Chapter 98: Reaffirming my resolve

I was restless. I couldn't study, I couldn't rest and I couldn't even wait. 

Something was wrong with me.

Even lying on the bed, wasn't calming my heart. 

Beep!                   

It was almost four. I still had an hour before the matches would start. I checked my phone and all three of my matches were with unknown people. And the last one was with a transfer student. I didn't know him, and he never talked to me, in fact, he never even approached me. 

But frankly, it didn't matter that much. I was more focused on Marg. 'What am I doing? Should I really start another feud?' I didn't have an answer, so I just rolled around on the bed, aimlessly. 

With a sigh, I sat up. I didn't know Marg. I only thought of her as a friend till now. But I wanted to know more: I wanted more. Maybe all these feelings were fundamentally flawed and maybe they were nothing more than just superficial. But honestly, I wanted them to be genuine. I wanted them to not be flawed. 

And that's why I wanted to take responsibility. I was selfish, but I wanted everything. 

I stood up and grabbed my saber. 

"I'll come later to watch." All this time Merin was quiet but now, finally, he spoke up. 

But I was glad. 

"Kay." I went for the door and didn't look back. 

I was leaving a bit early, but it sure didn't stop me. 

***

As usual, it was sunny and there were all sorts of students out here today. Though technically it had only been three days, half of the matches would have been over by today. But strangely, it was probably just me who had all eight matches scheduled in just three days. The rest of the students still had matches left. 

It didn't take a lot of guesses on my part to know that someone pulled at least some kind of strings. But who? And why?

As I kept on walking I noticed a commotion on the field. 'But the matches aren't due for another hour.' I went closer to take a look. 

"You can't! Your leg hasn't even healed yet."

"Yes, but I-"

I heard two loud voices within the crowd. And as I knew one of them, as usual, I had a bad feeling. 

I kind of wanted to run away, but considering what I'd done to her, I had to see this through. 

So with a sigh, I just tapped the shoulder of one of the guys who was in front of me. He saw my face and moved to the side without a word. The guy in front of him turned to look at what was going on behind him and he did the same. Eventually, this became a chain reaction and I now had a path in front of me. I guess my villainous name came in handy after all. 

I went through the crowd and at the end of the human tunnel, a girl and a guy were in a heated word fight. There was a lot of yelling. 

I got the impression that I was the root cause, so naturally, I just kept quiet. But it didn't take them a minute longer to notice my presence and glare. 

I sighed, took a deep breath, and looked at the girl in the wheelchair. "Hey, Selene. I'm sorry. I should have gone to you first thing and apologize, but… things happened and I'm sorry." I tried to be as sincere as I could. 

The man didn't say a word. Rather he addressed the crowd behind us. "You lot, get outta here!"

"Aww, man!"

"Just when it was getting good."

Apparently, everyone in the crowd were having fun on their own. I really despised these kinds of people but there wasn't anything I could do about that. 

"It's okay. I just broke a femur." Selene didn't look me in the eye. I couldn't tell if she was mad or sad. Perhaps both?

I knelt on one leg and looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry. My cousin kind of dropped me in midair and I didn't know what I was even doing. I won't say I'll make up for this because I can't. But if you want anything done, I'll do that for you." I gulped. "You can even punish me if you want. But I'd appreciate it if you do that after let's say, this tournament."

The man by us sighed. "You should have done this that night, moron." With another sigh, he just walked on. I actually kind of recognized him. He was one of the guys who'd mocked me that day at the gym before my fight with Blaze. I guess he was a third-year senior.

But he was right. 

Selene sighed. "You're actually kind of cute in that outfit, you know which one I mean."

'Oh shit.' I knew where this was going and I did not like it, no sir!

Selene grinned knowingly. "You wanted to go out with me, right? Alright, I'll go out with you, but you'll have to wear that dress. I sure hope you haven't thrown it away, because in that case, I'll make you wear my clothes." Her smug look didn't waver.

