The second round officially began, and it started much differently than the last round for a few. Malakai, Ash, Sabrina and Naomi were in front of one of the things they were talking about during the break.
The kissing booth.
"Bruh. It looks like a photo booth," Ash stared at it, furrowing his brows, pointing at it.
It sat tucked beside a trampoline lane like a vending machine. The booth itself was a square box with colourful red lights around it, a thick black curtain covering the entrance, and a glowing pink heart sign above it that flashed every few seconds.
"What does the inside look like?" Ash asked, turning his head to Sabrina.
"You have to go inside to find out," Sabrina smugly said with a little smile.
"Aryt, let's go," Malakai said, putting an arm around Ash's shoulders and starting to step, wasting no time.
Ash reacted instantly.
"Whoa. No, no," he said, quickly shoving Malakai's arm off him and moving away. "Take one of them," he gestured toward Sabrina and Naomi.
"Bro, they've already seen inside," Malakai replied.
"They haven't, they're lying," Ash quickly denied.
"We've already gone inside," Naomi said flatly.
Ash's mouth zipped shut.
"If Naomi says that, then it's fact," Malakai raised his shoulders.
Ash clicked his tongue, refusing to back down, "Why didn't you get a vaccine or bullet then?"
"We didn't kiss," Sabrina said, as if it were obvious.
"Are you an idiot?" Naomi genuinely asked. "When you go inside, they don't force you to kiss."
Ash's mouth zipped back up. It was like Naomi had the power to shut him up.
Malakai seriously looked at Ash, "Bro, you do realise I'm joking. I don't actually wanna kiss you," he told him, treating him like there was something wrong with him. "This guy's actually scared," he laughed, looking at Sabrina and Naomi and pointing at Ash with his thumb.
Sabrina covered her mouth as she giggled while Naomi's eyes narrowed slightly, the closest thing she ever gave to visible amusement.
"Fuck you. I'm not scared," Ash shot back. He hastily swung and wrapped an arm around Malakai's neck, putting him into a loose headlock. "Let's go," he said, walking to the booth, dragging Malakai along.
Ash yanked the curtain open with his free hand, with Malakai's head still locked in the other. Malakai could've broken free if he wanted, but he let it happen.
They stepped inside, and Malakai broke free before taking a seat. Ash turned, poked his head out, and looked left and right, scoping outside before firmly shutting the curtain and taking a seat.
Inside, there were two cushioned seats side by side, facing a wall-mounted screen. The screen displayed a live camera feed of the booth, so the boys were staring at themselves like they were in a game show. Soft pinkish red lighting glowed around the edges, creating a romantic setting.
Above the screen was a sign.
Valentine's Day is approaching. To get in the mood, kiss the person next to you to earn a vaccine or a bullet for both of your teams," Malakai read out.
Ash kept looking around the booth. "They were being deadass."
Malakai leaned forward and started inspecting the setup. His fingers found a small flap beneath the screen. He pushed his hand through it, feeling around inside.
"Anything in there?"
"Nope," Malakai replied, taking out his hand. "Thought someone would've left something behind."
They both sat and stared at themselves on the screen.
"You know someone's watching us," Malakai randomly said.
It took a few seconds but, "Oh shit!" Ash realised. "That's how they make sure if people kissed or not… That's hella weird."
"Who do you think is watching?" Malakai asked.
"Mr White. The teachers. The higher-ups. Everybody," Ash listed.
"What? everyone?" Malakai laughed a little.
"Yeah," Ash laughed. "All the old dudes."
Malakai pictured it in his head, all the older people seated watching the booth. "Nah, that's mad."
"They're all watching young people kiss," Ash said.
"Imagine they're wanking over it," Malakai crudely said.
"Urgh, what the fuck," Ash's face screwed up as he put a hand over his face. "....They're doing that for sure, but you didn't have to say it."
They started cracking up, moving around in their seats as they laughed. They only met and became friends just over an hour ago, but their chemistry was like they'd been friends forever.
"I know they're pissed they can't say anything to us," Malakai said, pointing to the screen.
