Games of the Heart

Points of Three

Eliza took in a deep, happy breath and let the air out slowly.

Then she smiled.

After two weeks of preparation, today was finally the first day of St. Anne’s Academy’s High School Intramurals.

The opening ceremony had just ended with the performances of the different grades for the cheerdance competition and the crowning of the Mister and Miss Intramurals, and the students were either going to their scheduled games or putting the finishing touches of their booths. Students who not were going to participate in games and performances were tasked to man the booths so that the others could focus on the games and on winning.

The awarding of the cheerdance competition would commence on the closing ceremony. Their candidate for Miss Intramurals only got 2nd place while Daniel won Mister Intramurals. Alex had groaned as soon as the host declared Daniel as the winner. It was going to be near impossible to stand him now, Alex had told her, because he was sure Daniel was going to brag about this for weeks or worse, months to come.

Looking around the campus, Eliza saw how all the preparations went well. The different colorful booths and stalls lined the paths and students wearing their costumes and grade jerseys milled around, chatting happily with each other.

A rush of excitement filled her as she looked around. It was going to be a fun day today. Also, she was delighted about the intramurals because it meant no classes and no studying, only play. And though she, as class president, had almost exhausted herself preparing for this week, she felt that all her sacrifices were worth it as long as she had a week off of using her brain.

Eliza took in another deep breath again.

Then she shouted, “Don’t forget to visit our pastry stall! It’s just on the corner over there. Please try our baked goods.”

As she shouted, she gave out fliers to their class’s stall to the passing people. She was wearing a cute pastry chef dress costume as she worked and though she was embarrassed about what she was doing and wearing, she braved on. After all, the intramurals was worth the pain of humiliation.

As predicted, it took almost the entire morning for her class to agree on an idea for the booth. But in the end, everyone collectively agreed on a pastry stall where they would sell baked goods such as donuts, cakes and cupcakes.

“We’re selling delicious pastries and milkshakes at affordable prices!” she kept shouting. “Please come!”

“Working hard, Liz?” Alex said as he walked up to her. He was wearing the Grade 11 jersey because he was participating in the games. “You look cute in that dress, by the way.”

She sighed and tucked the fliers under her arm. “I would rather be selling the goods than doing this right now actually.”

“But that would be unfair. You baked most of the goods you’re selling today right? At least you’ll have lots of free time by doing this.”

“Well,” she thought about it. “That’s also true. How’s your class’s photo booth?”

“Not doing as good as your pastry stall.” He looked around. “Where’s Anthony anyway?”

She frowned. “He snuck off again.”

“He’s supposed to do the restocks right?”

“He said he’s not doing the grunt work before he disappeared.”

Alex chuckled. “That’s so like him.”

“Our grade’s cheerleaders were amazing, right?” Eliza couldn’t help but tease him. “I’m sure they’re going to win this year.”

His brows shot up to his hairline. “Of course they will,” he said slowly.

“Franceska looked really cute in her cheerleader uni—“

“And this is my cue to leave.” Alex reached up and rumpled her hair. “I have to go practice basketball for a bit before the 100 meter dash.”

She laughed and patted her hair down. “Go beat Adam’s team. I heard he’s been talking trash about our grade.”

“Yeah, I’m definitely going to kick that punk’s ass. See you later, Eliza.”

They parted ways and she immediately went back to work mode. Someone tapped her shoulder, asking for directions and she answered helpfully. Since the school intramurals was an openhouse event, almost half of the town’s population had come and a lot were unsure of the campus layout.

“Can we have a photo with you?”

Eliza turned. Then she unconsciously took a step back. A group of 5 boys stood in front of her with smirks on their faces.

She bit her bottom lip. She got this type of unwanted attention all morning. Though it was uncomfortable, she tried to accommodate most of the requests for pictures but she hesitated this time. She didn’t like the looks on their faces as they stared at her.

“The cosplayers booth is over there,” a low, familiar voice spoke behind her. “They can take pictures with you for a price. You can even wear costumes.”

The boys lost their smiles and their gazes hardened as they looked over her head. Then they looked at each other, shrugged and left.

Eliza was reluctant to turn, knowing who the owner of the voice was. Still, it would be rude not to express her gratitude.

“Thanks, Marco,” she said as she turned, not quite meeting his eyes. “But don’t you have practice with Alex right now?”

