Apparently, my opponent who beat Suzanne in the semi-finals has been the champion and state champion since middle school and was now a student at Chicago Christian High School. Upon hearing that I smiled and was staring at her while she was getting practicing and getting ready; it was almost as if she was ready, eager to play and win this game. She was in 11th grade while I was in grade 9, I am assuming in her mind she had always known herself to be the best of the best and she was going to be the best not only as a champion but also the state champion. Playing as a 9th grader in the championships and state championship was truly an honor and the fact that I had come this far, I wasn't ready to give up on what I had fought so hard for not only being in the high school badminton team but being able to win and bring home the trophies and the success of a job well done. Before the game begun, I had five minutes to practice, I could sense from my teammates and my coach that they were worried I was going to lose badly, even Anderson, James and Jacob were worried, nervous, giving me advice and encouraging me to do my very best and fight till the very end. I must say was not expecting that from Jacob after all what he did to me in seventh grade, but today was not the day, time nor place to be thinking about the past but to focus on the present, the match and how I was going to beat my opponent in just two sets.
After practice I returned to my seat got myself a drink, dried off my sweat and prepared my racket and my wrist bands. I was trying to be very calm and think positive thoughts, while looking at my teammates, my parents, my friends Chris, Jaime and their parents to get their support and encouragement. The gym was already jammed packed with lots of people even teachers, friends and families. This was going to be the match of the century, one that was going down in history. As I got up ready to begin the match, I looked towards my left and spotted the 'black hood' again with the green and red eyes staring straight at me, we stared straight at each other, when I realized something black had circled going straight through my fingers and my legs, I then saw my mum standing up almost in a panic, the 'black hood' went and stood right behind my mum, what happened next was my mum sat calmly on her seat, nodded her head and I begun walking towards my side of the court. It came to me that my mum was finally seeing what was going on in me, to me and within me, but she was too afraid to say anything about it. My body felt like it had been boosted with extra energy because when my opponent started serving I immediately returned it with a smash landing straight on her left side of the court. I lifted my racket up in the air swinging my arms, getting ready for her second serve, which I returned right on her side of the court over the net. I could see she was already getting frustrated, not liking what I was doing. I turned looking at her and gave her a smirk smile with my head tilted to the right.
It was my turn to serve, and as I prepared to serve, I gave her a quick glare and served the shuttlecock landing on her side before she could reach for the shuttlecock, did it again the second time, score was up 4-0. She screamed with anger turning her back on me, walking towards the end of the court. She was now getting ready to serve and for the next thirty minutes, the score was up 15-7. I turned around and could see Suzanne and my teammates clinching their fists in a prayer mood and I knew that moment they were all praying for my win. In twenty minutes the first set was over 21-7, I never gave my opponent a chance, a space to breathe or catch the shuttlecock and when she returned my serve, I gave her a smash in return. When the first set was over, the entire crowd stood up shouting with joy and excitement for my first win. I wasn't celebrating as I knew the game was not over, it was just the beginning. As I sat down, I started feeling a bit weak, almost as if my body was running out of energy; I drank my energy drink to see if it could help but felt even weaker; I wasn't feeling sick or any pain from my body, just tired, which was understandable as I just played two games earlier with a thirty minute break in between so it took a toll on my body. Nevertheless, I was determined to start and finish this game with everything I had and was not about to give up, nor was I going to LOSE TODAY!!
