"Is everyone ready?".
A voice came from a speaker in the corner of the room. It was Mr White's voice.
"Challenge 5 is about to begin".
Everyone got up from their seats and readied themselves.
"The rules of the first round are as follows. One team will be allowed out of their safe zones and can search the building for fifteen minutes. Before their fifteen minutes end, they have to be in their safe zones. If they are not, they will receive a penalty. After their fifteen minutes is up, the next team will be allowed to search".
"Wait, is only one team going out?" Malakai asked Delilah to make sure he understood.
"I think so", Delilah replied unsure.
"Alexander and Destiny, get ready. Your fifteen minutes will begin shortly. The rest of you cannot leave your safe zones".
"Bro, we have to stay here for thirty minutes until our turn", Malakai complained with his arms in the air.
"Mally, we've got the same rules. Only class 1-A can search for the map pieces right now. We have to stay in the classroom", David told him.
Malakai walked back to his chair and slumped in it,
"Tch, long day".
BEEP!
"Round one has started".
Alexander and Destiny opened the door and left their safe zone. They didn't say a word to each other and went their own ways. Alexander made his way to the stairs while Destiny went down the corridor towards a different room. Alexander made it to the stairs and started his descent to the bottom. They couldn't use the elevator as that would be cheating. Only the stairs could be used to get to different floors.
"Don't waste all of your energy", Frank told Alexander.
Frank was on the mic for class 1-A. Right now, he is the only person in the classroom. Everyone else was searching for the map pieces. As Frank was the closest to Alexander, he was chosen to speak to him and Destiny. Of course, anyone else could speak into the mic if they wanted to, but no other person in the class was close to either of them. No one wanted to talk to them. So, it was most likely that Alexander and Destiny would only hear Frank's voice through the earpiece in this challenge.
"I'll be fine", Alexander replied, rushing down the stairs. "As soon as I find out what floor our safe zone is, I can search rooms".
That was their plan. They decided that Alexander would find out what floor they were on, and Destiny would search the rest of the rooms on their floor. That plan was made pretty quickly, and Destiny had no problems with it.
Alexander made it to the bottom floor. He looked around and saw no more stairs.
"I'm at the bottom. I went down twelve flights of stairs. Our safe zone is on the sixth floor", Alexander calculated, telling Frank.
There were also no numbers anywhere to indicate which floor was which. If a student didn't know what floor they were on, it would be hard for them to figure out without help from their classmates. The stairs spiralled down. Therefore, to get to another floor, there was a flight of stairs, a landing and another flight of stairs. Each flight of stairs had twelve steps, which made it more tiring for the students. As the rounds progressed, going up and down those stairs would be harder and harder.
"The sixth floor", Frank quietly said, stroking his chin.
He looked towards a desk to his left with all the map pieces. Frank quickly checked each piece, turning them around to check the number on the back. Eventually, he found six. Frank put the piece on a different table.
"We should've organised the pieces to each table to make it easier", Frank said, shaking his head and looking at the pieces jumbled up on one desk.
"You should do that", Alexander said.
Frank didn't realise he said that out loud. He looked back up at the screen and saw from Alexander's angle that he was already in a room.
"Is that a room on the first floor?" Frank asked. He turned around for a second, and Alexander was already doing something.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Do what you have to do. Organise the map pieces", Alexander said, concentrating on searching the room.
"Okay", Frank replied. "Destiny, your safe zone is on the sixth floor", he said. Frank remembered Destiny could also hear what he could say, so he told her what floor she was on.
Hearing Destiny's name made Alexander curious.
"Frank, tell me what she's doing", Alexander said.
"She's currently in a room with a lot of tables. She's already found a ball", Frank told him, looking at Destiny's camera angle.
Destiny smirked. "Awweee, Alexander wants to know what I'm doing", she said teasingly. Only Frank could hear what she was saying. Alexander and Destiny couldn't talk to each other through the earpieces. They could only talk to and hear Frank.
"He's making sure I'm on my best behaviour, bless him. Tell him I'm doing great. No, no, not great. Fantastic", Destiny said, taking the mick.
"She's doing great. You don't have to worry", Frank told Alexander. He didn't want to repeat exactly what Destiny said because it would've been cringe.
