Team Exercise

“Whatever dude… I’m thrilled to hear your food choices.”

Ivey rolled his eyes, and leaned back into his chair. Satisfied, I turned back around to listen to what was going on in class. Who knew that high school was this fun?

“Okay gang, so since this is everyone’s first year in a new school, you’ll be able to take part in an orientation camp. It’ll be a great way to get to know everyone. But remember, you will have to perform a quick presentation on what you did during our stay. So everyone, pick out a piece of paper with a number from this box and meet your new group members.”

The class erupted in chatter, as everyone was excited to have a camp this early in the year. One by one, people went up to reveal their magic number. Some were excited to be paired with friends they already knew, some were disappointed and some didn’t care.

“Okay… Rei, you’re up!”

In just a matter of seconds, the chatter dispersed as Rei got up to collect a number. The silence was as if she was getting ready to deliver the most ground-breaking speech. What number would she get…

She reached her hand into the box and pulled out a piece.

“5…”

“Yo, Rei, come join us! I guess we always end up being together.”

Walker motioned her to come join him along with their one other group member.

There were 5 groups of 6 in total, meaning there were only 3 chances left to be put in group 5. Everyone attempted to pull out the other 5’s. People were praying like their life depended on it.

I didn’t really understand why they were thinking so much about it. It was just a group. I wouldn’t mind being in any. I'm just glad we don't have any real work.

 I also didn’t have much choice in what group I would be in since the order we were picking in made it that I was going to pick second last.

“Ooh, I guess I’ll be in group 5!”

A girl with light red hair and pink rosy eyes smiled and joined the popular group. She seemed like the type of person who could easily befriend anyone. The complete opposite of who I was.

Finally, my turn came. I was going to walk up, but the teacher put the box down.

“Mr Baito… I haven’t picked yet.”

“You don’t need to do that. You’ll be in group 5.”

“Huh… Why?”

“Because the only group left to be filled is group 5. See?”

He pulled the remaining 2 papers and sure enough, both had 5 written on them.

“That means that you and Ivey will join the rest in group 5. Now, everyone, go talk to your new group mates and fill out the form I’ve given you.”

And just like that, I had found my new group members.

“Hey… uh… you two! Come join us!”

Walker had called out to us and had prepared seats for Ivey and I. We made our way to them and sat down.

The group consisted of myself, Ivey, Walker, Rei and 2 other people who I wasn’t familiar with.

One of them was a girl with red hair and pink rosy eyes. She was Sefilio and I had seen her among a large group of people before entering the classroom. She seemed to be on good terms with everyone and was a very social girl.

The other person was a boy with black hair and eyes that seemed to be like an abyss of darkness. His name was Azuno, and he kept his introduction brief. If I were to judge the book by its cover, he would fit into the loner category.

After exchanging contact information with each other, Walker picked up the form and began reading out the handout.

“Okay, so our trip will be in the mountains… And we need to decide on a group leader. Anyone up for it?”

No one was too keen on the idea, and we all sat in silence. That just seemed like additional pointless work. Walker laughed.

“Heh, I guess I’ll do it. Now… it seems like we’ve been given an additional task…”

The task was part of the project. We were asked to choose one of the locations that were listed and take some photos and investigate the area. The locations were spread across the mountains.

“Where should we go?”

“Not somewhere that requires too much walking.”

Ivey spoke up, voicing his displeasure towards physical activity. Azuno nodded in agreement.

“What?! But the lake sounds so cool!”

Sefilio had wanted to go to the lake area, which would be quite a trek from the campsite.

“That’s way too far.”

“It isn’t even that far. You’re just unfit.”

“Huh? I’m not sure I heard that right. You do remember you owe me a favor?”

I wasn’t really following the conversation. It seemed like they knew each other beforehand. Walker diverted the conversation.

“Let’s just have a vote. Who wants to go to the lake?”

Sefilio raised her hand up, as well as Walker and Rei. Ivey smiled.

“Well, I guess it's a draw so we might as well look at other options… Eh?”

Ivey’s smile quickly disappeared as I raised my hand to vote for the lake section.

“Well, looks like it’s 4-2, so the lake it is!”

Walker noted it down and they all began to discuss the project. Ivey pulled me aside.

“You traitor… I thought you were a bookworm… Why would you vote for the lake?”

I laughed. It was hard to take this seriously.

“Hey, weren’t you the one who was laughing at me before during my introduction? Consider us even now.”

He scowled and rolled his eyes.

“You’re so petty. Just know, I will get you back for this…”

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The sun began to fall down as the bells of the school indicated the end of the day. Students started to file out of the school to go home, or hang out with their friends.

“I’ll catch you later, Rens.”

Ivey waved and hopped on his skateboard.

“You can skate?”

“Yeah? You didn’t think I could?”

“No… But let me guess. It’s less effort than walking?”

“Exactly. Plus it’s faster too. I would have brought it to camp but it's on a mountain… Rocks and skateboarding are a deadly combination…”

He skated off into the distance. I grabbed my bag and headed back home.

This was the same route I had taken to get to school, but it felt quite different. I could feel a slight skip in my steps.

I reached my house and opened the door.

“Welcome back!”

At the bottom of my staircase was my sister, who had a devilish smile on her face.

“What…?”

“Nothing~! How was your first day?”

“It was alright.”

“Hm…. I see~!”

I couldn’t ever tell what she was thinking.