On the Monday morning of January 6, 2020, we were back at Chicago High School for our final year not just as a grade 12 senior student, but for what was going to be my last semester and school year at Chicago High School. This was also Anderson's last week in Chicago as well. The semester begun on a marathon with first receiving the paper results of our exams this left me in shock as I didn't expect to get so many red ticks and A's in all my AP exams except chemistry getting a B+, with a GPA of over 3.5 and to me this was way better than I had expected. I was quite proud with my results and had vowed to finish the final semester even better. It wasn't only me celebrating the success of my results, Chris and Jaime also passed all their AP courses with straight A's especially in all their sciences, math and business management/economics. They were full of smiles after seeing their results, and we clearly had a lot to celebrate.
February rolled in as fast as the way January ended; this was the month all seniors were finding out about their university applications; which seniors were accepted to what universities, rejections, offers with partly or full scholarships, was going to be nerve wrecking but we were all hoping for the best results. Also practice and selections for the school badminton and archery teams was also to take place this month as the tournaments were to kick off in April starting with the qualifying rounds, then first to the fourth rounds before making it to the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals. I was quite worried on whether the players chosen to represent both badminton and archery would be confident, tough and ready for their games in April. Nevertheless, for this semester we juniors (grade 11) and seniors (grade 12) all decided to play our final matches as a way to celebrate our accomplishments, successes and all the wins we have ever brought to Chicago High School as well as bring home the trophies for this year's tournaments. The good thing it was only badminton and archery that needed to have new players and teams for the sports. All the other sports as well as chess, math, science quiz net, dance, drama and music were sorted as they had very competitive students who had already started taking part in the competitions since their enrollment in grade 9, which was quite a relief and being able to train, coach and watch them grow and ready for their tournaments was a blessing.
Towards the end of February, we had gotten our offers from the university; Jacob and James received their offers from Penn State University with full scholarships, Lisa and Suzanne from Chicago State University, they didn't want to move states as they wanted to be close to family and home, Ashley and Philip from Penn State University, Peter from New York University, Jamieson had always wanted to move to the west coast for his university; he got an offer from Stanford University with a full scholarship, finally Chris, Jaime and I were given offers from Boston University and better yet with full scholarships. We had each received the news on different dates, but when we did, we all met at our favorite cafeteria spot where we all shared the exciting news. Chris, Jaime and I shared the exciting news with our families on the same day, while I shared the news with Anderson when I got home. I had initially texted him with the news and then was to call him when I got home after school. After school, we were excited getting home as we wanted to not only share the great and exciting news with our parents, but wanted to celebrate as well. When I got home only noticed that mum was home, decided to wait until dad arrived home to share the news. Dad arrived shortly after 7 PM, when he arrived home; I brought down the acceptance letter from Boston University, flashed it in front of them and read the university offer out loud to my parents. When I had finished reading the letter, my parents were not only thrilled and happy but were both jumping arms in arms crying of the joyful and wonderful news. It was not just the news of being accepted to Boston University that got them thrilled but also knowing that their daughter received a full scholarship as well. For the celebrations, mum and dad cooked my favorite dishes; spaghetti with meat sauce, French fries, chicken, salad and chocolate cake for dessert. Yes, all those meals were made in celebration for the wonderful news; was truly a wonderful celebration, a wonderful feast and one of the best days I will never forget in my life.
At around 9:30 PM, Anderson video called, I didn't even ask him whether he received my message, and I just went straight ahead and shared the exciting news of my university offer letter with a full scholarship to Boston University. After hearing the news, he was so excited that he asked me to read the university offer letter again. I cracked up looking at his excited and joyful facial expressions. I also told him that "Chris and Jaime have also been given offers with full scholarships to Boston University." That also got him jumping and dancing as well. He was extremely excited that the three of us were going to join him in the fall, and although we were all going to be studying in different departments that was not the point, it was the fact that all four of us were going to be in the same school for the next three years. That same evening all four of us had a video call, we were just all excited, joyful and happy just talking about the wonderful news. What was even funnier was listening to the boys already making plans for the summer vacation and what they will be doing in Boston, not even realizing I am still on the phone hearing and listening to their every conversation; was nothing bad just funny listening to them planning weekend nights, watching matches and games of their favorite sports, working out in the gym, having study groups and traveling together. I was just wondering where I fit in all of their plans. To be honest, it was not important, as long as we all respected each other, were true to our friendship, and got along well with each other.