As I was walking towards the court, I looked at where my teammates were seated, Chris, Jaime, their parents and my parents and our coaches and they all gave me thumbs up and a love heart sign, I smiled, nodded my head, then looked again and this time, I felt something happening to my body, the energy and tiredness I felt earlier on was gone, had like over 200% fully recharged energy in my body. It was then that I realized I was not alone and stood on the court holding my racket and shuttlecock ready to serve for the last and final set of the game. The game started off very well when it took a turn in the twenty fifth minute when my opponent starting smashing and making me run the entire court, I had no idea what was going on, it was then I realized she had placed something on her wrist that was making her run and play better than me, the score was already at 7-3, I was four points behind. I stood in the middle of the court facing her, while on her side, her face glared at me with anger almost like she was going to rip my heart out. I took a breath to calm down; knelt down to tie my shoe laces when I looked up at the corner the 'black hood' this time with eyes both red, saw him moving his hands that stretched out and something entered my body, turning my right eye color to green, then I tilted my head to the left, twisted my legs, looked up at my opponent waiting for her to serve; the shuttlecock was smashed right back at her scoring 7-4, then 7-5, 7-6, 7-7. I had caught up with her, but was feeling very weak and wasn't sure how long I was going to hold up as she was just too good. I had fallen to the ground and the crowd got up, I had to take a break and sat by on my bench, my coaches and teammates were already worried that I would not make it to the end. I got my energy drink, drank half the bottle, and while the coach was talking and talking, could hear everything he was saying, the 'black hood' and I were now eyes locked on to each other with his red eyes, while my right eye was still green, which when I looked at my coaches it was still brown, they didn't notice anything. I stood up, looked at my racket, held it up high on my right hand, changed my wrist band, clichéd my hand into a fist and when I opened my hand, black smoke appeared on my right palm and on my wrist. It was then when I looked at the 'black hood', nodded my head and walked straight back to the court with determination to finish the first set with full force. In twenty minutes I crashed my opponent 21-7, turned and glared at her, pointed at her with my index finger; head tilted to the left, walked to my seat and sat down. I had placed my racket on the floor looking at it, while my head was facing towards the floor; no one knew what was going on, but I was finally beginning to understand that I was never alone in this battle, the 'black hood' was and had been my guardian angel, the drive and support that helped me fight and win all the battles, but who was the 'black hood' and why save me or try to help me, how did it know when to help me or when I needed help? Was the 'black hood' related to me, was there something I had in me that I didn't know? Was there something my parents knew about me that I didn't know? All these questions started racing in my mind while I was having my break. As I was getting ready to begin the second and final set of the game, I rose and looked at my opponent; I noticed that she still had the wrist band on her hand of which I knew she would continue to use in the second set. I saw 'black hood' was still standing but this time was right behind my mum as that was where I looked to see my parents and my friends. I took a breather, and told myself I need to fight and not give up, have come thus far to win, not to lose. I looked at Suzanne, James, Jacob, Lisa, Anderson and the coaches, I told myself, "guys this one is for you," The second set begun and I didn't waste any time, giving my opponent any space, chances to slam, smash or use any of her techniques and whatever power she had on her wrist to fight against me. In twenty five minutes, the score was already 15-0. At this stage my opponent was left speechless wondering what had happened and what was going on, she looked at me, I just shrugged with I don't know expression then glared giving her a smirk. I prepared to serve and without any warning I came with slams, smashes taking the score to 19-0. The next thing I was hearing was screaming, slamming of the racket with anger and frustration from my opponent. I just tilted my head to the left, raised my eyebrows and waited for my opponent to release her anger and calm herself before continuing the game. I looked at the score and saw one more point to match game, two more points for game to be over. My opponent was now stable and ready to serve, she served and I returned with a slam, "match point and championship point" for Diana, was the next thing I heard. I walked around and looked around the gym, could see everyone standing, my teammates, coaches, family and friends were all standing, shouting with excitement. We had to wait till the gym was quiet so that my opponent could serve, she served, I hit it back, and she hit the shuttlecock and as it was heading over towards my side I jumped up and returned with a smash, I landed on the ground with my palm hand on the floor, looked up and saw the shuttlecock hand landed on her right side of the court, she had missed it. I didn't even know I had won until the crowds jumped with excitement, my teammates and coaches ran to hug me with kisses. I turned and walked over to shake my opponent's hand which she did and I said "great game." I walked back towards my team, looked up to find 'black hood' and saw it, I nodded my head and it disappeared. My parents, Chris, Jaime and their parents also came to congratulate me, after that I fell to the ground not only because I won but was just so exhausted but I looked up in the ceiling feeling happy and proud of what this day had brought not only for my school, my friends, family but also I, me, myself, Diana. Our celebrations become even more when Jacob and James won the boys' single matches, this put Chicago High School as the first school in the state of Chicago to win boys and girls' single matches, mixed double and girls' doubles, something that will go down in books of history in the Chicago High School.
