"For the rest of the round, I'm staying here," Malakai said, sounding at peace.
"I'm deadass not moving," Ash agreed.
Malakai and Ash were staring at the ceiling. Submerged in the ball pit. Lying like they were floating on water. Relaxed as if the world had stopped.
"I could go to sleep like this," Ash said, closing his eyes.
"Yawn. Tell me about it," Luke replied, in the same position as them.
Malakai and Ash slowly rose like bodies waking up from a coffin, turning their heads to the voice.
"Who's that?" Malakai quietly asked, weirded out seeing a guy with long hair and weak facial hair about to go to sleep near them.
"I don't know," Ash quietly replied, weirded out.
They were both on the same page and silently shuffled away from Luke. Neither of them looked back to check on him.
"Is he in our year group or is he a staff member?" Ash asked, with his tone still low.
"No clue," Malakai replied, wanting to look back.
"Yo Mally!"
Malakai followed the voice, "Ben," he smiled.
A second later, Benjamin was in the air and crashed into the ball pit.
"What you saying?" Malakai reached out his arm and dapped him up.
"My team is so shit bro," Benjamin replied, launching random balls far across the ball pit. "I've got no one good."
Ash noticed Benjamin's wrist while he was throwing. "Ayo your wristband is different," he pointed.
"Is it?" Benjamin asked, switching glances from his wristband to Ash's. "No it isn't. The only difference is that I've got an orange strip and you've got a red strip. It shows which team we're on."
Ash looked back at his wristband and remembered he was on the red team. "Oh. You right. You right."
"You two know each other?" Malakai asked, sensing their chemistry.
"Yeah, we play basketball sometimes," Ash replied.
"He comes to the club," Benjamin added. "He ain't serious though. He turns up when he wants."
"Why didn't you say this before?" Malakai said, chucking a few balls at Ash. "You said you only knew Ray."
"I deadass forgot dude," Ash replied, dodging and firing back. "Benjamin is Benjamin to me, not Malakai's friend. You're not the main character bruh."
"Aryt, fair enough," Malakai smirked, putting his hands up.
"Speaking about basketball, look what I found," Benjamin said, reaching for his pocket. He pulled out a small, white plastic cube.
"What's that?" Malakai asked, squinting his eyes, moving his head forward.
"It's a vaccine."
"Huh? That's the vaccine?" Ash said, copying Malakai's movements.
"Show me," Malakai said, raising his arms ready to catch.
Benjamin tossed the vaccine over to Malakai. He caught it and took a closer look. It was a solid white plastic cube with 'vaccine' written on one of its faces. The word 'vaccine' had a shine to it.
"Where did you find it?" Malakai asked, passing it over to Ash after he was finished.
"At the basketball hoops. It was on one of the rims," Benjamin said. "Let's go there next round. The whole floor under the hoops is a trampoline. Your short ass could bounce high enough to dunk."
Malakai smiled and clenched his jaw, "Aryt, fair enough," he accepted having no comeback again.
Ash passed the vaccine back to Benjamin like a basketball. "I heard someone say there's a race track with mini scooters and shit."
"There is."
Another person answered, joining them without permission.
"Wooo!"
A blur passed by them, making a plastic splash on impact.
Destiny emerged from the pit with a grin, "What's going on, people?"
A few others walked closer and stood at the edge.
Malakai pointed at the newcomers. "You're on their team?" he asked Destiny, a little shocked.
"They're on my team," Destiny arrogantly said with a playful look, pointing at herself.
"Where's Will and David?" Ray asked, scanning the large ball pit. There were many others in the ball pit in their own groups and areas.
"I don't know. I just got here," Benjamin said, shrugging.
"Delilah, get in, man," Malakai said, grabbing a handful of balls and throwing them at her, aiming for her head.
"Delilah, don't make me drag yo ass in here," Destiny added.
"I will. I need to find a place to jump," Delilah lied. In truth, she was a little scared to jump in. She didn't know how deep it was, so she didn't want to freely jump in and accidentally hurt herself.
"Lu, push her," Benjamin grinned, gesturing the push.
Delilah barely had any time to turn her head before she was off the platform. She fell into the ball pit similarly to how she got dragged into the foam pit earlier. Lucas and Ray immediately jumped in after.
"I was going to jump in," Delilah said with a little smile she couldn't contain, knowing she was lying.
"You were taking too long," Destiny replied, swimming to her.
"Destiny, get away from me!" Delilah said in a high pitch, already dashing away as fast as she could.
"Are any of you guys the carrier?" Ray casually asked.
"Yeah man," Malakai nodded.
"Yeah, he isn't," Lucas said, instantly knowing.
Everyone could hear the sarcasm in his voice. They had all gotten used to his dry British sarcasm.
