March 8th, 2014 (9:41 am)
“So guys, hello and welcome to the eighth day of the tournament, where the second week of the competition is gonna take place,” Mr. Willey said on mike with great enthusiasm. “If ya don’t know, the second round is gonna focus on the Javelin Throw and Swimming matches, where every team is gonna fight again for the place.”
“Well, the week is gonna be pretty interesting and boring at the same time, Mr. Willey, isn’t it?” Mr. Fredrick said.
“How? I don’t get ya.”
“First, let’s accept the fact that the Javelin Throw is a very boring and slow-moving game as we all know.”
“Mm-hmm,” Mr. Willey nodded.
“But, it’s gonna be great to see our top two teams, Carlos’ Team, led by Mr. Zack Will, and Daniel’s Team, led by Mr. Rolan Rollins. Both the players have an exceptional talent and their rivalry is a must see.”
“Oh, yeah!” Mr. Willey nodded. “The two have faced each other many a times and as we see, there’s an absolute tie between them till now.”
Zack’s head was tilted downwards when he was sitting on the bench of the dugout. “The match’s about to start,” he whispered to himself. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Why am I getting so nervous?” Zack whispered again. He suddenly stood up and stretched his arms upwards.
Olivia and Miley entered the stadium packed with audience which was quietly listening to the commentary. Some were quietly waiting for the match to start, some were talking, some were planning for their game, but most of the seats were empty. With one hand holding Miley’s arm, Olivia pointed towards the dugout and said, “See, that’s Zacky!” Miley, with a sense of dullness on her face, looked towards Zack with her arms closed. Coincidentally, Zack turned his face towards the two. He saw Olivia waving her left arm towards him. In return, he gave a smile and waved his hand a little towards her. But, his eyes fell on Miley. He noticed her strange dullness and something awkward. But, he soon turned away and stood up.
“Well, we all know that Carlos’s team is in second position in the tournament and Daniel’s team is leading. But, we all know that the first position between the two is always changing. So, we can expect some action, even in a Javelin Throw match, right?”
“Maybe,” Mr. Willey replied. “That entirely depends on the form of the players and their enthusiasm. But, the good thing about the rivalry is that we can’t expect who’s gonna win, or what’s gonna happen even at the last-est stages of the match. That’s what happened last time at the boxing ring and that’s what always happens.”
Zack stood up and stretched his arms again while walking towards the center of the area. His eyes were set on the four white circles drawn at the center of the stadium. He turned right and saw Rolan advancing towards the same. Rolan turned towards himself and gave him a frightening glance. Mr. Fredrick, on the other hand, continued, “We have an entirely different way of playing this game.”
“Yeah, and I suppose it’s unique to SAI, isn’t it?”
“Yep. It’s unique. Instead of giving the teams individual chances in the round, we let one player of all the four teams to throw at once. The one farthest will win three points, second two, third one, and fourth zero. That’s how we work. And at last, the one to have most points after five rounds win.”
“Well, SAI believe in originality, I suppose.”
“Maybe, I’m just here for commentary. I don’t care about anything else.”
Standing on the circle, the players were provided with the javelin. Zack got one and for the first few seconds, he observed it carefully. “What’re ya seeing, asshole?” Rolan asked him.
“First, I’m not one of your species. Second, that’s none of your business,” Zack replied rudely.
“Well, that arrogance doesn’t suit for an asshole like ya!” Rolan replied.
“See, I don’t care what ya say. I’m tryna ignore ya and you still talking with me. You got no respect?”
“Well, what y’are tryna do is not ignoring in any way,” Rolan said. “So shut that tiny mouth of yours.”
Now, Zack turned his head towards Rolan and replied, “I didn’t wanna open it either. It was you who started.”
“Oh really?!” Rolan sarcastically asked.
“Yup, really.”
“Okay so, now that the players are set, the first round of the Javelin Throw begins in THREE… TWO…” The audience also started the countdown along with the enthusiastic Mr. Willey. “ONE… GO!” The four threw their javelins as far as they can. Zack applied his whole force on the javelin and gave it his all. The javelins of Zack and Rolan were almost together and when the fell on the ground, Rolan’s javelin was just some centimeters away from Zack’s. Rolan obtained the three points for the first round, and his team started to lead the game chart. “Tch!” Zack reacted on his loss. “I could have beaten him!”