For the next two months, a lot of the pressure had been lifted off our shoulders as we now knew where we would be going for university in the fall. All that was left was the upcoming tournaments in April, final exams and graduation ceremony in May and oh yes the senior dance which I wasn't planning on attending at all! From the beginning of March it was serious practice and getting ready for the tournaments. We practiced every day after school for the full two hours and it was indoor practice including archery. All our coaches Mrs. Steward, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Jackson demanded full training and coaching for all players, while Mr. Chang our archery coach gave us an intense indoor and outdoor archery training which was going to be for the entire month of March. For dance and music, we had the lunch recess times to practice and sometimes when we had study hall periods. For our dance competition, we decided to go with a couple of songs from the USA and England which were well known and easy to dance to, but of course we had to make sure the moves were great, solid, do able and easy to remember. However for our final song should we make it to the finals we once again decided to go with "Dynamite" BTS; we all liked BTS and their wonderful songs and decided to dance to their songs and give the audience our final best show.
On the academic front, our studies were going pretty well, homework started getting less and less since we were now preparing for the finals which were scheduled to start in May. From my part, all my assignments, projects, essays, lab work were completed and submitted on time. Pretty much all I was doing was preparing, reviewing for quizzes which we got almost every other week for all the core subjects even French and Spanish. Although we had two more months before the exams, the teachers felt it was imperative to keep us on our toes with quizzes, short exam preview questions to help us be fully prepared for the final exams in May. It was quite sad that there were some senior students who had been lagging behind on their assignments, projects, lab work and had even failed their quizzes. The good thing with some of the teachers, they gave students a second chance to make up for the failed assignments and quizzes to help boost up their scores to get at least a good average GPA in their report cards.
Although, I had a full academic schedule and the preparations for the upcoming tournaments, Anderson and I still managed to text each other in the evenings on weekdays, but we didn't talk for long as was completely exhausted, but did have video calls on the weekends. Anderson was also starting to have quite a busy schedule as he was also preparing for his exams, completing and submitting quite a lot of research papers, and also searching for an internship or job that he would do in the summer in Chicago. He had submitted his resume and applications to some companies earlier this month with the hope of hearing back from them before he started his summer holiday at the end of May. I was not worried about how he would do in his first year as he had always been a very hard working serious student who was very independent, organized and responsible. He had completed his first semester with an A plus and was hoping to complete the second semester, first year at Boston University with all his courses getting an A plus.
At the end of March, we were starting to gear up for the tournaments which were being held and hosted in our school Chicago High School and there would be no classes for two weeks. Most of schools that competed in the last three years returned this semester with our main competitors still being Chicago Christian High School and Chicago Alliance High School with a new school Chicago Park High School. I recognized a lot of the competitors from last year's matches and games including dance and music, chess, math and science quiz net. As we saw the competitors enter our school campus, we welcomed them with greetings and handshakes which were not well received and as I was looking at them, Chris and Jaime whispered in my ears "They don't seem to be too happy coming to our school, more like revenge from the looks of their faces." I didn't reply but just thought to myself "no problem, as always game on and we shall see who will laugh last." It is so sad that as an athlete you come with that kind of mentality, wonder why you even decided to be an athlete if all you were ever going to do was to keep revenging and for how long, four years, seriously? It is really worth it?
We had the opening ceremony as always, followed by a rundown of the events for the next two weeks including the times and dates of each sports, games, and matches, which school versus which school. The first week begun with the qualifying rounds and because there were quite a lot of schools participating in this year's events, sports, games and matches including our school, the qualifying matches begun at 8 AM until 6 PM; pretty much a full day and would take two days. Chris, Jaime, my teammates from badminton and archery were able to see most of the qualifying matches and games which was good as we could see our competitors, know who we would be playing against, see, learn and analyze their matches and games. If I didn't go, my other teammates went to watch and study the games. Chicago High School competed pretty much every single day in the qualifying round and for every match and games that we took part in, we qualified for the first round. After winning the first round, we also won the second, third and fourth round taking Chicago High School into the quarterfinals in all the sports matches, chess and math games, science quiz net, dance and music. It was such a big deal for our school and a great start in the tournaments especially for all the seniors who were participating for their final school year at Chicago High School.
The second week of the events rolled in the second week of April; this was featuring the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals; the four top schools that reached the quarterfinals were; Chicago Christian High School, Chicago Alliance High School, Chicago Park High School and our school Chicago High School. These were the toughest competitors we were up against and they were quite fierce during their previous matches, even against us. We had the previous weekend to recuperate, recharge our batteries and a two full days of practice. We also spent the weekend coming up with strategies, new techniques that we could use during our games. Chris and Jaime were not worried at all about their chess; math and science quiz net as it was all about calculations, word problems and being able to answer questions and finish the match in a certain given amount of time. They had both been practicing the entire semester with other students who were also seniors, juniors, grade 10 and grade 9 students. From their looks, they seemed pretty prepared to bring home the trophies in all three events. I was also able to have time to practice for my dance and music with both Chris and Jaime and the other back up dancers. It was really cool seeing them practice their new moves adding the previous moves from various songs. Although it did take some practice learning the new moves, we were confident that getting past the quarterfinals, semi-finals and to the finals was not a challenge.
