"Ba- Ace what  the hell?" I got between him and Nathan.

The word babe had almost slipped my lips. Recently, Ace and I have made the habit of calling each other babe when we were alone together. 

 Ace smirked at me, he looked as pissed as ever. Nathan studied the two of us for a bit, he gave me a small smile before heading away. 

"What was that?" I asked in a harsh whisper to Ace. 

"I was jealous, my body reacted naturally."

"Your body reacted naturally?" I mocked his words. 

I knew that there were people staring at the two of us but we weren't doing anything funny, our gestures may even suggest to them that we were fighting so I let them be. 

"Unlike other people who walk away when they get jealous, I normally step in the scene," he grinned. 

He was referring to me, he knew I got jealous of that girl, Lexina just now. 

"Maybe some people are just assuming that they walked away cause they were jealous," I rebutted but I knew it was not good enough. 

He looked at me amused before leaning in a little, "You better stop getting mushy and talky to other guys especially when I'm around, it makes me want to throw hands."

"It was not mushy," I almost yelled. 

"To me, it was. Anyway, good luck, babe," he emphasized the word babe. 

I tucked my tongue on my left inner cheek trying to suppress both annoyance and butterflies. He was so straight forward, it always catches me off of the guard.

My match against Beta begun, I was able to win though the game was much harder compared to the previous one. If it wasn't for my wits, I would not have been able to win. 

It was a talent to be able to play sports while calmy thinking about your next move. 

Right after the game, I felt the heavyweight on my hips, it was so sore I could barely stand so I sat down on the bench. 

Ace had already left since he had a game, I believe it was Table Tennis Doubles. 

I swiped through my phone and immediately messaged the group chat of the Iota executive committee. 

From Cana: Is everyone doing alright?

From Jaymie: Yes, Pres! Jorick was able to place first in Golf. 

From Tony: Aikido just ended, I got gold. 

From Javie: Sorry guys, I was only able to place second on swimming. 

From Cana: It's alright, keep up the good work. :")) How about Anne? 

From Javie: Anne's currently on her third lapse, she's in third place. 

Anne was competing in swimming as well, breaststroke. We weren't expecting much from her since that was not her sports at all. Still, we did hope for the best. Our swimmer, Jie An, had just graduated last year and there was no one to replace her. Anne was the only choice we had since she used to do diving when she was young. 

I had no more events for the day so I decided to roam around and check out how the rest of the players were doing in their own events. I was not able to keep track of all the winnings we had today, that was Jaymie's job, but I had a feeling that we were leading. 

I headed towards the indoor court where there were two simultaneous table tennis matches; Beta vs Iota and Kappa vs Zeta. This was probably the second match for all the houses, the fight for first place, and the fight for the third place. 

Like usual, Beta and Iota were the once fighting for the first place. 

I was cheering for Jeric, a fourth-year who was playing for the house of Iota but deep down inside I wanted to cheer for Ace too. 

The set was 2-1, Ace just needed to win one more set and he was the champion. 

He was perspiring like crazy but I still found him stunning. Normally, I would be mocking his looks but right now he looked so handsome. It makes me wonder how love can totally change your perspective of a person. 

Ace caught a glimpse of me before the fourth set began. He smiled in my direction and even gave me a wink before he served. It gave me butterflies. 

I covered my face with my hands, looking down, flustered. 

The game ended after that set, Ace was able to take it. He was immediately surrounded by his housemates. It made me feel annoyed again. 

I thought back to the time when Ace lost to Tony during a challenge, no one had even bothered to check up on him back then, what gave them the rights to cheer for him now? 

I sighed heavily but when he managed a quick look over at me, I gave him a smile. 

Right after smiling at him, I checked on my phone again. 

From Anne: I only got  third place, sorry :(

From Tony: That's alright!

From Cana: As long as you did your best :*)

From Tony: Let's meet up at the cafeteria after yall check your rounds.

I turned my phone off made my round at the court, field, and gym. We had our own duties to check on our house members and see if they were alright. There was nothing out of the blue so I was able to head towards the fourth-floor cafeteria quite quickly. Anne and Tony were still not there when I arrived. 

I quickly sat down on a chair by the glass wall. My hips and arm were burning, I guess the relief patches and the gel was starting to lose its effect now. I tried to stretch my arm slowly and twist my hips as well. 

After doing so, I leaned on the back of the chair and stared outside. It was only the first day of Sports Fest and I already felt so tired. Normally, the exhaustion would only come on day 3.  

Thud!

I heard a metallic sound hit the table. Ace had just passed by with Ceasar and he had placed a can of isotonic drink on the table. I smiled at the can before I took my phone from my pocket. 

To Ace: Thanks, babe.

From Ace:  You owe me a dollar. 

To Ace: As if you even paid for that. 

From Ace: Drink up and sleep early tonight. 

I was about to reply again when Anne arrived. She looked glum, her hair was still dripping wet. She had a towel around her neck and another small towel on her hand. She was wearing flip flops and a huge t-shirt, her swim attire beneath. 

She pouted at me before hugging me real tight. 

"I'm sorry," she sighed.

She was feeling so guilty about placing third. 

"Anne, it's not a big deal. It's just an event, you can always get back the points, you still have a few more events, right?" I patted her back. She was still frowning when she had let go of me and sat on the opposite side of the table. 

"Hmp! If only all of us have a secret boyfriend from another house to give us drinks," she rolled her eyes when she saw my drink. 

"Did you see Ace put it here?" I laughed. 

"No," she smirked and turned the drink. There was a small note sticking on it. 

Enjoy babe. 

I flushed when I saw the small note. 

"You'd cause us all the points we earn today if you get caught," she squinted her eyes at me. 

I stuck my tongue out, "You'd still love me anyway."

