Entertain Us

"Round three will begin shortly", Mr White announced.

"Here are the rules for the third round. Both players from each team will be allowed out of their safe zones and search the building. However, all safe zones are locked. If you open a door and it turns out it is another team's safe zone, you cannot enter it. This round will last twenty-five minutes. The round will start soon".

"Hmmm. Both of us will be let out. That's interesting", Destiny mumbled. "Is there a plan you want me to follow, genius?" she sarcastically asked, throwing and catching one of their plastic balls.

"Do what you want. Just be useful", Alexander replied. "Don't bother searching this floor. I searched all the rooms".

Destiny lightly threw the ball she had across the room.

"You only got three balls last round. The same as me in the first round, and you had more time", she said. "You need to pull your weight. Don't talk to me about being useful".

"I found an item last round as well".

"Items do not give us points".

"They don't, but they help. This item lets me use the elevator for the rest of the challenge", Alexander said, holding up the card.

"What about me?" Destiny asked to make sure it was for both of them.

"You can't".

"Well, it's not a good item then, is it?".

"It's perfect. Just because you're lazy to use the stairs".

The two of them were going back and forth.

"Lazy?!" Destiny couldn't believe he said that. "That's some talk for a guy struggling with this challenge. Actually, you know what you're right. That item is perfect for you, as you're struggling so much in this challenge. You need the help", Destiny harshly replied.

"Let's calm down. The round is starting soon", Frank told them. "We're in a great position. The majority of the map is complete. Destiny floor eight looks good. You should go there. Alexander, you can use the elevator to get to the second floor. Our map pieces are blank for that floor, but there are a lot of rooms. There's one room with a ball in it. I'll guide you to that room".

"Aye, aye, captainnnnn", Destiny replied, listening to Frank.

Alexander kept silent. He was going to listen to what Frank said. He was well aware he had to do more. Currently, they have six balls, which is tied second to class 1-E. 1-B has five balls, and class 1-D has three. Class 1-C has the most, with nine. By these numbers, 1-A were doing good. Alexander was doing good. But not good enough. Not good enough to reach number one. Alexander knew that. By his standards, this was poor. He was taking a long time to adjust to this challenge. Usually, with most things, he would grasp the concept and adapt quickly, but this challenge was different for some reason. It took two rounds, but he was growing in confidence. This round was his. He knew it. He could feel it.

"Should we use the safe zone pass to get into 1-C's safe zone and steal their balls?"

Dillon turned in shock to Kayla. She was silent the entire challenge, and this was the first thing she said to him.

"Are you joking?" Dillon asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I'm serious", Kayla replied. She wasn't timid in her tone, and her eyes looked serious.

Dillon, without thought, put a hand on his stomach. The place where he got shot. The thought of going back there made his hand move instinctively. Dillon thought about it. It wasn't a bad idea. Malakai and Delilah would be on different floors, trying to get more plastic balls. Surely, they wouldn't be camping near their safe zone. That would be a bad tactic. They could search the whole building and get more points. Why would they stay near their safe zone? The idea was getting more and more tempting with more thought.

"That's a bad idea".

Sabrina's voice stepped into Dillon's thoughts and stopped them.

"Why?" Kayla asked, desperate for redemption.

"Do you want to get shot?" Sabrina questioned back.

"But he won't be near his safe zone", Kayla said.

"You don't know that", Sabrina replied. "And even if he isn't. Why would you want to make enemies with the guy with a paintball gun. If you steal from his safe zone, he'll know it was you".

"But we need to get our balls back", Kayla was trying her best to counteract Sabrina. Thinking about the three balls they lost last round made her stressed. She desperately wanted them back and more. She wasn't scared anymore. She was more stressed than scared.

"Kayla, if you steal from him, he'll come back ten times worse. Steal from him this round, and the next round he sees either of you, he'll shoot with no hesitation", Sabrina said.

"But-"

"She's right", Dillon interrupted Kayla. "We're the only team who can go into safe zones. He'll know we did it. It's a stupid idea".

Kayla was shocked into silence. She thought this was something they could agree on. Why is he agreeing with Sabrina? Dillon noticed her surprise.

"If you want to do it, go ahead. But when you get shot later on, don't cry about it. The guy is a maniac. If you give him a chance to shoot you, he will. Look what happened to me. I fucked around and found out", Dillon said. "I didn't believe Sabrina before when she said he would've shot you, but thinking back to it, she was right. He's crazy. When he said he wouldn't shoot you, it was a lie. The first shot he shot whistled past my head, and I'm sure he meant for it to barely miss my head to give me a warning".