Monday morning rolled in and the quarterfinals were well underway starting at 8 AM, all the sports events were taking place at the same time in different venues, chess, math, and science quiz net were to commence at 10 AM. Badminton was up first with all the boys and girls' doubles, and mixed doubles; our boys' doubles were Sanders and David, both in grade 11 versus students from Chicago Christian High School, while the second boys' doubles from our school were Thomas and Victor both in grade 9 versus students also from Chicago Christian High School, the other two groups of boys' doubles matches were Chicago Alliance High School versus Chicago Park High School. I looked at the line up and was actually smiling because I knew that IF we did win we would either be facing Chicago Alliance High School or Chicago Park High School in the semi-finals.
The girls' doubles matches were Lisa and Suzanne both seniors versus students from Chicago Christian High School, while the second girls' doubles matches were Alice and Claire both in grade 9 also versus Chicago Christian High School. The other two groups of girls' doubles matches were Chicago Alliance High School versus Chicago Park High School, and finally the mixed doubles, was James and I seniors, and Crystal and Daniel in grade 9 versus the mixed doubles from Chicago Park High School, while the other two groups of mixed doubles would be Chicago Christian High School versus, Chicago Alliance High School. The girls' singles were Erica grade 9 and I grade 12 versus two students from Chicago Park High School, and two other matches with students from Chicago Alliance High School versus Chicago Christian High School, while the boys' singles were Jacob and James both grade 12 versus two other students' from Chicago Alliance High School and Chicago Christian High School. Clearly was going to be a full day of exciting, intense, fierce and competitive matches.
Chris and Jaime couldn't stay to watch all the matches as they had to prepare for their games; Anderson had sent me a message wishing me all the best in the matches with the hopes of receiving good news. James, Jacob, Lisa Suzanne, Erica, and I were able to seat by the bleachers and watch their games; we were also the grade 9 student mentors assisting the coaches with the training and advising of the new players. At 8:30AM the matches begun and what a fantastic turn out of an audience we had including my parents and all the parents, teachers and students from our school and the other competing schools. The matches got off on the right foot for our school Chicago High School because in just one and a half hour, all our girls', boys' and mixed doubles players won in two sets and were in the semi-finals on Wednesday morning. We were going to face Chicago Park High School in the semi-finals; I have to say for this school to beat Chicago Alliance High School in two sets, they were really good. James and I were thrilled to have made it to the semi-finals; we were so in sync, well coordinated and I never once had to worry about whether James would be able to reach for the shuttlecock, indeed he was truly a professional player with lots of skills, talents and techniques which proved all the worth for our match. I was very impressed with all the grade 9 students and their performances, clearly the choices of the new team members' selected were a great choice with no regrets. Now all I wanted to make sure was that they were able to make to the finals and win the championships.
We had a half hour break before commencing the quarterfinal boys' and girls' singles matches. All matches were being played at the same time. I didn't have any doubts with James and Jacob seeing they were ready and in good form for their matches. I had been hoping to watch Erica play, but I had to concentrate on my game as my opponent from Chicago Park High School was not an easy opponent based from the previous matches I watched her play; all her games were completed in two sets, not sparing her opponents. Although there had been a worry and fear for the game, I was pretty sure with my previous experience and all I had learned from my coaches and teammates was ready to give this game everything I had from start to finish. Before our games begun, we each gathered around, said a few words of encouragement and support, then went back to our seats but as I was heading back to my seat, I felt my body heat up, almost like it was on fire, my head was racing, and I felt my eyes change color which could only explain or say one thing 'black hood' was back, I turned around and 'black hood' was right behind my seat, this time I could feel its energy and the way it was moving around me from my foot to my head in a fast paced circle. I had no idea what it was but it was entering my body giving me more energy and power that I had never had. I had no idea how powerful it was and although I was trying to look back to see its face, that was not going to happen as 'black hood' was not giving me the chance. It wasn't long when I looked up and saw my mum standing looking worried and then was getting ready to run towards me when the 'black hood' stopped her and made her sit down and I screamed "leave my mother alone, it is me you want, take me but leave my mum out of this"; what was even scarier was that no one and I mean no one could see what was going on except my mother. My mind was racing with fear and worry of what happened to my mother. Next thing I heard was a deep voice speaking to me saying "I am not going to harm your mother; I was only giving you power, strength and energy to help you in your games and matches today, no need to be afraid." When I was finally able to get myself together, the 'black hood' was gone but not very far, 'black hood' sat right at the corner where my mum was seated, its eyes were both red, while my eyes were also red. I rose up, walked to the center of the court where I was to play and the games begun. In over an hour my game was over in two sets, Erica's game was still going on as her opponent was giving her a hard time but she eventually pulled through wining two sets and finally Jacob and James also won in two sets, taking Chicago High School straight to the semi-finals against Chicago Alliance High School boys' and girls singles. This was the first time in three years Chicago Christian High School didn't make it to the semi-finals. As for what happened in the gym, on the courts and while I was playing, I can only say it was not Diana playing the singles; I felt the game was being controlled, the speed I was playing was not any I had ever felt even in my previous matches, it was quite a scary episode which got me very frightened and something I would never ever want to talk about it except with my mum.
