That Was Impressive

Compared to the other building, this one had a much more competitive game. A lot of people were sent back; the music constantly kept turning on and then off, not letting the students have at least a good ten seconds to run. It was stop and start. Tensions were much higher here, not to mention the people competing as well. About half of the spaces were filled up, and Benjamin and Lucas had already reached the finish line.
The music turned on. Everyone still playing started moving, not quickly, as they were cautious of the music suddenly stopping. A Majority of people were speed walking; no one was taking the chance to run.
"Look, Delilah and Tanisha are close", Benjamin said, pointing at them. The music continued to play; this was the longest it's played. People started to pick up the pace; this caused a chain reaction as more people began to run so they wouldn't get left behind. The music stopped. Delilah and Tanisha crossed the line together. They made it in time. The two went to the side as they qualified to join Benjamin and Lucas.
"Lets goo, you made it", Benjamin congratulated the two.
"You two are fast", Lucas said, giving them both a high five. The two of them were breathing heavily; it wasn't only the exercise that made them lose their breath. It was also due to the high pressure and stress, not to mention the fact they did it in their uniform. Across the finish line, they had a chance to calm down and breathe normally.
"Yeah, I used to do track and field for my high school", Delilah said, crouching down to relax.
"And I used to be on my school's netball team, " Tanisha added, with her hands on her hips.
"Both of you are athletic, then", Lucas complimented, offering a hand to Delilah.
"I wouldn't say that; it's the first time I've done some sort of exercise in a while", Delilah admitted, grabbing his hand. Delilah turned her attention elsewhere, "William and David can make it". She said confidently.
"I'm sure they can. I'm still nervous, though", Benjamin said, watching on with his hands clenched in his pockets.
David and William weren't next to each other. William was closer to the finish line than David because William was quicker than David. William could make it on the next turn, but it was unlikely because the distance between him and the finish line was great. The unpredictability of the music switching off was also a factor. The music started. William bolted. Malakai was the fastest out of the group, and William was a close second. But William had better acceleration than Malakai. He could reach his top speed much quicker than Malakai, which is good for quick starts and very short distances. Good for situations like this. William jetted. Overtaking people left and right. Some people couldn't believe it, seeing a blur go past them. William reached his max speed rapidly. He dived over the line as soon as he got close to the finish, landing on his stomach with his arms cushioning the dive. The music continued to play for half a second, then stopped. If that were anyone else, they would've been sent back to the start, but William's acceleration and speed were too good. William panted like a dog. Grasping at oxygen. The cost for going 100%.
"That was impressive", Ryan thought, watching from the side. It wasn't only Ryan thinking that; everyone who qualified was in awe; even the people still playing widened their eyes. Some even got sent back to the start for tilting their head to glance at William. Everyone watched something incredible.
"Even Malakai's friends are talented", Frank said, recognising Williams's efforts.
Alexander was impressed, but he didn't let it show. "He's got one good skill", Alexander said to himself. William was still on the floor, trying to catch his breath. His friends couldn't approach him as William still needed to qualify; he had to wait for David to cross the line.
"Woah, William was pretty cool there", Delilah said in shock, not expecting that from the boy who got teased constantly in class by his friends.
"That was amazing", Tanisha said with a tone that showed her amazement.
"He's not totally useless", Lucas joked.
Benjamin was proud; he couldn't stop smiling. Until he remembered David was still out there.
However, thanks to William, he sent a few people back to the start due to his star performance. The music started playing. David didn't run but took long strides; his long legs helped him. He marched on to the finish line. The music stopped. He was so close, but he didn't cross it.
"He made it", Ryan disappointedly said, turning away so he wouldn't look.
Although David hadn't crossed the line yet, not all teams had qualified; four spots were still left. When the music would turn back on, David would have to take one step to qualify. The music turned on.

"Everyone qualified", Lucas happily said with everyone together.
"David, my bad. I made that more stressful than it was. Getting sent back at the very start put us behind", William apologised. When the game first started, William got ahead of himself and ran. But he got tricked by how long the music would be played; he thought it would go on for a while, but it didn't, and when the music stopped, he couldn't position himself still and moved, so he and David had to start again.
"It's all good, we made it". David replied, putting his arm over William's shoulder.
"50 points just like that", Tanisha gleefully smiled. "I hope Maria made it through", she continued, thinking of her friend.
"She'll be fine; Ray and Mally are with her", Benjamin reassured her as she looked slightly worried.
"Imagine if Malakai got eliminated in the first round", Delilah said.
"If he did, I'm never letting him live that down", William said, hoping it was true now.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" Mr White shouted to get everyone's attention. "All of you have made it to the next round. The next round will start in half an hour, so you can take a break for now. Eat something or drink because, for this next game, you will need energy", Mr White warned.
"If it's more running, I'm not doing it", Tanisha said in a tired tone.
"For those of you who have been eliminated, you can either stay here and watch or go back to your dorms. There will be no more classes, so you're done for the day", Mr White added.
"Not fair, I wanna go back to my dorm", Tanisha complained.
"You have the chance to get more points. Why do you want to go back?" Benjamin asked.