Sabrina was stunned by how calmly Dillon was speaking. Heck, the whole class was stunned. Everyone watched the screen in disbelief. They were asking each other if that was actually Dillon. They liked it. All it took was one paintball shot to the stomach for Dillon to talk calmly and sincerely. Who knows how long that would last, but the class didn't care. They saw that Dillon could be likeable.

Kayla, on the other hand, didn't like what Dillon was saying. The one time she wanted him to be rash and angry, he wasn't. She thought for sure Dillon would agree with her. All she needed was his support for the plan to go ahead, and she still couldn't get that. She was taking L after L after L. She wanted the challenge to end but,

"Everyone get ready. Round three is starting".
Everyone readied themselves in their safe zones. Standing near the door, ready to be let out. All of them were going to leave their safe zones. All ten representatives will be running around the building. It was going to be hectic.
BEEP!
Fifteen people from every class left their classroom to search for map pieces. Every round, a different number of students searched for map pieces, and different students had to be chosen each round to make it fair and ensure everyone took part.

Lorenzo and Luke were casually strolling down the corridor. Both were unsure of what their next move was. I say that, but neither of them was thinking of a next move. They were going with the flow.

"Where are you going to search?" Luke asked.

"I don't know", Lorenzo shrugged, looking at his phone. "Is there even a point in searching. We've got most of the pieces".

"Yeah, but we need to find the pieces with the dots on them", Luke replied.

"Do they even help?" Lorenzo asked. "We could find a map piece with five dots on it, but it won't mean anything if all five of those balls are gone because someone else found it before our representatives".

"There's a lot of room, you know", Luke yawned. "There's probably a whole floor none of them have searched yet".

"I still think our role in this challenge is pointless", Lorenzo replied, his opinion not changing.

"Maybe right now", Luke said. "I think the last two rounds is when we come in clutch".

"We?"

"I mean everyone here", Luke said, clearing the misunderstanding. "Guiding your representative around the building will cut off so much wasted time".

"Whatever. I don't care", Lorenzo replied, not caring. "I found a map piece in the first round. That's enough for me-"

Whoosh!

Someone ran past Lorenzo and Luke. Lorenzo and Luke were walking down the corridor, and at the end of the corridor, it split into left or right like a T junction. Someone ran straight across them before they were going to decide where to turn.

Lorenzo turned his head to the right to see who was running. He could only see the back of their head. The person had long, black, wavy hair.

Lorenzo knew this hair. It was Maria.

Lorenzo wanted to go. Lorenzo wanted to follow her.

"Uh- Um Luke", Lorenzo quickly tried to say words. "I'm going to search over there", he said, pointing to the direction Maria was running.

After saying his piece, he hastily walked to the right. Leaving Luke without a see you later or a bye.

Luke stared at him, pacing away, perplexed.

"I thought you didn't care?" Luke said.

"Somethings off about him", Luke thought. "First randomly speaking up and now chasing Maria Rodriguez. Does he think he has a chance with her? Really? If he does, then I feel sorry for him. That's a heartbreak waiting to happen. Yawn. It's none of my business, I guess".

Alexander got out of the elevator and went into the room closest. The door was closed, meaning no one had been inside yet. He opened the door and charged inside.

"Yeah, the ball is in this room", Frank told him.

From the first scan of the room, there was no sign of a plastic ball. The room was quite big. It had the same office stuff he'd seen in other rooms, but there were two bookshelves in this room. There were also a lot of long vertical cupboards and drawers. It was screaming for the ball to be hidden in one of them. From the looks of it, Alexander had his work cut out for him. It was going to take a lot of effort just to find one ball. A quick search would probably take 2 minutes, maybe more. It didn't matter. It had to be done. Leaving a plastic ball is leaving points. Alexander went to work. Dashing around the room and doing quick inspections of everything. Alexander didn't care about items. If he found them cool, but he wasn't actively going to search little spaces for a card. Time was valuable.

Speaking of valuable, a minute had passed, and Alexander hadn't found the ball yet. The majority of the room was messed up, and nothing. Alexander kept his cool. There was still a section of the room he hadn't searched. The thought of leaving the room was still lingering in his mind. He didn't want to waste too much time on one ball. Maximum of three minutes. Any longer, he was onto the next room.

Creeeaaak!

Alexander's eyes darted at the door. Someone was trying to sneak into the room.

A small girl with pink hair.

"Hey", Nada awkwardly said, lifting her hand for a wave.

