrating with him and Shiro, his own team. So if the red-liners won this part of the competition, what would it mean for them?
It became clear however not even a few minutes after the whole school had gathered on the field that this scenario was never an option.
Jabari had long suspected that Kyle’s upper status in the school was due to more than just him being president. That became evident once he came across the proof that he had arranged for Tyler’s unfair admittance. That such an absurd proposal as the one they were currently in the middle of enacting was even considered by what Jabari would have liked to think were not only sane adults, but some of the best teachers money could buy (perhaps that was the issue in the first place) also spoke volumes about the degree of Kyle’s influence. But the last straw for him came at exactly 15:08, on a Friday, when Nik sent the tennis ball flying across Kyle’s side of the field, just at the limit from getting outside, but also impossible for Kyle to save. It would have been the winning moment. People acted as if it was the winning moment. Jabari was not as quick to rejoice for Nik’s fantastic game, though, which is why he saw Kyle look at the P.E. teacher who acted as the umpire. No words were needed. The ball that was exactly on the line – bordering on inside the field from where Jabari sat – was suddenly declared an out, bringing the final, decisive point to Kyle. Since they had none of the technology normally employed, the umpire’s word was final.
And so the green-liners team brought victory to their peers and helped them escape the dreadful prospect of another test. The end.
The clouds that seemed so far away at the dawn of the day now approached and let their tears fall, which brought the celebrations inside. Even as he was pulled by Jacy, Iv, Shiro and Hendrick, Jabari couldn’t help but linger, enough to capture the moment when Svea comforted Nik and they shared a kiss in the rain. They would be good together, but they couldn’t let either their feelings or the obvious division created by Kyle’s games pull them away from their friend group. Jabari needed them. He now needed all six of them in order to expose Kyle. Because if they didn’t, would he really have any chance of becoming what he’d always dreamed of?
Comments (0)
See all