Enter The Sports Festival

**Beep-Beep-Beep**

The sun is streaming through the curtains in the room. The room is littered with stuffed animals everywhere you look. Tall ones along the wall, small ones bursting from the bookshelves and on top of the windowsill. Medium ones align the side and the bottom of the queen size bed in the middle of the room. Soon rustling can be seen under the fluffy and frilly purple duvet. The stirring starts and stops and starts and stops. A pale hand peeks out from under the duvet to reach for the alarm to silence it. Once done the hand flops down to the side of the bed lifelessly. A deep sigh is heard from the figure beneath before it sits up sleepily. Through the canopy of her bed, we can see her messy bedhead and sleep rumpled clothes. She gives one more full-body stretch before turning her body to the side of the bed for her purple bunny slippers.

A knock is heard on the door followed by a sweet voice, “Miss Sacilia have you awakened? We don't want to be late for school.”

Sacilia smiled to herself before answering, “Yes Miriam, I'm up,” Sacilia answered the maid. “Oh good. Breakfast will be ready in 20 minutes,” said Miriam.

“OK. Will mom or dad be there as well?” Sacilia asked hoping for the answer she desperately wanted to hear.

Miriam knowing the pain she was about to inflict sadly replied, “I am sorry sweetie, but they have some business to take care of and can't join you for breakfast.”

Sacilia being used to this disappointment thanked Miriam and let her know she will be down shortly. Sacilia gave a sigh while putting on her fluffy slippers and moseyed over to open her curtains to brighten up the room before she began the day. She made her way over to her vanity and saw the sorrow in her eyes. Not wanting to start her day with this depressing vibe she immediately slapped on a smile, which is something she is used to doing by now. Sacilia began her morning routine of face cleaning, moisturizing, and a touch of makeup. She brushed her hair until perfection before putting on her signature barrette to hold it in place. She looked at herself in the mirror once more before putting on her uniform and grabbing her bag to head down the stairs for breakfast.

~On the way to School~

As the driver continues down the road towards school Sacilia distracts herself by staring out at the people walking by. Suddenly her eyes grow in recognition of Amira walking to school. Sacilia immediately told her driver to stop the car so she could get out.

“But miss my instructions are to drop you off in front of the school as well as to pick you up in front of the school. It is dangerous along the way and if your parents find out they would have my job,” the driver stated nervously.

“What mom and dad don't know won't hurt them, especially if you nor I say nothing. Besides, I won't be alone. I'll be walking with my friend so I will be completely safe. OK glad we had this talk. I will see you after school as normal. Bye!” Sacilia was like a whirlwind. One second, she was sitting in the back of the car, the next she was closing the car door behind her before the driver could even blink. All he could do was sigh and shake his head before finding a place to turn around to head back to the house.

Sacilia rushed to catch up to Amira. She lost her while she was talking to the driver. After a second of rushing and looking she was able to catch a glimpse of Amira’s head. As she was about to call out to her someone said her name from behind her. Sacilia stopped in her tracks and turned to the new voice.

“Hi, your name is Sacilia, right? You're the new girl who just transferred here?” the girl with black hair asked.

Not really knowing why this girl stopped her Sacilia nodded her head. “That's me. I'm sorry I can't seem to remember you from class,” apologized Sacilia.

“That's because I'm not in your class,” the dark-haired girl responded.

“OK, so what can I do for you...?” Sacilia left the question open hoping that the dark-haired girl would provide her name.

“Rena, my name is Rena,” supplied the girl.

“OK, what can I do for you, Rena?” Sacilia asked hopefully getting the conversation moving so she could talk to Amira before class started.

“I just wanted to warn you about Amira,” Rena responded.

That statement brought Sacilia’s thoughts back fully focused on Rena. “And what do I need to be warned against?” Sacilia asked skeptically.

“You're new here so maybe you don't know but Amira isn't the type of girl you want to be friends with,” Rena answered.

“Mm-hmm, I see and that is because…?” Sacilia once again left her question open for Rena to finish.

“Because she is a backstabber and liar. You can't trust her,” Rena answered a little heatedly. Sacilia blinked at Rena surprised to hear that. To Sacilia Rena’s explanation sounded personal which is much different from her classmates who talk about Amira as a separate entity.

“From what it sounds like, you know Amira personally,” Sacilia hinted.

“Yes, and I can tell you firsthand that she isn't someone you want to get involved with and instead you should just stay away from her,” Rena said in a stressed tone.

