"Class 1-C".
Everyone turned their heads to each other. They thought for sure they were going to hear class 1-E being called.
All the representatives on stages looked towards Malakai and Delilah. All of them were shocked except Alexander, who gave a condescending side-eye. Delilah was looking at Malakai, speechless, while Malakai was looking towards Mr White to see if he heard things right. Mr White looked into his eyes and gave a little nod. Malakai wasn't hearing things. They got third place with 937 points.
Malakai grinned, shook his head and hid his eyes from everyone by looking down. This was the result he got for performing how he did. The feeling wasn't pleasant. It was a new feeling he felt after a challenge. He was smiling, but that smile covered his true feelings.
He was vexed.
He didn't even know how many points 1-A or 1-E got, but he was vexed that he didn't get first.
Delilah was also vexed. She didn't want to look at Malakai, but her eyes gravitated towards him. Her brain was curious about what face he was pulling. After seeing his expression, she immediately turned away. She didn't even know what other expression she expected, but either way, she was going to be annoyed. She thought she was prepared for this scenario, but it was hitting harder than anticipated.
Justin broke into a smile after realising that they placed higher than 1-C. He looked towards his class and saw similar smiles on his classmates.
Nada was conflicted. She was happy that her class placed high, but beating Malakai didn't feel right. She never thought she'd beat him in a challenge, well, not yet, anyway. It was one of her goals to beat him in a challenge, but this felt too soon.
Dillon and Kayla kept their thoughts limited. In truth, they didn't care. Malakai and Delilah got more points than them, so they couldn't judge or belittle them in their minds.
Akari was still upset, but hearing that shocking result helped her calm herself and stop water leaking from her eyes. She needed that little distraction to sort herself. That shock paused her sadness momentarily.
"At least he didn't get first place", Ryan sourly thought, side-eyeing Malakai.
Destiny was blatantly staring at Malakai and Delilah.
"How? I thought they would've come second. They had about the same amount of plastic balls as us", Destiny thought. "Unless… no way", she looked further down the line to Nada and Justin, and her heart started jogging.
"Did 1-E beat everyone?".
Alexander kept his focus. He didn't care about 1-C. The only thing he cared about was hearing how many points he got. He was confident that they got first place… kinda confident. A little voice created the thought that they could end up second. Alexander still remembered what Nada did, and that annoyance still clung to him. Malakai gave him a decent challenge in the last round, so hearing they came third gave birth to that doubt.
The crowd. What were the crowd thinking?
The majority of the crowd were happy. They saw Malakai fall. Malakai would still probably be at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the challenge because of his 500-point lead, but seeing him not get first place was satisfying. It was something different.
Class 1-C wasn't taking the result too well. Complaints and sly digs were quietly being thrown at Malakai. It didn't help seeing Malakai grinning on stage. A lot of them misinterpreted his smile, but then again, not many people would understand why he was smiling the way he was. The majority of people in 1-C weren't close to Malakai. None of them really talked to him either. Malakai kept to his circle of people, so not many people were on his side right now. Especially the girls.
"So he is a lucky idiot", Emily thought, taking off her glasses and cleaning the lenses.
Rose stared at Sarena, causing Sarena to see what she was staring at.
"I thought you said he was going to make us win?" Rose asked after getting her attention.
"I didn't say that", Sarena awkwardly replied, not liking the unnecessary tension. "I said if he makes us win, you'll be thanking him", she politely said, not to start an argument.
"Well, I'm definitely not thanking him", Rose sassily replied. "If there's another class challenge, he's not representing us, that's for sure".
Tanisha and Nicole didn't get involved. They minded their own business. Tanisha didn't have the best opinion of Malakai, but even she thought Rose was doing a bit too much. Nicole wasn't really bothered. She didn't really care about Malakai. Not in a bad way. She just didn't have an opinion of him, and this result didn't change that. She wasn't fussed about points because she wasn't the competitive type. Her goal was never to get first place or place in the top ten. She just wanted to graduate.
"Even now, he's still smiling", Maria thought.
Another girl who wasn't bothered by the results was Maria. Yes, Maria did care about points, but her feelings for a certain someone overpowered them.
"Why does he smile so much?".
Malakai's friends were deathly quiet. None of them knew what to say.
How do they open this conversation?
This outcome wasn't out of the cards, but it was still unimaginable. However, it happened, and they experienced it happening. Even though all eyes should be on Malakai, some people were sneaking looks at his friends. They seemed more interested in how they would react.
Ray and Lucas were quiet. Neither knew what to say or do. Deep down, they both knew this would happen. The hope Malakai could pull it out of the bag like he always did killed them. Both of them were trying to get their thoughts together to say something.
