My Ex-Boyfriend From Kindergarten

Chapter 27: Healthy Competition

This is yet to be edited.

It didn’t take long before the contestants started showing up. All contestants were required to be in school uniform, except for the Nutri Jingle contestants, of course. The message relay contestants were in their P.E. jogging pants uniform. Theo was the only one among us who was wearing casual clothes. Most of the people in the audience were wearing casual clothes. But I spotted a few who were in school uniform.

Five teams, each consisting of nine members, were going to compete in the message relay. There was the Blue Team, Yellow Team, Red Team, Green Team, and Purple Team. You could distinguish the team the contestants belonged to by the color of the shirt they were wearing. Sunny was in the Yellow Team. As soon as Nairobi saw that, she started giggling like a lunatic. I knew right away what was so funny to her. Sunny was in the Yellow Team wearing a yellow shirt, yellow like the sun.

There are five rounds in the message relay. In the first round, only five members have to participate. Then with each succeeding round, one member is added. So by the fifth round, all nine members will be in the game. But for every new round, the members have to shuffle their positions. There will be no elimination. So all they have to worry about is finishing with the fastest time in total.

The contest itself usually doesn’t take up one hour. It really depends on the contestants. But usually, it only lasts about half an hour. The other half is spent introducing the contestants, recording the time, verifying it with other people in the Nutrition Month Committee, erasing what’s written on the chalkboard, and repositioning the members for the next round.

Besides Sunny, a few other classmates of ours were also contestants in the message relay. One was on Sunny’s team, Jael was in the Red Team, and two others were in the Purple Team.

“So you’re rooting for Sunny’s team?” Nairobi asked me as the contestants were being announced.

“Of course, aren’t you?”

“I am. Nico is rooting for Sunny, too. But Theo’s brother is on the Blue Team, so he’ll support them.”

“Which team are you on?” I asked Cairo.

“Red Team all the way,” he said. I guess I should have expected that since he and Jael are close. But he should also expect Sunny’s team to win. The grouping was completely random, but Sunny ended up with some pretty reliable teammates. At least, as far as I’m concerned.

“This isn’t a contest,” Nico said.

“What?” Nairobi and I asked in chorus, not understanding what we just heard.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he looked at us. “This is just an exhibition. Sunny’s team is gonna win this whole thing for sure,” he chuckled. Theo retaliated and gave him a noogie. Nai, Cai, and I laughed as we watched them. “If you’re so confident Sunny won’t win,” Nico started as he collected himself, “Why don’t we bet on it?” he said to Theo.

“What are you willing to wager?” Theo asked, looking obviously interested. As the two boys talked over the details of their bet, the rest of us focused the contest that was about to start.

I was really hoping Sunny’s team would win. I was probably hoping for it more than he was. Sunny didn’t look nervous, unlike most of the other contestants. But who was I kidding? He’s never nervous. Well, that’s what I can see. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t put much pressure on himself. But, then again, he has told me that he always tries his best at everything. It’s his way of making himself feel better about being an illegitimate child. Although I’ve told him it’s not his fault, I guess we all have different ways of coping.