oh i heard your voice in a dream

No Badminton For You

Okay, I know it was a big risk to go hang out with Kara, and we could've gotten into a lot of trouble and blah blah blah, but, oh my God, was it worth it. Plus, what was I supposed to do when the girl I was in love with passed out right in front of me?

"You realise you've been saying all this out loud, right, Welsh?" my best friend Erik said, pulling me from my thoughts. Shit.

"Um, nope. Sorry to gush." I was blushing so much. I hope no one ever suspects us, because I will give it away so quick.

"Whatever, man. You know I don't have a problem with you and Spurlock. Just don't get caught. And no hooking up while I'm in here, okay?" I blushed even darker. Erik just laughed, though. It's lucky we get to share a room and that he is like the only person that doesn't have a problem with Verloren Zaak fraternation. Just as long as whoever it is isn't an asshole.

"Well, I guess. Buzzkill." We both laughed at that. Erik knows I'm a pretty big prude. Plus, my face is still bright red. Just then, a voice came over on the loudspeaker.

"Everyone, please gather in the community room for a meeting about last night." Strangely, I didn't recognize the voice. Usually the same people go on the loudspeaker every time.

"I hope no one found out about what I did last night." Erik just stared at me for a while, completely dumbfounded.

"Oh, not that. I just meant like being with Spurlock, not like being with her..." Erik just laughed and slapped me on the back.

"Oh, come on, you silly cactus. It's probably just about how poorly we did yesterday. You know how Maars refuses to see the good in us." I relaxed. Erik was right. Maars Thornhill is the "General" of our rebel group. He is a bit of a perfectionist and is very hard on everyone. Especially Erik and I: he thinks that we goof around too much and should just be training 24/7 like him.

We headed down to the community room, which is basically our headquarters. In the rare days off we get, though, it becomes a game room. We can play board games, video games, card games, sports, pretty much whatever we want. Naturally, Maars hates those days, unless he can convince someone to play badminton with him. He loves badminton, but he gets really competitive, so most people won't play with him when they are trying to relax and have fun. Believe me: it is not fun when Maars gets beaten.

A couple of months ago, Efa beat him, and he made her run laps until she puked. She was out there all night, and we had to carry her back inside in the morning. She couldn't do more than limp for weeks. Thankfully, she was recovered enough to fight last night. She is one of our strongest warriors. So, yeah, nobody plays badminton.

Surprisingly, when we got to the room it wasn't Maars who spoke. It was... Kest?

"What's she doing here?" I asked at the same time Erik said, "Who is that?" Instead of answering him, I just rolled my eyes and gaped at Kest.

"Hello, Blue Ondergeschikten. I am Kest, the war representative from Verloren Zaak. Before y'all freak out and shoot me, please consider that I am here to propose an alliance between our groups. Something was off about that fight yesterday, and in these troubling times, we must look to each other for help. We're enemies, so what? We have bigger problems to worry about than our silly squabbles." She kept talking, but after that, I wasn't really worried. They didn't have to convince me to align myself with them, and I figured that's what she was going to be talking about for a while.

Just then, somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and faced whoever it was.

"Spurlock? What are you doing here?" A smile spread across my whole face. I probably looked like an idiot. Oops.