"We'll get in trouble for talking like this," Ash replied, a little concerned.
"Why?" Malakai asked innocently. "We're joking," he smirked, staring down the camera.
Suddenly, the curtain flashed open.
"Ash?! Malakai?!"
They didn't need to turn around. They could see who was standing behind them on the screen. It was Daniel with his girlfriend, Olivia.
"What are you guys doing in here?" Daniel asked, his face representing his shock.
Ash quickly got up, "Hey, I know what it looks like but-"
"We were kissing," Malakai quickly cut him off.
"No we weren't!" Ash strongly denied. "We were checking the booth out. Didn't Sabrina tell you guys we were here?!"
"No. Sabrina and the other girl said it was empty," Daniel replied, slightly shaking his head.
Ash sprang out of the booth to swear at Sabrina and Naomi.
They weren't there.
Ash stared at the empty space for a second and smirked, "Heh, they've got jokes huh. When I catch them..."
"Are you sure you guys didn't kiss?" Olivia asked with a mischievous grin. "Ash, you're really defensive."
"We didn't!" Ash adamantly said. "If we did, we would've gotten a bullet or a vaccine."
Daniel and Olivia exchanged a glance before turning to Malakai for confirmation.
Malakai lifted his hands, "I don't kiss and tell," he said, doing his best to keep the joke alive to ragebait Ash.
The couple burst out laughing, understanding what was going on.
"Fuck this shit," Ash gave up, already walking away. "You two go inside and kiss already."
Malakai pushed himself out of the booth. "He's too easy to piss off," he quietly told Daniel and Olivia as he passed them.
Daniel and Olivia laughed at each other before going inside and closing the curtain.
Malakai caught up to Ash, "Yo, where did Sabrina and Naomi go?"
"They ran away," Ash said, keeping his head on a spin to catch them.
Malakai looked over his shoulder to check on Daniel and Olivia. The curtain was already closed, so he didn't get a glimpse of them.
"Those two are on each other twenty-four seven," Malakai commented, starting to walk side by side with Ash. "How are they in class?"
"Like a normal couple," Ash replied, shrugging. "They don't do cringy shit like kiss in front of everyone. They're chill." Then he thought about it. "Actually, at the start, they were cringe. I think they wanted everyone to know they were a couple."
"How long they been together?" Malakai asked, curious.
Ash stopped on the spot. "Since the first year of high school," he replied, sounding like he was getting that info from the depths of his memory.
"So like five years?" Malakai asked, still not that familiar with the American school system.
"Something like that," Ash waved his hand, not bothering to do the math. "But apparently they knew each other in middle school and were friends of some shit."
"Damn. That's a long time," Malakai commented. "Happy for them. Hope they're together till they're old."
Ash scoffed, "You think that's gonna happen?"
"Probably," Malakai shrugged, not thinking too much of it.
"Hah, no way," Ash said, starting to walk again. "They've been together since high school."
"That's good no?" Malakai asked, keeping up with him.
"It's cute. But cmon dawg, in ten years they'll get bored of each other," Ash replied. "When they're thirty, they're not going to be on each other like they are now."
"You don't know. They might be each other's soulmate innit," Malakai said.
"Pfft. No one finds their soulmate that early. That's some Disney movie shit," Ash said, shaking his head.
"What? You don't think they'll last?" Malakai asked, both his eyebrows raising.
"You want me to be real dawg?" Ash replied, and he paused his walk again. "...I think they'll break up before graduation."
Malakai's eyes popped out, and his jaw hung.
Ash could see the blatant shock in his face, "What's with your face?" Ash asked, the side of his lips curling. "This shit isn't a fairy tale. Couples break up all the time," he explained.
Malakai took a second to understand his view. "I can't lie though. If there's one couple to live a fairy tale, it would be those two."
Ash giggled. "You're too innocent," he condescendingly said, tapping Malakai's shoulder. "Most of us are still eighteen. We're all young. No relationships are lasting for shit."