“Oh! A difference of just one-point-seven centimeters!” Mr. Willey screamed. “The javelins of Zack and Rolan have a difference of just one-point-seven centimeters! I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah! That was just so close that Mr. Will could have won this time for sure. But whatever, they still have four chances left to take away the first spot.”
“Yeah, it’s a difference of just one point anyways. Carlos’ guys can still make it.”
Zack sighed and tilted his face downwards in dejection while walking back to the dugout. Rolan called him arrogantly, “Said ya, motherfucker!”
“Don’t you dare say such shit!” Zack rudely replied.
“Haha! Ya got irritated. See, your nose is red!”
Zack, this time, shook his head and sighed. “I needa ignore him.”
“Don’t worry, Zack. We can still make it,” Adam told him as he advanced towards the dugout. “Imma go next, and I’m not going easy on them!”
“Best of luck, Ads,” Zack replied with a sense of guilt. He sat down on the chair of the dugout and started to think, “That Rolan’s on my head nowadays. I needa ignore him. He irritates me a lot nowadays and I don’t wanna handle him anymore. This tournament pressure, the kidnapping stuff, Rolan, and everything is making me mad now!”
March 8th, 2014 (11:05 pm)
Zack was lying on his bed and was unable to sleep for a long time. He was constantly glaring at the ceiling with an empty mind. Suddenly, he started to think, “What’s goin’ on in my life now? It’s been a month, and still I’m unable to recover from threat. I just don’t know why I’m having a feeling that something’s gonna happen. Maybe, it’s near. Anyways, Miley… She looked a kinda tense or… what should I say? She was not ‘that’ Miley we knew. Maybe both the things are connected, or I’m just playing hunches.”
March 11th, 2014 (12:23 pm)
“So guys, now it’s time for the swimming match between Carlos’ and Daniel’s teams!” Mr. Willey commented.
“I suppose that the two teams’ rivalry is so tense that we forget the fact that two other teams are also participating,” Mr. Fredrick said. “I mean, what we only see is Zack and Rolan doin’ something and that’s all!”
“Oh yeah, they stand out the most. It makes tough for others to stand even close to them and turn the spotlights their way, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
A blonde man, about the age of twenty-five, was sitting on the dugout. He was a fair man by skin-tone and was wearing the swimming costume like the other players. He sighed and said, “I never thought that the commentators would be so correct.”
“Noah, c’mon! Stand up now,” one of his team-mates called.
“Coming,” he replied, still his face tilted down. After some seconds, he stood up enthusiastically and whispered to himself, “Today is a good day to make my spotlight. Imma steal it from those two no matter what!”
“So, this is the first round of swimming, and Daniel’s team’s Rolan is coming in the front with Carlos’ Adam Atkinson. Not Zack in the opening this time, huh?”
“I think it should be a new strategy by Will, ‘cause I don’t think he’s dumb enough to send Adam to face Rolan,” Mr. Willey replied.
“Maybe. I suppose Adam is just good in swimming and that’s why he’s called to start, isn’t it?” Mr. Fredrick asked.
“Hmm…” Mr. Willey rubbed his chin. Then, he gave up and said, “Whatever! Let’s see what’s gonna happen.”
Mr. Fredrick was silent for a few seconds, watching everyone taking their positions. Suddenly, he noticed that there’re only three men. He asked, “Where’s the one from Justin’s team?”
“Uh…” Mr. Willey murmured. “Justin Ball, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I suppose that from that team, Justin’s own son, Noah Ball should arrive. There’s no Zack, so maybe his team can brag the second position in the round.”
“Yeah, but it applies only if Adam doesn’t perform well, isn’t it?” Mr. Fredrick coldly replied.
The blonde man, Noah, suddenly stood up, with his head still tilted down and hair covering his eyes, and started advancing towards the starting line. Suddenly, he started giving a creepy and lewd smile. “Oh-hoo, Noah~!” He started to think. “Y’are the star here now!”
