"David, how long until the round is over?" Delilah worriedly asked, pacing around anxiously in their safe zone. She couldn't keep still.
"A few seconds. If he isn't in the safe zone by 12:45, he's late", David replied while looking at his phone's lock screen. It was 12:44. David didn't know when it would become 12:45. It had to be less than twenty seconds. He didn't want to check. He thought counting down the seconds was worse.Wooosh!Malakai rushed into the room. Sprinted. He sprinted the whole way. Delilah left the door open, so Malakai just ran in. He had no clue if he made it on time or not. All he knew was that he was in big trouble. As soon as he entered the room, he kept walking and didn't make eye contact with Delilah. He stood looking towards the back wall and rested for a second. He wanted to know if he made it on time or not, but he didn't want to ask. He didn't want to speak. He imagined this situation as a ticking time bomb. The bomb would eventually go off, but if he spoke he would set it off sooner.David looked at his phone,"He made it", he quietly said.The time changed to 12:45 a second later. Malakai made it by a few seconds.Malakai was relieved to hear that. He was still breathing heavily with the paintball gun in his right hand and his left hand clutching the only plastic ball he got that round. That was one problem solved, but he had a lot more to solve any second now."Malakai...".It was about to start.Malakai closed his eyes for a few seconds to prepare himself before slowly turning and looking at Delilah. He had a straight face on. He couldn't smile even if he tried. He saw her standing there next to the table. The table had a metal basket with five plastic balls in it. Delilah's face had an unimpressed look on it. It was clear what she was unimpressed about."Why do you have only one ball?" Delilah asked with a calm yet cold tone.Malakai didn't answer. He averted his eyes to the floor."No, Malakai, you have to say something. David told me you chased Ryan for no reason. If he's wrong, I'd love to hear the reason", Delilah said, not accepting his silence. "And I want to know why you only have one plastic ball. Last time I heard, you had two", she continued, holding two fingers up.Malakai didn't answer. He kept looking down."Malakai! You know I have an earpiece, too", Delilah said, pointing to her right ear. "I heard everything David was telling you. He told you to stop multiple times!".Malakai didn't even know that. He didn't remember hearing David's voice throughout the chase. His mind blocked it out. He was trying to remember what he heard during the chase, but he couldn't. His mind was drawing a blank. He was questioning whether he heard any sound at all."Are you an idiot!?" Delilah said, raising her voice and trying to get a response.Malakai couldn't even respond. He had no right."Cough! Cough!" Malakai could feel his throat and chest acting up again."Malakai, look! I got five plastic balls. Five!" Delilah said, showing five fingers and pointing at the basket. Delilah was so annoyed that she used hand gestures for everything. "I was so excited because I thought you would've had five or more. But I come back to you having one! Are you okay!? We're in a challenge! Why are you acting like an idiot!?".Malakai still didn't respond."Say something!" Delilah frustratedly said, getting angrier the more Malakai was silent.Malakai shook his head, avoided eye contact and said,"My bad. Cough! Cough!"."My bad?... My bad? You're a fucking idiot, Malakai", Delilah harshly replied. "So stupid!".Delilah wasn't the only one who was annoyed. A lot of his classmates were, too. Even his best friends."He's a dumbass", Benjamin said, shaking his head a little annoyed."We were running around the school getting map pieces, and he was chasing Ryan for no reason", William said, disappointed, leaning back in his chair."Guys, we know he hates Ryan. You could see what he wanted to do", Ray whispered so only his friends heard."Ray, I would be fine if he hit him. The motherfucker missed twice", Benjamin whispered back. "He chased him for no reason"."We're also in a challenge. Points are on the line, and he wanted to do his own selfish thing", Lucas added. "It's annoying he did that. He wasted a round. If he didn't chase him and carried on searching, he could've got another ball or two. Imagine how many points we could've got"."Ryan had two plastic balls. If Mally shot him, he would've got two balls", Ray replied."Ray, you know Mally wasn't trying to shoot him to get his balls", Benjamin told him. "He just wanted to shoot him"."C'mon guys, you know Mally. He does crazy stuff, and it works out most of the time. None of you complain then", Ray didn't want them to be that annoyed at Malakai. He didn't want them to praise him by any means, but he didn't want them to turn on him and make him feel worse than he already did. Everyone in the room hated Malakai right now. Even if what Malakai did was stupid, he wanted his friends to stick by him and not publically hate on him as well."When he does crazy shit, and it works, we praise him. If it doesn't, we flame him", William replied."Ray, I know he's our friend, but there's a time when we NEED to tell him to fix up. Cuz this was just fucking stupid", Lucas said.His friends were harsh, but Ray could hear what the girls were saying, and they were even harsher on Malakai."Why would he do that!?" Tanisha rhetorically asked with an annoyed expression. "He's sabotaging us!"