Chapter 6 - Crisis 2
"We are sorry, the club is full," the senior student responsible for registration spoke while smiling.
"WHAT?!!" Basir was shocked.
"How is that possible? Why is there suddenly a limit?" Akmal refuted. He was shocked too as he was assigned to the same club in Junior High when he did not even apply to one. Moreover, many students were joining at the time too.
"I guess you guys did not collect enough information. It was unlimited before but starting this year, first come first serve," the senior spoke.
"Shouldn't there be an announcement for this?" Akmal was skeptical. "This is a huge matter and there should be an announcement for that."
"There are a lot of them. The school announced this during an assembly last year. You must be dreaming at that time since you did not know about it," the senior raised an eyebrow.
Akmal had no excuse for the matter. His mind was elsewhere during every assembly because it was usually a boring event to him.
As for Basir, he did not know about this and it was his bad luck that the guy he befriended on his first time in the school was unaware of this too.
"Is he telling the truth?" Basir whispered to Akmal.
Akmal squeezed his memory but he never heard of the announcement. Be that as it may, he finally remembered that his friends talked about this before. It's just that he never took it seriously.
"The school also posted this news on the news board. You didn't read it?" the senior spoke as he pointed at a news board nearby.
"..." Akmal was again out of words. It was his fault after all.
"The school does this because they want to balance out the members in all the clubs in school. The club that they thought would benefit the students and the school a lot would get many spots," the senior explained.
"Then, how come your club is full now? Isn't reading beneficial to everyone? There should be a lot of spots available," Akmal asked.
"We indeed have a lot of spots but you should know how popular our club is," the senior smiled.
"..." Akmal and Basir were speechless as they realized that there was an underlying meaning to that statement.
"Also, you guys better apply to other clubs as fast as possible. From your reaction, I know that you don't want to enter the sports club, so, you need to move fast if you want to be part of the non-sports club," the senior warned.
However, the duo was confused. They knew that the reading club was popular and thus, it was understandable that their spots would be filled in fast.
"Ha? The sports clubs are much more popular though. There is no way that all the non-sports clubs will be full that fast," Basir spoke.
Sports had been immensely popular since the pandemic struck the world 30 years ago. To have better immunity against the disease, many people started exercising and started the booming age of sports.
Since then, sports and healthy life have become people's new normal. So, they were super popular.
Seeing that they were confused, the senior spoke, "You should know that the SPM is an important examination for all Senior High students. Those that aim to further their studies in University academically will want to focus more on their studies."
"So, you should be able to see where I am going with this. Let me tell you, I love sports too and I am in a sports club in Junior High. I am active in it too but I don't have any talent in sports and thus I can only advance academically."
"Since I made this decision, I chose the non-sports club during Senior High to focus more on my studies."
Akmal and Basir were stumped as he understood what was going on. With more people wanting to focus on their studies and the limited spots assigned to each club, that meant the non-sports club would be super popular.
"Still, you don't need to worry much. Even if you are in a sports club, you will have a lot of time to study. As long as you participate in some of your club events, you are fine even if you are at the side watching them playing during the club activities."
"Not everyone in the sports club is required to enter competition and stuff. There are a lot of students who sit at the side watching the main members playing and they open their books to study at the same time," the senior smiled.
It sounded casual and carefree from the senior's statement but it would be awkward if other students were playing excitedly and full of vigor but you sat at the side reading a book in a sports club.
Unless you were sick, it would be awkward like that. If you have thick skin, it was fine but Akmal had thin skin. He could not do that.
"Let's hurry!" Akmal felt a sense of crisis. If they kept standing there listening to the senior's explanation like an idiot, they would lose their chance to become a member of the non-sports club.
Since the students could not change the club until they graduated, they needed to choose the right club.
The duo went to the Cooking Club, "We are full. If you are here a minute earlier, you can join us. Those guys are lucky," the female senior pointed at three girls joyously celebrating their success in joining the club.
They went to the Photography Club, "You are late. We have been full since an hour ago!"
The Computer Club, "We are full ten minutes after we open our booths."
The Guitar Club, "Sorry."
The Food Club, "Late. We are full."
"I thought you said that this school did not have a Food Club?" Basir questioned Akmal.
"We are new," the senior from the Food Club said.
The Stamp Club, "No chance," the senior spoke from afar as he saw the duo coming.
Akmal and Basir walked around and asked a bit more. Be that as it may, it was a futile attempt. All of them were full.
Even the most unpopular clubs were full.
Akmal and Basil were dismayed. Basir felt like crying as he did not want to enter the sports club. However, the sports clubs were the only clubs left.
The duo was not the only one disappointed with this, many others missed their chance too and walked towards the sports area dejectedly.
Akmal was disappointed too but he felt that it was fine to enter the sports club too as long as they were in a club. As someone who followed whatever was present and safe in front of him, he was not that devastated.
However, Akmal could understand Basir's disappointment. He also felt guilty about it. If he paid more attention to the announcement, they might not end up like this.
Basir the chatterbox was silent throughout the journey to the sports area.
"So, which sports club do you want to join?" Akmal broke the silence.
"I don't want the one with high-intensity training," Basir replied weakly.
"...that is a bit hard to find…" Akmal replied.
"Football, Volleyball, Rugby, Sepak Takraw, Dodgeball, Silat or any martial arts, is a no-no," Basir sighed. "Maybe Ping-pong or Badminton is better?"
"Let's try Ping-Pong," Akmal suggested and thus, they went to the Ping-Pong Club but left disappointed.
They continued searching.