"For the next round, they're deffo sending all the teams out together", Malakai said.
"Yeah, I think so too", Delilah replied. "Do you have a plan?"
“Nope”, Malakai answered. "I've got a gun, so if I see anyone, it's on sight", he grinned, holding the gun up.
Delilah saw his grin. "Don't just shoot at anyone", she told him, having a bad feeling about the gun in Malakai's hands.
"It depends who I see, imma be honest", Malakai said, shrugging his shoulders. "Why? Do you have a plan?"
"Not really", Delilah replied, shaking her head. "The only thing I can say is that we have to be careful".
Malakai held up his gun to remind her that he had protection.
"I know you have that, but I mean it in other ways. Like other teams might've found items too", Delilah said.
"True", Malakai replied, putting his gun on the table.
"Also, the people. We're going up against Alexander and Destiny. Ryan and Akari", Delilah listed with her fingers.
Malakai scoffed, "Akari? She ain't too much to worry about".
He didn't think she would be a problem. Malakai had been on her team before, so he thought he had an idea of her abilities.
"Don't underestimate her. She could've been in 1-A if she was better at physical activities. She's hella smart. I guarantee she's smarter than half the people in 1-A", Delilah replied, backing her friend.
"She fell in love with Jason. She can't be that smart", Malakai joked.
"C'mon, don't say that", Delilah said, breaking a little smile. "You've never been in love, so you can't judge her".
"I ain't judging her. But falling in love with Jason? A girl like her? Naah man", Malakai replied, shaking his head.
"What does that mean? You don't think they're a good match?" Delilah asked, sitting up for this conversation.
"Hell no", Malakai replied. "If she was 'hella smart', she would realise she's too good for him", he continued, using his fingers as quotation marks to quote Delilah.
"Do you know Jason enough to know he's not good enough for her?" Delilah asked.
"Not really. I can just tell innit", Malakai smiled.
Delilah rolled her eyes at that lazy response.
"Can you blame her, though? Isn't Jason what most girls want? Tall, muscular and good-looking?"
"And that's enough to make a girl fall in love? Tall, muscular and good-looking? That's stupid", Malakai replied, pointing to the side of his head.
Delilah could tell which way this conversation was going. "Like I said before. You've never been in love, so I don't think you can comment", she said.
Malakai leaned back in his seat. "All I'm saying is love makes you do stupid shit. Making you stupid", he replied. "You're never catching me like that", he smiled.
"You don't know that. You can't control what your heart feels", Delilah said, looking down at the table. She was thinking about Sabrina when she said that. She thought those two would be good together. They oddly suited each other in her head.
"My heart ain't felt shit yet, and I doubt it will anytime soon", Malakai replied, putting a hand over his heart. "I'm having too much fun right now. Love would only get in the way".
"You can still have fun and be in love with someone", Delilah said.
"I don't know, maybe. I doubt it, though. I won't be as focussed on the challenges", Malakai replied. "I know I said I don't care about being first, but being first for this long and beating people who are labelled better than me feels good", he smiled. "It's fun".
"I can't argue with that, not that I know what that feels like", Delilah giggled. "I'm happy you care about your ranking and feel competitive now. I feel like it brings the best out of you", she said. "And thinking about it now, I think it would be weird if you were in love".
"Why?" Malakai asked, looking offended.
"I think you would be more mature and less jokey".
"You think I'm a romantic?"
"Yeah. I think you would love hard".
Malakai smiled and blew air out of his nose. "I mean, we ain't finding out any time soon", he said. Malakai sat up in his seat and looked into Delilah's camera, "Don't fall in love, kids", he said, pointing into the camera, telling his class.
"Aren't you the youngest in the class?"
"Probably", he giggled.
"Malakai having a girlfriend would be weird", Lucas said, looking at his friends and starting a conversation.
"Yeah, I can't imagine it", William replied.
The boys were sitting close to the mic. They could've spoken into it, but they decided to let Malakai and Delilah have their own conversation. All they did was watch and listen.