."Someone needs to take that gun off him. He's acting like a child with it", Rose added."Why is he our representative?" Maya commented."Idiot", Emily said under breath. Her opinion of Malakai drastically switched after one round. After round two, she thought he was a secret genius, but now she's back to thinking he was a lucky idiot.Maria quietly watched as everyone was hating on Malakai. She understood why they were mad, but she didn't feel the same way they did. Of course, she cared about points and was a little hurt that Malakai didn't get a lot of points that round, but she didn't care that much to talk badly about him. The thoughts in her head were confusion. She was trying to figure out why Malakai chased Ryan and wasted two bullets. Why did he want to shoot Ryan? She had a lot of questions and possibilities, but it didn't mean squat. She didn't know Malakai well enough to understand him, so it was pointless thoughts. Maybe it was a possible talking point for when they had their balcony talks.Maria also found it hard to watch the screen. Seeing her two friends argue and go at each other wasn't a nice thing to watch. In the last round, they were arguing. Now, it was just Delilah having a go at Malakai. Delilah's camera angle showed that Malakai's back was turned. Malakai's camera angle showed the wall. It was clear he didn't want to be seen. Maria didn't enjoy what was going on. She wanted everyone to calm down, but it didn't look like her classmates or Delilah were calming down anytime soon. They had no reason to calm down.Malakai wasn't looking at Delilah. He couldn't. He just wanted to face the wall. He was pissed at himself. He was pissed he missed. Not once, but twice. His head was also starting to hurt again. Malakai only had the paintball gun in his hand. He dropped the plastic ball a few moments ago.Delilah watched him. She wanted answers. She knew what the answers would be, but she wanted to hear Malakai say them. She was annoyed. Really annoyed. Before the challenge started, she was nervous. Nervous, she wouldn't perform. But look at her, she's killing it. And Malakai, who was supposed to be reliable and succeed like he usually does, is messing up. Not because the challenge is difficult but because of his own selfish desires.Delilah wanted to keep quiet and lay off Malakai. She didn't want to go off at him, but she couldn't hold it in."You're so stupid! You're such an idiot!" Delilah said with a hand on her forehead. "Why are you fucking up on this challenge? I'm doing my best, and look what you're doing".Delilah was saying how she felt and what was on her mind. She was thinking this might get to him. She wanted to get to him."Argh, like why!? Ever since you've got that paintball gun, you've been acting like a dumbass. Can't you control yourself?"Delilah was going to keep going until Malakai said something back."You had two balls and lost one while chasing Ryan. You wasted five minutes chasing Ryan. You wasted two bullets. You don't even know how many bullets you have. And you wasted one earlier just to scare Dillon. You don't have unlimited bullets, I'm sure of it".At this point, Malakai would've usually pettily replied and tried to prove her wrong by shaking the gun and making her hear the large amount of bullets in the hopper, but Malakai wasn't in the mood. He genuinely felt like shit. Things would've turned out differently if he hit Ryan. If he hurt Ryan, he wouldn't mind being verbally abused right now, but he didn't land a shot. He fucked up horrendously.Malakai not responding and not looking at Delilah made her more angry."I can't believe you. You're such an idiot!" Delilah bitterly said.Idiot was the only word that came to mind when describing Malakai. It was the word that suited him. People called him an idiot all the time as an insult or a joke, but this time, it had a reason. He's an idiot."You said you weren't good at getting headshots in shooter games earlier. It looks like your shit at shooter games. You can't land a shot unless you're point blank".People in the class smirked and giggled at that insult. Benjamin, Lucas and William were giggling while Ray had a hand over his smirk. David had to put a hand over the mic to cover the sound of his little laugh. That joke lifted the boy's mood a little. To the boys, that joke was funnier to them than it might have been for the rest of the class. The main game they used to play was a shooter game. At the start, Malakai and Lucas were the worst, but Malakai sweated the game and became the best. It was tough to decide who was better out of Ray and Malakai, but Malakai beat Ray in the last two 1v1s they played before the game died and became boring. After that game died, they moved to different types of games, and the competition of who the best gamer was spread among the boys, depending on the type of game. Anyway, back to the main point, the boys found this funny because it reminded them of how Malakai was when he first started gaming. He couldn't land most of his shots unless he was point-blank. He