Alexander stared blankly at her. He didn't understand why she came into the room. He was clearly in it. Why would she go into a room someone is already searching? She could go into another room and look for a ball. Yeah, her class might have a map piece telling her a ball is in this room, but he's already here. The ball is his. How was she going to get it?

Alexander ignored her and continued to search. Whatever the reason she was here, it didn't bother him. He didn't understand her presence, but he didn't care. It was her loss being in the same room as him.

Nada looked around the room and saw that Alexander had already done most of the work for her. She went around the room and checked the mess he had left in case he missed something. Like Alexander, she found nothing.

"You should make more of a mess", Nada said out of the blue.

Alexander heard her but ignored her. He didn't want to hear it. No one from this academy can tell him what's best.

Nada went over to one of the bookshelves and shook it. The noise made Alexander turn and check out the sound. In his head, he was questioning everything while watching her. He wanted to ask what she was doing, but he was trying his best to ignore her. He didn't want to acknowledge her.

Nada noticed his glances.

"Have you checked on top of the bookshelves and cupboards?" she asked, pointing up.

Alexander didn't reply.

"You can't see what's on top of them, so you have to shake 'em", Nada continued to talk anyway. Nada was talkative. She could talk to anyone. Also, Nada and Alexander were on the same team for the second challenge. Nada remembered. I'm not sure Alexander remembers, though. This is why Nada was being kinda familiar.

Alexander didn't reply and went back to what he was doing. Nada kept doing what she was doing, and Alexander was nearly finished searching the last of the room. It wasn't looking good. He hadn't found the ball. Did he miss something? Nah, he wouldn't miss anything. Maybe Nada was right. The ball had to be on top of one of the cupboards.

Drop!

A white plastic ball bounced and rolled next to Alexander's feet. He looked at his feet, and the ball was sitting beside his left foot. He bent down and retrieved it. The ball was actually on top of one of the bookshelves or cupboards, and Nada found it. But unluckily for her, it rolled next to Alexander.

Alexander knew what he was going to see when he turned around. Nada standing there, trying to block his path. When he turned around, he was right. Nada was standing there, blocking his path.

"Can I have my ball back?" Nada asked with an outstretched arm

"Move", Alexander simply responded.

"No. I'm getting my ball back. I found it", Nada replied. She couldn't help but smile for some reason.

The challenge in front of her was big, and she smiled at the excitement of it.

Alexander blankly stared at her. A lot of things about this girl confused him. She was tiny. Alexander was six foot, and this girl was going to try to stop her. Why was she trying?

Alexander moved forward, but Nada didn't budge. She stood firm. Alexander kept walking closer to the exit and closer to Nada. When Alexander was close enough, Nada made her move and swiped for the ball. Alexander reacted quickly and moved the ball away from her hands. But Nada didn't stop there. She swiped for the ball again. She wasn't going to stop until she got the ball.

Alexander furrowed his eyebrows at her rash attempts. His natural reaction was to raise his arm. Up in the air so she couldn't reach even if she jumped. Despite the ball being up in a place Nada couldn't reach, she still jumped for it. Her vertical jump was quite high but not high enough for her hand to reach the ball Alexander held up.

Alexander had won. Nada could continue to try, but she'll be jumping for nothing. Alexander just had to keep his arm raised until he walked out of the room. Once he was out of the room, he could run and lose her. Alexander took his steps towards the exit. It took longer than he wanted, but he got his first plastic ball of the round.

Pop!

Alexander felt nothing at his fingertips. He looked up at his hand, and it was empty. He was holding air. He looked at Nada's hands to see if she had stolen the ball from him. There was no ball in her hand. The ball disappeared. His eyes were still on Nada's hands, and he noticed something. Nada was holding a long, sharp pin.

She popped the ball.

The pop Alexander heard was the ball popping. He thought he imaged that sound.

While Alexander held the ball up, Nada kept trying to get it. She continued to jump around Alexander. Sticking around him like an annoying bug. Alexander ignored her after her first two jumps. He didn't notice that Nada had a different goal. She went into her pocket and got the item she found last round. A long, sharp pin. The item made to pop plastic balls. Nada couldn't reach the ball by jumping, but with the pin, she could just about reach it, stab it and pop it.

Alexander looked at Nada and saw she was looking at the floor near his feet. It took him a second to remember that there were cards inside the balls to indicate how many points it was worth. Alexander looked down, and the card was right in front of him. The card faced up and showed a number. The number on the card was,

"100".