Before heading off for lunch, word reached the gym that we had also reached the semi-finals in chess, math and science quiz net, which were the competitions Chris and Jaime were competing earlier this morning. I ran to their competition venue and was waiting for them outside the waiting area, when they came out, we all ran and hugged each other, jumping with joy and excitement which wasn't until they asked about our badminton matches and I had a big smile and said "we made it to the semi-finals, all the players who were playing made it to the semi-finals." They were very happy and excited for the badminton team.
We headed off to the cafeteria to have lunch before heading to the archery field for the quarterfinals and then dance and music quarterfinals starting at 4 PM. Archery competition was scheduled to start at 1 PM with the hope of finishing at 4 PM, then a break for an hour before the final event of the day which was dance and music. In the cafeteria, we took pictures with our phones and sent them to Anderson sharing the wonderful exciting news of our win. He actually returned with a voice and video call congratulating us and said we shall talk later in the evening as he was getting ready to leave for his afternoon classes.
At 12:50 PM, our archery team, coaches Stewards, Williamson and Mr. Chang arrived at the field, our parents, teachers, classmates and students also arrived and finally our competitors from Chicago Park High School, Chicago Christian High School and Chicago Alliance High School arrived at the field. I don't know why but for some reason when I looked at one of the girls from Chicago Park High School, my heart started beating very fast, my head started aching with a terrible sound and my hands were shaking. It was then 'black hood' appeared holding my head, arms and heart to calm me down as I was on fire and my eyes had turned red, until I calmed down that my eyes turned green then back to my normal color brown. I looked at the 'black hood' asking "why me?" All that the 'black hood' said was "that girl is your worst competitor; she has the fastest and the best archery skills in the entire Chicago, the reason your body reacted when you saw her was that her skills, techniques, speed are just like yours, the only difference is that she doesn't have the power and energy that you have." I asked "how was I able to detect that from just looking at her and feeling her strength"? 'Black hood' replied, you are able to sense and feel quite a lot of things Diana including the strength, power, the ability, the motions, that other people have especially those who will or maybe a threat to you, and she is a threat to you and will be in this competition." He continued "She will be playing against you in last match for today, but not to worry, you will eventually make it if you focus, concentrate and don't give her the space or time to understand your game and rhythm, she will try to make it difficult for you, but I will be here to guide and help you through it." In that split second 'black hood' was gone and all I could hear was his echo of word saying 'focus, concentrate, I will guide you all the way, do not be scared.' As I returned to my seat, I look at the girl once again from Chicago Park High School, this time both of my eyes changed to green but what was funny was that I was now able to see her strength with the ability to see how she used to play in her previous games; wow I thought, her speed, her rhythm, her pace, the way she shoots the arrows is something I had never seen before in my life. This gave me a very still and calm way to prepare my game against her and how to not be afraid facing her while we both played our matches. As I also sat listening to the noise, the ongoing conversations, lots of questions started triggering my mind, why is it only in badminton, archery and exams, when I am sick or having trouble that I am able to have this kind of special powers, that give me not only energy but the ability to have a higher and faster memory and be able to heal myself from any sickness in my body. Also how come it is only my mother who can see what happens to me when 'black hood' is around and no one can? Was there a connection between the 'black hood' and my mum that I didn't know?" Too many questions with no answers were going through my head and not sure how to go about finding the answers. I told myself "let me first focus on my matches and games, my final semester at Chicago High School and will start my own investigation.
