Jungle Madness 2

Chapter 2, P8 - Gifted

"And with that the guardian challenge is finally complete." Yvonne spoke up, teachers walking outside to congratulate the winners and their costume now had the chance to be seen.

Nova and the others were on the edge, waiting for a judgment that never arrived. They watched in silence as Yvonne called Melissa to check the footage and prepare the appropriate clip to show.

"Nova." Reggie gently touched the panda's shoulder. He understood how much these results were increasing his anxiety and, just this one time, decided to abandon the idea of tackling him from behind.

"Oh, hey!" The panda attempted to mask his feelings but they already leaked everywhere. The fear of disappointing him was so strong he couldn't help it.

Reggie disliked that facade he was putting up. The gorilla wanted to hear the truth no matter what it was. "Nova did great!" He said, smacking his back multiple times, each hit was harder than the previous one.

Nova didn't understand if he had a knack for it or just a coincidence but all the hits successfully touched a nerve, making it quite painful to endure. "That hurt so much! You're crazy!"

"Yes." He crossed his arms and looked the other way.

Nova, for some reasons, felt like he was in the wrong now. "What the hell..."

"Reggie no good with words." He sighed, "Reggie won't hate Nova."

The panda massaged his aching back, "this could've ended better if I wouldn't have warned Ryuu. I can't help feeling bad, throwing your hard work away because I'm a selfish bear."

"Reggie respects Nova. Nova cares about friends the most. Nova wants to win without hurting people. Reggie likes Nova."

Esmeralda saw Nova's face mere moments before breaking down. Those words meant a lot to him and that moment they were having was extremely cute. "Aren't you guys going too fast? Nobody lost yet."

"Reggie wanted to make sure Nova know, Nova did not disappoint Reggie. Nova was good and Reggie not... uhm... change?" The gorilla was having trouble formulating his sentence.

"I don't cry. I don't cry. Everyone's looking at me. I don't cry. I don't cry." Nova kept chanting this to himself, covering his eyes and staring down.

He was hiding it but everyone was aware that behind those big paws he was absolutely breaking down.

Next to them the other pair acted the opposite.

"Why didn't you listen to me?!" Carmen yelled, "I had the perfect plan, plenty of moments to take advantage of the situation and win."

"I did listen to you." Ryuu rolled his eyes, annoyed, "I followed your strategy when it was about sabotaging the other students but Nova and Esmeralda are my friends. I have decided to not help them but asking me to get rid of their tools was too harsh and unfair."

"And that's why we lost! Because you wanted to do charity in a competitive game."

"This game wasn't a competition. A competition happens when everyone is on the same level. This challenge was nothing but that." He proceeded to look at her with grinning eyes, "if the leader can't convince her partner doesn't that mean the leader is incapable of doing their job? You clearly lack that ability as a guardian."

"Nobody can force an idiot to do something smart!" The ram replied, growing upset by the second, "only a miracle would help a worthless idiot like you!"

Esmeralda sighed, watching this scene happening. She refused to step into that territory completely. "Good luck with your class Laila."

The bear slowly peeked from behind the bird. She seemed focused on something else entirely and fully ignored what Esmeralda said. "Why is he so cute..."