The Class Battles Part 2

“Hey,” a girl whispered to her friend walking alongside her. “Did you hear that there was a fight in the girls bathroom?”

“What, no way?” the friend responded with a grin.

“It was apparently between two of the girls in class A. Can you believe that?”

Lawrence swallowed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he was chewing. “Who do you think they're talking about?”

Brett was the first to answer his question. “Beats me, but they need to patch things up before the next event.”

“Yeah...but don’t girls usually hold long grudges? Right Livi?”

“Hey Livi he’s asking a question.” Brett said while nudging her on the arm.

“Huh? Oh, yeah I guess.” she said.

The table supported Brett’s arm as he leaned in her direction. “Earth to Livi, Hello, are you there? You know you’re being surprisingly docile for someone with a short temper.”

The punch Livi had thrown to Brett’s torso had little effect. “Shut up, I’m worried about Chio.”

“What are you worried about her for?” he asked.

“Because what if she was involved in the fight!”

Brett burst into boisterous laughter. “Do you really think someone would pick a fight with Chio! She’s like a newborn puppy, I doubt anyone could get mad at her!”

Lawrence grumpily took a bite out of his sandwich “Speak for yourself.”

Livi’s and Brett’s faces both had a drastic change. They looked at Lawrence as if he had just murdered someone in front of them. A face no one could just make. It was a face that could only form upon seeing something immensely appalling, one that would only be found on the best actors performing in a top of the line horror film. The two friends that sat in front of Lawrence were no actors, yet somehow they displayed the same spine-chilling face. It quickly became apparent to Lawrence that they were not looking at him, but instead through him, the dead silence in the cafeteria contributing to the thought.

Hastily walking away from the bathroom, hair dripping with each stomp with her fist balled up tighter than a sailor's knot. Chio walked adrift the sea of tables and people keeping her head down and eyes only focusing on the laces of her soaked shoes.

A familiar voice resting around a class B table echoed out with hysterical laughter. “Is class A trying to tear themselves apart! It looks like we won’t have to do anything at all!”

“Shut it Mac, now isn’t the time.” Brett said.

Livi quickly hopped out of her seat so fast she nearly fell over, running to her aimless friend. The two of them vanished behind a pair of swinging doors.

Just as quickly as silence had fallen on the cafeteria, a roar of noise had boomed from nowhere. Rumors and gossip alike were being spread faster than the lunch ladies had spread the peanut butter on their sandwiches.

“Come on Lawrence, we're heading back outside.” Brett said with an unsettling face.

The two of them gathered outside with the rest of the students, once again standing in the middle of the school's soccer field. In quick intervals, more and more clumps of students joined them waiting for the instructions to the second event. After a short while, Chio and Livi was among one of the clumps. Livi gave a shy wave towards them and they both merged into the large crowd far from Lawrence and Brett.

Mr. Robert approached the mic and spoke into it with his uneventful voice. “Uh, welcome back everyone. It is now time for us to begin the second game of the class battles. If you could please direct your attention here,” he pointed towards the large electronic screen placed beside him. On it was a list of numbers from one to fifteen. Beside each number was a pair of names, as well as points for each pair. “This is the current standing of the class battles, with class A in the lead.”

Half of the students occupying the field roared with cheers, while the others responded with dispiriting silence. The most notable names on the board being Brett and Lawrence resting in first just above Mac and Lane who only had a few points separating them from first place, but a tremendous sum separating them from third. As long as Brett and Mac were around, everyone knew there was no point in trying for first or second. The battle for the top was only participated in by the two of them alone.

“Class B is still in the running and there are two more games before the winners are determined.” spoke the teacher

“There’s no way class B is coming back.” Brett told Lawrence.

Lawrence diligently observed the screen. ”No, it’s possible.” he muttered. “We are currently in first ourselves, but as for the rest of the nine spots, four of them are being held by students from class B.” Lawrence outstretched his hand and pointed at the bottom of the screen. “Although our worst worries would be them, the people placed eleventh through fourteenth. They're being held by class B. That gives them more leverage if they were to come back.”

“I will now explain the premise of game number two.” said Mr. Robert. “The second game will be one all of you are familiar with.” he cleared his throat with a light cough. “You will all be playing hide and seek.”

Almost everyone in the crowd screamed the same word. “HUH!?”

“Each group member will be assigned with one of the two titles. One having the title of hider and the other seeker. Once the titles have been decided, one person from each group will hide somewhere on the school grounds. While the members who did not hide, will all seek out the others.”