He was a silent for a few moments before replying. “I was getting some stuff from the classroom.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Eliza, are you avoiding me—?”

She didn’t let him finish. Spotting Anthony in the crowd, she shouted,” Anthony! Where have you been? I’m sorry Marco. I need to talk to him. Anthony!”

Saying that, she left him, weaving through the crowd to find Anthony again.

She was avoiding him, she knew. Ever since Sheila and the other girls confronted her in the girl’s toilet, she had avoided him like the plague. It was easy to do as she needed to prepare for the school intramurals and was in constant meetings with the Class B and C presidents who were nice to her. So for the past week, she did.

But soon, Alex and Anthony noticed how she shied away from Marco and made up excuses not to talk or hang out with him.

And Marco, he would have to be an i***t not to realize the same since they sat next to each other but Eliza was holding her breath on that.

She found Anthony by the trees. She sprinted to him and latched on his arm.

“Where have you been?” she gasped out.

**********

Anthony hated the school intramurals with the passion of a thousand burning suns, no, a million burning suns.

Encouragement of camaraderie?

Sportsmanship?

Promotion of school spirit?

Bullshit. Pure bullshit. He’d rather live without those things.

Anthony hated being forced to enter sport competitions because one, he hated to get hot and sweaty and two, he didn’t like being forced to cooperate with other people who always do things half-assed. And he definitely hated being made to do the grunt work because people thought so low of him and thought he was easy.

So he escaped. Eliza was class president anyway and he was betting on her not to tell the teachers and making up some lame excuse for him. Not that they’d believe her though. Still, it was worth a try. 

He was walking around the campus, evading the people from his class, wasting time until he was free to go home. He had bought a fruit shake from a Grade 7 stall and was sucking on the straw while he listened to music from his headphones. The games had long started and he had just seen their volleyball team lose to the Grade 10 team. The jeers that followed were quite hilarious to hear.

Anthony was having fun people-watching on his own when Eliza suddenly appeared, clutching onto his arm for dear life. And he did not welcome the intrusion of what could have been a peaceful day at all.

She was saying something he could not hear. He pulled down his headphones.

“Where have you been?” she asked again.

He clenched his jaw and glanced over her head. Marco was looking at them with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he shrugged at Anthony and walked away.

Not this s**t again.

“Okay, nuthead.” He looked down at the girl still holding on his arm. “What’s with all the mission impossible around Marco Dy?”

“What do you mean?” she asked in a deceptively innocent tone.

The quickness in which she responded indicated to him that he exactly got it right. He sighed and removed her grip from his arm.

“You know I really don’t give a damn about what you do or what you don’t do but you always have to involve me.”

Her brows drew together. “Involve you? I don’t—“

He didn’t let her finish. “Last Monday, the rich kid tried to talk to you during the break but you suddenly came running to my table, talking about some Korean drama you watched the night before. Do I look like I watch Korean dramas?”

“That was once! I—“

“Thursday, rich kid wanted to join us for lunch. You suddenly grabbed me and said you need to get some s**t from Mrs. Honoridez and that you need my help before you made your escape by dragging me along.”

“But I really need help! And stop calling him rich kid.”

“Mrs. Honoridez wasn’t even expecting you to come during lunch break.”

“I wanted to get it done.”

Anthony itched to shout at her. He growled instead.

“You were avoiding him and you know it,” he muttered darkly. “Why else would you reject his offer to use his car to help you transport your stuff to school?”

She looked like she would still deny the same so he added, “You really are not a good liar, Rosa, so you might as well give up now.”

Eliza gave him a disgruntled look.

Then she said, “Fine. I’m avoiding him.

He nodded. “Good. Then, goodbye.”

“Wait!” She grabbed his arm again and he let out an annoyed sigh. “Aren’t you going to ask me why?”

“Like I said, I really don’t care. And it’s obvious what the reason is.”

She lifted her brows. “What then?”

“Chicken legs got to you, didn’t she?”

Pursing her lips, she let go of him. “No,” she denied lamely.

He gave her a wry look. “You are such a bad liar,” he shook his head, “And you should start standing up for yourself because you’re starting to look pathetic.”

Hurt crossed her features. “I’m not pathetic. I promised Alex I’d stay out of trouble,” she reasoned.