used to spray with a submachine gun (SMG) up close, explaining why he was never good at getting headshots. With more game time, his aim improved. If he saw a target, he would land every shot at their body with an assault rifle, but he still couldn't improve his headshot accuracy. He could never land headshots.Malakai glared at the floor and furrowed his eyebrows. When people said a good insult towards him, he would smile and appreciate the insult, but this one burned him. He didn't want to hear it. His mood was getting worse and worse. He could've retaliated and said something rash, but he calmed himself. If he said anything, it would look bad on him. At this point, he was hoping for David to say something, but nothing was being said in his ear. It didn't help that his head was hurting, and he was finding it hard to breathe. He was holding in a cough that had been lingering in his throat for a while. If he spoke, he was going to cough."Malakai, at least say something", Delilah said, growing impatient. "Tell me how you lost one of your plastic balls. You can tell me that much".As much as Malakai didn't want to speak, he had to."I dropped in while I was chasing Ryan", Malakai hoarsely replied, still facing the wall. "Cough!"He was doing his best to hold the coughs in. He didn't want to cough that much."And why did you do something so stupid?" Delilah harshly asked. Luckily, Malakai wasn't facing her to see her expression. "I know you act like an idiot sometimes, but I thought you knew how to be serious when you need to be", she continued with the same tone.Malakai put a hand to his head. His head was banging. He was getting sharp pains at the front of his head."I made a mistake, innit", he weakly replied. "Cough! Cough!""A stupid mistake! How many times did I tell you to stop?" David told him condescendingly in his earpiece. "I shouted down this mic so many times, but you didn't listen. You chased him for no reason. You didn't hit him"."Shut up, man", Malakai replied, annoyed.He took out his earpiece and pressed a button on his camera to turn it off. His camera angle turned off for the students back in the classroom. He could just about handle one person talking his ear off. He didn't want another person doing it. Thankfully for him, he could shut David up. Unfortunately, he couldn't shut Delilah up."Malakai, what are you doing!?" Delilah asked, spreading her arms. "You idiot! You can't turn those off".Malakai turned around and walked to the table. Slightly stumbling. He put the paintball gun and the earpiece on the table. After he put his stuff on the table, he put his hand on his head. He made sure to face away from Delilah so she couldn't see his scrunched-up expression. His head was spinning. He was forcefully closing his eyes, hoping that would ease the headache.Delilah didn't know what to do. She watched, confused. This was nothing like Malakai."Cough! Cough! Cough!" Malakai heavily coughed into his right arm. "shit".Malakai took a seat, still holding his head."Malakai?..." Delilah was getting worried now.She turned off her camera and took off her earpiece. She wanted to talk to him without everyone else listening."Huh? We can't see anything", William said, pointing at the black screen."They both turned off their cameras and took off their earpieces", David replied.The whole class was in a commotion. They didn't like how they were being left out. They wanted to know what was happening. Everything ended abruptly."Do you think Mally's going to be alright?" Ray asked, looking at his friends."He breathed in a little smoke", Benjamin replied. "He'll be alright after a bit"."It's his own fault. He ran head first into smoke", Lucas said. "I doubt the smoke is dangerous. They wouldn't let them use smoke grenades in a closed space like that if the smoke grenades were harmful"."Still, breathing it in is a little dangerous. It's not like the smoke is oxygen", David replied. "He'll be fine after sitting down and getting some fresh air. There's an open window in their safe zone, so he should be fine".Ray looked around the classroom, and it seemed like most of his classmates thought he was faking it. They didn't buy his constant coughing. A lot of them didn't want to believe him after what he did last round. They weren't going to let him get away with it.While the class was in discussion, Ms Green quietly smiled, watching the black screen."Malakai, a-are you okay?" Delilah worriedly asked, slowly stepping closer to Malakai."Yeah. Cough! Cough!" Malakai answered, clearly not okay and avoiding eye contact."What happened to you?""Cough! I breathed in a little bit of smoke"."You breathed in the smoke!?" Delilah reacted, raising her eyebrows.David told her Malakai had run through smoke while chasing Ryan but didn't mention that he might've inhaled some of the smoke."I'm fine. Don't worry. I just needed to sit down for a bit", Malakai said, leaning back in his seat, still holding his head."Are you sure?" Delilah asked to make sure. Inhaling smoke sounded serious. Delilah thought he needed more than just sitting down to feel better."Yeah, yeah. Don't worry", Malakai reassured her.Screech!"Malakai, are you okay?" Mr White asked through the speaker.Malakai smiled, "Yeah, I'm good", he answered. He