MATTHEW'S POV
Mister Jacob let us rest for about thirty minutes before calling us back out to the field. We were lined up diagonally in the order of our respected batch. So, it was like this - Lena Vane, Hans Fernandez, Patricia Clove, Me, and Zed Villaroa.
My legs were still a bit numb from all the running earlier, but I think I could handle it just fine. I did my warm-ups and took a deep breath. The nervousness multiplied by a hundred compared to forty-five minutes ago. Maybe it's because my brain kept saying that I shouldn't mess this up, as this was the real competition now, and whoever ends up the winner will receive a prize.
Half of me was confident to win and the other half wanted to bail on this race. I didn't have time to recollect my thoughts as mister Jacob spoke loudly, "We finally get to witness the winner of today's collaboration! Or competition, rather. Who will win the prize, together with the additional grades? Will it be Lena Vane? Hans Fernandez? Patricia Clove? Matthew Martinez? Or Zed Villaroa? We're about to find out!"
The teacher put the whistle in his mouth, indicating he was about to start the race. So, we got into position and waited. We waited and waited for what felt like an eternity.
Then, a familiar, high-pitched whistle rang through my ears. This caused me to leap forward, probably almost looking like I was a candidate for the long jump.
I couldn't hear anything after the whistle except for the footsteps of my competitors. With the pace that was slowly accelerating, it sounded like a thousand soldiers were charging through a war.
I managed to take a peek at my left. Zed wasn't in sight, meaning he must be behind me. I redirected my eyes to the right and kept seeing Patricia's figure appearing as I kept running.
This meant I had no space to slow down. If I did, the first place will be taken out of my reach. I certainly didn't want that, but my knees felt like they were giving up.
Thankfully, adrenaline arrived at the right moment. I didn't focus on anything, my mind was filled only with words saying to keep running and never look back. And that was what I did.
Feeling the sweat starting to fall and soak my shirt, I took a turn when the field came to a curve. It was only halfway in the race. The finish line could be seen, but it was small as it was still distant. This made me feel better though.
At some point in the run, I felt my legs shift into jelly for a short while. I forced them to keep sprinting, even if I knew I had slowed down greatly. Because of this, Patricia Clove and Zed Villaroa could be seen in my peripheral vision.
This made me panic and lose focus, allowing them to surpass me a little. Nevertheless, I was now in third.
I couldn't let this happen. I refuse to allow it.
'Come on... Keep... Running...'
I repeated in my head. I wanted to win badly, and also I couldn't accept the fact my stamina may have decreased. I couldn't bear with the thought of it, especially since mister Jacob believed in me so much to win.
With gritted teeth, I exhausted the life out of my legs, bringing great speed I've never been able to do before. I couldn't even be surprised at this for a moment as I was troubled on how to gain the first place back.
I pushed myself past my limits. It was a good thing it wasn't our turn to go down the underworld today because I have a feeling I wouldn't have the energy to do anything after this.
I finally saw the finish line, and I noticed I was on par with the two. Suddenly, the strong urge to win returned, and I've never felt more determined to achieve something.
Leaning my body forward, I closed my eyes, desperately relying on my legs to increase my speed. All I see was darkness - or the back of my eyelids - but my whole focus was my legs. They were burning in pain, although I couldn't halt now when the finish line was so close.
Then, that's when it hit me. Odd newfound energy surged within me, and so swiftly too. It happened so fast that my brain was unable to process that I had already crossed the finish line, with Zed and Patricia stopping next to me seconds later, out of breath.
I didn't feel the joy of winning - the accomplishment of being the one finishing in first place. Instead, I was confused. What the hell happened? I knew my knees were about to buckle underneath me, but what was that feeling? It's almost as if someone just gave me all of their energy. And at the perfect timing too.
I stood there not knowing what to think. It was only then mister Jacob's enthusiastic voice brought me to my senses.
"And Matthew Martinez wins the race!" The gym teacher clapped.
Some of them walked up to congratulate me. One of them being Zed. "Hey, Matthew. Congrats on winning. You certainly put up a fight there. And a surprise too." He said genuinely with a chuckle at the end.
