The Day...

Chapter 2: Finally the Opening

The opening ceremony is finally about to begin. But first, prayer, then the national anthem. The MCs go on and talk about what a day this is and all that. Celebrating all the players as they battle it out in sports in the 2nd Semester. They talk about the tradition of the event, call up different authority figures up to speak. I couldn't hear what was being said in full, partly because I was bored and we were at a distance from the stage. After people spoke, the MCs finally call for the ceremony proper to begin. Everybody in the covered court all started standing up as we were about to be called inside. The first ones to get introduced were the 10th graders.
Teams get introduced one by one, everytime a team reaches the other side. I looked around and saw some Grade 7 students looking nervous, since it's their first time so I could see why. They weren't the only ones tho, at least not as much as them, but our hearts were also pounding faster just a bit. We've done it once before when we were in 7th grade, but the feeling of going out there to like 1,500 students still hit us. We didn't have one the previous school year due to one of the heads never signing the paper for Intrams. All the seniors finally get introduced, now it's the juniors turn, or Grade 9. We were the last team so we would get introduced last. Each time a team gets introduced, the faster my heart pounded, but it could be adrenaline this time. As soon as we got called, we all started running towards the gate but told to slow down because there needed to be at least a foot and a half distance between each person for formality I guess. It didn't matter much tho, since the person in front took a wrong left turn and we all followed him so the distance just closed. We then got told which way to go as we all just started to laugh, our classmates I could hear were also laughing. Got to the other side as the 8th Graders get called, we were all still laughing until we got to the center where we had to take a picture and bow to the left and right.

We then took a seat and waited for everyone to get called in.
Took a while but everyone is finally seated and ready to listen to what's next. Each team had a representative at the front during the walk around the gymnasium. They aren't part of any of the 2 major sports. They also had to dress up in any sports attire, that be hockey, soccer, boxing, etc. The grading of their walk and outfit was next, and yes it was a competition. During that, we were allowed to get our wallets from our bags and buy something at the canteen stand near the gym. So my classmate Jimmy and I went to where Leia and Lillian were since his bag and mine were with them respectively. We went to the bleachers where they were and said hi. We asked for our bags to get our wallets and while we're at it we also got our phones so we don't get super bored. Jimmy went back while I stayed a little bit longer. I talked to both Lillian and Leia before going back. I didn't buy anything immediately because I wasn't thirsty or hungry, just wanted to get some of my stuff, especially my phone so I don't get bored. A little while after everyone was told to go back for the announcements of the finalists for the costume competition. They announced who they were then we were treated to multiple intermission numbers. Sometime in between I went to the canteen to buy chips and drinks. It took a long while before all the intermission numbers were done which meant that they finally had picked a winner. We all were excited to leave and eat lunch. The opening finally ended and we were told to go back as soon as lunch ended. So I got my bag from Lillian, got my jacket out, and proceeded to find my friends. I eventually found one of them and we looked for the others.