"Why the hell do you still remember that!" And more importantly why the hell did she want to punish me like this? I was fine with a few broken bones, but seriously, just plain embarrassment? I really hated this life. "Besides, that dress was of dressing warmly, not for this kind of humid-"

Selene made some incomprehensible cute sounds I could only make out as giggles and stared at me. "Let's just say the way you proposed that day, was hilarious and very unforgettable. And I don't care if you were to drown in your own sweat. All in all that would be cuter. But rest assured, we'll be going to someplace cold." This girl had a very warped sense of cuteness. 

'You don't have to remind me!' I was kind of nervous and awkward that day. And not to mention that was the first day. And it wasn't even a proposal. I'd just messed up, nothing more and nothing less. "Fine, you've got yourself a deal." I really hated this, but I couldn't do anything about it. SO, I just accepted. 

She smiled. And though her smile was like an angel, she looked more like the devil. "It's settled then. You better go out with me first thing next month at the end of this tournament."

But I was glad she was willing to forgive me. After all, she probably broke her legs because of me. 

"So, what happened? Why were you two having an argument? You weren't trying to climb anything even with your legs like that, were you?" Because if she were, that was plain suicide. 

"What do you mean?" She stood up. "And no, that guy just wanted me resting for the rest of the week."

I was dumbfounded for a second. "What?"

"Oh, these bandages? Just minor injuries I got from volleyball last night. The Femur I broke got pretty much healed."

"Volleyball is played by hands!" I grinded my teeth. 

She showed me her tongue and winked. She giggled and sat down again. "Well, though things happened because of you that night. I actually wasn't that injured as there was a girl on the field who could use shadows. She kind of saved me: I still fractured a femur though. But since the deal's still struck, you better keep your word."

"You do realize I come from a family of villains, right?"

"You do realize you just gave me your word, right?" She fired back like she was almost singing. 

"Fine." I hissed and walked away. 

First, she giggled then she burst out laughing. Seriously, what was wrong with her?

And more importantly, how gullible was I? Yes!

***

With a thud, I sat on the bench. I still had about half an hour before the actual match, so all was cool. It was a bit hot today, and I was sweating. 

"Where's a palm tree, when you need one." I sighed. Lately, I wasn't reuniting with the palm all the time. 

Actually, now that I thought about it, was I missing those damn trees? 

Hell no. I shook my head to get the thought out. 

"Oh, look who we have here?" And I heard just the voice I didn't want to.

And following that, I got sandwiched. To my left, sat a guy with bags between his eyes and who was constantly yawning, and to my right, sat a girl who was busy chomping on her double-decker sandwich. Did she eat anything else at all? 

And did these two not get the concept of personal space? Definitely not. 

Apparently, I was sandwiched between Ariel and Dan. 

"I heard you were falling behind." Dan just looked ahead with sleepy eyes and yawned again. All his yawns were making me want to yawn too. "You okay?"

"I wasn't here yesterday. I think I'll make up for it today."

"Oh? Really?" Ariel took a big bite and half of her words came out weird. "But I must say, you have plenty of competition this year."

"Yeah." I hated to admit it, but Ariel was right. This year there were a lot of strong guys participating. "But I've already made up my mind to win. I won't let anyone or anything stand in my way." And more importantly, I first needed money to even think about taking responsibility of another human being. 

Ariel burst out laughing. "Listen to this guy, Dan." She proceeded to slap me on the back. This girl was kind of frail, I didn't even feel it. "Dan?"

We both looked to our left, nonplussed. 

The dude was asleep. 

Ariel sighed. "Well, I suppose I did keep him up last night."

"What?"

"Ooops." Ariel giggled and finished her sandwich. She cleared her throat. "You didn't hear anything." She winked and woke Dan. 

'Why the hell did you two even bother showing up?'

"Don't get carried away." Dan was being dragged like a wheel and yet, he was giving me advice. 

I didn't feel like responding, not one bit. But I guess they were just here to cheer me and motivate me. I didn't feel either though. 

But as I turned my attention away from them, something else caught my eyes: Marg. She'd arrived for her first match.