"I'm not worried. I'm making sure she's doing her job", Alexander said, making it clear he wasn't worried. He sounded a little offended that Frank might've thought he was worried about her.
"Frank, I found a piece! It's a piece of the eighth floor", Mark said, jogging into the classroom, holding up the map piece.
"Great", Frank replied. He looked back at the screen.
"You two will be fine. I need to sort out the map pieces".
"It's fine. I didn't need his help this round anyway", Alexander thought. "This round is down to me and her. Their help will be useful in the next rounds".
Alexander was still searching the first room he entered on the first floor. The room was filled with computers, rows of computers. He'd been searching behind the computers, under the chairs and in the room's corners, but he found nothing. It looked like no plastic balls were in this room, but there had to be something here. The room was big, something had to be hiding there.
"There's nothing here", Alexander thought, looking around the room disappointed. He searched the room, not thoroughly, but he wasn't lazy with it. He could've been more in-depth with his search, but he had no time. He walked to the door and was about to leave. Before he left, he checked behind the door just to make sure. There was no plastic ball, but there was a card on the floor. Alexander crouched down and picked it up. He turned the card around to see if anything was written on the back, and there was.
"Late pass. This item will give you extra time. You can return to your safe zone three minutes after the round is over, and you will not be penalised. Only usable for two rounds".
Alexander didn't find a ball, but he found an item that would come in handy later. He left the room, slightly unsatisfied and was instantly stumped. He didn't know how long was left until the round was over. Should he search another room or go back to his floor? He had no choice but to ask.
"Frank, how long until the round is over?".
Frank was busy with his own problems. A lot of classmates were returning with map pieces, so he was organising and piecing things together. Everyone in the classroom heard Alexander's question. Frank turned to the screen and saw that Alexander was out of the room.
"The round started at 10:15, so you got..." Frank looked at the clock above the classroom door. "Five minutes".
"Five minutes?" Alexander thought. "How did I waste ten minutes?"
He looked down the hall and saw other rooms. The shut doors were tempting. Knowing that there were points behind some of those doors enticed him to search further. But he couldn't. He'd have no time to search and make it back to the sixth floor. He just found the late pass, which solves the problem of him not making it back. However, Alexander didn't want to waste it on the first round. This round was only the starter.
"Tsk".
Alexander decided. He was returning to the sixth floor and his safe zone. He hastily made his way to the stairs and jogged up them.
Alexander was annoyed at his performance. It wasn't bad. If anything, it was pretty good. He found out which floor their safe zone was on, and he got an item. But Alexander wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted more. He wanted to find a plastic ball. He wanted to get points. While he ascended the stairs, he assessed what he had done. Could he have gone down the stairs faster? He could've definitely searched the room quicker. Was he too cautious of missing anything? Did they have to find out which floor they were on? They could've found out later. Did he choose the wrong plan? Was the plan wrong? Did they need a plan?
Flaws. Flaws. Flaws.
To everyone else, Alexander seemed perfect. Everything he did was precise, and there were no flaws or mistakes in the process of whatever he did. All the things he did, all these things he's achieved. It's all perfect. But Alexander isn't perfect. He wants to be. He thinks he is. But he's near perfect. Not perfect. Once in a while, he's reminded that he isn't perfect. This was one of those reminders.
"Destiny, there's four minutes left until the round is over. Get back to the safe zone. You don't have time to search another room", Frank said, seeing her still in a room.
Alexander just reached the sixth floor, and he heard that there were four minutes left. It was no use. The round was over. Alexander couldn't search another room. He had no time. A four-minute search would be a bad job. He'd basically be setting up another team by messing up the room searching.
"I hope she did her job", Alexander thought, diverting his attention to something other than himself.
He walked down the corridor back to his safe zone. As he was about to open the door, he heard someone jogging down the hall. Alexander looked to his left and saw Destiny jogging while holding three balls. Destiny saw Alexander empty-handed.
"You've got nothing?!" she questioned, disappointed while she got closer. Her face clearly showed her disappointment. She expected something.
Alexander didn't meet her eyes. He turned to the door and opened it,
"I got more than you think. I figured out what floor we are on, and I got an item", he said, walking inside and not facing her.
"It's not points, though, is it?" Destiny harshly replied, feeling let down.