“Uh… What’s he doin’?” Mr. Willey asked his companion, with disgusted face.
Zack was also giving a disgusted expression as he murmured slowly, “What’s he tryna do?”
“Hmm, is he tryna be a superhero or something?” Rolan whispered slowly. As he was lost in his dreams he didn’t even realize that he was walking towards the swimming pool. Suddenly, Rolan kicked his leg as he fell into the swimming pool
“I think Mr. Noah wanted to act like some protagonist but he ended up being the loser!” Mr. Willey joked. Everyone at the audience started laughing on him as he stood inside the pool. He started watching the audience laughing which disturbed him a lot.
“Are you okay…” Rolan worriedly asked. Suddenly he gave a lewd smile as he continued, “…our hero??”
The others laughed but Zack just stood, folding his arms. “Don’t pay heeds to them, brother,” he coldly told him and gave him a hand. Noah got hold of the hand and came outta the pool. Suddenly, he noticed Adam laughing behind his back. “Pfft! I used to watch such things in cartoons, where people are lost in daydreams and forgot their sight!”
“C’mon, Ads. It’s not that funny,” Zack replied.
“By the way, why did you come to save that guy?”
“Hmm,” Zack started to think while rubbing his chin, with his head tilted skywards.
“Oh, you don’t have a reply! Now go!” Adam replied, pushing his back. “We needa start!”
March 11th, 2014 (1:01 pm)
The matches were over for now because of the lunch break and the next ones were scheduled for two o’clock in the afternoon. Zack and his group were at the cafeteria sitting with each-other on a six-seater table. “Today’s match wasn’t ‘that’ great,” Olivia commented, sipping on her soft-drink. “You boys could have done well, but you came second. Never thought that Noah’s team was gonna come second.”
“Yeah, but Noah only arrived for the first game and came last. It was his team-mate, Richard Armstrong, who saved the day by coming in three consecutive rounds and bragging two second places and a first place,” Harry commented.
“You sayin’ this ‘cuz you came last at that round,” Adam laughed.
“Yeah, I coulda won!” Harry said.
“C’mon, Ads,” Miley interrupted the joke-game. “Enough with your shit jokes. Tryna be a kinda serious. At last, y’are in my group now.”
“Hmm, does joining your group mean that I can’t joke?”
“No, don’t make a fuss around here.”
“C’mon, it’s all non-sense!” Zack interrupted. “We’re a group, and we needa accept each-other the way we are.”
“Yeah, I suppose that Zacky’s right,” Olivia said. “Stop fighting over silly things.”
“She started fighting, I was just tryna make y’all laugh,” Adam replied.
“So is it all my fault?” Miley asked, staring her coldly.
“Stop it, Miley,” Lucy intervened.
“No, wait, lemme get my answer,” Miley continued staring him coldly. “C’mon, reply Ads! Was it my—”
“Please!” Zack screamed at last. “Stop fighting over silly things!”
Adam turned his head away from Miley and closed his arms. Miley, in turn, took up her food and left the table.
“Wait, Miley!” Olivia screamed at her. But, Miley ignored her and continued walking.
Harry whispered in Adam’s ears, “Hey, do you both have a fight with each-other?”
Without giving any reply, Adam also stood up from his seat and left away. Zack and Harry quietly saw him leaving. “I’d take it as a yes,” Harry murmured quietly.
March 11th, 2014 (9:59 pm)
Zack was comfortably lying on his bed. The lights of his house were turned off and he was trying to sleep, but he was unable to close his eyes for long enough. He had constantly tossed his body to-and-fro all over the bed for about an hour when he gave it up and started to think. “Hmm, what’s goin’ on in Miley’s and Ads’ heads? Fighting with each other can badly break out team. We six needa be strong together to come outta every challenge and test without any injuries. I’m worried, but I suppose they’re gonna patch up again. But, what’s standing between the two that they can’t get along with each other well. I’m feeling that something fishy is on, or I’m just imagining things. Whatever, for the time being, I needa stop this fights and all. But, if it won’t stop soon, our group can very well be split into two. That’s what worries me.”