Benjamin and David were quick to accept the result. It hurt them, of course, but they didn't let their emotions control them. The two of them calmly sat and absorbed the looks they got. If Malakai looked upset, one of them would've consoled him, but he was smiling. So he didn't look upset enough to openly voice some consoling words.
William looked the most upset. He believed in Malakai the whole time. When he saw Malakai walk into the hall, there was no doubt in his mind that he would get first place. The doubt and nervousness he had before disappeared when he saw him. William saw Malakai as THAT guy. Malakai was HIM. William wouldn't say it to his face, but he respected Malakai a lot and looked up to him. The two of them argued and insulted each other a lot, but it was all love and jokes. It was obvious that Malakai would lose a challenge at some point. Malakai told him many times when they were in their dorm. Whenever they played on the PlayStation together or when Malakai watched William cook or helped him out, the two of them talked about the academy and the future. Where everyone would place on the leaderboard and what they expected or wanted to happen in the next three years. Malakai wasn't optimistic, but William saw him winning the whole thing. But now he'd seen him fall. It wasn't as bad as William thought it was because Malakai still had a huge point lead, and this was only one challenge. They still had many more challenges to come. But it still felt like a stab to the heart for William to see Malakai lose. He knew Malakai was better than this.
"Hey, we knew this might happen", David said, trying to kill the weird vibe around them.
"Yeah. You know what Mally always says. It is what it is", Benjamin joined in.
Ray and Lucas looked at each other to see who would reply first.
"It just feels a little weird, that's all", Ray replied, explaining his silence.
"Tch. All these people are talking shit, and it's pissing me off", Lucas frustratedly but quietly said.
"A lot of people don't like him, remember? Just ignore them. I doubt Mally cares anyway", David replied. He looked at Malakai on stage, and he was still facing down. "Let's not give him a hard time. He's probably the angriest guy here".
"The challenge is over. We don't have to talk about it any more", Benjamin said. "If we talk about it, he'll feel bad about losing us points. Unless he mentions it, let's leave it alone".
"Yeah", Lucas and Ray both softly replied.
Benjamin looked over to William, who hadn't said a word. He was dispirited. This was the first time he'd seen William this upset. He put a hand on William's shoulder.
"Guys, let's all get something to eat after this. I'm starving".
"Settle down! Settle down!"
Mr White had to intervene and quiet down the crowd for the first time. It wasn't loud, but the noise wasn't going away. That result sparked a lot of conversation.
"We're nearly finished. Once I announce the last two, you can go".
Everyone shut their mouths and listened. The three classes that had their results called out wanted to go home, but the other two were excited to hear what they got.
"Moving on. In second place with 1,062 points".
Everyone in 1-A was holding their breath and fidgeting. Hearing over a thousand points and seeing 1-E still in the running was nerve-wracking.
1-E, on the other hand, were nearly out of their seats. Hearing over a thousand points amped them up. However, they didn't want to hear their class being called. They were waiting to hear 1-A being called.
Destiny, on stage, had her right hand over her tight, clenched left fist down in front of her. Her heart wasn't jogging anymore. It was sprinting. 1-A might actually come second.
"Class 1-E".
And breathe.
The students in 1-A looked at each other and quietly celebrated with one another. Their class came first. It wasn't as easy as they thought it would be, but they got what they knew they would.
Destiny unclenched her fist and let out her breath, which she didn't know she was holding. She looked down the line at the rest of the representatives and smiled.
"Why was I so nervous?".
"WOOO!".
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Nada and Justin were getting a round of applause from their class.
1-E were celebrating their result, cheering for their representatives. Nada and Justin both had smiles on their faces and glanced at each other, amazed at the applause they were getting.
clap! clap! clap!
Delilah's eyes wandered to the faint, quiet clapping on her left.
"Why are you clapping?" Delilah quietly asked Malakai.
Only one representative was clapping on stage, and that was Malakai. It wasn't a loud clap, but a subtle one with his hands down by his stomach.
"I'm only clapping for Nada. She deserves it", Malakai quietly replied, keeping his head low so that no one could read his lips.
Delilah turned to the right to look at Nada.
clap! clap! clap!
Delilah copied Malakai and clapped for her. She wasn't close to Nada. They were friends but didn't speak to each other in their free time. However, after seeing Malakai applauding her, she felt she had to, even though she didn't feel like it.
Both of their applause didn't go unnoticed as Nada saw them. She felt incredibly happy seeing them being supportive even though they didn't have to.
The applause started to die, and 1-E let Mr White finish the results.
"Finally, in first place is class 1-A with….. 1,156 points".
The celebration and applause didn't match 1-E's, but 1-A did applaud their representatives on stage. None of the other classes put their hands together. Only a few individuals in the crowd joined in for respect. Nada and Justin were the only two applauding on stage.