The students all still had looks of confusion on their faces, but a small handful of them were starting to figure things out, especially Lawrence.

“The hiders will have one minute to find a good spot before the seekers are released. Even after that one minute has passed, you are still able to move around until you have been tagged and declared out. So that everything is fair, we will have staff members spread out amongst the school in order to make sure there are no cheaters. As for the seekers, you will have twenty minutes to find as many hiders as possible, one hider found equals one point for that group. Once you are found, both you and your group member who is seeking must return back to the soccer field. The game will last the full duration, or until there is only one group left. If that outcome takes place, the remaining group will be issued five extra points.”

“That sounds great and all, but how exactly will hide and seek be fun for the audience?” Brett asked.

“That's probably what the score board is for.” Lawrence responded. “They most likely plan on changing it throughout the game, and having groups become eliminated will make the crowd suspenseful as to who will appear on the field next.”

“Still, couldn’t we have done something more athletic?”

Mr. Robert brought the mic closer to his five o’clock shadow. “With all that said, please pick which one of you will be the hider, and which one will be the seeker.”

“I guess naturally I’ll be the hider.” Lawrence said.

“I’ll make sure this game ends in under ten minutes, so don’t expect to hide for long.” Brett said proudly.

“Ah this is a weird one.” Livi said standing next to Chio. “Well you’re definitely more athletic than me, so I’ll stick with the hiding.”

Chio was still only focusing on the ground below her. “...I’ll hide instead…If that's okay”

Livi could only respond in a voice filled with an immense amount of pity. “Mhm…sure.”

Everyone soon sorted out who would be who, and all of the hiders approached the opening of the soccer field fence.

“All of you are allowed to enter the small forest behind the school, as well as being able to enter the school itself. The places off limits are anything outside of the school grounds, and the soccer field, understood?” said Mr. Robert.

The gathering of students all collectively responded yes, and after the whistle was furiously blown, all pushed their way outside of the gate, hurrying to find a decent spot to hide. Well, everyone but Lawrence was.

“Move your tail Lawrence! You won’t even make it outside of the fence before your one minute is up!” Brett yelled.

“S-shut up! I know that!” Lawrence said speed walking outside of the fence. All the other hiders had vanished from around him, leaving Lawrence to stick out like a sore thumb.

A large laugh came from inside the group of seekers. “That’s the best your partner can do Brett!” Mac yelled, holding his stomach from laughing. “Is he speed walking! I can’t believe it! No wonder you had to carry him like a princess during the headband war!”

After a minute had passed the seekers were soon allowed to participate in the event and their twenty minutes had begun. Quickly, the groups with poor hiders fell out of the running and shamefully emerged back onto the soccer field leading to the scoreboard to become inconsistent, although the top two were tightly fixed in place. Once a group had been eliminated the voice of Mr. Robert could be heard throughout the school's speaker system announcing which group had met its end. Around the six minute mark however, the number of announcements made became very rare. With few hiders and the same amount of seekers left, it soon became more difficult to find someone in plain sight. The seekers were now having to look through old storage rooms, check in small cabinets that could just barely hold a person if they bent their body around properly, and climb up large trees in the forest. Still, even with that much effort new eliminations were barely coming into light, and time was dwindling.

Brett, being one of the top dogs at this event, had abandoned looking outside since there was too much ground to cover. He turned a tight corner and forced his way through a compressed squeeze inside of a room. With all of the old and unique junk stacked up like a threatening tower waiting to come crashing down, along with the mounting dust forming a heavy blanket over it, Brett could most positively tell this was an old room that had gone unused for the better part of a few years. With his large body barely being able to stand straight up without bumping into something, he forwarded his search to the back of the room. Here, a slim but long wooden cabinet resting horizontally on the floor had caught his eye. He slid a few items across the crackling floor to make room, and approached the worn cabinet. He bent down with a grin on his face and slid the door open with power. “HAHA I FOUND YO-”

Laying inside of the cabinet, and just waking up from a nap, was Livi.

Disappointment had declared a full on raid on Brett. “Hey…I thought you were supposed to be a seeker.”.

“Huh…oh…yeah I guess…”

“Then…WHAT ARE YOU DOING LAYING HERE!?”

Brett pulled Livi who was rubbing her eyes out of the cramped space and dragged her out of the room, bumping into every box and item on his way out. Brett angrily hauled her around the school, forcing her to participate in the game for the benefit of their class. Livi, seeing as she had no other choice, repulsively followed Brett around the school and only coming into contact with a small handful of students during the time.