Not knowing the full story between Rena and Amira Sacilia couldn't just dismiss her warnings. “Thank you for looking out for me and I will heed your advice, but I still want to get to know her on my own and judge her for myself,” Sacilia told Rena decidedly.

Rena was flabbergasted by this girl not backing away from Amira and questioned, “Why do you want to be friends with her so badly that you ignore my warning?”

“I'm not ignoring your warning, but I will judge for myself if Amira is a trustworthy friend or not… well as soon as we become friends of course,” Sacilia explained sheepishly.

Rena not feeling as if she can say anymore turned to restart her journey to class but not without saying her last thoughts to Sacilia, “If you want to rush to get your feelings hurt then be my guess.”

Sacilia watched Rena leave before hearing the warning bell and immediately rushed to class.

~In Class~

“Now class before I dismiss you for lunch as we all know the yearly sports festival is coming up and our class still needs to submit the roster of what each of you will be competing in,” announced the teacher.

Grumbles and moans from the students can be heard throughout the classroom.

“I can see you're all excited and eager for the event so I will leave the class president in charge of getting you guys signed up,” the teacher concluded as he packed up his things to leave.

“OK guys I know that we are all excited to win this year’s sports festival,” the class president said in a cheery tone, “So far, we have the boys’ soccer, basketball, and volleyball covered and the rest will be part of the cheering squad. As for the girls we have volleyball and soccer filled but still missing members for the basketball team.”

The female students in the class groaned.

“Now I know that we can pull together ladies and show some team spirit. Now, who wants to be the lucky ones to represent the females in our class?”

The female students whispered and looked around not wanting to be the ones to raise their hands. Sacilia glanced around the classroom at the other students. That’s when she noticed Amira leaning on her hand staring out the window as if what was occurring in the classroom wasn’t happening around her. That is when the perfect idea came to Sacilia and she raised her hand. This caused the rest of her classmates to turn to her in astonishment.

The class president let out a squeal of excitement, “Sacilia that's the spirit. I knew you would come through for us!” while jumping and clapping.

Sacilia nodded along with the president with a smile before adding, “Yes I volunteer for the basketball tournament,” Sacilia said happily, “along with Amira.”

The class burst out in murmurs and whispers. Amira turned her focus from the window to Sacilia in disbelief.

The class president gave a small cough to refocus the class, “Well that would be great to have Amira join the tournament.”

“Uhm wait, hold on shouldn't my opinion matter in this situation?” Amira quickly interjected before the situation got too far out of hand.

Sacilia turned in her seat towards Amira. Her eyes got bigger and starry, “But our classmates are in trouble. Besides, it will be fun, and this will make a great memory for our high school years,” Sacilia said trying to sell the idea to Amira, but Amira looked at her unperturbed as if she wasn't going to budge on the idea. Well, it looks like guilt is the way to go Sacilia thought to herself. Sacilia began her performance and put on a sad face for Amira, “Well, I understand if you don't want to help but if you don't compete, I won't want to compete either since I want to do it with a friend. And if we don't do it then the class president will be forced to keep everyone here until she finds someone meaning no one can enjoy their lunch, which means we have to starve but don't worry, I'm sure we all understand your decision to not participate,” Sacilia ended her speech with a glance towards Amira.

Amira began to break. She could feel the pressure from the rest of her classmates that were too scared to say anything to her directly. She finally broke and let out a deep sigh, “I'm in, I guess.” Sacilia let out a happy cry. The rest of the class let out a yelp of excitement for lunch while the class president let out a sigh of relief.

“Awesome, OK guys the roster is now filled, and the rest of the females will be part of the cheering squad and with that, you are all free to go to lunch,” the class president dismissed the class happily.

Sacilia noticed Amira leave the classroom, so she quickly grabbed her lunch and ran after her. Sacilia followed Amira to the back of the school where the baseball fields and tennis courts were. A little pass that there was a small clearing that to Sacilia looked like a path that was covered by bushes and trees, if you weren't looking you would definitely miss it. Sacilia saw Amira disappear through the bushes and since she was determined to talk to her, she followed. On the other side of the path, there was an opening with a single tree in the middle and under that tree, Amira was sitting with her lunch.

“You really weren’t kidding about liking to be alone were you,” greeted Sacilia to make her presence known to Amira.

Amira turned towards the voice with a frown already knowing who the voice belonged to, “Why am I not surprised to see you here? Did you really need to follow me? What more is there to talk about after you swindled me into the basketball tournament?” Amira asked annoyed.

