1:28 PM.

Malakai, Ray and Maria were walking to the building where the minigames were being held. On their way, they saw other students from different classes walking as well. The sky was cloudy with a slight cold breeze. Even though September didn't feel like autumn due to the summer-like weather, it certainly felt like autumn now. October brought that feeling.

Malakai had his hands in his pockets; whenever he walked, he had his hands in his pockets; even when he stood still, most of the time, Malakai had his hands in his pockets. But this time, he was trying to keep warm,

"Malakai, are you good?" Ray asked, looking at Malakai, who was slightly shivering.

"I'm cold", he shakily replied.

"You don't like the cold?" Maria asked, walking next to him.

"I hate it. I hate winter and autumn, " he replied, bringing his body together to warm himself.

"I like winter; it's my favourite season", Maria said joyfully, like a little kid.

"You're one of those girls", he said, looking at her like she was a little kid.

"What does that mean?" She curiously asked, interpreting it as a bad thing.

"Can't tell you. But you know what, I can let it slide. If you said autumn was your favourite, we can't be friends", Malakai replied, looking at the grey sky.

"Why?" Ray laughed, thinking Malakai was being weird again.

"Autumn is the most useless season. Ahh, you're not ready for that debate yet", Malakai stopped himself from ranting.

"It's not useless", Maria said, smiling, wanting to know his reasoning.

"Trust me, you're not ready", Malakai reassured, shaking his head.

They got closer to the building, and Ray noticed something,

"A lot of people are looking at us".

"Not us. They're looking at Maria", Malakai clarified.

Maria looked down because she knew it was true. She had been used to the looks as she had been surrounded by them her whole life, but strangely, at this moment, it bothered her.

"Sorry about that", she apologised, embarrassed.

"Na, it's calm. I wanna see a guy ask you out" Malakai smiled and let his intrusive thoughts out.

"What?" Ray questioned quickly, turning to Malakai, getting second-hand embarrassment when he said that. Maria was also shocked to hear that.

"I wanna see what their pickup lines would be", Malakai answered, like what he said was normal.

"They're not asking you out", Ray said to make sure.

"Obviously, but imma be watching. Free entertainment".

Maria giggled while Ray sighed in disappointment. This was the type of shit Ray heard on the regular, and yet every time he heard something new, it didn't fail to disappoint him.

The three of them reached the building and walked in. As soon as they entered, they saw the reception, and it was large. In the reception, there were barriers, and to get past the barriers, you had to scan your student ID. This building looked brand new; it was clean and modernised. They all got through the barriers and followed the signs to the hall. They entered the final doors and saw a spacious room with students inside.

"Wooah!" Ray said, looking around. The hall was massive; there was an open space in the middle, and on the sides, there were foldable seats for people to rest or watch.

"There's two of these buildings?" Maria questioned herself, as she knew that the other minigames were happening at the same time.

"Do you know anyone from these classes?" Ray asked Maria to start a conversation.

"No, I haven't met anyone in any other class. I've only talked to people in our class," Maria answered, looking at Ray.

"I hope I can talk to some people now", Maria said, looking at new faces. "What about you?" Maria returned the question.

"Not really. I'm like you. I've only talked to our class", he answered, also looking at the new faces around the hall.

"What about you, Malakai?" She asked while turning around, but when she turned, she saw Malakai further forward split apart from them. Malakai was looking around to see any familiar faces, but he is short, so it was kinda tricky.

"MALAKAAIII!!!"

Malakai heard his voice being called out, and the voice came towards him. As soon as he turned to the voice, Nada hugged him like their first encounter.

"Yo, you good?" Malakai greeted, reciprocating the hug with one arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?" She answered, breaking from the hug.

"I'm calm".

Maria froze in place briefly, watching the whole thing alongside everyone else around them. It was a weird sight for everyone; a cute girl with pink hair ran towards Malakai and hugged him for everyone to see.

"Umm, w-who is she?" Maria asked, slowly turning her head to Ray, wanting to keep her eyes on Nada and Malakai.

"Oh. How do I say this? I think they're friends. Their relationship is complicated", Ray not knowing how to explain their connection without making it sound like bullshit.

"Complicated?"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Academy. The other group had entered their building. They were one of the last few to get in.

"This feels so awkward", William said, feeling the eyes on him.

"I get what you mean; I'm feeling mad pressure right now", Lucas replied, looking at the walls, trying not to make eye contact with people.

"Everyone's looking at us, that's why", Benjamin answered with his hands in his pockets and looking at people who were looking at them.

"Having Malakai would've been good here", David admitted. "Maybe what he said about having all the eyes on him was right".

"You feeling nervous, David?" Benjamin asked, smirking and looking at him.

"A little bit; it feels like everyone is judging us".

"I think they are judging us; look at their faces", Delilah said, standing next to David, seeing eyes with frowned eyebrows. She wasn't wrong; everyone else in the room was above them in terms of class. Dirty looks focused on the four boys; everyone knows they are associated with Malakai.