“Was two people really worth my nap?” Livi asked.

Brett continued to keep a look out for any camouflage hiders. “Of course it was, we need everyone to give their all so our class can win.”

She rolled her eyes “Is it because you want to beat Mac?”

Brett pulled his head out of the cabinet he was currently investigating and sat in one of the nearby desks finally deciding there was probably no one left nearby “The thing between me and Mac is completely separate. I just want to make sure everyone has fun today, although that's hard to accomplish when he keeps trying to rile us up.”

“What’s with his grudge with you anyways, it’s kind of gross to be honest.”

Brett turned his body into jelly and fully relaxed in the desk. “I was on the soccer team up until this year. Me and Mac were the forwards on the team and just like he said, we were definitely an unstoppable duo.” He looked down and configured a light smile. “I had fun with him, with the team as well. It was a pretty good experience for someone like me.”

“I never knew you were on the soccer team?”

“Well you did sleep during class everyday. Although that's pretty impressive since I was getting offers for college and all that.”

Livi sat in the desk directly next to him. A part of sunlight had broken through the closed curtain and settled on the wooden top she laid her head on. Her long brown hair spilling over the sides like a waterfall. “So?”

“So what?”

“What's the reason for you not playing this year, was it an injury or something? I can’t just imagine a meathead like you would quit.”

“I did quit.”

Livi slowly raised her head off of the desk.

Brett noticed the eager look on her face. “I quit so I could spend more time with Lawrence.”

“HUH?!” Livi said startled, jolting upwards and ramming her knee into the bottom of the desk. “Ow..”

Brett let out a hearty laugh that made Livi sourly pout.

“Why are you laughing! It’s pretty absurd that you would throw away your whole career just for Lawrence!”

He wrapped his arms around his stomach from the laughter. “I know, but your reaction was unexpected.”

“What’s unexpected is you quitting a sport!”

The laughter finally ceased and Brett properly sat up in the desk with a faint genuine smile. “Well I couldn’t just leave him alone you know. I am his best friend.”

“Huh? W-what are you getting at?”

“Lawrence never really socialized with other people during school, so if I wasn’t there for him he would get lonely, right? So what choice did I have, I couldn’t just leave my best bro hanging for soccer. I do feel a little guilty for the team but I can’t really help it. After all, I have more fun with Lawrence than I do playing any sport!”

Livi dreamily gazed up at him without speaking, then mumbled a few words. The dim sunlight focusing on her mouth: “I guess I can see why people admire you so much now…”

“Huh? What did you say? I couldn't hear that.”

“N-nothing! Anyways, shouldn't we be looking for people right now!?” Livi exclaimed, jerking up from her desk.

“Oh crap! That totally slipped my mind! Man I sure am glad Lawrence has been holding out this long, I gotta make sure I do everything I can to pull out the win for his sake!”

Livi looked up and the large figure now walking beside her. The person she had thought for three years was just your average run-of-the-mill hot shot. Someone that acted like they were the best in the world, and loved rubbing it in others faces was in fact, just a caring classmate that could be relied on. She slapped her face, trying to rid the bubblegum-pink blush that had suddenly appeared.

“Huh, what was that for?”

Livi let out a calm breath of air. “It was nothing. Also I wouldn’t get too excited about Lawrence’s skill to hide. Knowing him he’s probably giving away his position by trying to hold his breath for too long.”

That was a horrible idea! Lawrence thought running past elderly trees and huge bush clusters. He had been hiding out somewhere in the forest, and everything was going in his favor until someone got a little too close. In hopes of not giving away his position, he attempted to silence himself by holding his breath . Although the brilliant strategy he had made on the spot only lasted for about three seconds before he was constantly gasping for air to fill his lungs. The predator prowling around just within Lawrence’s vision easily took notice of the furious huffs and puffs. Survival instincts kicking in, Lawrence barreled himself away from the danger and broke off into a pitiful sprint that carried him close to thirty yards before he flung himself into a tightly packed circle of bushes.

His back rammed against something hard, most likely a stump of an ancient tree. He took advantage of the stump and rested himself against it. With heavy breathing Lawrence attempted to find a small gap in the bushes that could allow his eyes to scout out his purser.

“If you keep breathing that hard you’re going to get us caught.” a whisper came from behind him.

Lawrence jerked a bit realizing the stump was instead a person and shifted his weight off of them.

