My Basic Life

Run, Ahil, Run!

I came in my house from the front door, panting and sweating. I rushed to the kitchen to quench my thirst. I think I could've drank about three jugs of water. I think that's still not enough for me!

"My, my... That is a lot of water. What have you been doing?" Dad came in the kitchen, grabbing himself a plate of rice and pouring chicken soup that mom prepared for us. "Oh, dad... I didn't notice you. For a second there I thought, 'Who in the world is this?' "

"How could you forget your own dad?" He asked as he playfully tickled my ribs. I chuckled. "So, what were you doing just now, until you had to drink gallons of water?"

"Well, I have a Cross-Country next week, and I thought that I ought to practice running," I replied. "I see. But next time, don't drink too much water. It's not good for your health."

"Okay, I replied meekly. That's when mom came in. "Hi, hun. How's work?" She asked my dad. "Good," he replied with a smile. Dad always had a rule to smile back at anyone before continuing with what he's doing.

"And you, young man... How's school?" "It was GREAT, mom! During maths class, I had only 4 mistakes. That means I scored a 92%! I was the 2nd highest, Fitri was the highest, Faiz was third. I beat him my just one mark," I gabbled at top speed.

"And then, during Art Class, we had to draw, or at least sketch our favourite thing. Of course I drew my Leo action figure. (If you know TMNT, you'll get it) Mr. Sim was pleased with it. Oh yea, and I'm joining for this year's Cross Country event. I'm really excited about it," I stopped to take a breath, and then continued again, excited as ever.

"Remember when I couldn't go last year because I was sick? That was horrible. But this year, I'm going! It's this Saturday. I've decided to train hard, so I practiced running at school. Totally worth it." "Sounds like you've had a pretty busy day today. No wonder you look and smell sweaty," Mom said. "Go upstairs and take a bath, stinky,"

"Okay, mom.." And I was off, higgledly-piggledly, leaving my parents to laugh at my silly behaviour. "Ahil, Ahil..."

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"Okay, we'll be running for a bit in this class. In fact, let's do a race!" Miss Yasmin said. "Can anyone contribute names for our first round? Boys first." There was a pause and a little discussion among the students. 

"AHIL! AHIIIIIL!!" Came the cry. "I must be famous,"  I said to myself, with a little pride. I didn't reject the fact that they suggested my name. Well, I have been practicing... Time to show my hard work.

Now, who am I up against?

Make it hard.

"ZULL!!!" And there was my answer. Zul?! To be honest, I'm a little nervous, now that I know I'm facing Zul. Faiz suddenly popped out of nowhere.

"You can beat him. I'm sure of that. Fight for the Yellow Team!" 

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"Hey Ahil, I bet ya' can't go faster than I can!" Zul mocked me at the starting line. Heh. We'll see about that. I grinned. "Eh? So confident?" Zul mocked me again. "On your marks..." Faiz shouted from the side. "Go Ahil! You CAN do it!" Some of my friends supported me. I smiled gratefully at them. I focused at Chubby, who was at the finish line, about 200 meters away. Chubby waved, and I grinned at him confidently. "Get set..." I took a deep breath..  If I lose, it's just a practice... right?

"GO!" 

I ran as fast as my little legs could take me. I took big, giant steps and my legs were pushing my whole body forwrard, almost causing me to fall down, but I leaned a little bit to the back. I wasn't sure whether I was holding my breath or not, but I assure you, I wouldn't call it 'breathing'.