Tony joined us after so we had to drop the topic quickly. It was not like we were hiding it from him, we just both agreed not to talk about Ace and me that much when he was around. The topic may still be taboo for him.

A little while later Jaymie and Javie arrived as well. We had compiled all the points we earned for the day. We had also made a list of all the possible deductions and merits. 

Only the teachers were allowed to give deductions and merit to the houses. They had a list for those things, the list is never announced to the student but there were some that were obvious. 

Being late to an event, shouting, and cheering using foul languages san cause deductions. On the other hand, helping a teacher in need during these kinds of events added points to your house. There is still a lot more to it, we were just not sure about the rest. 

We had decided to hold this short meeting in the cafeteria because all of us were so hungry. During events like this, the executive committee barely has any time to eat and relax.

Everyone had individually ordered their food but I had asked Tony to buy mine as well. At this point, even standing was hard. All of them got back to the table quickly, there were only a few people in the cafeteria.

"Without deductions and merits, we would place second in the overall for Day 1," Jaymie flipped thought her notes and calculations. 

"Beta is leading by 10 points," she stated. 

Anne immediately frowned, "If only I placed at least second place, we would have been tied with Beta." 

Anne was still blaming herself. She was such a soft person, it was hard to get mad at her. 

"No, it isn't," I insisted and the rest agreed as well. 

After discussing the round we have to take for tomorrow, the rest of the executive committee and I headed back to our own dorms. The rest of the night was a blur to me, I even forgot to message Ace, I had fallen asleep.

~>.<~

A pang of pain from my hips was what woke me up the next day. 

Every movement sends electricity to my hips. It felt awful, moving felt horrible. 

I went straight to the shower and decided to have a long cold bath to numb myself from the pain. It felt better but I knew it was only going to be temporary. I had applied the relief gel and patches on it but it was not working as well as it did yesterday. 

The bruise on my arm no longer bothered me, it didn't hurt that much anymore. My hips were the problem. The volleyball matches were going to be held today and so is Capture the Flag. Two major games that would gain us a lot of points. 

I did a few yoga stretches to try and relieve myself from the pain but it was not helping at all so instead I took clean bandages and wrapped my hips tight. I wrapped it all the way to my stomach to numb the pain. After doing so, it felt way better. 

I couldn't feel anything on my hips but I could still move properly. 

Volleyball was an easy game for us. Ceasar was not playing for Beta today, I had no idea why, but it gave us a huge advantage. The win was easy. 

Right after the volleyball match, I did my rounds together with Anne and after that, I prepared myself for Capture the Flag. 

It was the last event for Day 2 so almost everyone was watching. The perimeter of the game was the lower forest behind Scion. The school would check on that area before the game begins so it was animal-free. 

Our team was huddled up, I was going through the best tactic I could come up with when I found Beta huddling as well. 

Ace was apart of the team. 

I was playing against Ace. 

How did I not know about this? 

My eyes suddenly widened when I realized that it was all planned by Anne and Tony. No wonder they kept on pushing me into this event, they wanted to pit me against Ace and see if he was going to let me win. 

The answer was obvious, of course, he wouldn't. That guy was too cocky and prideful. He was not the type to let someone win easily, especially not me. At the same time, I didn't want him to go easy on me too. 

I smiled when I realize I was going to enjoy this event. 

Wouldn't it is nice to rub it in his face if Iota wins - If I win against him?

Unlike the other events, this event was a clash between the four houses. The game was simple. Each house has a flag and a home base. The goal is to take the flag from another house and bring it back to their base without being shot by the color guns.  

Our plan was simple. We had three teams. One was in charge of taking care of the base, two were in charge of scouting, and three was for distraction. I was apart of team distraction, together with me were two seniors, Rickey and Mayward. 

It was my first time playing this game but I have watched it before. The only problem was there were always only two teams per house when there should be three. The distraction was a necessary thing, its goal was to get the attention of the other houses, thinking that they are the ones who are scouting. If they think that way, it would be easier for our scouts to find the flag of the other houses and bring it back to the base. 

The best house to target was Zeta. Most likely, both Zeta and Beta would target Kappa since they were the easier house to ransack so going there would result in a battlefield. The distraction group will be the one who goes to Kappa instead while the scouts can hunt for Zeta's flag. 

"Players, please pick your guns," Miss Randell announced. 

There were various types of guns, I had gone for a Baretta 93R. It was easy to carry and the colored bullet could go quite far. 

Miss Randel was about to ask us to go to our house bases when Ace grabbed me by the hand. 

He looked frustrated at me, "Your hip."

I looked down on my hip. I was wearing black leggings and a long-sleeved dry-fit. The bandage that I did on my hip was actually obvious, I didn't even realize it until now. 

"Bandaging that would only make it worst, blood won't be able to flow properly," a few people from Beta turned our way. 

"If I had not done this, I would not be able to play," I tried to explain. 

"Why do you even have to force yourself to play? Are your house members that useless? Can't they substitute you?" he asked through gritted teeth. 

Blood went straight to my head, did he just call my housemates useless?

"If you have something against me, don't drag my housemates in," I hissed. 

He clicked his tongue on his teeth, I could see both concern and frustration in his face. He looked like he was going to explode any second but he tried to keep it in. 

"You're hurting yourself, Vandia," he bit his lower lips and tried to hold onto my arm but I immediately pulled it off. I didn't want to risk other people to see such a thing.   

"We have to win this and I want to help," I tried to convenience him. 

"Please stop," he stared deeply into my eyes. 

"I don't wanna and nothing you say will make me stop," I  glowered.

Why can't he understand how much this event means to me? 

I was a house head, he was too, doesn't he sympathize with me? 

Won't he do everything he can to help his house? 

"Fuck this," he threw his rifle on the floor. 

"Beta quits, we won't participate in this event."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:"))