"Who?" Ali said, looking behind.

Malakai kept staring at the table the person was at,

"Yo, I need to go see someone. We'll talk more later", he said, shaking Ali's hand while walking past him.

"Wait", Ali said, desperately trying to make him stay, but it was useless. He was already gone. Malakai sped ahead, slipping through the crowd effortlessly, unlike before. Barely touching anyone, people looked behind themselves, thinking someone had gone past them, but they didn't see anyone. That's how swift Malakai was moving in between the crowd. He kept walking until he reached the table with five people sitting on it.

"Yo, let's talk some more".

"So Ray, are you going to drink?" Emily asked.

Emily sat to Ray's right in class. Emily had curly ginger hair, pale skin, dark ocean-blue eyes, and circular glasses.

"I don't know, I've never had a drink before", Ray said, looking into his empty cup.

Emily noticed his empty cup.

"Come on, it's fun", Page said, looking over Emily's shoulder. Ray turned around,

"Are you in our class?" Ray asked, trying to remember faces.

"She's in Class E. We became friends last week", Emily answered for her.

Page was slightly taller than Emily; she was brunette and had clear skin.

"Nice to meet you", Ray greeted with a smile.

"Nice to meet ya. Shall we go get a drink now?" Page said, leaning on Emily.

"She's already had a bit to drink".

"Is she drunk?" Ray curiously asked.

"I'm not drunk", Page responded.

"She's tipsy, don't mind her. So, do you want to get a drink?" Emily pushed further.

"Uhh, I don't know", Ray said, looking around to avoid eye contact.

"Let's go. If you really don't want to, you can refuse", Emily said, taking Ray's hand.

Benjamin and David were still in the same spot, talking to each other. They couldn't be bothered to stand up and make the effort to socialise with strangers. Talking to each other while looking at everyone else partying was enough for them; they didn't feel like they were missing out.

Benjamin looked to his right,

"Look, Rays with two girls", he nudged David. David turned to see if he was telling the truth.

"Is he getting a drink?" He said, squinting his eyes to see what was on the table in front of Ray.

The two of them saw a shot glass being filled in front of Ray.

"Should we stop him?" Benjamin asked while on the edge of his seat.

David was in two minds, but his left side spoke,

"Let's leave him. He ain't a kid anymore".

David looked at Benjamin and saw a slight concern on his face.

"If it gets out of hand, we'll step in", David continued to ease Benjamin.

"If he goes for a second shot, I'm stepping in", Benjamin said.

"Do you think Mally would have allowed him?" Benjamin questioned.

"I doubt it", David laughed.

The shot was in front of Ray. He was hesitant to pick it up, just staring at it. It looked like water; he had expected a fancy colour. He looked at his friends for guidance and saw them in synchrony pick up the glass and swallow the shot in one.

"Are you gonna drink that?" Page said, pointing at the shot.

"If you don't want to do it, you don't have to." Emily let Ray know one more time.

Ray wanted to do it, but something was holding him back. Then, a quote shot into his head. 'Life's about experiences'.

"Yeah", he replied. He picked up the shot glass and copied the actions of his friends. The drink went down quickly.

Ray's face shrivelled up. His eyes closed. His mouth scrunched up.

COUGH COUGH.

Ray held his mouth, then his throat.

"Why does it burn?" He said with a weak, broken voice.

"It's like that for everyone for their first time", Emily reassured, putting a hand on Ray's back.

"Do you want another one?" Emily asked.

"No, Thank you", Ray said, shaking his head with an uneasy look.

"Why do people like this?" He thought to himself.

Malakai stood in front of a table with five people on it, with two bottles and half-filled glasses between each other.

"Yo, let's talk some more".

Their attention shifted to Malakai.

"Is that the kid from the assembly?" One of them asked.

"Nice to see you again; I did say I'll tell you my name next time we meet", he offered his hand out.

"I'm Micheal. Here, take a seat, " he said, moving over to make some space.

With his empty cup in hand, Malakai slowly took the seat next to Micheal.

"Do you want a drink?" Micheal offered, seeing Malakai's empty cup.

"Na, I don't drink", Malakai said, raising his hand to signal no. He then saw a cola bottle and grabbed it.

"Why?" The girl across from him questioned.

Malakai opened the cola bottle and started pouring the drink into his cup.

"Why would I fuck up my liver? To have fun? I can do that sober", he replied.

"It makess you feel goood."The girl next to Micheal slurred her words.

"Yeah, cuz it makes you release more dopamine or something. I don't know; I never looked at it in that much detail. But you can have fun with that hangover tomorrow", he said, putting a thumbs up and smiling at the girl.

"Ha ha thankss", she replied, thinking he said something nice.

"Someone's rich. Covered in designer", Leon said, eyeing his clothes.

"I ain't rich. I earned this shit", Malakai sharply replied back, thinking what he said was a dig at him.

"Let me introduce everyone", Micheal butted in.

"Everyone, this is Malakai", he said, presenting Malakai with his arms.

"The guy that said he had an AK-47 in his bag in the introductory assembly".

He then looked at Malakai,

"I'm Micheal; She's Jasmine. She's drunk", he said, leaning back to show Malakai, the Filipino-looking girl. All Malakai could see was her straight black hair; he couldn't make out the finer details as she looked passed out on the chair.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"He's Leon", Micheal continued round the table.

Leon had a noticeable smile and an Afro top.

