Clouds

Part 2-26 Full

Chapter 26

I expect the rest of the day to be fun and filled with surprises as we exit the cafeteria.  And I am right.

            “Alright,” Tony says.  “For the rest of the day we will play one more game, and then have a final lesson.”  He pauses, scanning the crowd, which we are, sitting on the bleachers.  “The game will be knockout eliminations.”

            “Well, how do we play that?” Henry shouts out.  He and Roy grin.

            “What do you think I’m about to say?” Tony snaps.  He rolls his eyes.  “As I was saying,” he says, glaring at the boys, “the knockout eliminations are simple.  The A group and B group will go head on head with one representative from each.  To start, the B group will fight each other, as will the A group.  The last remaining people will fight each other.  The winner will receive a prize.”

            He begins to read off of the standings.  We will fight the person with the closest ranking to us.  For example, number eight in the A group, Jake, will fight number seven in the A group, Kristen.  The pattern continues up to Dakota and me.  I regret having to fight Dakota.  Why wouldn’t Colby have gotten the higher score?  Then I could fight Claire, which would save a lot of thought.

            As expected, I have to fight Dakota.  I’ll most likely have to fight Colby in the next round, if not me, Dakota, and then whoever wins from Kristen, Jake, Henry, and Roy will have to fight the winner between us.  And, no doubt about it, the A group winner will have to fight Lucas.  The simple thought gives me a lot of strength, and I feel like I can rule the world.

            “But that’s unfair!” A B group boy shouts.  “It’s obvious that the A group will win.  Can’t we have more fair challenges?”

            Tony just rolls his eyes.

            “This is a weapons challenge,” he says.  “You’ll have to find another object in the room in ten seconds to fight with.  That should even it out a bit.”

            “Ten seconds?  That’s it?” I ask.

            “Nine now,” Tony says.  We all rush out of the bleachers and run to the edges of the room, where various objects are.  I grab the nearest object, a broom, and rush back, unaware of the time.  Tony stands there, looking at his watch.

            “Time!” He shouts.  Looking around, he realizes everyone is there, panting.  “Well, okay, then.  A group, go get all of the mats and set up ten different rings.”

            “Why us?” Dakota whines.

            “First of all,” Tony says, “I asked you.  Second of all, this will make it more fair for the B group,” he says sarcastically.  “Remember, B group, you can easily stop the A group’s reign if you try hard enough.”

            The eight of us jog over to a closet.  About fifty gym mats are there.  We each grab two at a time to haul out, and begin to arrange them in groups of four for the rings.  It makes sense to have twelve; everything will go by faster.

            “The winner will be the first to get paint on their shirts,” Tony says.  “That includes yourself, if you accidentally get paint on your body.  So be careful.  The paint will be bright pink, by the way.”  He looks at Lucas, winking.  Lucas rolls his eyes.

            “Alright,” Tony says after all of the gym mats are arranged into fighting rings.  “We’ll have all ten B group pairs go first.  The two lowest A group pairs will also go first.”