At 1 PM, the archery matches begun, first up were all the grade 9 boys' students from Chicago Alliance High School, Chicago Christian High School, Chicago Park High School and our school Chicago High School. Our school grade 9 archers were represented by Taylor, Wayne, Christopher, Adam and Walter; our grade 10 archers were Keith, Jason and Wayne; our grade 11 archers were Chris, Edward and Kevin and grade 12 were Philip, Peter and Jamieson. For the girls' we had Judy, Cynthia, Amanda and Patricia, grade 10 were Soo Bin, Hye Jin, Alicia and Jade, Grade 11 were Greta, Trisha and her twin sister Natasha and Rachel and finally grade 12 were Ashley and me. We wanted to give our intermediate archers who had graduated to advanced archers a shot at the competitions this semester and with the coaching they not only received from Coach Stewards, Williamson, Mr. Chang and the seniors, we felt they were more than ready to start their competition journey at Chicago High School and continue next year.
First up were the grade 9 and 10 boys from all four schools, the rules were still the same as in previous competitions, the only difference was each archer in all the grades had to shot all six arrows in the middle of the yellow circle to qualify for the semi-finals, you miss two or more you were automatically eliminated. Then followed by the archers from grade 11 and 12, once the boys' had finished would take fifteen minutes to tally up the scores and make a decision. This was the toughest archery match I had ever seen in my entire three years of being at Chicago High School. They were all just unbelievably and incredibly good especially our grade 9 and 10 students; they each shot perfect shots straight in the middle of yellow circle. Our grade 11 and 12 boys' archery team struggled with their first and second shots, and I could tell they were quite nervous, but what was funny was that just like what I would always do, they looked to their left to see Mr. Chang, Mrs. Steward and Mr. Williamson and the rest of Chicago High School students, their support gave them so much courage that help them win all their next shots straight in the yellow circle without hesitation. Chicago Park High School also gave a perfect performance with perfect scores just like our fellow grade 9 and 10 students but it was a struggle for Chicago Christian High School as they messed up their second, fourth and fifth shot which got them eliminated from the quarterfinals. As a result, Chicago Park High School, Chicago Alliance High School and our school boys' archery team scored more points than expected making it to the semi-finals.
Next up were the girls' archery team; first up were the girl's grade 9 and 10 archers: Judy, Cynthia, Amanda and Patricia; then Soo Bin, Hye Jin, Alicia and Jade. Followed by the girls' grade 11 and 12 archers: Greta, Trisha and her twin sister Natasha and Rachel; then Ashley and I. For the girl's team I was not worried because when I had seen each of my teammate's practice, I was quite blown away with their shooting skills and techniques and although I knew that Chicago Park High School was our fiercest competitors, it was imperative that we faced them with no fear, no worries, but to concentrate, stay focused and have courage while competing against them. We also had another advantage as our grade 9 and 10 archers had competed in previous archery competitions in middle school winning all competitions while studying in Europe and Asia. It was great having them in our school and a great addition to our team; not only were they great team players but they also helped the seniors and the coaches train the other archers in the teams. This was such a relief and a blessing and I knew they would continue to do a great job next school year.
It didn't take long as our grade 9 and 10 archers scored perfect scores with each of their arrows landing straight in the middle of the yellow circle, our grade 11 archers and Ashley also scored a perfect score but it wasn't until it was my turn when I had to face my worst competitor from Chicago Park High School. As I prepared my arrow on my bow, the words from 'black hood' repeated in my mind and as that was going on, I could feel the intense power and strength in my hands which caused my eyes to turn red firing all six shots in a straight row each landing in the middle of the yellow circle. I turned my head to the right and saw my opponent from Chicago Park High School glaring at me, moving her lips saying "you will lose," I glared back at her with my head tilted to the right, gave her a smirk, then closed my eyes when I fired each shot as I didn't want to think about anything or what or who was around my circle but just focused on the game. By the time I opened my eyes, all shots landed in the yellow target, I looked at my opponent's gave her a smirk with my lips moving saying "you lost" then saw her archery target board only to find that her third and fifth shot had landed on the red circle and since Ashley had a perfect score; Chicago High School were declared the winners going straight to the semi-finals and would be facing Chicago Alliance High School. I felt so tired with absolutely no energy left after playing my opponent from Chicago Park High School but so relieved with the results of the matches, even the girls were screaming and dancing and hugging around me full of the excitement. Chicago Park High School were eliminated because our archers scored a perfect score, a lot of their arrows hit the red and blue circle, this meant on Wednesday we would be facing Chicago Alliance High School and Chicago Christian High School in the semi-finals.
For the first time I saw the relief from our coaches faces including Mr. Chang as they now felt comfortable and satisfied with the performances from grade 9, 10 and 11 archers and were now even more confident that they would continue to lead Chicago High School to the best and finest in their following upcoming tournaments with no hesitation. It was already 4:30 PM and only had thirty minutes left before the dance and music quarterfinals competitions begun. With the rest of the team busy celebrating, I continued to sit on the chair struggling to make sense of what just happened today from badminton to archery, I looked up only to see my mum looking at me with a smile which also showed fear and worry and although I tried very hard to smile at her assuring her that I was doing well and was OK, it was not a simple smile and an OK that would make everything that happened today disappear like nothing happened, it was something that was going to be stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. I was now beginning to panic as was not sure what will happen in the semi-finals on Wednesday for badminton in the morning and archery in the afternoon and the finals on Friday morning and afternoon.