Sacilia moved closer to Amira to sit under the tree with her lunch as well, “Swindle is such a crude word,” Sacilia began explaining as she took her lunch out, “I just wanted to make some good memories with a friend,” Sacilia finished while taking a bite of her sandwich.

Amira turned towards Sacilia, “I must be forgetting a lot lately, but correct me if I'm wrong, but we are not friends?”

Sacilia nodded her head to that while finishing her bite, “Hmm yes, you're right, well not yet at least,” answered Sacilia as she continued eating her food.

Amira stared at Sacilia astonished before she let out a chuckle while shaking her head, “You're one determined girl,” Amira said as she turned back to her food. The two girls continued to eat their food in comfortable silence.

Over the next couple of weeks, the school had been abuzz with getting ready for the sports festival. The hallways were littered with cheering posters and streamers and banners. Sacilia couldn't be happier with the progress the sports festival has done for Amira and her. Having to stay after to practice for the tournament had forced her and Amira to hang out. From spending time with her Sacilia can definitely conclude that Amira is a tough cookie to crack. She doesn't talk much about herself at all even with all the prodding Sacilia has been doing even though she continues to tell herself it was just politely asking so it wouldn’t sound so intrusive but what she did discover was that Amira was thoughtful in her own way. To say that Sacilia didn't have an athletic bone in her body would be an understatement. Every time she dribbles the ball would go everywhere and every time she took a shot the ball would bounce off the rim and almost hit her in the head, but it was thanks to these incidents that Sacilia was able to see the kind side of Amira. Before the basketball would crash into her face Amira would appear from thin air to catch the ball and you would think that that would create a good atmosphere to get to know one another but Amira would act as if nothing happened and just walk away. Sacilia was at her wit’s end with Amira, but she was never known to give up.

~Day of Sports Festival~

After weeks of blood, sweat, and tears mixed in with some bruises, it was the day of the sports festival. The gym was lined with supporters from not only their class but other teams and other students from different classes and years.

“Alright girls it is time to show them that all those weeks of practicing have paid off,” encouraged the team captain in their team huddle. “I want you all to know that you each bring something different and unique to the team,” all the girls were nodding their heads to the motivating words the captain was giving, “and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate each and every one of you,” big smiles could be seen around the huddle except for Amira who was beginning to look uncomfortable with all the closeness. “With that being said Sacilia you will sit out the first half,” the captain concluded.

Sacilia’s eyes widened as silence was heard throughout the huddle. Sacilia turned to the captain with watery shimmery eyes, “But you just said that we all bring something special to the team.”

“Yes, that is true, and your special gift is your heart and determination that I feel will show best in the second half of the game,” the captain explained. “You will be our shock factor that they won't see coming until it's too late,” the captain concluded.

As the huddle broke the rest of the members went to do their last-minute preparation before the match. Sacilia slowly made her way to the benches for a seat. While Sacilia was lost in thought she didn't notice Amira walking toward her until she bumped her shoe with hers. Sacilia raised her head and saw Amira standing over her with her hands and her hoodie pockets.

Sacilia said in a lackluster tone, “Well I guess I won't get to play with you after all.”

Amira stared at Sacilia before responding, “Does it matter if one of us is in the game and the other isn't?” Amira started. She waited until Sacilia looked back up at her before she continued, “What you mainly wanted was to create memories with a friend whether that means cheering your heart out here or playing on the court over there,” Amira pointed behind her, “we are all wanting the same goal which is to bring victory for our team. Does that not count as a great memory?”

Sacilia stared at Amira until Amira started to feel uncomfortable. A smile began to grow on her face and her eyes began to shimmer, “Did you just say that we are friends?” Sacilia asked excitedly.

“Is that really what you got out of all of that?” Amira asked stunned and Sacilia just nodded. Sacilia saw Amira release a sigh while shaking her head.

“Just make sure you cheer loudly for me OK,” Amira said as she departed to the center of the court as the referee blew the whistle to announce the start of the game.

Amira stood in line with the rest of her teammates facing the opposing team. The referee signaled them to bow to each other. It was when Amira stood back up and locked eyes with the dark-haired girl that was standing in front of her that a sharp pain started to develop in her right temple. Amira pressed her hand to her head to ease the pain as it was intensifying. All the while the dark-haired girl was glaring daggers at Amira images were emerging behind her eyes.

Who are you? Amira thought to herself.