During the break, in the building's cafeteria.
Alexander and Frank were sitting at a table, recuperating.
"Three pairs qualified from 1-C. That's quite the shock", Frank said, sipping his drink.
"It's shocking. There are fifteen pairs in 1-A alone. I'm sure less than ten qualified. People in 1-A can't get past the first round, while people in 1-C can," Alexander ranted in a condescending tone.
"It's not something academic; even people from 1-E could qualify if they were grouped with us". Frank said, giving his classmates the benefit of the doubt.
"That's no excuse. If you're in 1-A, it doesn't only mean for your academic ability. It should mean everything: academics, mental and physical. Then you ask why I don't bother to make friends. Why would I be around people worse than me? They can't even handle a simple kids' game," Alexander said casually. Frank couldn't even argue back. What could he say? Besides, when Alexander got like this, there was no hope of winning an argument. The points he made were valid and made sense to him. For his mentality, he doesn't need friends, but hearing that made Frank think. If there was someone better than Alexander, would Alexander try to befriend them? Or would he make them his rival? Right now, there was no one, so these questions would stay unanswered, but Frank hoped someone would answer them in the future.
Ryan and Lorenzo were still in the hall, sitting on the benches to the side. They watched as the teachers were setting up the next game.
"I can't believe all of them made it", Ryan said with his arms folded.
"Is it really that surprising? The game was simple", Lorenzo replied while on his phone.
"You're right, but it doesn't sit right with me", Ryan said, looking at the floor, Trying to figure out this feeling he was feeling.
"You really wanted Malakai here. Didn't you?" Lorenzo asked, noticing Ryan's deflated tone.
"That would've been the dream. But I guess the time isn't right yet", Ryan said, high off the thought of going against Malakai.
"If you were to go against him, how do you know you'd win?" Lorenzo questioned.
"He's all talk", Ryan answered without thinking about it.
"Like a keyboard warrior?" Lorenzo said, looking up from his phone.
"He's not a keyboard warrior because he talks shit in real life, too. I can't put it into words, but I know I'll beat him".
Students started to return to the hall as the break was almost over. Lorenzo looked up from his phone and saw the group they were talking about come through the doors. "Are you going to go to them again?" He asked.
"Not this time. Let's watch what they do instead", Ryan answered, fixing his posture.
"You can watch; I'll be on my phone", Lorenzo replied, glued to his phone.
"How does your phone never run out of battery?"

The six of them were now in the hall again.
"I'm still tired", Tanisha moaned, hanging onto Delilah.
"It looks like it's more running", Delilah said, looking ahead.
What they saw in front of them was like red light, a green light, just an ample empty space to run into. But at the finish line, it looked like a mess piled on the floor. They had yet to learn what the game was going to be.
"There's a lot of pretty women here", Lucas said, observing and admiring the girls around.
"Go talk to them", Benjamin said; he'd heard Lucas say that phrase a million times in a lot of different situations.
"Maybe I will", Lucas said, walking ahead without looking where he was going.
BUMP!
"I'm sorry", Lucas apologised, without looking at who he bumped into.
"What's wrong with you and bumping into people?" Benjamin said, embarrassed for him.
"It's fine, don't worry", she said, turning around.
The girl had very long charcoal-coloured hair. Her hair covered half of her face; the boys could only see one eye as her hair covered the other eye. Under the visible eye was a beauty spot; she also had a nose piercing.
"You've got nice hair", Lucas complimented with a slightly deeper voice, looking at her hair.
"Thank you, you too". She complimented back.
"Looks like he's got a girlfriend", Benjamin quietly muttered to himself, watching him flirt before him.
"Do you think she's an emo?" William whispered to Benjamin.
Benjamin looked at William. "Why don't you ask her?" he said in a louder tone to try to catch the girl's attention.
"I'm not asking that", William said, keeping his voice down. Luckily, the girl didn't hear Benjamin.
Lucas turned back to Benjamin,
"You done flirting?" Benjamin jokingly asked.
"Talking to any female is considered flirting now?" Lucas sarcastically asked back.
"What'd you talk about?" William questioned, wanting to know.
"Nothing, we just introduced ourselves. She's in 1-A, and her name is Luna".
"Luna? I swear she's in the top ten", David said, pulling out his phone. David opened the leaderboards and saw Luna Wolfe sitting in 8th.
"She's 8th. She's smart", David told them.
"Let's try to eliminate her next round", William confidently said.
"OKAY ATTENTION!" Mr White shouted to get everyone's attention. "Is everyone back?" He questioned. He got no response, so he took that as a yes. "Can everyone stand against that wall, please?" he instructed. When everyone was in place, he continued, "This is the second round, and the game will be. Finders Keepers." Mr White didn't waste any time discussing the rules.
"The rules are as follows. Your pair will be given a picture of an object you have to find. To get this object, one of you will have to run to the other side of the hall and find the object in that pile of mess over there. There are two replicas of your object", he said, pointing at the mess. "Then, you must return to your partner when you've got the object. Once you've returned, your partner will run to the other side and find their object. Once they find it, they have to run back to you. Finally, both of you have to run to the finish line together". Mr White finished explaining the rules.
Groans came from the students. There was more running, and it sounded like a lot of running. Mr White couldn't help but smirk. He needed to finish off with something to get them fired up,
"I forgot to mention, the top ten qualify to the next round".