At 5 PM was already in the dance and music studio preparing for our quarterfinals dance. There were quite a lot of schools being represented in this event, but what was even more exciting was watching how fierce the competitors were on stage, each school performing at its best and finest. There were a total of twenty schools, and only ten schools were going to the semi-finals after today. Our school performed the last as we were the hosting school. It was a tough one for me as I had just finished my archery competition half an hour ago and still felt exhausted, but for Chris, Jaime and the backup dancers I had to give it the best of my best performance as I knew this meant a lot for the team. Our song took four minutes and to be honest was quite relieved once we had finished dancing. The results were out in twenty minutes which by then it was already past seven in the evening. Our school came in third place behind Chicago Christian High School at second place, and Chicago Park High School at first place, making it through to the semi-finals on Wednesday late afternoon and the finals on Saturday morning. Chicago Alliance High School was in fourth place.
Although we were all very excited making it to the semi-finals, my body and mind were completely exhausted to the extent I almost collapsed on the floor, but I had to hold on with the remaining energy left in my body. Our school teams met in the lounge area where our principal wanted to thank us for a great job well done, wished us a continued success and victory semi-finals and finals on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. After that meeting, Chris, Jaime and I started walking to the parking lot to look for our parents' cars while chatting and catching up on all the events, matches and games that occurred today. I had thought of telling them what had happened to me but that would mean telling them all that had been happening since grade 9 including 'black hood.' It was already very complicated and I wasn't sure how or where to begin, so I decided against it and to wait for a better day and time when I shall be able to tell them everything and be able to explain everything once I investigate and get all the answers for my questions. We saw our parents walking towards the car; they hugged and kissed us congratulating us on a fantastic win today. I could see that our parents were very happy and proud of everything we had achieved and accomplished since our start of middle school and high school. Although my mum had the same expression of happiness, I could sense a fear, anxiety and worry beneath her smile, face and could see tears right on her eyelids; it was almost as if she feared for the worst that was going to happen or maybe it had already happened and was not sure how or whether to face it with me or alone.
We got home shortly after 8 PM and all I wanted to do was shower and sleep. I told my parents that I was too exhausted and wanted to sleep, kissed them goodnight and went up stairs to shower, wash and dry my hair, change into my pajamas and go straight to bed; I was not hungry as I had eaten a huge lunch plus had snacks in between after lunch. If I was going to be hungry in the middle of the night, will just have to wake up and get something to eat, mum always had something cooked and left in the fridge. Before heading to bed, Anderson had texted to see if I was home and awake; I replied "just got home, showered and now heading to bed." He called, we spoke for over an hour, mainly spoke about the matches and the games; he was happy and excited that our school had made it to the semi-finals in almost 90% of the games including badminton, archery, chess, math and science quiz net. His classes were also going well but starting to get busier with more readings, assignments, research and essays to prepare and submit, but so far he seemed to like his courses, his professors, the lesson content and everything being taught in class. Although I was trying so hard to focus on our conversation, I found myself drifting off to sleep from time to time, which Anderson noticed and both of us started laughing. It was already going to 10 PM and we decided to call it a night, said our goodbyes ending with "I love you" and that we would speak to each other again tomorrow. After we hang up the phone, I got into my bed, switched off the bed side lights, rolled over and slept until morning.
On Tuesday morning and afternoon, the day was spent at Chicago High School; we were all practicing and getting prepared for the semi-finals that would commence on Wednesday morning and afternoon. We had also spent the entire day strategizing, practicing new and different techniques focusing on speed, strength and how to preserve our energy thus can be able to concentrate and focus on our matches. It was a good relaxing feeling and played some interesting and funny games, but most importantly was to continue supporting and guiding our fellow teammates from grades 9, 10 and 11. Our coaches had expressed gratitude and appreciation for the job well done especially on being team players. When I was not coaching or practicing, I would sit over by the bleachers watching the rest of my teammates playing, texting with Anderson back and forth, chatting with Chris and Jaime and would also be rewinding all the events that had taken place since grade 9 and 'black hood.' Yes, there was truly a lot to digest and still lots of unanswered questions and without any help or even just a clue how was I going to allow myself to move forward especially when I move to Boston and start my university in the fall. Clearly it was overwhelming causing fear, worry and anxiety and was even more worried as I didn't know how it was going to affect my university life, my family or my future life for that matter. I decided to take everything step by step, first focus on these tournaments, then my exams, getting good scores and graduation, and then after that I can start thinking about this matter, it was my hope that I will one day get all my questions answered.