I couldn't form the word 'thank you', I felt as if I didn't deserve to win. I was feeling guilty, not happy. It wasn't like a crime, but to my head, I did something similar to that.
I know a normal person couldn't have done that - I may be an elite, but still a person, nevertheless. So, this occurrence left me baffled, coming up with possible answers to what just happened.
Zed noticed I was in a daze and snapped his fingers in front of me. "Hello? Earth to Matthew? Why are you so quiet?"
"Huh?" I looked at him. "Oh, Uh... I'm... Still in shock, that's all... Yeah..." I tried to laugh it off, but confusion was evident in my voice.
"Oh, that's understandable, I guess." Zed said. "Anyway, Mister Jacob's calling you. I think it's about the prize."
"Ah, right." The emotions from the weird wave of energy I mysteriously got had washed away and was replaced by excitement.
I walked up to mister Jacob, who was holding the bag by its strings. "Congratulations, Matthew. Those days in the track n' field sure paid off, huh?"
"They did." I smiled and took the prize. I felt all of their eyes on me, curious about the thing sitting inside the plastic bag.
I opened it to see what was inside, and I wasn't entirely disappointed.
It was a jacket from a known soccer team - The Crimson Arc. It was a maroon leather jacket with stickers of a soccer ball, the name of the team, the date of when the team was created, and...
"It's that a signature of Kent Mandau?!" My hand flew to my mouth at the familiar, cursive writing on the sleeve of the jacket. It was stitched to the fabric, meaning this jacket was probably a limited edition one.
Kent Mandau was the fastest player on their team, and the most tactical, smartest, and cunning one. His moves weren't as they seem. I had seen him play before. One of their games, the Crimson Arc and the Teal Lightning were tied, and less than ten seconds were remaining on the time board. Kent Mandau had the ball, and even if he was still far from the goal, he kicked the ball straight into the goalkeeper's way!
Everybody thought it was over, that the Crimson Arc had lost as the goalkeeper had his eyes on the soccer ball, until... The ball completely curved! When it was replayed, it showed the ball just brushed the goalkeeper's hand. And that got everyone admiring Kent Mandau, the 'cunning tactician'.
I couldn't believe mister Jacob was handing this out. "I-I can have this?! B-But this thing's valuable to someone like you!" I hoisted the jacket out of the bag and straightened it, allowing the other student to be blessed with its glory.
Mister Jacob smiled and ruffled my hair. "I know, but a prize wouldn't be a prize if it's not special. Besides..." He smirked. "I got Larry Ferge's signature on mine."
My eyes widened at this. Larry Ferge was Kent's right-hand man. With those two on the field, no one could ever get past them, as they don't know what's going on in their mind, or what their plans were.
"You know... You were just like Kent Mandau back there." The gym teacher commented. "You honestly got me thinking you were going to lose, but at the last moment, you sped up and won!"
When mister Jacob brought that up, I instantly felt miserable again. This jacket was supposed to belong to someone else if it wasn't for that sudden energy.
I shook my head.
'It's not exactly my fault, right? I mean I didn't know how that happened, nor was I the one to boost myself faster, soooo...'
I tried the jacket on, despite it being sunny. It was comfortable and slightly heavy, but it gave me unmeasurable joy. I couldn't stop smiling as I wore it.
Mister Jacob whistled. "Looking good there, Martinez! Mind if I take a picture?"
"Sure! Go ahead."
I saw Zed smiling as Mister Jacob whipped out his phone, stood next to me, and took a photo. He made sure to get the signature on the jacket in the picture too. He showed it to me and I approved.
"I do look good."
We all laughed at that. And the competition came to an end.
-
I was currently in the library, sitting at one of the chairs. There weren't a lot of people present here, some of them only came to return books they borrowed because of the collaboration.
I was still wearing my prized jacket, and because of this, I got a lot of stares from the other students, and fellow soccer fans commenting on how awesome the jacket was or where I had gotten it.
