So I guess me and Lawrence were joining a losing game. Because here’s a fun fact about Henry Hugo’s Academy. 

There are one-hundred-fifty students who are enrolled. 

And within those enrolled, there are eighty-five girls and sixty-five boys. 

So not only were we outnumbered (which I didn’t really mind), we were also outgunned, and not just by a little, it was by a lot. 

I was out on the field during recess, looking standing by the water hose and fountain with a bunch of younger boys as the sun beat on the back of my neck. 

“This can’t be fair,” I said. 

Looking across the field where the other hose and fountain were, the girls didn’t just have a team. They had an army. 

“We’re so screwed,” I said. 

“We’re totally gonna get soaked,” said some freshman behind me. 

And next to Lawrence, crouched down, struggling to spray hose water into his water balloon, was Max, who looked excited. 

“I’m looking forward to it.” 

Man. Talk about crazy. I don’t mind getting wet, but getting soaked was a whole other thing, especially when I have my clothes on. I hate the way my clothes feel heavy when it’s soaked by the rain and I especially hate it when I walk with drenched socks 

I was already regretting my decision to join the fight. 

It didn’t help that I saw the girls fill up giant white buckets so that they could dunk their bottles in and fill it up with ease while we struggled with a water fountain and a hose. 

“Come on, what’s taking so long?” said some younger boy whose voice was cracking at every other word. 

“Don’t be mad at me now,” Max said annoyed, “You try filling up Dasani bottles with a hose on shower mode!” 

“…” 

The freshman said nothing back. I don’t blame him for doing that, though. Max had a good point. 

He already filled up all the balloons. And now he was the only one filling up bottles one by one. 

Lawrence was trying to help by filling up his bottle at the fountain, though it was painfully slow. 

As for me, my bottle was one of the first to get water. The way it worked as a weapon was by poking a pretty big hole in the middle of the cap. From there, all I had to do was aim and squeeze. 

“Is that everyone?” Max asked after some time passed. 

Me, Lawrence, and all the other boys looked at each other and raised our bottles so it would be easier to see who needed a water fill. 

“Uh, I think that’s all of us,” I answered. 

“Good,” Max said, “because I was tired of pressing that hose nozzle.” 

He wiped a bit of sweat from the side of his face before he looked at the concrete floor. There were about twelve water balloons all grouped up. 

“So, who wants one?” Max asked, pointing at the stack. 

“Ooh, me!” 

“Me, me, me!” 

“I want one!” 

Several boys were raising their hands in excitement. And there was one boy on my left who was screaming for a single water balloon. It was like his life depended on it. 

“Alright, alright,” Max said. 

He looked overwhelmed and was trying to calm the boys down. 

“Uh, here. You can have a balloon and you can have one, and I guess you can too.” 

Max was pointing at random, and in a flash, our supply of water balloons was gone. 

“Alright,” Max said. “Are we ready now?” 

Me and all the other boys nodded. 

“Great! Then line up on the grass. Let’s get this game started.”