On Wednesday the semi-finals rolled in very early in the morning starting from 07:30AM, all sport competitions including volleyball, soccer, swimming, badminton, archery, and other event competitions would be taking place including chess, math and science quiz net and finally dance and music. It was not only going to be a long day but it was also going to be a very challenging day as we were facing the best of the best competitors: Chicago Park High School, Chicago Alliance High School and Chicago Christian High School.
By lunch time, we had received the results for almost half of the competitions: our volleyball teams girls' and boys' had made it to the finals and would be playing Chicago Park High School; our badminton team had also made it to the finals and would be playing Chicago Park High School and Chicago Alliance High School; soccer boys' and girls' team and swimming had also made it to the finals. Our chess, math, and science quiz net had rolled past their competitors with a straight easy win giving them a ticket to the finals. The only two events left were archery, dance and music which were scheduled to be held at 3PM. Since most of the morning competitions were completed by lunch time, we were able to get a longer break in the afternoon which was great as it gave Chris, Jaime, me and our backup dancers' time to practice and prepare for our semi-finals dance competition. Our parents had also come to watch the events; while my parents were watching my badminton competition, Chris and Jaime's parents were watching their sons' compete in the chess, math and science quiz net.
During lunchtime, we sat with our parents to have lunch in the cafeteria and all we could hear was how our parents were raving at each other how proud they were of us three; they were also pretty excited about our university adventure in the fall. Instead of Chris, Jaime and me having lunch, we were just looking and listening to our parents raving with joy and happiness, it was almost as if they were the students and we were the parents, but the fact of seeing their joy and happiness it was a sign that we had achieved and accomplished what they had set us out to do since elementary school.
After lunch, we left our parents in the cafeteria, told them we were going to practice for our dance and music competition and that we would see them in the field at 3PM for the archery event. We were able to have almost two hours of dance practice which was great as most of us had forgotten the moves and it was getting difficult to concentrate, but the good thing was that our teammates were very patience and we were very thankful especially to Chris, Jaime and Jackson and Susan. By the time 2:30PM rolled in, we were back in shape and ready, we danced two more times from the beginning to the end and by the time we finished practice, we all felt confident and ready for the semi-finals.
In the afternoon at 3PM, archery competition kicked off, it was quite a fierce but an interesting competition as we were facing Chicago Alliance High School and Chicago Christian High School. A lot of their players had competed for the last two years and they were quite fierce and good, but that had never stopped Chicago High School from beating them since I was in grade 9 and we were definitely going to do it again this year. In two hours the game was over; Chicago Christian High School was eliminated, and the two finalists were going to be Chicago Alliance High School versus our school Chicago High School. After seeing how Chicago Alliance High School performed today, they were clearly going to be a challenge for our finals game on Friday afternoon.
At 5:30PM, the final event commenced which was dance and music, ten schools were competing but there was only going to be five spots for the finals on Saturday. It was fantastic watching the dancers from other schools; some of the dancers were only girls, others were only boys' while other was mixed dancers like our dancing team. Each dance team was dancing with grace, elegance and style, but what was really sad was that some of the dancers got injured something that had happened last year, the good thing the dancers were not badly injured and with their courage and confidence continued till the very end which earned them a standing ovation from the crowd. Our performance took almost five minutes which was the last performance for the day. The results were out in less than thirty minutes; the five schools that got their ticket to the finals were: Chicago Park High School, Chicago Alliance High School, Chicago Saints High School, Chicago Christian High School and finally our school; Chicago High School. The best of the finest dancers made it to the finals on Saturday morning.