"The girl next to him is Chloe, and the girl next to her is Lisa", he finished.

Malakai looked at the two girls; the girl on the left looked like a typical blonde. She was pretty, but Malakai was unfazed. The girl on the left seemed South Asian; a stand-out feature was her long, shiny black hair.

Malakai didn't say anything; he just nodded at each of them when Micheal introduced them.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Micheal asked Malakai.

"You said you'd tell me your name next time we meet. I saw you, so I thought we could talk", he replied.

"Okay, what do you wanna know?" Micheal said, pouring himself a drink.

"Who you are?" Malakai said, watching Micheal.

Micheal put down the bottle.

"Okay. All of us here are second-year students. Chloe, Leon, and I are in class 2-A. The other two are in class B. We saw you on the first day; I'm pretty sure you noticed the people on the balcony. "

"Yeah. So what? Are you first?" Malakai questioned.

Micheal scoffed and took a sip of his drink,

"Not even close", he replied with a smile.

"Are any of you two number one?" Malakai directed the question to Leon and Chloe.

"Nope, and we ain't close either", Leon answered.

"What? Actually?" Malakai said in shock.

"You don't have to be shocked. It's like that for the third year as well. There's always that one person that's ahead of the pack. No one can catch them", Micheal said, circling his cup.

"Are you lot dumb, or are they really smart?" Malakai said, not holding back.

"Neither. She's not super smart, and we're not dumb. She's better than us, I guess, but it's not unachievable to get to her. If you get what I mean". Micheal tried to explain.

"It's not about intelligence only. The challenges can be physical and even involve luck", Chloe added, taking the bait of Malakai's dumb comment.

"What's her name?" Malakai curiously asked, looking around the table.

"You don't need to know. I doubt it's important to you." Micheal downed his drink; the topic of the conversation made him.

"Aahh. Anyway, enough about me, what about you? How's your experience been so far?" Micheal switched the conversation and started interrogating Malakai.

"It's been good. The first challenge was easy. Did you have the same challenge, or was it different?" Malakai asked, finishing his drink.

"Yeah, the exam one, right? How many points do you think you got?" Micheal replied.

"I don't know. Maybe over 450 if my partner did the same as me." Malakai said, looking inside his empty cup.

"I don't care anyways, cuz I already got 100 points".

"How?" Chloe leant forward.

"I challenged the student president to a game of rock paper scissors and beat him." Malakai casually replied.

"What was his name again?" Malakai rhetorically asked, trying to remember himself.

Everyone on the table was shocked and confused.

"You challenged Johan. How did that happen?" Leon said, fixing his posture.

Malakai poured himself another cup of cola.

"That AK-47 joke hurt a few people, so we had another assembly, and I had to apologise. Johan was there, and he started lecturing everyone and me. I didn't like how he was talking to me. So I just said as a joke, let's play for points. The headteacher allowed it, and I beat him 3-0", Malakai quickly summarised.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

"I don't believe you; show us your points!" Lisa said, almost in denial.

"Why would I lie?" He said, pulling out his phone. He opened the Academy app and went to the leaderboards. He turned his phone around to show everyone.

1 - MALAKAI JUNIOR (1-C) - 100 POINTS

While all the names underneath showed 0 points.

"You're in class C?" Micheal said with a surprised look.

"Yeah", Malakai said nonchalantly.

"Why? Did you expect higher?"

"Yeah, you beat Johan in a challenge", Micheal replied.

"I mean, Rock paper scissors don't require that much skill", Malakai said, sipping his drink.

"Still", Micheal couldn't believe it, he was lost for words. Malakai noticed,

"Why are you looking at me like that? I ain't that smart", Malakai said, smiling.

"You know you deserve to be higher", Leon said looking at Malakai.

“Naaa 1-C is fine for me. Anyways, what's the next challenge gonna be? I mean, we're basically friends now", Malakai said cheekily.

Chloe and Lisa giggled.

"You're a funny guy", Leon said, pointing at him.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I don't know why, though", Malakai replied.

"The next challenge is going to be different for you. They make small changes every year", Micheal said once again, filling his cup.

"Small?"

"Yeah. It's going to be a card game. What was ours again?" Micheal said, trying to jog his memory.

"We had to get the closest to 21 with the cards we got", Chloe reminded Micheal.

"That's sounds shit". Malakai said disappointedly.

"Yeah, the first five challenges are boring. But they get interesting near the end", Leon said.

"Damn".

"Don't worry, they might change it for you. It sounds like your year group is interesting, so they may switch it up". Micheal said, gulping his drink.

"Ooohff," he said, swallowing the alcohol,

"If you're in 1-C, I wanna know what other monsters there are, " Micheal said.

"I don't know why you're regarding me so highly; I'm a nobody, trust me", Malakai innocently said.

"You don't look like it, with a scar like that", Lisa said, pointing towards his nose.

"Wheree did you buy tha from", Jasmine said extending her arm trying to touch Malakais scar.

"The fuck. I thought she was passed out?" Malakai said, flinching back.

"How did you get it?" Leon questioned, wanting to know.

"We are friends, after all", he said, imitating Malakai.

Malakai smiled,

“This I got it-“

BZZT BZZT

Malakais phone started vibrating on the table. Malakai turned his phone around to see what it was.

Incoming call DAVID.

"David?" Malakai said to himself.

He picked up his phone and answered,

"Yo".

"Mally, we need your help"