Chapter 38: March 3, Thursday– Do you want to play? (Chapter .30)

Science classes had always been prideful. They often thought of themselves as superior since their entrance exam was thrice the difficulty level of other classes'. They studied hard, took competitions to a national level, and aimed for the top universities in the country.

With outstanding results came the favouritism of adults.

These kids were prompted to believe they would become the cornerstones of future society with majors in the medical fields, research, or engineering. That was what they saw from the upper years and graduates, so that was what they followed.

And so, could anyone below their level possibly beat them at their own game?

Tragedy struck like lightning out of nowhere.

The city’s mathematics competition, which served as a stepping stone for the olympiad, ended M High’s science class’ boasting ability like nothing ever before. Out of the first years, not one student qualified. Their side became eerily quiet.

While the students pulled in their tails and licked their wounds, a post made its way to the school forum. Hoor Linda, the humanities student who previously beat them at the in-school competition, had been a science student in junior high with elective courses such as advanced mathematics and computer sciences. After that piece of information spread around, the science students became a little more tolerant, but their new-sprung defeat remained a hard pill to swallow.

And so, during the last month before the midterm examinations, both the humanities and science classes’ sentiments sharpened to the point of open dislike.

The teachers left them alone, saying that rivalry made the kids concentrate more on their grades. After all, a successful round of midterms could alleviate the indignation piled on their wounded egos, all the while boosting their confidence.

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Spring came early this year. In March, the midday temperature turned as warm and balmy as the daily average last May.

Sae and his friends went out to play basketball over the course of lunch break, feeling trapped in the classroom with nothing but never-ending lessons. What they didn’t expect, though, was to run into the science class planning to play football.

Behind its main building, M High had several fields for students to play and exercise. The courts were designed to be multipurpose so students could play at least two types of ball games depending on their mood. Consequently, a lot of boys used the facilities during various break times, the lunch break being the most ideal, thus, most popular.

After the morning classes ended, Sae visited the yard with five of his classmates to play a bit before going to the lunchroom. In the humanities class, everyone was fired up for revision; only they were fired up to play and eat.

When the boys arrived, they discovered a small group of science students heading in the same direction as them. Sae had a bad feeling but tried not to mind it.

Up until the two groups met at the last unoccupied court.

Students dribbled with enthusiasm around them, with occasional shouts and cheers coming from farther away. The weather was great. Tender leaves had sprouted to give some shade, and the early flowers were budding.

“Yo! Where are you all headed?” A lithe science student asked while pulling at the zip of his track jacket. The other boys similarly wore sportswear.

“To play basketball.” Teo, true to his usual style, jumped forward and asked, “Why? You want to join?”

“No can do. We’re using the court.”

The humanities boys snickered. “For what?”

“Football.”

At this moment, Shum Deil jogged towards the science group. Sae nodded at him and stated, “Your next class is gym.”

Shum Deil nodded back. “Yeah.”

“Well, can’t you play in class?” Kaikai butted in. He knew that some of the guys from the science class could be a bit unreasonable.

That lithe boy shook his head and provoked them. “We want to play now.” His tone carried a hint of amusement. It was the same boy who had bumped into Sae in the lunchroom. Judging by how he placed himself forward, he must’ve been the makeshift leader of this little football team.

Shum Deil caught Sae’s gaze, and his face split into a smile. Sae furrowed his brows. Shum Deil looked so foolish sometimes, grinning at nothing.

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The last time they talked was after the classes had already handed in their participation lists. Deil asked again what events Sae would participate in at the sports meet.

Sae told him, “Relay and the 1500-metre race.”

Shum Deil whistled, impressed. He drew a circle on the English practice paper under his hand. “Not many people go for the 1500-metre race.”

Well, no need to tell me, Sae thought at the time. Courtesy of Yidan’s networking abilities, he knew that out of the whole school, only seven boys signed up for the 1500-metre category. The girls were gutsier, leaving the boys in the dust with at least four competitors per year.