Malakai was debating whether to join in, "It feels like the right thing to do, but I don't wanna".
Destiny was satisfied after hearing that number. It was a nice gap between second place and a nicer gap between third. She looked down the line to the other representatives, "We beat all of them".
Then, she focused on two specific people,
"But I lost against those two".
Alexander had a nonchalant expression. It was a job done for him. He collected first place for him and his class. Now, it was on to the second semester after winter break. It was all timing for him. He would eventually take the top spot. He knew it.
"Hey, hey, let me finish up here", Mr White intervened before the noise level rose too high.
"I don't want to repeat myself, but that is the final challenge of the semester. Once again, I hope you enjoyed it. This won't be the last time I see you as we'll have a little assembly explaining a few things before your holidays. But that's it from me today. Your points will be updated at 6:00 PM. Thank you all for being patient today. You may all leave".
Mr White quickly dismissed them and turned to the students on stage.
"Once most of the students clear out, I'll let you go", he told them.
"Looks like they're staying behind", Benjamin said, getting up from his seat and seeing the people on stage staying put.
"We'll wait for him outside. I don't think they'll take long", David replied.
On the stage, all the representatives quietly watched all the students leak out of the hall except Nada, who walked over to Malakai and Delilah.
Malakai saw Nada coming closer, "Yo, congratulations", he said, holding out his fist.
"Thanks", Nada replied, fist-bumping him. "How did you get third?" she directly asked. It sounded like she desperately wanted to know.
Malakai grinned and looked away, "I don't know, man. I mean, I know why, but... Tss", he didn't know how to explain it.
"I took an L. That's all I can say".
"Did you try your hardest?"
"No", Delilah answered for him before he could. "No, he didn't", she said, looking at Nada, tired, shaking her head.
Nada smiled, "Okay, that's good".
"Huh? Good?" Malakai replied, looking at Nada.
"Yeah. If you tried your hardest and came third, that would've been more disappointing".
Malakai quickly looked away, "Why is this embarrassing?".
He couldn't look at Nada, "True".
"Looks like most of the students have left", Mr White said, seeing empty seats and the last few students by the doors.
"Before you go, I want to congratulate you all, no matter where you placed. All of you did well. Not many students could do what you did today. If it were up to me, I would've given you all additional points for being a representative, but I can't. So I hope my words are enough. You should all be proud because watching you all made me tired, so I can't imagine how tired all of you must be. On that note, you can go back to your dorms and rest. Well done to you all, and have a nice weekend".
They all started moving except for one person.
"Yo, Delilah. They're probably waiting for me outside. Tell them they can go. Imma probably take ages", Malakai told Delilah as she walked past.
"Sure".
Delilah walked down the steps and was off the stage. She glanced back to check on Malakai, and he was already walking away with Mr White to a door on the side of the stage. She exhaled and looked ahead. Ahead of her was long blonde hair with purple tips. Destiny was ahead of her. She had unfinished business with her.
Delilah didn't hate Destiny, and she didn't want Destiny to hate her, so,
"Hey, Destiny".
"Hm?" Destiny turned around.
The two of them stopped walking.
"I just wanna say sorry for hitting your face", Delilah said, looking at her briefly and then away.
A smile formed on Destiny's face.
"It's fiiinnee. I did grab your face a couple of times", Destiny replied, waving her hand. She appreciated the apology. "Next time, if you want to hit me, just don't aim for my face".
"Why would I want to hit you?" Delilah asked, confused.
"Who knows? A lot of girls wanna hit me", Destiny said, turning around. "But it's cool because I know they're jealous of a bad bitch like me".
She started walking to the doors and remembered the situation with Delilah.
"She was too good at blocking my hands. I could barely touch her", she thought. "I wonder if she's been in many fights. With blocking skills like that, she must have".
Delilah watched as Destiny walked away and thought,
"I can understand why people don't like her, but she's not that bad".
Delilah eventually made it out of the hall and saw the boys waiting on the side of the corridor.
"Hey, Malakai said to go back without him", Delilah said, approaching them. "He has to go to the nurse's office to double-check if he is okay".
"Is he okay?" Ray asked, concerned.
"Yeah, but Mr White told him he had to go. He couldn't get out of it".
"Guess we'll have to eat without him", Benjamin said.
"Do you want to come with us, Delilah?" David asked.
"I think I'll pass this time", Delilah replied. "I just wanna go back to my dorm, shower and then go to sleep".
"I'm surprised you didn't refuse".
"You told me we were gonna go to the nurse's office. It sounded like I had no choice".
Mr White and Malakai were walking side by side to the nurse's office. Malakai was fine, but Mr White wanted to ensure everything was good.