She was out of breath from dashing from room to room searching. She hadn't even searched all the rooms on the sixth floor. She had only searched four. There were too many. Plus, the rooms had a lot of places where the balls could be. It was more complex than spotting the ball after a quick look around. The balls weren't large either. The balls were big enough to fit in someone's palm, so holding two is possible, but it would be tricky. They would be slightly smaller than a dodgeball if we were comparing size.
"This is only the first round. We're in a great position. We both did our jobs", Alexander said, not wanting to admit he was the weaker player this round. "You found three balls, and I got an item that will help us later. That's more than enough".
Alexander didn't believe what he was saying, but he had to say it to protect his own ego.
"Hmpf", Destiny didn't want to argue back, she was too tired.
She was already fired up for this challenge. She wanted to prove a point. She had a point to prove. Malakai humiliated her in the third challenge. She hadn't forgotten. This time, she wanted to throw him out of that top spot. Usually, she would be more relaxed, jokey and playful, but there was no room for that now. She underestimated Malakai before, and she wasn't going to do that again. She was giving 100%, and she needed 100% from her partner. Destiny thought she would've gotten 100% because Alexander was so 'perfect', but she was disappointed. Did she expect too much? She didn't think she did. She knew Alexander did poorly by his standards. His perfect standards.
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"The round ended by the way", Frank said.
The whole of class 1-A was in the classroom. The majority of them heard what Destiny said to Alexander. After hearing her opinion, some of their opinions swayed. They also thought Alexander should've at least found one plastic ball.
Destiny threw the balls she got on the floor, and threw herself on the chair afterwards. She didn't throw the balls forcefully. It was more like she let go of them out of exhaustion. Alexander, on the other hand, slowly sat down on his seat and quietly caught his breath. The only thing on his mind.
Flaws. Flaws. Flaw.
"Ryan and Akari, get ready. Your fifteen minutes will start shortly".
"When did 1-A's round end? There was no announcement", Malakai said, looking around, confused.
"If there's no announcement for the round ending, that means we have to keep track ourselves", Delilah replied.
Malakai looked into Delilah's camera, "That means you lot have to watch the time for us", he said, pointing at the camera.
"Don't worry, we will", David replied.
"Should we go over the plan again?" Delilah asked, leaning forward.
"Why? There's not much to strategise. You're gonna check what floor we're on, and I'm gonna search this floor", Malakai replied, leaning back. "You sure you wanna check what floor we're on? Won't you get tired running down the stairs and then running back up?"
"I want to do this", Delilah confidently replied. "I'm sure you would be faster, but I want to challenge myself".
"What's the actual reason?" Malakai bluntly asked, smiling, knowing there was another reason.
Delilah broke eye contact and looked away,
"I've been using the stair climber at the gym a lot. I want to see if it actually helped me", she guiltily replied.
"Hehehehe", Malakai giggled. "Sure, go for it".
Delilah awkwardly glanced around the room. "What should we do? We've been here for fifteen minutes, and there's nothing to do", she said. "The tablet we found in the locker does nothing. We're just sitting here".
Malakai thought for a moment. "We could play 21 questions", he proposed.
"Huh? Why?"
"I'm sure the class wants to know more about you", Malakai said.
"Me? What about you?" Delilah asked.
"No one wants to know about me. They hate me", he replied. After a second, Malakai's face lit up. He had a eureka moment. "Delilah, we can make you some friends".
"Wha?"
Malakai quickly took off his camera vest and held the camera to focus on Delilah.
"Classmates, this is Delilah", Malakai said, like he was vlogging.
"What are you doing?" Delilah asked, putting her hand in front of her to cover her face a little. She didn't like how he was filming her.
"She looks like a bitch, but she isn't really. She just has a scary face. She's nice, really. She has no friends, so be her friend, please. She's in desperate need of friends".
"Malakai! Shut up! What are you saying!?" Delilah swiped at Malakai's camera.
"Hehehe", Malakai giggled as he dodged her swipe.