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"Do you think Malakai is hated by everyone here?" William questioned the group.

"I don't think he's hated. I think everyone wants to beat him in points. They were probably waiting to see him here", Benjamin answered.

David was 6'4, so he had a good view of the room and could see people clearly. He scanned the room for the people he had met at the meeting a while back, but there were many people in the hall. Until he saw one of them walking towards him.

"Hello again." It was Ryan, with Lorenzo behind him.

"You alright?" David greeted back. The group noticed Ryan. David and Lucas knew Ryan was dodgy because of their encounters. Benjamin met him once and thought he was a nice guy, but he'd heard from the others he was different from how he presented himself. William and Delilah had never met him as well but heard the rumours. So when Ryan was nearby, everyone was on edge. Ryan looked at the rest of the group,

"I see Malakai is not here", he said, looking at each individual.

"He's in the other group", David answered, trying to keep eye contact with him.

"That's a shame; I wanted to go up against him". Ryan said, smiling and acting casual. "Benjamin, Lucas, it's been a while. You two doing okay?" Ryan presented great hospitality. Even though he didn't own the place, he made it seem like they had entered his territory.

"Yeah, we good", Benjamin answered for both of them. Benjamin had a smile on his face, while Lucas had a straight face.

"Your William and your Delilah. Nice to meet you both. I've heard about you two; you all look great together. You all must be great friends", Ryan said. Ryan knew about them as he wanted to get as much information about Malakai as possible, so he wanted to know who his friends were.

Delilah smiled awkwardly at him.

"Nice to meet you too, man", William responded.

"Anyways, I just wanted to come over and say hi. I guess we'll see each other during the minigames", Ryan closed the conversation.

"Yeah, good luck", David said, offering a handshake.

"Good luck", he replied, shaking his hand.

He walked off with Lorenzo following. Lorenzo was doing what he always does: shadowing Ryan.

"He's not the same guy we met at the convenience store", Benjamin said, looking at Lucas.

"Yep, I think it's because we're friends with Malakai. He is treating us like that". Lucas responded. Even though he wasn't mistreating them, it just felt like he was.

"Malakais pissed off a lot of people, hasn't he," Delilah said, looking at the crowd.

"Entertainment comes at a cost", David said, watching Ryan walk away. Smiling and talking nicely to everyone else.

"OKAY QUIET!" a voice shouted.

Everyone turned to the voice; they saw Mr White standing before them.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I know this was sprung up on you, but it was also sprung up on me. So this is all a bit crazy to me as well".

The students whispered amongst each other, and Mr White noticed the environment wasn't ideal. 75 students are standing in their uniforms close together. He knew he had to start straight away to maintain control.

"I see that all of you are a bit agitated, so I won't waste any time. The minigames are split into five rounds, and the winner will get 100 points at the end".

Students closed their mouths now. Their ears perked up, hearing 100 points. Points were like a trigger word for the students; the mere mention of it could make any of them listen.

"As you can see around the room, there are teachers and some third-years; they will be helping me manage these games you play and keep things in control".

"The third-years look clueless", Delilah whispered to Benjamin, who was beside her.

"They have no clue what's going on. They probably got an email to show up", Benjamin whispered back.

"You think they're getting points for this?" Delilah asked.

"100%. Points are basically money here. This looks like a job for them", Benjamin said, looking at the third-year students standing around.

"The minigames will be done in pairs, so you have to find a partner. That means two people will walk away with 100 points today, so choose carefully. I will give you five minutes to choose".

As soon as he finished, chaos. The noise levels rose drastically. Frank and Alexander were standing next to each other. No words were said. They just looked at each other and stood next to each other. Same with Ryan and Lorenzo. The two prominent duos from 1-A and 1-B.

Now, the group of five.

"Don't worry about me; you four can pair up. I'll find someone", Delilah said, waving her hands in front of her so they wouldn't feel bad.

"Like who?" Benjamin asked, feeling bad.

"I know some people", she winked while hastily walking away.

"Well, now what?" William said, looking at his friends.

"We need to be tactical", David proposed.

"He's right; everyone here looks serious. We need to get points", Benjamin said.

"If that's the plan, then me and Ben make sense cuz we are balanced all around", Lucas replied.

"Sounds good to me", David agreed. "You good with that, Will?".

"Yeah, I didn't care who I ended up with", William answered with both his hands at the back of his head, looking relaxed.

The five minutes eventually finished, and everyone had gotten into a pair. As there were 75 people, there was going to be one extra, so one trio was formed. The boys didn't think about that, but if they did, they would've invited Delilah. Either way, it was fine as Delilah paired up with Tanisha.

"Right now, everyone is paired up. There should be 36 pairs and one trio", Mr White clapped his hands together.

"Okay, as there are too many of you, 17 pairs will be eliminated in the first round. The top 20 will go through and get 50 points. The first round is", Mr White stopped for a second to build suspense.

"Red Light Green Light".