I checked the clock on the wall and it showed the time, 4:48 p.m. two minutes until Ashley gets here. I fiddled with the zipper of my jacket, assuming Ashley would come in time. Little did I know her class ended early.
I heard the library door open, and I lifted my head to see who it was. Ashley was standing there, checking the mountain of books in her hands as if she had forgotten something.
She peeked from the unstable tower of books and spotted me. "Ah, Martinez. I honestly thought you would keep me waiting."
"Do I get a point for being here before you, then?"
"Don't be ridiculous." She shook her head. "I'll just return these books to their proper place. We can talk afterward."
I offered to help her, but Ashley was being Ashley and turned me down. So, I proceeded to watch her wobble without a book falling. That amazed me for a moment. When she disappeared behind the huge shelves, that's when I felt someone walking towards my way.
"Would you like some water, young man?"
A voice caught my attention. I whipped my head towards the source and found out it was the librarian. Well, I presume she was the librarian judging by her robes and the glasses that decorated her face. She looked young, maybe the same age as mister Jacob, but something about her irked me. From her dark brown hair, soft but stern features, her light brown eyes emitted the strongest danger signal ever.
"Um, no thank you, I just drank a while ago."
"Oh." She blinked at me. "Still, it's my job to maintain the well-being of the students here." She said as she placed a glass of water on the table in front of me.
For some dreadful reason, an ominous aura surrounded the water. I looked around and saw a student took a sip of his water, yet remained unharmed. So, why? Why do I feel this way about mine?
The librarian noticed I was staring at the glass like it was a bomb. "You're acting as if it's the first time you've seen a liquid." She joked. "Aren't you an elite?"
I froze at her statement. I was wearing my uniform, though the red button was hidden in my pocket. Surely, no one could see it. So how did this lady know...?
I faced her and had my guard up. I was about to ask her how she knew, but she spoke first. "Rumors spread pretty quickly here. Especially if it's a 'potential' elite."
"Ah." I dumbly said. I remembered Zed introduced me as an elite-to-be at the gymnasium. That must've been a topic worthy of gossiping. It all made sense now.
I was a bit relieved, but still wary of her. My gut feeling never failed me in the past, and something tells me it wouldn't lie to me any time soon. I better be careful.
"Yes, I'm honored that they see me as one of their own."
"They say you're just about to become an elite, however, I've already seen you hanging out with them."
"W-Well, they don't want me to be left out later on when I join them, so..."
"I see... That's understandable." She shrugged. "But I'm quite new here, do you mind telling me how you become an elite?" She asked.
"Uh, I think you have to be kind, smart, brave, and... You know, all the other good qualities."
She went quiet. Her brown eyes pierced into my soul, making it bleed and cry for help. I didn't know what's about her that's making me feel like this. I wanted Ashley to come back right about now.
I almost stopped breathing when she spoke a while later, her words struck pain in my chest. "Huh, is that all? I thought you needed to be something more different than that. Something... Special."
I gulped, not knowing what she meant. "Special...?
"You know..." Her expression darkened as she said her next words. "A special ability, perhaps? An ability... That's uncommon compared to others."
I think not only my breathing had stopped momentarily, but my heart and brain too. All of my senses just shut down. It became even more scared to function when a flash of crimson dawned in her brown eyes. The very same eyes I saw back at the elite building.
I stood up abruptly, almost knocking my chair down in the process.
'Those eyes... It's...'
"Martinez?" Ashley's voice made me jump. "What are you doing?"
"What...? Don't you see-"
I swiveled my head back to where the librarian was standing, only to be greeted by no one. This only drove me to a pit of sheer fear and confusion. The black-haired girl saw me visibly distressed and turned to where I was looking, only to be bewildered as well.
"What? What don't I see?" She spoke, but I was too lost in my mind to answer her or hear anything properly.
My heart thumped excessively in my chest, panicking and scared at what the librarian did. Multiple questions swirled in my mind, making me dizzy and creating a headache. But amongst all of them, one, in particular, kept bugging me, to the point I pray it would be unanswered.
'Does she know what the elites have been doing at night?'