"He might be double bluffing," Delilah suggested, throwing that idea out there, far away from Destiny.
"He isn't," Destiny confidently replied. "No one on his team would even let him be the carrier. He's an idiot"
Malakai furrowed his eyebrows at her. He scooped a bunch of balls and pelted them at her.
Destiny lifted her arms and protected herself. "Bitch," she smirked before picking some balls herself and throwing them at him, leading them to have their own war.
"Are any of you guys the carriers?" Ash asked.
"Nope". "No". "Nah."
Ash narrowed his eyes. "Are you guys lying to me?"
"Nope". "No". "Nah."
"If any of us were the carrier, we wouldn't be lying in a ball pit with a lot of people," Lucas said.
"Yes, you would," Benjamin replied. "You're supposed to blend in and secretly infect people."
"Sounds like something a carrier would say," Delilah said, rubbing her chin.
"We're not doing this," Benjamin smiled, shaking his head, shutting that allegation down. "I'm not a carrier".
"Mally, what are your plans for this challenge?" Ray asked, curious.
Malakai and Destiny were still having their own childish duel.
Malakai paused and looked at Ray, "What?" he said as a ball bounced off his head.
"You got anything planned?"
"Planned?" Malakai repeated with a cheeky smirk. "I can't lie. I don't even care about this challenge right now. Imma just mess around for the next few rounds."
"Mess around?" Delilah repeated with a raised brow. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you messed around in a challenge? You cost our class points. We could've gotten first place."
"No, you wouldn't have," Destiny disagreed, snapping her head to her.
"We would've," Delilah replied. "If this guy didn't chase Ryan with a paintball gun and lose a ball or lose his earpiece in the last round."
"You did that?" Destiny asked.
"Something like that," Malakai shrugged with a smirk still on.
"Something like that," Benjamin laughed. "He's gonna troll, then lock in last minute. This guy had no character development."
"Bro this is different," Malakai replied. "I don't have to do anything. As long as I don't get infected, I'm good. And if I do, I'll just get healed. Look at this place as well. It's mad. When are we gonna get this chance ever again?"
"No character development whatsoever," Lucas echoed with a smile. "Wouldn't it be better if you were serious and tried to watch out for carriers instead of having fun?"
"You lot are doing the same shit as me!" Malakai complained with his arms out. "You have a person from 1-A acting like a kid," he pointed.
Destiny headshot Malakai for that comment, "I deserve this fun time."
"My guy's cool man," Ash defended him. "When he wants to turn up, he'll turn up."
"See, Ash understands," Malakai said. "Let me have fun for a few rounds, and then when it's serious, I'll turn up."
Ray had a faint, amused smile while he shook his head, "No character development."
All around the place was laughter. It was basically the soundtrack.
Bodies running and bouncing around. Groups formed and chilled together, as if this were a motive. For many, this wasn't a challenge. However, some people had to treat this like a challenge.
"I'm sure I've infected a lot of people," Lorenzo thought, walking around, his eyes constantly moving. "I've gotten close to people and put my wrist close to theirs."
He glanced down at his wrist with the wristband.
"I have to hope it worked… and hope I didn't get caught."
A little earlier...
"Can I be the carrier?"
Frank spun around at the sudden question. His eyes locked onto Lorenzo, looking him up and down, trying to recognise him.
Frank became the team's leader. He didn't want to be, but his size mainly landed him that responsibility.
"Who are you?" Destiny interjected, her tone sharp, furrowing her brows.
"Lorenzo."
Frank glanced at the group around him to see if they knew who he was.
"Why do you want to be the carrier?" Frank asked with a calmer tone than Destiny's
"I think I'll be good at it," Lorenzo replied without hesitation.
"You think?" Destiny echoed, pushing her face forward. "What class are you in?"
"B."
Destiny's eyebrows shot up almost like she approved. Then she shrugged. "He's short," she bluntly said. "He could do it."
Back to the present.
"I don't like how she accepted me to be the carrier because I'm short and in 1-B," Lorenzo bitterly thought. "Some people on our team don't even know I'm the carrier."
He shook his head and exhaled through his nose. Lorenzo being unnoticed wasn't anything new for him. But actively making a change and still being unnoticed was annoying. He'd already infected a few people by casually walking by them. The trait of him being unnoticed by people was a strength for him. As much as he wanted to change and be the opposite, he knew he'd be perfect for this role.
"There's some more people over there," he thought, shifting direction.
Lorenzo found an area with a bunch of groups crowded around. It was another area with a lot of trampolines, interconnected, but this area had a lot of nets to fall into, like webs.
Students moved carelessly through it, some jumping between trampolines while others deliberately dropped into the nets.
Lorenzo casually strolled through, not really having a plan.
Nearby, a group stood talking.
"I want to find Ash," Gabriel said, watching other people.