was getting tired of the questions."It doesn't look like it. You've constantly been coughing. Are you finding it hard to breathe?" Mr White questioned."Nah, I'm fine now", Malakai replied, not looking towards the camera in the corner of the room. He was holding in a cough as he was speaking. His throat was itching for him to cough. The headache was also still present."I don't think you are, Malakai", Mr White said. "I'm going to come to your safe zone and check myself. If I see that you are still struggling to breathe, you'll have to sit out for the rest of the challenge"."What!" Malakai took his hand off his head and looked into the camera. That last piece of information was like an electrical shock to him. "I'm fine! I just needed a break!" he protested."I'm still coming to your safe zone. It's my decision", Mr White said."I'm fine though", Malakai desperately replied."I said it's my decision, not yours", Mr White firmly reiterated."Tch", Malakai angrily looked away from the camera and shook his head. He couldn't avoid this checkup. "Fine. Bring me a water bottle at least, innit", he rudely said out of frustration."Okay, will do".The speaker turned off."Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!"Malakai let out some nasty coughs he was holding in. There was an awkward silence for about thirty seconds. Malakai didn't want to speak, but Delilah wanted to. She still had some things she wanted to hear."Malakai", she broke the silence."Don't ask if I'm alright", Malakai quickly replied with a little bit of attitude."I wasn't", Delilah calmly said. After seeing what Malakai was going through, she calmed down. "I just wanted to know why you chased Ryan. I turned my camera and took my earpiece out. No one in the class can hear you. Just tell me".Malakai let out a deep breath and finally looked at Delilah."You know why I chased him", Malakai replied, looking at her straight-faced. "Cough! Cough!"."I know you don't like him, but did you really have to chase him?" Delilah asked after finally getting an answer."I saw him, and I chased him. Don't ask what I was thinking because I wasn't", Malakai replied."You lost a plastic ball. How did you lose a plastic ball?"."Cough! I don't knoowww bro", Malakai replied, tired of hearing these questions. "I had my paintball gun in my right hand, a plastic ball in my left hand and the other plastic ball resting on my left arm. It probably slipped out of my arm while I was running"."Do you know where you lost it?" Delilah asked, getting carried away with the questions."Cough! Cough! Delilah, please, stop with these questions", Malakai tiredly told her, slumping in his seat."I wanna know!" Delilah raised her voice as she thought he wasn't taking her seriously."Look! I told you I don't know bro!" Malakai replied, now raising his voice a little and getting up from his seat. "I fucked up, okay! I know I did. I know you're pissed at me. I'm pissed at myself. But don't act like I ruined the whole challenge. We got two rounds left", he continued, holding two fingers up. He was not doing a peace sign. He was doing the V-sign, which is offensive in England. He didn't mean it in that way. He just wanted to put two fingers up to show two rounds.Delilah widened. She didn't expect Malakai to respond like that."I'm not acting like you ruined the whole challenge. I'm saying you wasted a round! You chased someone instead of getting points. Of course, I'm gonna be pissed after how hard I worked in that round!" Delilah replied, agitated by Malakai's tone."Yo, Delilah, I don't wanna be pissed at you, bro", Malakai said, looking away. "You're asking questions, and you already know the answer to them. You're my friend. You should know why I chased him. And I know I fucked up. You don't need to keep reminding me"."It's not just that. You've been fucking up the whole challenge?" Delilah replied."How!? I fucked up once!" Malakai said, holding one finger up to Delilah. "Me pretending to shoot you, and that other girl was me taking the piss. I was being an..." Malakai didn't finish his sentence because he didn't want to say that word."An idiot!" Delilah said it for him. "You've been an idiot this whole challenge. And now you might sit out the rest of the challenge".Malakai didn't like this. He usually liked arguments, but this one wasn't fun. He couldn't joke or take the piss. Plus, his headache was annoying him, too."Tch. Aryt, listen, we're getting nowhere, man. Let's stop arguing", Malakai said. "Let's see what happens, innit. If I have to sit out for the rest of the challenge, you can chat all the shit you want, but if I don't, I'm winning this challenge. I don't give a shit"."Hmpf, too late now", Delilah said, turning away, not impressed by his sudden determination."Man said too late. We've got two rounds left", Malakai pettily replied. A bit of London talk was coming out of him now.Delilah was angry at Malakai, and Malakai was annoyed at Delilah. Their facial expressions said it all.Creak!The door opened, and Mr White came walking through the doorway with a water bottle in hand. He wasted no time and went straight to Malakai,"Here you go", Mr White said, handing him the water bottle."Thank you", Malakai replied, taking the water bottle.He unscrewed the lid and