"He would need a girl to like him first. Which will take a while because I don't think a normal girl could handle him", Benjamin added. "He's too crazy".
"He's not that crazy. Only sometimes when he needs to be", Ray replied. "Usually, he's normal".
"Naah, he's too childish right now", Lucas disagreed. "Maybe when we graduate from here, he'll be ready for a relationship. Not right now".
"If the guy that's been in a hundred relationships says that. I believe him", William said with his hands up.
"Shut up prick".
"Hahahaha".
Their conversation was loud enough for a girl to hear. A girl in love.
Maria listened to the whole thing. The things Malakai said and the things his friends said. She digested the entire conversation, and it was a little painful. It was like she got rejected. I mean, she kinda did. She heard Malakai say love would only get in the way, and she heard his friends say he'd be ready for a relationship after graduation. In summary, her love won't be accepted right now or any time soon. She kept a poker face and smiled while Tanisha and the other girls in the class talked to her, but she was on autopilot. She wasn't hearing anything. It hurt her that Malakai said he wasn't interested in love right now because she wanted him right now. However, there are positives. It's clear he has no interest in anyone. Unless he's hiding it. So Maria isn't fighting a losing battle. There are no girls above her. Another positive is that she knows how Malakai feels. Before, she wasn't sure. So, if she had misunderstood a situation, gambled, and confessed, it could've ended in a relationship or a rejection. Maria didn't know the odds. But now, knowing how he felt, it would've 100% been a rejection. It's a painful positive. She knows she can't confess. If she wants Malakai, Malakai has to confess to her. That's the only way she will know that Malakai wants her. Confessing to him is off the table. Yesterday, she realised she had to do better to stand beside Malakai. Now she knows what she has to do to be with him. She has a clear vision.
She has to make him fall in love.
Screeeech!!!
"Round two will begin shortly", Mr White announced through the speaker.
That screech and announcement got everyone's attention.
"Here are the rules for round two. Every team will choose one person to leave their safe zones and search the building. The other person has to stay in their safe zone. They cannot leave. The person searching cannot enter another team's safe zone. No punching is allowed. If you see another person, you cannot punch them. If you do, that will lead to a penalty. Pushing and shoving is allowed but within limits. You cannot be too harsh and push or shove with the intent to hurt your opponent. If you push someone to get a ball, then that is fine. But you cannot push with excessive force to harm them. This round will last twenty-five minutes. The round will start shortly. Decide who will go out and search. Once you have decided, tell the security camera in the corner of your room".
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The speaker turned off.
Malakai and Delilah looked at each other. Delilah gave a little nod to Malakai.
"Aryt".
It was obvious who was going to participate in this round.
Malakai got up from his seat, picked up the paintball gun from the table and walked to the security camera. He looked up into the camera and pointed the gun towards the camera as a joke.
Screeeech!!
"Malakai, this announcement is only being told to your safe zone. You need to be careful with the paintball gun, you hear me?" Mr White said. He spoke with a tone of familiarity. It was like he was genuinely warning Malakai to be careful.
"We've adjusted the air pressure just right, so the shots will hurt them, but it won't be dangerous. It would be painful enough that they wouldn't want to get shot again but not too painful that they can't move. Shots to the body and the legs are fine. You cannot shoot to a body part where the skin is exposed. If you do, that will be a penalty", Mr White told him. "Headshots are not allowed. No one has head protection. If you shoot another student in the head, be it accidental or on purpose, the punishment will be expulsion. You will be kicked out of the academy".
Malakai smiled ear to ear. The thrill excited him.
"Don't worry, I wasn't good at getting headshots in shooter games".
"This isn't a game, Malakai. I'm serious. Don't aim for the head", Mr White told him, seeing him smile like a maniac at the camera. "Good luck".
The speaker turned off.
The room fell silent.
"This is gonna be fun", Malakai said, smiling ear to ear, gripping the gun tighter.
Delilah watched him from her seat. She couldn't see his face but could tell he was grinning.
"Malakai, please don't be an idiot", she said. "If you hit someone in the head, you won't only be expelled. You'll get into bigger trouble. The police might get involved".
