Playing For Keeps

4. I Present To You...

Ming slammed his hand down on his alarm to stop the blaring noise that was reverberating across the room. He squinted one eye open and saw the clock read, 7:00 am.

"Ugghhhh..." He groaned. Why on earth did he have to get up so early?

Oh yea...the hazing activities. All the freshmen were to meet at the track stadium by 8:00 am sharp. For what, exactly? Ming didn't know yet. But he definitely didn't want to be made to run laps again if he was late, so he dragged himself to an upright position and stretched his stiff limbs.

He grabbed his phone after stretching to see if he had any missed messages from Pang. He didn't. But he did have a message from Wayo.

Is she still mad? Ming thought.

Ming could hardly even remember what had made her mad in the first place. But so many things could set Pang off that it was always hard to tell what exactly she was upset at.

Good morning Pang ☀️. Let's meet for dinner today.

He sent her a quick good morning message before checking the message from Wayo.

Ming! We're meeting for lunch today right??

Ming hurriedly typed a response. Of course. See you at noon at the canteen.

Ming set his phone back down on his nightstand as he glanced at his clock again, cursing the 7:05 that stared back at him. He really wanted to go back to sleep so he laid back down again.

Only five more minutes and then I'll start getting ready.

But no sooner had his head hit the pillow, the image of Forth's face, sneering in front of him, caused him to sit bolt upright.

"Shiaa!" He exclaimed aloud. Maybe he was just a little traumatized from yesterday's events. "He even haunts my thoughts."

Ming made a noise of distaste before finally getting up and making his way into the bathroom.

****

By the time Ming got to the track stadium, most of the freshmen were already there.

They must be traumatized from yesterday too. Ming thought to himself. No one else had gotten singularly called out and punished yesterday but the seniors had still been so mean! Especially Forth. Blue was mean too but not as mean as Forth. And Ming could tell that Blue felt a little guilty that day for making them run laps after Panit almost passed out. Blue even kept asking about him after he had finished all the laps. But the two nursing students were mad at the hazers and wouldn't give a lot of information after they took Panit away. They claimed stuff like this happened every year because of the hazers and they did not approve of their punishment methods. So Blue was left to worry for the rest of the activities that day.

"Hey, Ming! I saved you a seat!" A small voice called out to him.

Ming scanned the crowd in the direction he heard the voice. It wasn't long before he saw Panit standing up, smiling and waving to him. He was so small that he looked like a child in a sea of tan bodies.

Panit had chosen a space fairly close to the front of the stands; not quite the middle. Ming walked over to him, excusing himself as went and not even noticing the stares that he was receiving.

"Wow, Ming. You attract attention without even trying." Panit said when Ming finally reached him.

"Hmm?" Ming had no idea what he meant.