“S-sorry I didn’t mean to.” he mumbled. “Chio? I thought you were going to be a seeker.”

She was balled up similar to the time the two of them were stuck in the cave during the intense storm. A rough stick was being led across the dirt by a sloppy grip. Lines and unique shapes were carved into the dirt around her. Somber eyes matched her gloomy face peering over her knee caps. One of them still bearing a slight cut from when she was dared to take a picture of the large cut out dolphin.

“Livi is the seeker.”

“Oh, okay.”

Lawrence was unsure exactly how to engage in conversation with Chio right now. It was plainly obvious that the mood was sour, most definitely carried over from the rumored bathroom fight

Chio’s stick came to a halt in the ground. “L-lawrence…have you had fun?” she asked.

A blur caught his eyes from outside the bush, the crack of a stick followed it. Lawrence slowly pushed a finger against his mouth signaling for her to become hushed.

“...Has it been fun?”

Lawrence uneasily shifted his gaze at Chio. Wondering why she was talking while someone looking for them was just within ear shot. “I’ve had fun.”

Chio’s hollow eyes slowly started to twinkle with hope. Her bangs jerked to the side with how fast she locked her sight onto Lawrence “Then-”

“But I don’t know if I will always be able to call it fun.” he said.

Chio’s lips slightly curled inwards, and her eyebrows slightly lowered along with her spirits.

“I can’t really say if this is fun. I think I am having fun, I mean that should be obvious…but, one day in the future I may end up looking back on today. I may end up thinking it wasn’t fun, there is a chance I will end up regretting I ever came.” Lawrence tightly grabbed onto the front of his shirt. “The excitement I feel right now may just be an illusion, distracting me from what could happen later on.”

Chio’s head started to shy away from Lawrence, but she stopped it mid turn. She placed her hand into the dirt inches between her and Lawrence and peered into his soul with blazing eyes. “Lawrence, do you think it's possible to overcome something insanely difficult, as long as you don’t give up and work through it!”

Luck had run out for both Brett and Livi. They had searched the entire two floors of the school while rarely coming into contact with anyone. There was not a hider nor seeker in sight. Time was coming close to an end and so was Brett’s hunt. Livi and Brett had collectively decided to continue their exploration outside in hopes of scrounging up a point or two before the duration was up. They cleared out of the classroom they were rummaging through and proceeded along the outstretched hallway leading them to the front door.

“Why did we have to get this far away from the door?” Livi grumbled.

“There’s no point in being a seeker if you don’t check every possible place someone could be hiding. Also,” Brett stopped in his tracks and glanced behind him. “Could you walk any faster?”

“I can’t help it that one of your steps equals three of mine!”

Brett chuckled. “Fine, we'll just take it easy until we get outside of the school. The third game may be over before we make it back to the field though.”

Brett received a violent kick to his ankle.

“Well now we both have to walk slowly!” he wailed in pain.

The two of them walked side by side leisurely strolling through the vacant hallway.

“How’s Chio?” Brett asked.

Livi looked up at him and slowly drifted her eyes back in front of her. “I’m…not really sure. She wasn’t exactly talkative about it.”

“The person she got into a fight with was Maple right?”

Livi’s small face blossomed into a large amount of anger. “Gosh she really rubs me the wrong way. Because of miss spray tan Chio kept muttering to herself that she was hurting Lawrence over and over again!”

“So that's what this is about huh.”

Livi confusedly looked up towards Brett who was rubbing the back of his head.

“Well, Maple isn’t exactly wrong. Chio is hurting him.”

“Brett!”

“Ah sorry I shouldn’t have put it that way. You know Lawrence has asthma right?”

Livi nodded her head.

“The way asthma actually affects someone is by blocking up the airways to the lungs, limiting oxygen and making it harder to breathe. The thing with Lawrence though is that he has a really severe case of it. His airways are insanely swelled up at all times, and well, sometimes if Lawrence exerts himself too much it can cause long term damage to his lungs.”

“That's…I mean…”

Brett turned towards Livi with a comforting look. “It’s okay though, I don’t think Chio is doing anything to severely hurt the dude. Lawrence knows his limits better than anyone so I doubt he’ll ever push himself over them.”

Livi let out a sigh of relief knowing that Chio actually wasn’t hurting him.

“Although the reason Maple is so intent on separating Chio from Lawrence is because she thinks his lungs are being damaged.” he said.

“Why would Maple care about that anyways? She never even talks to Lawrence.”

“That's…kinda a long story.”