“You stayed with the 400-metre dash and football?” Sae asked in a low tone so as not to disturb the other students in the club practising argumentative conversations.

“Yea. I wanted to run as many times as possible, but the football matches’ schedule clash with some of the races. So only the 400-metres and the relay are available.” Deil grinned. “We’ll meet at the preliminaries.”

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Sae trailed his gaze back to the others. The boys at the court looked at each other like clashing sides in a feud. Both camps had six players in total, so it wasn’t as easy to decide who should remain on the court. They could’ve battled for the right to remain, but few of them were well-versed in the other’s sport.

Just then, a few girls walked by, and one of them called out to a science class student. The boy in question looked over and waved. He quickly excused himself, saying he would rather spend the break with his girlfriend.

The science boys instantly made a fuss, jeering. The boy’s departure meant they were a person short and had to back off. All they could do was grumble about it and leave.

“Serves them right,” Teo cheered and passed the ball to Kaikai as they took over the court. The six of them had been playing together for a long time, so everyone naturally knew what position to take. Kaikai, Sae and Teo were one team, while the other three classmates made up the defending group.

“Hey, we can’t half-ass this,” Teo warned, but he was all smiles as he continued, “We have an audience.” All the boys glanced to the side of the court and saw that Shum Deil hadn’t left with the other members of the science class. He squatted in the shade of a tree nearby, watching them.

“Do you want to play?” one of the humanities boys asked.

Deil waved his hand. “The numbers would be uneven. I’ll just watch.”

“Didn’t he come down to play football?” Teo asked Kaikai in a quiet voice.

Kaikai replied, “Maybe he wants to check out how we play, since we took the court.”

They couldn’t make that much sense of it, so shrugged it off and started the game. Everyone was agile, quick-witted and very comfortable with each other. They played a good match, and half of the break passed in a blink of an eye.

It was very warm. The sun blazed with the intensity of high noon. Uniform shirts got discarded, and everyone played in their undershirts. Sae wore a black racerback singlet, the muscles of his arms visible every time he exerted force or took a shot.

Shum Deil watched from the shades, lazing on the grass. Sometimes he intently followed the game; sometimes he fiddled with his phone or bent his head and mangled the grass around him.

They stopped playing when one of the classmates got called to the teacher’s office.

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Kaikai signalled to the others to gather around, and stated, “I’m changing teams.”

Sae and Teo respectively raised an eyebrow. Sae asked, a little out of breath, “What would that solve?”

Kaikai turned around and hollered, “Deil, you wanna join?”

Shum Deil promptly came to them, now interested in playing. Once he was close enough, Kaikai told him, “I’ll go to the other team, so you’ll be with Teo and Sae. Good?”

Shum Deil glanced at Sae before saying, “Okay.”

Kaikai turned to the others. “Good?”

“Good,” Teo said. Sae nodded, and everyone else agreed. They still had some time left until one o’clock. The boys’ energy levels were high. None of them wanted to stop the game just yet.

Actually, the humanities class’ next lesson got cancelled because their teacher had to go off campus. That was all they knew.

When a lesson got cancelled last minute, usually there weren’t any other teachers available to substitute for it. Of course, some part of the faculty would still come and tell the kids to self-study. The stand-in teacher would fiddle with their phone or grade papers. These stand-ins were lenient, often forgetting to take attendance. That was why the boys could play basketball to their heart’s content, cool off at the lunchroom, and go to class later.

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Shum Deil got hold of the ball not long after joining the game.

He was very enthusiastic and rather fast. All those years of playing football gave him the advantage of quick footwork and superb reflexes. The only problem was his aim. It was terribly off. He tried to take a shot, only to have the ball bounce off the basket’s edge. And that was the best-case scenario.

For several rounds, Sae’s team constantly got beaten. Kaikai beamed from side to side as if goading about how he had made the right choice. Playing against a newbie certainly required less effort.