Malakai turned around to look at Delilah. "Don't worry, I won't shoot anyone in the head", he unconvincingly replied, nodding.
"Malakai, this is serious. Don't shoot anyone in the head", David sternly told him. He knew he had to say something to him.
“Aryt, aryt I get it. I'm not an idiot", Malakai replied, tired of the nagging. "The thought of shooting someone in the head didn't cross my mind".
"Good".
"What about you lot?" Malakai asked. "What are the rules for your round?"
"Ours is the same as yours", David replied. "Six people from every class can search the academy for twenty-five minutes".
"You picked who's searching?"
"Yeah, we've already decided".
"Can the chosen participants get ready. Round two will start shortly".
Malakai positioned himself next to the door.
"Good luck", Delilah said, resting her head on her palm.
"Thanks. I don't know what you're gonna do for twenty-five minutes, but have fun", Malakai replied.
"I'll try to stay awake. Maybe I'll have David commentate on what you do".
"No. I don't wanna hear live commentary of what I'm doing. I might take my earpiece out if he does that", Malakai joked.
BEEEP!!!
Malakai raced out of the room at the sound of the beep. They got three balls in the first round. This round, Malakai wanted them to have double digits by the end of it.
"Mally, go to the eleventh floor. The map piece for the eleventh floor has five dots on it", David told him.
"Five dots? Rah. Whoever found that piece is a G", Malakai replied, running down the hall and towards the staircase.
Everyone knew who found that piece. It was the best piece found in the last round, but that piece of information about who found it wasn't that important to announce to Malakai or Delilah.
Maria sat in her chair, lightly smiling. Sure, it would've been nice if Malakai found out it was her who found that piece, but at the same time, it wasn't anything to brag about. It was only one piece. She was happy that she could help out. She didn't need the praise or recognition. She just needed to keep doing what she was doing, and the rest will follow.
Only six people from the class went to search. None of those six people were Malakai's friends or people he knew, so all of them were watching him.
Right now, Malakai was climbing the stairs at some pace to the eleventh floor. Every time he reached a new floor, he had to remind himself what floor it was so he wouldn't get lost and confused. He only had to go up to floors as their safe zone was on the ninth floor. Malakai made it to the eleventh floor and looked right and left.
"Which way do I go?" he asked, waiting for some help.
David looked at the map piece. Luckily, the map piece had the stairs in the picture. "Go to the right", he told him.
Malakai heard the instruction and jetted to the right. He made it to the first door, but it was already open.
Malakai was confused. Why was it open? He stopped at the doorway and leaned forward to peek inside. He couldn't see anyone in the room even though the light was on. He stepped forward.
Creeaak!
The floor let out a creak as he stepped inside. Malakai glanced around the room. The room was a decent size. There was nothing special about it, but it had a lot of objects in it alongside the usual office stuff. However, there was something clear about this room.
"Someone's been in here already".
All the objects in the room had been misplaced and moved. Cupboards were open. Drawers were open. Chairs had been moved. Someone had beaten him to this room. And if someone had beat him to this room, that meant they probably beat him to the other rooms, too. Suddenly, that map piece with the five dots may have become meaningless.
Malakai looked around the room, tempting to leave, not to waste time.
Thud!
That noise stopped him from leaving. Someone was still in the room.
Malakai looked at the desk where the noise came from. This one was similar to most of the other desks he'd seen already, with a computer and other office accessories. It was facing the other way to Malakai, so someone was hiding behind it where the chair was tucked in. On closer inspection, Malakai noticed the chair wasn't even tucked behind the desk. It was moved to the side. Now, it was obvious someone was hiding there. The noise sounded like someone accidentally bumped into the desk. Be it their head, arm or leg.
Malakai slowly crept closer to the desk. Raising his right arm. The arm that held the paintball gun. Malakai was a few feet away from the desk, pointing his gun. There was nowhere to run for the person hiding.
"Who's there?"
A few seconds of silence followed, but,
"It's me".