The whole of class 1-C could see what they were doing. Even though Malakai and Delilah are the representatives of 1-C, they're not really close to everyone in 1-C. They have their own group and stick with it. Most of the girls in 1-C avoided Delilah because, one, she was always with Malakai and his friends, and two, because she looked pissed all the time. And Malakai stayed with his best friends. He hasn't made friends with most of the other boys yet because he can't be bothered. If they came up to him, he wouldn't mind, but they didn't. Malakai was well known, but he wasn't popular, so people didn't want to approach him and be friendly.
Malakai put his camera vest back on and thought of something.
"Wait, you're Brazillian. Why the fuck are you called Delilah?" Malakai asked. "I haven't thought about it until now. Delilah ain't a Brazillian name".
"No, it isn't", Delilah replied. "Are we actually playing 21 questions?"
"Yeah, we are. Now answer the question", Malakai said, pretending to point a gun at Delilah.
Delilah sign. "Fine", she accepted to play along. "It was the name of an actor my mom liked. She watched everything that the actor starred in. My mom really liked the name Delilah. She found it beautiful, so she called me Delilah", she replied. "My middle name is Ana, which is a common Brazilian and Portuguese name. So it's not like my name isn't Brazillian".
"Tut, tut, tut. You've been Americanized", Malakai joked.
"What about you? Malakai doesn't sound like a Mauritian name", Delilah said. "I don't even know what a Mauritian name would sound like, but I know Malakai isn't one".
"It's not. My name is Malakai because my parents liked that name. That's it".
"What an interesting story", Delilah sarcastically said.
"I know, right?" Malakai sarcastically replied.
The two sat in silence, not sure what to talk about next.
"Is that is? I thought you were playing 21 questions?" David asked.
"Oh shit. I forgot the whole class was listening", Malakai replied after hearing David's voice in his ear.
"Everyone wants to hear another question", David told them. No one in the class explicitly said they wanted to hear another question, but everyone did look at each other, expecting more.
"I don't know what to ask her", Malakai replied, his mind went blank.
"Oh, I know", Delilah said, sitting up. "Who do you think the prettiest girl is in our class?"
The girls in the class looked at each other. After looking at each other, they glanced at who he was most likely going to say. But who knows? Beauty is in the in the eye of the beholder.
Malakai smirked. "You know who I'm gonna say", he replied.
Delilah was waiting for one name.
"Ms Green".
A few laughs and smiles broke out in the class. Ms Green lowered her head and smirked. She thought Malakai was going to be serious.
"That doesn't count. Pick someone under thirty-five", Delilah said.
"I'm not over thirty-five! I'm thirty-one!".
Malakai and Delilah faintly heard Ms Green's shouting down the earpiece.
"When are you going to stop this joke with Ms Green?" Delilah asked, covering her smile after hearing Ms Green's response.
"The joke is gonna continue until the day I graduate", Malakai replied. "I'm the closest thing she's gonna have to a boyfriend or a husband. She's gonna miss me when I'm go-"
"Listen, Malakai! When this challenge is over, I'm going to make you write a five thousand-word essay in front of me!" Ms Green was now on the mic. She took the mic off David so Malakai could hear her clearly.
The class found it funny. Malakai and Delilah found it funny.
"Aryt, Ms, I'm sorry", Malakai giggled.
Delilah giggled. "Okay, forget, Ms Green. Pick someone under thirty", she said, asking her original question and still taking a dig at Ms Green.
"Those two, I swear", Ms Green said under her breath, smiling and going back to her desk.
She saw the funny side of it. In all seriousness, she was glad she had people like Malakai and Delilah in her class, it made her days more enjoyable. It made her teaching fun, too.
Back to the question Delilah asked, Malakai briefly thought about it.
"Isn't it obvious?" Malakai said. "We've got a model in our class".
"Right, Maria. Okay pick someone except Maria", Delilah replied. She knew Maria's name was going to come up, but she was surprised Malakai didn't outright say Maria's name. It was like he wasn't including her, as if she were in a league of her own.
Maria smiled. Hearing Malakai think she was the prettiest gave her some confidence, not that she needed anymore. She's heard that she's beautiful by various people. But this one person saying it felt different. Even though he didn't directly say it, it was what he meant. Next time, Maria wanted to hear him say that to her.
Tanisha saw Maria smiling in the corner of her eye. She was happy that Maria was happy, but wasn't happy about who made her happy. It was a complicated feeling she was feeling.