“Ah, so Marco Dy is trouble then?”

She looked startled, like the thought never occurred to her. Why it never occurred to her was beyond him. She should have realized Marco was trouble since the day he stepped into North High Academy. A pretty boy like that? Trouble. Good thing she came to her senses.

“He’s not trouble. He’s a friend,” she finally answered.

He snorted. “Some friend you are.”

Putting his headphones back on, Alex left her alone with her fliers.

**********

Alex ran as fast as he could when the pop of the starting gun went off.

All thought of anything but winning was placed on hold.

One by one, his other competitors fell behind him until a student from Grade 12 was left running almost next to him. But Alex escalated his pace at the last few meters and pulled away. In a final spurt, he raced on and broke through the finish line, claiming first.

The people from his grade quickly surrounded him, cheering and patting his back for a job well done.

“We won! We won! In your faces, Grade 12!”

“You were so amazing, Fernandez! You were so fast the others didn’t stand a chance!”

“Congratulations!”

Ah, he thought as he thanked his friends, feeling extremely proud of himself. This was why he liked winning.

Alex loved the school intramurals. It was one of the most exciting sports events in his life and he liked competing in various sports aside from basketball. He liked winning for his grade too and liked to cheer for his non-varsity friends who were given a chance to showcase their talents and skills.

Daniel always teased him for being sports crazy and for being obsessed about winning. Because although Daniel competed for their grade as well, he wasn’t serious about it like Alex was and played for fun instead.

“Are you finished with the chess tournament?” he asked Marco when the other guy approached him with a sports drink in hand as soon as the crowd of congratulators went away.

“Yeah. I won,” he answered tonelessly, handing him the bottle.

“You don’t look happy. Were they too easy?” Alex teased him.

Marco immediately shook his head. “No way. I had to face Adam in the first round. He was tough to beat.”

“I bet he wasn’t happy.”

“Yeah, he promised to make me eat dust for our scheduled basketball game against them for his humiliation. Should I be worried?”

“Nah.” Alex took a long pull from the bottle. “He’s just too competitive and hates losing.”

“Like you?”

He grinned and let his gaze wander around. “Yeah,” he answered without an ounce of shame. “Like me.”

Eliza had been among the crowd, cheering for him before the race began. She had disappeared however and had not come to congratulate him.

“She’s not here anymore,” Marco told him, reading his mind correctly. “She went away when I came to you.”

His expression gave no sign that he was affected by the view. Still, Alex knew him quite a while now to know that he didn’t like this fact at all.

“I guess she had something important to do,” he replied slowly.

Marco sighed and turned his head to the side. “She’s avoiding me, right?”

Alex almost flinched.

“She’s not avoiding you,” he told him, patting his shoulder. “She’s just… busy with president duties.”

“I know when I’m avoided,” he muttered. “But if you say so.”

Now that made him feel guilty.

Eliza was indeed avoiding him for some reason. It started the day after the meeting about the school intramurals. She wouldn’t even talk about him, always changing the discussion whenever his name came up so he couldn’t ask her about this change in her behavior.

He had an idea about the possible reason though. And the thought that it might have come to that again sickened him. So he thought it was best not to ask her instead and protect her.

Still, he felt bad for Marco. But his best friend came first. Always.

“Let’s just go practice basketball in the gym,” he suggested. “We’re up against the Grade 9 team tomorrow morning.”

Marco looked at him and nodded. “Sure. I heard some of our cheerleaders are still in the gym practicing for the popjazz competition. We can go after them. I’m sure watching them will fire you up.”

Alex didn’t miss the teasing tone in his voice or the mischievous sparkle that came into his eyes.

“Alright,” he deadpanned. “Who told you?”

Marco gave him a faint smile. “Daniel.”

That loudmouthed, son of a—

“You’re spilling your drink.”

He looked at his hand. He had unknowing gripped the bottle too tight that it crumpled.

“Wow. I didn’t know you had such a powerful grip.” Marco seemed impressed.

Alex took a deep breath.

Then on the exhale, he said, “I’m going to kill Daniel.”

Marco burst into chuckles. “Not until the intramurals is over. We still need him to win the basketball game tomorrow and—.”

“I’m going to break his legs!”

He burst out laughing. “Fine. Let’s go find him then.”