The Third Wheel

The Third Wheel - Part 16

Jordan was running along the hallway, his brow furrowed. What happened to the people that were around him a few minutes ago? he thought. As far as he know, he was surrounded by a large group of students when the game started. Where did they go? Toilet break? he thought again, his pace not affected whatsoever. He was about to make a turn when suddenly he saw two average looking male students, his juniors possibly, being dragged by two muscled seniors wearing a white uniform, obviously karate uniforms, with black belts and all, and was put into a room. Jordan, too shocked with what he just witnessed, felt his waist being grabbed by a thick arm. Jordan snapped out of his shocked state and elbowed the person behind him. When the person was clutching his abdomen, Jordan instinctively kicked him at the shins, making his attacker yelp in pain while crouching to the floor. Jordan grabbed his attacker's neck of his uniform and pushed him into the wall. Jordan's intention was to ask for an explanation for the attack, when a voice came from the PA system was heard.

"Jordan Watson, please refrain from scaring our 'spice' in the game" said the voice which Jordan recognise as Mr. Sanders, the chemistry teacher and also the advisor of the student council. Even though the student council can manage on its own, but considering Mr. Sanders was not responsible for any existing clubs, he was 'forced' to be the advisor. As if the student body didn't know about the fact that he was involved in a scandal that involves the beautiful infirmary doctor, Miss Suzy and a student's older sister. Robert once pointed out that Mr. Sanders was nothing but a lecherous bastard. Jordan remembered laughing out loud about it, getting him a glare from the chemistry teacher.

Back to the reality, Jordan tried searching for the camera. Once he found it, he pointed to himself. "Yes, you. I guess Jennifer, our adorable treasurer, forgot to tell you that since there are big amount of participants, we will 'eliminate' them by asking the judo and karate members to catch them and make them drop out willingly. Isn't that fun?" said Mr. Sanders. Psycho, thought Jordan. He loosened his grip on the judo member's shirt, his attacker, and glared at him to leave him alone. Before he could step any further, he suddenly crashed into somebody. It was Jennifer, her face red from running. "Wha-?" Jordan managed to say when she suddenly ran away from him. He heard her yell out, "Sorry!" when he saw a group of students, female and male, running towards him. He dodged, and they continued running to the direction where Jennifer disappeared into. He heard them yelling: "JEEEEENNNNIIIIIFEEEERRRR!!!!". Jordan could only look on, his jaw dropping. He guessed those were the victims of the karate and judo members.

He shrugged off what he just saw, considering he saw a few karate and judo members running to Jennifer's direction, presumably to rescue her. He took a few steps when suddenly he heard a sleepy voice coming from the PA system. "Hello,  my fellow schoolmates. Uhhh, this is Ken Powell, the student council secretary. I've just got caught by a female senior and the game just started like...What's that? Oh, that's the timer? Oh, right, uhm, an hour ago. Considering Mr. Sanders is too lazy, I mean I was too lame" Jordan heard Ken said and laughed at the 'lazy' part and heard a voice, presumably Mr. Sanders' said "HEY!" in the background. "Since I've been caught, I will be doing some commentaries while I wait for the other members to get caught. I will announce the amount of participants which as what Mr. Sanders said, 'annihilated' and I'll be doing the time-check. Honestly, this is too much work so" Ken continued on, his voice getting bored as he went on. "Oh, Jenny. Well, it seems that Jennifer Summers, student council treasurer has been caught after 1 hour and 10 minutes. Now, you do the work". Jordan heard the microphone being moved. "Ken, both of us are going to do the work. NOW SIT. Ok, everybody, it seems that Ken has informed of my elimination. Now, it seems that my brother, Peter and our President Sophie has not yet been caught. The amount of participants have decreased in a very large amount at such a short time! From 1,000 something to 50 people! Seems that our karate and judo members have been busy! I'll be reporting in after an hour".

Jordan almost slipped when he heard the announcement end. 50 people? he thought. Hopefully, Robert has not been caught yet. He felt his pocket vibrate. He took out his phone and saw that a message has come in. It was from Robert. The message told him that Robert hasn't found their primary target yet, and asked him back whether he did. Jordan messaged him back to inform him a negative on his side when suddenly he was bumped into by someone. It was another girl this time, and he inwardly groaned. It was his latest ex-girlfriend, Jessica Fields. Unlike his other ex-girlfriends, he broke up with this exact one due to her constant whining and always asking him to shower her with gifts since he was rich. Once Jessica realised she was in his arms, she just stood there and looked up at him with her aquamarine eyes. How did she even survive from the judo and karate members? he thought. "Jordan" she purred, clutching his biceps. "Can you help me from the judo and karate members?  My so-called 'bodyguards' were all caught by those barbaric men. I wonder you can be my protector, for old times' sake?" she purred on, batting her eyelashes at him. Before he could answer, he saw his team mate from the football club running towards them. "Carl!" he called to him. Carl saw them and slowed his pace with a questioning look. Before anybody could react, Jordan suddenly pushed Jessica towards the confused Carl, intentionally making their lips meet. When it did happen, Jessica kissed Carl deeply, making Carl confused as ever, though he did not push her away. "Thanks!" exclaimed Jordan as he walked away, Carl giving him a thumbs-up sign. 

After an hour of running and avoiding the 'barbaric men', he heard Ken's announcement, "There are 20 participants left. President and Vice-president are still at large, people. MOVE IT!". Jordan was too surprised by the announcement that he almost slipped again, this time making him barge into a room. Once he was inside, he recognised it as the old staff room, smaller than the new one. Due to its distance that was too far from the classrooms and its small size for a large number of teachers, they moved it to another room, making this exact room to be left abandoned. Students also do not come to this place often, considering it has nothing to be seen. Suddenly, he heard movement behind a stack of desks. Jordan tried to move, but was stopped by another stack of desks behind him. He cursed himself. He had left himself stuck into a confined space, making anybody attack him without him fighting back. Thinking that the movement was one of the karate or judo members, he took a grab of a broken piece of wood. 

The person hiding behind the desks slipped out, falling on the floor. Jordan gasped, but not too loudly, fearing that he might alarm the people outside. Sophie sat there, her face pointing downwards. Jordan called Robert, "Found her. Get into position". Sophie looked up, and lunged at him. Jordan grabbed her wrist, and pulled her body towards his. "Calm down. It's just me" he said, looking at her in the eye. He felt her soften, yet her eyes still showed panic. "Come with me. Robert's waiting for us" he continued on, when they heard an announcement from the PA system. "This is Vice-President, Peter Summers. There are 6 participants left after my capture. Karate and judo members will not annihilate this small amount of people. I will announce who are the survivors: Samuel Andre, Robert Parker, Scott Kennedy, Jordan Watson, Martin Temple and Leonard Johnson. That is all". 

Jordan grabbed Sophie's hand and took her out of the staff room. After seeing that the coast was clear, Jordan walked on, Sophie behind him, their hands still bound together like glue. Jordan and Sophie did not hear it, or maybe their sense of hearing was drowned by the sound of their heartbeats, but Scott appeared right in front of them, his face serious. Before Jordan could react, Scott lunged at him, making Sophie gasp in surprise. The only thing that Jordan remembered was him being pulled from the back, making him enter a dark room. He did not realise that he was holding onto Sophie's so tightly, that he heard Sophie whimper in pain, though it wasn't audible enough for him to hear. Even so, he tightened his grip, refusing to let go of her. The light was switched on, and Jordan step in front of Sophie, his face hard.

TO BE CONTINUED