That same day in the afternoon, we took on the dancing floor where Chris, Jaime and I were performing our dance song "All I wanna Do" by Jay Park X 1Million/Jay Park (feat. Hoody, Loco), the dance lasted five minutes and with our wonderful back up dances everything went according to how we had practiced. This was our first time dancing in public, in front of a large audience and of course we were very nervous, but because we all loved music and loved dancing, coming up with funny but great moves, and also being able to have this opportunity and in a tournament to perform in front of a great audience was a dream come true. There were ten performances from dancers who came from different schools including Chicago Christian High School. We were the last to perform as we were the host school for the events. As we were watching all the other performers, I was thinking to myself how great all the other dancers were; their dancing skills, techniques, styles and rhythm. Obviously comparing ourselves with them was inevitable but I needed to remember we are all dancers with different taste, different thoughts on music, singing and dancing. Finally it was our turn to perform, we positioned ourselves on stage and the music started playing, we danced with joy, excitement, giving it our best of the finest from the beginning to the end and once we were done, we got up, bowed and it was the day I will never forget when we had received a standing ovation. We hugged each other because we knew the standing ovation meant we had performed very well, however, it was the results that would tell us the winners. After fifteen minutes later the results were out; awards and certificates were given from fifth place, fourth place, third place, and then second place, when we didn't hear our school being mentioned, I thought we got eliminated until the judge announced "and it first place, the winners of the dance competition school year 2016 -2017 is Chicago High School," At first I thought I heard wrong until I saw Jaime, Chris and all the back-up singers jumping with excitement, they all came and hugged me with big smiles, I was crying with tears rolling down my eyes. Chris went on our behalf to get the award; a picture of all of us was taken which was the perfect way to end my first year in grade 9 at Chicago High School.
From then on till the last week of school before heading off for our summer vacation, it was celebrations and celebrations school wide including congratulations from our teachers, students from all grades, teammates, and our parents. In all the years of my existence, never did it ever occur that I a mixed race colored girl student would ever become a top hit in a school and especially in high school rather one of the best schools 'Chicago High School.' From what I was told it was never common or popular for ninth graders to become champions in the school sports, nor was it common for them to be selected to become team representatives and win the school and state champions. I guess I proved them wrong, 'nothing is impossible to a willing heart,' my journey as a ninth grader took on a lot of unexpected twists and turns, never once did I doubt myself in anything and everything I did. Although there were some events which I never did tell my parents, or my friends Jaime and Chris, it was without a doubt that I would not have made it without their support, also let's not forget the 'black hood.' I am sure some of you can relate with some of the episodes I went through in my first year of high school, which I guess is part of life as they would call it, but the path you choose, the life you choose, the decisions you make will always have an impact on your life today, tomorrow and down the road. We fight many battles in our life and one of these battles we fight takes place in schools, how we choose to fight these battles will be a choice only you and you alone with make. I chose to fight my own battles using my mind, heart, soul, courage, being fearless, love, support, being calm and patient and the end results turned out to be fulfilling and well deserved.
Before we ended the last day of school, I caught up with Jacob, Ashley and Philips in the corridor; I glared at them with a smile and a laugh, they looked a bit scared as I was walking towards them. They were about to run but I put my right hand on the locker, looked them straight in the eye and asked them "do you remember me now?" They nodded their heads and I could sense they wanted to hit me again, but I took my finger and moved it left and right meaning no, no while Chris and Jaime were standing behind them. I looked up, glared at them saying "I am happy you remembered who I was, and remembered what you did to me in grade seven. Now let me make this very clear, I don't care who you are or whether you come from a rich, high class family, I don't care about status or fame, we right here in this school of ours are the same, and we are going to be school mates for the next four years, so if I were you, starting from grade 10, I would behave, be nice, and treat everyone with respect, with kindness and have some manners or else everything you have ever done, everyone you have ever bullied with be told to your teachers, the principal and the entire school, do I make myself clear?" They all nodded yes, sorry "you need to speak" I said. They all said "yes it is clear," We let them go turned around and told them 'we shall be watching you.'
We turned around and started walking out of the school door towards the school gate; we gave each other high fives, hugs and got on the bus. My first year journey in high school came to an end and although was not sure what was going to happen during the summer or in grade 10 next year, I didn't want to think about that. For now I just wanted to enjoy the results of all the hard work, the celebrations, and the wonderful exciting, blessed year I had in Grade 9!!