“What the…” Teo asked Sae, “What is he doing?” They both followed as Shum Deil flew all over the court like a chicken trying to escape from the butcher’s blade, playing as if he wasn’t even part of a team.

Shum Deil usually looked a little wild and arrogant, but in actuality, he was a silly person. He had these coloured clips pinning his hair back, probably to keep it out of his face during gym class. A little childish but kind of cute. At any rate, he no longer looked wild or arrogant.

What made the situation so ridiculous was Shum Deil’s adamance to play basketball even if he was horrible at it. He feinted so much that sometimes he himself lost the curve of the ball, dribbling and running around like one man’s crazy force of nature.

His main principle was easy enough to guess. After trying something for infinity, it had to improve and get better, right?

Teo wanted to scream, his mood clouding over. “Just what is so hard about playing basketball? Aim a ball at a loop, then shoot!”

Sae shook his head. He called out to Shum Deil, “Pass the ball!”

A moment later, the ball landed in Sae’s hand, and he shot a three-pointer.

After that magical moment, everything changed for the better.

Shum Deil went after the ball, intercepted moves, and passed to Sae. Sae took shots one after the other, sometimes even calling out, “Deil! Here!”

He took another shot, and the ball went through.

For some reason, the two of them could play together like they were their separate little unit, operating without the slightest friction.

It was Teo’s turn to laugh. He forgot all of his earlier frustrations.

As it was almost time for the next lesson, the science class boys returned to the yard. When they saw Shum Deil having a good time playing basketball, they let their voices fly. “What the hell are you doing?”

Shum Deil glanced over with a bright expression.

“Yo, this is low. How could you?” The science boys gathered around the field, voicing their grievances.

Shum Deil just shrugged. “What? I didn’t want to watch your sour faces for almost an hour. What about it? Don’t ruin the mood here.”

“Hey!” That little leader stepped in close to Shum Deil. “And what about my mood?”

The basketball was hit out of Shum Deil’s hand, rolling to the ground. The muscle in Deil’s jaw twitched. He stood his ground brazenly, an almost sinister light glistening in his eyes. “What about it?”

Sae found it exciting to see how quickly Deil could flip his emotions, like a snap of his fingers. He enjoyed the show, watching it without opening his mouth.

“Okay. Calm down, everyone. Deil only helped out when one of us got called away.” Kaikai tried to alleviate the tension. “It’s almost time for class. Deil, thanks for the game. We’ll leave now.”

Just then, the bell rang, indicating the start of the lesson. The gym teacher came out of the sports wing and noticed the cluster. He immediately called out, “What are you all doing? Didn’t you hear the bell? Come here! It’s class time now.”

The little leader of the science class decided to withdraw with reluctance. The others followed obediently. No one wanted to piss the teacher off.

The muscles in Shum Deil’s arms gradually loosened. He turned to the others. “Gotta go.” Although his words were directed at everyone, he faced only one person.

Sae hesitated before he opened his mouth to say, “Aren’t you thirsty? You have to go to class straight away...”

“I didn’t bring any––” Before he could finish, a bottle of water was thrown at Shum Deil. He caught it out of reflex, but his expression showed surprise. “Thanks.”

Sae nodded at him.

“Shum Deil! Get in line, now!” the teacher called out again. He didn’t raise his voice so much, but he was still intimidating.

Shum Deil scurried back to his class.

While walking towards the lunchroom, Teo bumped shoulders with Kaikai. “Was that an unopened bottle of water?” He jutted his chit towards Sae, who passed the two of them. “He had never given me a bottle, not even one with only a couple of sips left.”

Kaikai burst out laughing. “What does it matter? We are all friends.” He pushed the other’s shoulder.

“Hey!” Teo pushed back.

Kaikai taunted. “Are you a preschooler?”

“Shut up.”

Ahead of them, Sae heard every word but pretended like he didn’t.

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