"You seem a little bit upset about your result", Mr White said, feeling Malakai's low vibe.
"I am, I'm not gonna lie. I thought I wouldn't care about losing a challenge this much, but it stings", Malakai replied, putting a hand on his heart.
"You played an unusual game", Mr White said, sugarcoating it.
"I played a shit game", Malakai didn't sugarcoat it. "I wasted three bullets, wasted time chasing someone and lost a ball in the process, wasted time watching two people fight over a bag, lost my earpiece and left my teammate alone to defend our safe zone. Looking back on it, I don't know what I was doing".
"That paintball gun might've been the problem".
"Maybe. I got too excited with it", Malakai replied, looking to the ceiling. "Heh. My classmates were probably cringing watching me act stupid with it".
"You're still going to be at the top of the leaderboard, so it's only a minor setback", Mr White said, trying to motivate him.
"Yeah".
The two fell quiet and walked peacefully for a moment. It was peaceful for Malakai, but Mr White was eager to say something.
"Actually, there's another thing I want to discuss with you".
Malakai looked at Mr White, "What?".
"I want to talk about our talk in your safe zone".
"Our talk?"
"More specifically, how you talked to me".
Malakai's eyelids raised, "Oh shit, I was rude to you. I'm sorry about that".
"No, no. I don't mind that. I understand you were angry, so it's fine".
"Okay? Umm, how did I talk to you?" Malakai was genuinely confused.
"He doesn't remember", Mr White thought, seeing Malakai's blank expression.
"I'm talking about when you started covering your mouth when you were talking", Mr White clarified.
"When I was covering my mouth? Oh, I was just trying to persuade you to keep me in the challenge", Malakai replied, realising what he was talking about and thinking nothing of it.
"W-what about your tone of voice? Everything changed. Your tone of voice, body language, mannerisms, everything", Mr White said, remembering the conversation clearly.
Malakai gave a confused/concerned expression. "Everything changed? I was just tryna be serious. My voice was serious, but I didn't change anything else".
Mr White felt a chill down his spine after seeing Malakai's confusion about what he was trying to imply.
"He doesn't realise how cold and controlling he was being. He just thinks he was being serious. He doesn't know how manipulating he was. That's a dangerous skill to have, and he's using it without knowing".
"By the way, I'm sorry for speaking to you so casually. I'm not good at speaking formally, so I'm not tryna be rude", Malakai said, interrupting Mr White's thoughts.
"O-oh it's fine. I don't mind", Mr White replied, focussing again. "I figured out quickly after seeing how awkward you looked the first few times we spoke".
"Damn", Malakai chuckled. "Is the nurses's office around here?".
"Yeah", it's on the left near the end of the corridor".
"Aryt, I've never been".
Mr White slowed down his pace and was a few steps behind Malakai.
"Wait, Malakai", Mr White said, standing still.
"Huh", Malakai saw that Mr White had stopped walking.
"What type of school did you go to when you were younger?"
The question took Malakai aback by how random it was.
"A public school", Malakai slowly replied.
"You didn't go to a private school?".
"Does it look like I went to a private school?" Malakai smiled, thinking it was obvious he didn't.
"I'm a normal kid from London. I'm no one special".
Malakai waited for Mr White to respond, but Mr White just kept staring at him.
"Can I help you?"
Instead of hearing Mr White's voice, he heard the voice of the academy nurse. The nurse came out of the office after hearing voices outside.
"Oh, Mr White, is he with you?" she asked after noticing Mr White.
"Uh, yeah", Mr White replied, snapping out of it. "He inhaled and swallowed some smoke during a challenge today. I want to check if his body is okay".
"Oh gosh. Come on in", the nurse said, making way for Malakai.
"Aryt, thank you".
Mr White watched Malakai as he went into the nurse's office,
"So he didn't learn that from school. Or maybe he did. Childhood possibly?" Mr White thought, trying to figure out where he learnt that from. He sighed and shook his head.
"A normal kid from London, eh? The more I learn about you, the less normal you become".
6:00 PM
LEADERBOARD
1) MALAKAI JUNIOR (1-C) - 5620 POINTS
2) ALEXANDER BURRELL (1-A) - 5300 POINTS
3) FRANK CARTER (1-A) - 5287 POINTS
4) DESTINY SIERRA (1-A) - 5227 POINTS
5) LUNA WOLFE (1-A)- 5224 POINTS
6) ISABELLA GRACE (1-A) - 5023 POINTS
7) ALEJANDRO PEREZ (1-A) - 4971 POINTS
8) BRI LOPEZ (1-A) - 4807 POINTS
9) EVE MASON (1-A) - 4801 POINTS
10) ACE STAR (1-A) - 4794 POINTS