Malakai held off his reply for a second. "That's kinda sad."
"Bruh. You can't believe that you'll be with the first person you've been with for the rest of your life," Ash said, looking at him funny.
"I mean. It would be nice innit," Malakai replied, lifting his shoulders.
Ash smirked, "Too bad. Not how real life works", he said, walking away.
Malakai stayed still and smirked, noticing how Ash was talking. "How are you trying to act wise?"
"I am wise," Ash said, looking back at him. "People just don't realise. You're one of the lucky ones who did."
Malakai blew air out of his nose, "This might be a new low," he mumbled.
"Where did Will go?" David thought, his eyes moving all around the place, trying to find him.
The second the round began, William insisted on finding the rest of the guys, so he left and suggested they split up and look separately.
"I don't know why he was so eager to search alone."
"Hey, David."
David immediately knew the voice. He turned around, knowing the face he was going to see.
"Hey... Eris."
Eris stood in front of him with her hands tucked into the sleeves of her oversized hoodie.
"Whatchu doing?" she asked.
"Nothing much," David replied. "My friend has gone somewhere, and I'm not sure what to do next. What about you?"
"Pretty much the same situation," Eris said.
They let the noise around fill their brief silence for a moment. Then Eris turned her head and pointed to a place, as if she had been eyeing it for a while.
"Do you want to go on those swings?"
David looked at where her finger was pointing and saw a couple of swings hanging over a foam pit. There were people in the foam pit, but the swings were unoccupied.
"Sure."
The two walked over together through the crowded area before climbing onto the swings beside each other.
Neither of them spoke as they lightly kicked their feet and slowly started to swing. David was tall, so his feet grazed the foam cubes beneath him.
He glanced at Eris's wristband to catch what team she was on. "Yellow team," he said. "I'm not sure if I know anyone on that team."
"Maria is on my team," Eris replied, focusing on swinging.
"I forgot about her" David said, turning his head, barely swinging compared to Eris.
"And Alexander," Eris said, her pace increasing little by little.
"Alexander…" David quietly repeated, making him think for a second. "Being on his team would've been interesting. How is your team doing?"
"Great," Eris answered plainly. "I infected a lot of people last round."
David twisted his neck a little to the side, "I can't even tell if you're being serious or not."
Eris is an awkward girl. She says everything with a calm, oddly detached tone, whether she is being serious, sarcastic or normal. She is also kinda random and sometimes doesn't read situations well.
Not intentionally, of course. That is just how she is.
"I'm the carrier," Eris said, looking at David as she continually swung past him.
David's eyes had to swing with her face to read her. "You're not," he said, having doubts but calling her out.
David has known Eris for a while, so he knows how she is. He still can't 100% read her though.
"Maybe I am," Eris replied calmly. "Maybe I'm not."
David didn't bother trying to clear his doubts. He started kicking his legs slightly harder, so his swing would match Eris's.
"How was your winter break?" Eris randomly, but wanting to ask.
David eased up after the normal question. "Good. I relaxed a lot," he replied. He paused briefly before laughing under his breath. "I probably should've gotten a little part-time job to save some money, but hey. I can do the next break."
Eris nodded slowly. "Did you hang out with anyone from Greenlands?"
Greenlands was the high school David and Eris attended.
"With a few of the guys, yeah," David replied before turning his head. "Did you?"
"Yeah," Eris replied.
Her swing started to lose momentum. David deliberately avoided her gaze and direction entirely because he knew who she hung out with.
"We should've hung out," Eris said, stopping an awkward silence creeping in.
"And do what?" David asked, keeping his attention on going higher.
"I don't know… whatever normal people do when they hang out."
"Just us two?"
"No. With a few friends from high school."
A little knowing smile appeared on David's face, "I can see where this is going."
"What are you talking about?" Eris asked, attempting to act oblivious.
David let his swing gradually slow down, using his feet to drag the cubes beneath to speed up the process.
"Eris, I don't want to see Alaina," he calmly said. "It'll be awkward."
"It won't," Eris stubbornly replied, not swinging anymore. "You didn't break up on bad terms."