"What team is he on again?" Jason asked, bouncing lightly as he spoke.
"The red team," Gabriel replied.
"I like Ash, but I'm not going out of my way to find him," Jason said, unbothered. "Knowing him, he's probably having the time of his life."
Dillon kept silent. He stared at Gabriel for a few seconds. Then felt an urge. Without warning, he put both hands on Gabriel and pushed him off the platform. Letting him drop two feet into the net below.
The push wasn't forceful enough to throw Gabriel off balance. His feet slipped from beneath him as he dropped straight down into the net below.
Gabriel crashed into the net, wide-eyed, "Dillon, what the fuck!" he snapped. "I could've felt onto this guy."
Lorenzo was off balance next to him. He'd been standing close enough to feel the shift in the net as Gabriel landed. The sudden dip threw him slightly off balance. He was lucky not to get hit by one of Gabriels' flailing limbs.
"I didn't see him," Dillon flatly said.
Gabriel pushed himself back up. "You okay, dude?"
"Yeah," Lorenzo replied, his voice low, nodding once as he got back to his feet.
Lorenzo got off the net and onto solid ground. Then he looked up at the platform, locked eyes with Dillon and Jason for a moment, and silently walked away.
"He's Ryan's friend no?" Jason asked, watching Lorenzo as he left.
"He's fucking weird, that's what he is," Dillon scoffed.
Lorenzo swiftly fixed his sleeves and smoothed his clothes, "That's another one infected," he thought, keeping his poker face. "Should I find Ryan?"
Ahead of him, more people filled the space.
"I'll find him later."
Alexander's fingers tightened around the grip as he shifted his weight upward, his body already halfway up the wall. The angle made it worse. It wasn't a straight climb. The wall leaned slightly outward, forcing him to hug the surface.
Alexander had already climbed three of the rock climbing walls before this one. He reached the top of each of them fairly easily, and all of them had nothing at the top. So he skipped the other walls and went over to the one that looked the most challenging.
At the start, he was by himself. Now, below him, a few people were rock climbing in the area with him. The noise in the area increased. Laughter. Shouting. Screams of people falling. Bodies slamming onto the soft, fluffy, padded floor below.
Alexander ignored all of it. It was all background noise to him. He blocked it all out, and his focus stayed on the next grip.
He wasn't a rock climbing pro, but he'd been a couple of times before, so he knew the fundamentals. Combined with his trained body, he could handle himself better than a beginner. However, this wasn't as easy as he thought it would.
He climbed the first few walls effortlessly, so he thought this wall would be the same. But each movement was getting slower. The grips were wider and in more awkward positions. Making him twist his wrist and hold weird positions. He could feel the strain on his wrists as he hung on. His arms started to burn.
Alexander, for the first time, glanced below him, "If I fall now, it'll be annoying."
He wasn't afraid of heights, so the sight below him didn't faze him. He was thinking more of how bad it would look and the time and energy he wasted. He didn't want everyone to see him fall.
Alexander's gaze tilted back up and kept going.
The top platform was in view. He was close now. His eyes studied the remaining grips ahead, mapping a potential route.
He pulled in a lot of air, held for a second and released. A breath to prepare himself. Then he moved.
It wasn't a speed run, but each hold onto the grip was controlled and steady. He made sure his feet stood on grips that stuck to his feet and secured him.
Alexander was in the zone. The route he mapped was getting shorter and shorter until his hand caught the final grip. He pulled himself up in one smooth motion, shifting his weight over the edge and stepping onto the platform.
He took a moment to let his body calm down and stay still. The tension in his arms slowly eased as his body adjusted ot the stable ground again.
As his attention was on the floor, he noticed a small box resting with him at the top. He picked it up and inspected it, instantly noticing the word 'vaccine' written on it.
Alexander had a small satisfied smile while he held the box a little tighter between his fingers.
Before going down, he turned around to look below. He was at the top of the highest rock-climbing wall, so he was intrigued by the view below.
From this height, the area looked entirely different. At the top, he could see everyone in the area looking up at him. He could see people in other areas doing their own thing. He could see everything from the top. Surprisingly, this wasn't the highest point in the arena, even though Alexander felt like this was the highest point.
While taking in the view, Alexander's heart thumped against his chest. He felt a feeling he knew he'd been missing. A feeling he thought he'd gotten bored with in high school.
The accomplished feeling of everyone looking up at him at the top.
The satisfaction of being above everyone.
Better than everyone.
That feeling made Alexander's heart pump a little more. It was the first time he'd truly had that feeling at this academy.
Alexander lightly nodded to himself, cementing this view in his memory. Then he turned around and walked towards the tunnel slide to take him back down.
BEEP! BEEP!
"The round is ending in two minutes! Players that are not in their zones by the end of the round will be infected!"