took a big gulp of water. He needed that drink. Malakai's head was still hurting, but it was bearable for now. As for his breathing, it was still weird. He wasn't struggling to breathe, but when he was breathing in and out, it didn't feel smooth. Malakai took the bottle away from his lips and looked at Mr White."See, I'm fine", he said, smiling at him, trying to convince him."You look fine, but I know you're not feeling fine", Mr White replied, paying close attention to his body language."Sir, believe me, I'm fine", Malakai insisted."I can't just take your word for it, Malakai. You breathed in smoke. The smoke grenades used aren't toxic, but there are still chemicals in there that shouldn't be inhaled", Mr White said."I didn't breathe in that much, though", Malakai replied, holding up his hands. He lied. He didn't know how much he inhaled."It doesn't matter. You still inhaled some smoke. That isn't good for your lungs or your airways. You've been coughing a lot. We need to check if you're okay with a medic", Mr White said."Yeah, and we can do that after the challenge", Malakai replied after taking a sip of water."No, the longer we wait, the more damage it can cause", Mr White said."Sir, I'm fine, man", Malakai replied, frustrated that he was repeating himself. "I'm not coughing or nothing. My breathing is fine".Delilah awkwardly watched on the side. She was feeling conflicted. She wanted to tell Malakai to go and properly check if he was okay, but at the same time, she didn't want him to sit out for the rest of the challenge. As much as she told him off, she still needed a teammate for this challenge."Malakai, I know you want to compete in this challenge, but your safety comes first", Mr White told him, trying to get through to him."My safety? I've told you I'm fine like ten times. You shouldn't be worried about my safety", Malakai replied, furrowing his eyebrows."I'm sorry. I can't believe you", Mr White said. "You are a student at my academy. I can't have one of my students be at risk for an injury that I could prevent"."It's not your responsibility. It's mine", Malakai said, pointing at his chest with his thumb. "If something happens to me. It's my fault. I'm responsible for myself. I'm eighteen. I'm a big man, you know", he tried to add a little joke at the end to further prove he was okay."Malakai, I know you want to believe that, but you are still an Astral Academy student, no matter your age. I can't ignore this. Even if you say it's not my responsibility, I will still feel responsible if something happens to you. Especially knowing I could've prevented it".Malakai was losing. At this rate, he was going to sit out for the rest of the challenge. If he couldn't persuade Mr White, his challenge would end now. He had to do something.Malakai switched his water bottle to his left hand, put his right hand over his mouth to shield it from the camera, and quietly said,"Are you sure you want to take me out of the challenge? Would the higher-ups like that?"Mr White's eyes widened, "He's acting like that again", he thought, seeing a change in Malakai's eyes. He'd seen this side of Malakai before. It might've been for a quick moment, but he still remembered it. Even the tone of voice. His ears couldn't miss the combination of cold and authoritarian in his voice."What do you mean?" Mr White asked, matching Malakai's quiet tone. His back faced the camera so he didn't have to shield his mouth."Don't you think it would ruin the challenge if you made a student sit out for the rest of it?" Malakai asked, staring into his eyes and not blinking."For safety reasons, I'm sure they would understand", Mr White replied.Their conversation was quiet, so the camera in the corner of the room could not pick up what they were saying."You sure?" Malakai asked. "Even after I've said I'm fine countless times?""You want to continue with the challenge, I understand, but your word is unreliable", Mr White simply replied."Maybe it is. But what would happen if I do get checked out and I am completely fine like I said?""It's better safe than sorry".Mr White was standing his ground, but Malakai could feel it. He was wavering a little. Malakai felt like he was getting the upper hand.Malakai quickly took a sip of his water to clear the tingling feeling in his throat and shielded his mouth again."Listen, I've talked with the higher-ups. I don't think they'd like me to be taken out of the challenge. They'd hate it, I think", Malakai said, continuing to stare into Mr White's eyes. "The student at the top of the leaderboard was told to sit out for the rest of the challenge even though he said he was fine. I don't think that'll go well with them. That'd also affect my progress at this academy, no?"."He's really good at talking", Mr White thought, thinking of a response, but he couldn't find a pocket to fit in. He didn't want to interrupt Malakai either, as it would look like he was losing the conversation. It was also unprofessional."I've got a paintball gun as well. Taking me out of the challenge would make this challenge boring. 