Livi knelt down and clasped her hands around her leg. “Ow my ankle, it hurts. I don’t think I can walk anymore.”

“You do realize you're the one that kicked my ankle right?” Brett let out a small chuckle and kept walking, forcing Livi to jog back up to him. “You transferred in only a couple of years ago, right?”

“Yeah my dad ended up getting a job nearby so we decided to move here.” she said. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, before you moved here Maple and Lawrence used to be pretty close friends.”

“S-spray tan lady and Lawrence! Friends!”

“Ah well, it was more like Lawrence was friends with everyone. This is a small town after all, so we were all pretty close with each other when we were younger. Especially me, Maple and Lawrence.”

“If Lawrence was friends with everyone back then, how come you’re the only person he ever talks to?”

“He made himself distant.” Brett glanced down and noticed Livi’s shocked expression. “Even though we all got along well, at one point Lawrence started to feel like he was a burden to everyone. He realized we would go easy on him during PE, or that we wouldn’t do certain things around him so he didn’t feel left out. Even though that was just our way of being nice and including him, Lawrence started to think he was just weighing us all down. It was pretty faint at first, but slowly he started to detach himself from everyone. Eventually, no one bothered to hang out with him anymore.” Brett tightly clenched his fist. “Actually, this is the first year I’ve talked to Lawrence in a long time.”

“I didn’t know Lawrence thought of himself like that, I just figured he couldn’t be bothered with anyone. That…sounds really lonely.”

“That’s why I ended up leaving the soccer team. I couldn’t just let him be by himself during his last year of school.”

“Still, that doesn't give Maple any reason to hurt Chio. I mean, she didn’t try to reconnect with Lawrence like you did, so she has no right to say she’s his friend!”

Brett looked downwards in disagreement with Livi. “No, Maple let Lawrence do what he thought was best. Lawrence…had been through a lot, and she didn’t want to make anything worse by forcing him to be her friend. Honestly, I’m not really that good of a friend myself. Sometimes I think I only became friends with Lawrence again because I didn’t want to feel guilty about it.”

Livi stomped into a stop. “That’s not true!” she yelled while pouting.

Brett calmly chuckled. “Thanks’ Livi.”

Livi flusteredly jerked her head away from Brett, her long hair soaring around with the quick movement. “W-why was Lawrence having a hard time back then?”

“Don’t tell Lawrence I told you this but, Lawrence’s mother passed away during labor.”

The pink in Livi’s face quickly disappeared.

“You know how I talked about some cases of asthma causing severe lung damage when someone overworked themselves? Well, that's exactly what happened to his mom, during labor, she stopped breathing.”

“...I…I don’t know what to say…”

“It happened a long time okay, so It’s fine. According to my mom, she was best friends with her. Lawrence’s mom was really into basketball, and pretty much anything that was a sport. Pretty ironic honestly, because she wasn’t able to play very long until she needed a break. My mom said she would have a smile on her face even when she ran out of breath, it was that much fun to her. She lived for sports. She was a nice person too, really helpful and dependable.”

“She sounds nice.” Livi said. “You would think Lawrence would end up liking sports since he had a mother like her.”

“Ah, well,” Brett and Livi had finally arrived at the front of the school. Brett opened the door, and walked outside into the hot sun overhead. “Lawrence, really resents his mother.”

Lawrence was trying to process exactly what Chio had asked. It was an absurd question, and especially in a place like this made zero sense. But the look in her eyes revealed that he had to answer it. Lawrence took a nervous gulp. “I don’t exactly think working hard towards a goal is a bad thing. It requires discipline and dedication. But, if you try to overcome something that is impossible, I think that can only lead to a bad thing.” Lawrence pulled on knee close to him, and tilted his head backwards with a murky curtain wrapping around him and himself starting to feel slightly low spirited and bleak. “People who try to do something like that, end up ignoring others around them. They only focus on beating something impossible, something that they know they can’t conquer. They become hypnotized by it, and like an addict, they can never abandon it. In the process, they end up hurting others around them, they even hurt themselves. Until eventually, they become unable to try anymore. They become lifeless. I think it’s fine to work towards a goal, but, if you aren't able to realize you have to quit. Then there is no way you are accomplishing anything at all.

Chio shot up out from the dirt. She looked at Lawrence with a miserable face, one he never hoped he would see again. “Lawrence…that's not what I wanted you to say…”

She walked out of the bush, and a few seconds later, the announcement of her and Livi’s elimination was made.