"But we're not friends. We both moved on," David said, his swing coming to a halt. "She has a boyfriend."
"You should still catch up with her," Eris replied, not giving the conversation a chance to breathe.
David let out a little breath. "There's legit no reason to do that," he said. Then something came up in his mind. "Are you saying this because you're worried about her? Is her boyfriend a bad guy?"
"No," Eris shook her head. "He's a nice guy. He treats Alaina nicely."
"Then why do you want me to see her?" David asked, frowned slightly in confusion.
Eris's hands gripped the swing ropes tighter. "I want to see you two together again," she admitted quietly. "Alaina was so much happier with you."
David quietly sighed. "You don't know that," he replied. "She could be having the time of her life right now, and you wouldn't know. We're miles away from her."
"I talk to her almost every day. I can see the difference from now and when she was with you," Eris said, finally turning her head to his direction.
David stared at her for a second. "If you talk to her that much, why don't you tell her this?"
Eris hid her eyes, "I can't," she shook her head.
"Why not?"
"She wouldn't take it well. You know how girls are."
"I don't," David thought. He didn't want to say that out loud just in case it dragged the conversation down a different path.
"I don't want to get in a fight with her because of a misunderstanding," Eris continued.
"I think you're misunderstanding," David carefully said.
"I'm not," Eris confidently replied. "Try to see it through my mind. Imagine if I were one of your best friend's exes, and then they were dating someone new. But you know they're better with me. You would want us to get back together, right?"
David imagined the scenario in his head, but, "I'm sorry. I can't imagine it. I can't understand where you're coming from."
He could form the scenario in his head, but he couldn't properly understand or connect with it.
"How? You're really smart. I thought you would understand," Eris said, looking at David, her eyes a little desperate.
"Says the person who is in a higher class than me," David replied with a little grin.
"We both know that makes no sense," Eris said, lowering her head. "You're good enough to be in 1-A. 1-B at the very least. Putting you 1-C is stupid."
David didn't mind being in 1-C. In fact, he was more than happy because he was with his friends.
"Looks like I flunked some of the exams in the application process," David said.
He didn't believe what he said. He didn't know how he was in 1-C, but he wasn't complaining.
The two fell into silence. Their swings barely moving. David swung the tiniest bit while Eris didn't feel like moving her feet.
The Eris suddenly spoke again.
"Did you love her?"
David blinked, caught off guard by the question.
"I think I did," David softly replied, still unsure. "We were each other's first relationship." A faint nostalgic smile formed on his face. "We were really good friends and just tried it. It didn't work out, and... we drifted apart," he simply explained.
"You both looked like you were in love," Eris said, keeping her eyes down on the foam pit like memories of their past were on them.
David looked ahead over the foam pit. Not focusing on anything in particular, just staring ahead.
"To me, I felt the same as when we were friends. Maybe I was in love at one point and didn't know it," David replied. He signed as a few memories flashed in his memory. "But you know, young relationships don't last or work most of the time. We should've stayed as friends."
"Or you should've fought harder to make it work," Eris pettily said.
David smirked and tilted his head up, knowing he wasn't going to win.
"Okay, let's move on," he gently said, kicking his feet a little to start swinging again. "Eris, let's move past this." He turned his head to her. "We've both moved on. I know she's your best friend, but I don't want to talk about her anymore."
It hurt her hearing that. Eris didn't meet his eyes.
"Sorry," she quietly said. "I wasn't trying to be annoying."
She realised she was being too much. David was too nice to get annoyed, so she didn't notice until she heard his gentle tone.
"You don't need to apologise," David said, shaking his head. "Even though I don't understand your view, I can see what you're trying to do." He turned his head to her and gave her a smile. "From now on, let's be normal friends."
Eris tilted her head a little to David to get a glimpse of him and saw his smile.
"Okay."
Eris started to kick her feet to start her swing again lightly. David started to kick a little more to swing higher.
Both of them sat quietly, swinging, while the noise of the challenge carried on around them.