1-A's gonna win the whole thing if I'm gone. No one wants that. You were in that room when I was talking to them. They don't wanna see something boring. They wanna see something interesting", Malakai continued, smiling after he said the word boring.Mr White could tell from his eyes that Malakai was smiling.Mr White thought back to when Malakai spoke to the higher-ups. He remembered that Malakai even got them to listen to him. In the end, Malakai persuaded them to not give him a point reduction. He managed to get a different punishment. But the punishment didn't affect Malakai because he still did really well in the challenge with the handicap. Thinking back to the punishment, Mr White remembered their faces when they suggested it. They enjoyed it because it was interesting.Now, Mr White was conflicted. He wanted to take Malakai out of the challenge to check if he was okay. It was all for Malakai's safety. But if he did, the higher-ups would be asking questions. He thought he could get away with it by saying 'for safety reasons', but Malakai filled his head with doubt about what he had said earlier. The more and more Mr White looked at Malakai, the more he looked fine. Malakai painted an image in his head that he was okay. Mr White didn't even notice, but Malakai hadn't coughed the whole conversation. Maybe Malakai was fine after all, but Mr White still didn't want to take that chance."You're abusing you're number one position", Mr White said."I'm number one. I might as well. If I wasn't number one, you wouldn't have given me a chance to speak", Malakai replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Listen, I'm tryna help you. I know you don't want to talk to them. That conversation with them will be long. You'd have to explain why you took me out of the challenge and justify why you disadvantaged my class. It would be worse to justify yourself after they find out I'm fine. But, if you keep me in, you won't have to"."Who is this kid?" Mr White questioned in his head, staring into his cold, controlling eyes. He was speechless. Everything Malakai told him was correct. He didn't want to speak to the higher-ups. He didn't want to explain his decision if he made Malakai sit out of the challenge despite the obvious answer. He wanted to protect Malakai. But it seemed like the likelihood of him being fine kept increasing the more Malakai said it.He was being gaslit."How about this. Let me stay in this challenge. But, if you see me coughing and struggling to breathe, you can take me out of the challenge, and I won't complain or argue with your decision", Malakai proposed.Mr White just stared at Malakai, disorientated. Malakai switched back to normal. His eyes and his tone of voice were back to how they were. Mr White didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. When he stepped into the room, he had already decided he was going to take Malakai out of the challenge, but his decision was about to do a 180.Mr White looked at his watch on his right wrist. It was a few minutes past one. The fourth round was supposed to start at 12:55.He couldn't be in this room much longer. The fourth round had to start."Okay. You can continue with the challenge", Mr White said, looking away from Malakai. He was ashamed of what he was saying. "But! If I see any signs that you're struggling, I'm immediately taking you out of the challenge", he sternly told Malakai, pointing at him and showing his authority."That's fine by me", Malakai replied, finally taking his hand away from his mouth.Mr White let out a big sigh. He turned around and went towards the doors."The fourth round will start soon", he said on his way out, closing the door behind him.While Mr White walked away, he shook his head. He was disappointed that he had let that happen. Now, he wanted a serious conversation with Malakai after the challenge was over. He had to know more about him. The way he could make people with high authority listen to him and make them do what he wanted amazed him. He fell victim to it and was still amazed. It wasn't just confidence and charisma. It was something more.Malakai took another gulp of water before retaking his seat. Delilah stood speechless. In this challenge alone, she'd seen so many different sides of Malakai. This side was the serious side she'd heard his best friends talk about. She had seen a glimpse of it earlier when he was scaring Kayla, but this seriousness felt different from the seriousness she had seen before. It was a little scary, and that was just watching from the side. She couldn't imagine being the one talking to him. She kinda wanted her camera to be on so everyone could see what she saw, but she totally forgot about her camera being switched off. Even though she wasn't involved in the conversation, she felt trapped in it. She stood there, unsure of what to say to him. Before Mr White entered, they were in the middle of an argument. Delilah didn't want to continue with that. Not with Malakai like this. But she had to say something."A-are you going to be serious now? You're not going to be an idiot?" Delilah asked. She didn't have an attitude with her tone. Rather, it was a little shaky.Malakai looked at her and met her eyes. Delilah felt a jolt down her spine due to the serious look in his eyes. It was like the shine in his eyes had drained out. His eyes weren't accompanied by Malakai's usual smile but a straight face. All Malakai had to say was,"We're gonna win".