The day ended with joy and excitement for Chicago High School as it was the first time in four years all teams in sports, dance and music, chess, math, and science quiz net made it to the finals. Although it was a wonderful celebration, the tournament was not over; we still had one more battle to fight, but we were all very determined to make sure that we were bringing home the trophies and glory on Friday and Saturday. Before heading home Chicago High School teams had a brief meeting with their coaches and our school principal; he was congratulating us for another wonderful performance and how he truly enjoyed the matches and games. He was truly looking forward to the final matches and games on Friday and Saturday and wished us all the best in the preparation. After the meeting, Chris, Jaime and I met up and as we started walking towards our cars, we were talking with excitement of today's win but at the same time were quite exhausted. Apparently Jaime was talking about how his opponents in the chess and math games were quite tough to the extend he thought at one point he was going to be eliminated, also the questions and word problems were even more difficult than in the previous years. Luckily, before the games Chris and Jaime had watched some math and chess competitions on YouTube which truly helped them as they realized they needed to step up the game if they wanted to win the semi-finals. I had never doubted them as I knew since grade 3; they were always smart not only in math but also in chess and science; they had always loved numbers, enjoyed playing with numbers and working out simple to complicated math problems; they had always loved chess and when they were little and would always play it with their grandparents which is where their love of chess begun; they quickly learned the skills and techniques, even started playing games online and with high up end competitors. They had both received the math and chess championship award since grade 4, which I didn't even know until today; they have been winners ever since, which would explain how they have gradually grown to love math and chess and not only made it a hobby but a tribute to their grandparents for introducing, teaching them not only to understand numbers, but to also enjoy and love it. This would also explain how they were able to do so well in math, physics and chemistry; true geniuses and Einstein's, I called them.
When we got home, it was already past 7:30PM, I was already tired, sweating and starving. While my parents started making dinner right away, I head upstairs to my room to shower, change and clean my room as I had left it in a mess. Before dinner, Chris, Jaime, Anderson and I were able to have a video call for about an hour; talked about the days' events, how the tournaments went and he was quite impressed with how the badminton team was doing and was grateful for all the help I had put into helping the team especially with the selection of the new players. We briefly talked about our competitors especially Chicago Park High School and Chicago Alliance High School; he had heard about them and how they were quite fierce, but he was not worried as from the previous games and matches he had watched, he was pretty confident that we were going to bring home the victory, glory and trophies. Anderson had been doing quite well and was going to finish his first year with a very high GPA, including the fact that he got an internship job at an engineering/architectural firm in Chicago for the entire summer. He was too excited as we were, gave us a break down of the details and what job responsibilities he would be doing. Although he was not making any money, he was told that he would work as an intern for two summers and should he do a good job, he will be offered a part time position with a salary. He was not really keen on the pay as he had quite a lot of savings saved up in his account; back in the days when he was an elementary student, his parents would give him pocket money and since he didn't want to spend it, kept it in his piggy bank until grade 5 when he had to get a larger piggy bank to continue saving money while he was in middle school. When he was in middle school his allowance increased and was getting pretty much $100-$200 every two weeks, which he continued to save and then when he got to high school, the allowance increased between $300-$400 a month, so you can imagine by the time he completed high school, how much he had saved from elementary to middle school and to high school. I had to commend him for his budgeting and saving skills, in retrospect Anderson was never much of a spender, not to say he was stingy either, but his principle was 'understanding the differences between a need and a want,' that is what saved him from spending and misusing of money. This would explain how he was able to buy me the fancy birthday gifts, the roses, the Italian dinner and his ticket back to Chicago. He truly showed diligence, commitment and effort in learning how to be responsible and an independent student. Even in Boston University, he still maintains his commitment, determination of his saving money strategy, all the while as he continues to receive monthly allowance from his parents.
There had been a lot I had learned from Chris, Jaime and Anderson which would explain how our friendship and relationship has continued to last for so many years. Being a girl hanging out with three boys' can feel overwhelming as you feel it is imperative to be able to keep up with them and their statuses, lifestyle, their ambitions, and everything else that involves their lives; almost like keeping up with the 'Jones'. However, with Chris, Jaime and Anderson, I have never had to feel different, weird or strange around them, rather I have felt special, cared for, appreciated, supported, encouraged and loved. There has never been a time when they ever treated me different because of my race, gender and status; they all treated me the same, treated each other the same, shared everything together, cried, joked and laughed in pretty much everything. The respect that I had and still have from these three boys', and the respect they have for me, has gone beyond just being friends but a family.
After our video call it was already almost 11 PM which meant bedtime, I did have dinner earlier on while was on the video call, we somehow had so much energy to talk for more than two hours which was so cool and funny. Tomorrow being Thursday was a day to spend at school practicing and recuperating while preparing for the finals on Friday and Saturday. At around 10AM, all teams got together in the school cafeteria for a meeting; it had been the first time for me meeting a lot of the players especially from the volleyball, swimming and soccer teams. I had seen them in school but never really had any exchanges or conversations with them; found out a lot of them were from grade 9, grade 10 and grade 11, and from grade 12. It was actually quite good meeting them, even took pictures, apparently they had heard about me through the archery and badminton teammates, and also from some of my classmates and also the fact that I was dating Anderson. During school days when we passed each other in the corridors it was just a wave or a nod and moved along, never did I think we would be seating together in the same school cafeteria talking laughing and taking pictures with each other, better yet connecting on Face Book and Instagram, was really hilarious, and all of this happening in my senior year, my last year at Chicago High School!!