"Pretty, hmm", Malakai took his time to think. He was envisioning all the girls in his class. "I don't know. All the girls in our class are pretty. Every girl at this academy is pretty. I don't know how", he replied.
"You have to answer. You're not escaping this", Delilah said, forcing him to answer.
"Everyone's pretty, though. Like Sarena has nice hair, I like her hair. She has a wolf cut, it's so sick. Nicole's got nice eyes. Have you seen her eyes? They're sleepy but sharp at the same time. Who else? Rose is cute. She's got a nice smile", Malakai was rambling on.
"Stop flirting", Delilah said, stopping him. She was getting information but no answer.
"How's that flirting?" Malakai cluelessly asked. "I'm complimenting them".
"He knows what he's doing", Lucas quietly said.
"Yep. He did that on purpose", Benjamin replied. He glanced at the girls he mentioned and saw them a little flustered by his comments. "Mally hasn't even spoken to them, and he's saying this. Has he been looking at everyone in this class that closely?".
"Who knows, dude? Mally's weird", Lucas replied.
"Just pick a girl", Delilah pushingly said, desperate for an answer and thinking Malakai was running from the question.
"Aryt, fine", Malakai replied. He put a hand on his chin. "Tanisha's got nice skin. I might pick her to piss her off".
"You can't pick Tanisha to piss her off", Delilah said, quickly closing that option off.
Tanisha sighed in relief.
"Wouldn't that have been a good thing if he had chosen you?" Maria asked, seeing her relieved reaction.
"Chosen by him? No", Tanisha replied, shaking her head.
"Okay, I'll be serious now", Malakai said. He had an answer. "Maya. I think she's the prettiest", he chose. He saw Delilah's expression. "You don't know who that is, do you?" he said after seeing Delilah's face blank. "She sits in the second row, I think", Malakai was unsure himself.
Even after that piece of information, Delilah slowly shook her head, looking clueless.
"Sorry, Maya", she awkwardly apologised, looking into Malakai's camera. "Are you two friends?" she asked Malakai.
"No, I've never talked to her", he laughed. "I don't even think she likes me. I looked at her one time, and she looked at me pissed. I don't even know what I did. She gave me a dirty look for no reason", he giggled.
Delilah also giggled, imagining it, "You probably did something".
"I don't even remember doing that", Maya thought.
"Are you asking her out in front of the class?" Delilah asked, trying to embarrass him.
"No, I don't like her. I just said she's attractive, innit", Malakai replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's stop talking about me. We need to talk about you. You need friends".
"Stop acting like I'm a loner'", Delilah said, offended.
"Bro, without me and my friends, you would be", Malakai replied.
"No", Delilah disagreed with a scrunched-up face. "I'm friends with Maria and Tanisha".
"Because of who?" Malakai questioned with a grin.
Delilah looked away, "Shut up", she knew he was right.
"Okay, classmates. If you have any questions about Delilah, ask away", Malakai said, positioning his camera to focus on Delilah. "We're still playing 21 questions, right?".
After a few minutes of questions from Malakai and some people from 1-C, it was time.
"Malakai and Delilah, get ready. Your fifteen minutes will start shortly".
"About time", Malakai said, getting up from his seat.
Delilah took a deep breath and slowly breathed out before she got up. She could feel her heart beating quickly. She was nervous. This was the most nervous she'd been for a challenge. For the other challenges, she had a whole team, but for this one, she only had Malakai. And it wasn't like he could carry her to victory. She had to play her part. If she slacked, she would bring Malakai down. The whole class down. She had the entire class helping her, too, but getting the points was up to her. That made her nervous.
She tightly clenched her fists in an attempt to calm herself and went towards the door to stand beside Malakai.
Malakai glanced to his left and saw that Delilah was tense. She was staring ahead with clenched fists. Her hands were shaking ever so slightly, enough that Malakai could notice.
"Yo".
Delilah looked at Malakai.
"Don't worry. We got this", Malakai said, smiling and holding out his fist.
Seeing Malakai smile caused Delilah to smile. It was nothing special. It was just his usual smile, but it was enough. She calmed down a little, seeing Malakai smile.
"Yeah", she replied, fist-bumping him.
BEEP!
"Aryt, let's go".