INSIDE THE FOUR CORNERS (PART 1)

A LOUD bell rang in the four corners of our room, indicating that the last class for this morning is done. "I can finally eat lunch!" One of my classmates said. She even raised both of her arms, head looking at the ceiling of our room, which made her look like her wish from above was finally answered. They laughed at her.

Some of my classmates have already left our classroom. They could not even wait for our teacher to say goodbye and leave. They must be very hungry.

"Arya!" Brix called me after tapping me on the back. "Shall we have lunch first before going to the gym?" He asked me. We are both members of our school's taekwondo team. And every Tuesday and Thursday, we have afternoon training. Fortunately, it is automatic that when you are an athlete, you will be excused from your class for that day.

"Yes, it's still early, we still have time to eat. Will Sally join us for lunch?" I answered him. Sally is his girlfriend while they are both my childhood friends. I met them when my family and I moved to Metrogate Tagaytay Estates. I think we were in grade 3 at that time?

"Sally will just follow us. They haven't finished their practice yet. Their coach is tightening their training especially now that the tournament date is near. Fortunately, Sally is not being tortured by Coach Corpuz. " Brix told me. "I doubt that. I know Coach Corpuz has no mercy even for those who are good." I told him with the tone of 'as a matter of fact'. He laughed at what I have said. "Oh yeah! I remembered now! Sally said last year that Coach is going easy on her but her body says otherwise. If I remember it clearly, her body ached for the whole week." He said while laughing. That's when the memories came flashing. I laughed when I remembered it too. "Yeah, that was horrible. She can't even raise her both arms." He laughed at what I said. We always make sure that we make fun of each other.

"Is the date of the taekwondo and archery tournament the same?" I asked. I put the items on my table inside my bag before closing them. I took my wallet and cellphone. No one will use our room so it is okay to leave our belongings here. Also, there are no thieves here because almost all the students here are rich.

"Ah, no. The archery category comes first. The parade will be held in the morning. Then the archery tournament will start in the afternoon. And our game will be in the morning the next day." He informed me. I nodded as a response.

We walked out of the room. Our school is not big and the canteen is not far from our building. Maybe about a 5-minute walk before we reach the canteen. We walked side by side. Not minding the stares we get from our schoolmates. Since we are part of the team, almost everyone knows us. Our school has always been a champion in taekwondo and archery so there is always a tarpaulin hanging on every gate and even in our school gym where our faces are printed.

"Will Coach Roxas allow us to watch Sally's game?" He asked, wondering if the coach will let us. "I don't think so. Coach told me that we will still have training." I answered him. He stopped and faced me with a shocked expression on his face. He must have believed me since I am the team captain.

"Legit? I even promised Sally that I would watch her game!" He said annoyed while stomping his feet. I stopped myself from laughing. "You should have seen your face. It was priceless." I smirked. He glared at me. "You evil witch." He said. I just shrugged at what he said. I know that I am evil.

Brix and I started walking again. A few greeted us and Brix greets them in return. Brix has many friends while I am the opposite of him. I only consider Sally and Brix as my friends. I am quiet and they all know me as a woman who does not care about anyone.

When the two of us arrived at the canteen, the tables were almost full. "Brix! Arya!" Someone among the crowd shouted. I scanned the whole canteen to find the one who called us. I saw Ron, our class president, waving his hands while looking at us. He was with his friend whom I also often see with him.

"Sit there, no one is using that seat, this table is too much for us, anyway. Have you ordered your lunch yet?" He asked us. "Ah not yet ..." I answered but before I could finish what I was going to say, he cut me off. "I will treat you two with food. Wait here." He told us. He turned to his friends. "Hey guys, will you entertain my classmates? Don't bully them huh? They might beat all of you." He joked.

I shook my head while Brix and his friends laughed.

"So, how's taekwondo? Got any injuries?" One of Ron's friends asked. I and Brix chuckled. "What is an injury?" I joked. Brix laughs while Ron's friends cheered at what I said. "I guess that would answer your question." Brix jokingly said. "I invite you to watch our game. Our game is on September 25. Will you come? We will look for you." Brix invites Ron's friends.

"What's up on September 25?" Ron said. We did not notice that he had returned. He held the two trays of food with both hands. The tray contains three plates of rice, a dish of Adobong Manok, Menudo, Shanghai, and three bottles of mineral water. "Ah! Watch our game, huh? The South Cavite Sports Unit or SCSU will start on September 24. Players will first have a parade from Tagaytay Oval to the bypass road in Magallanes then they will return to the oval. The SCSU opening will be held there. " Brix explains.

"Ah so on September 25 is the contest proper?" Ron asked again. "Nope," I said emphasizing the p sound. "on the afternoon of September 24, some sports categories will compete. We will be able to play on the morning of September 25 because that's the time the gymnasium with mats will only be available. Gymnastics will use the gym first so the board has just decided that taekwondo will take place on September 25. " I answered his question. Ron nodded as if he understood what I said.

We all started eating. "How many districts are there in SCSU? Do you have many opponents?" One of Ron's friends asked. Brix stopped eating to answer. But before that, he first thought about how many districts we will compete within SCSU. "Ahm, I think eleven districts? That's what I remember from our past game. I just don't know now how many players per district we will play against." Some of them nod their head.

They continued talking as we ate while I just silently listened to them eating Ron's free lunch. Sometimes they include me in their conversations and I answer them when they ask me questions.

"Finally, I found you!" I heard Sally said from afar. I searched for her in the crowd and I saw her walking towards us. She hugged me and Brix as a greeting. She also noticed those with us at the table. "Hello, Ron!" She greeted our classroom president then she turned her attention to Ron's friends. "Hello, guys, I am Sally, Arya, and Brix's childhood friend." She introduced herself. They all talked, asking, and talking about trivial and random things while I continued eating. But while I was eating, I felt someone looking at me.

I caught Ron staring at me. "Do I have something on my face?" I asked him. His mouth went agape then he shook his head and gave me a small smile. "Nothing." Then resumed eating his meal. I frowned at him but because he busied himself eating his lunch, he wasn't able to see it.

"Babe, I'll just buy you lunch, okay? I'll be back." Said Brix. He stood up and left us all to buy at the counter. "So, how's the training? Brix said your coach is 'not' torturing you?" I asked. "Argh, yes! Now that you mentioned that, I'm annoyed again. We won't go to our class until we get 10 on the archery board." She complained. "Wait, are you also a member of the archery team?" A friend of Ron's asked. "Yep," Sally said emphasizing the p sound.

The guys cheered. "You are all athletic. That's great!" another one commented. Sally acted like she was about to cry. "I wish I am." I laughed at what she was doing.

"Don't mind her," Brix said from the back. He was holding a tray filled with foods, There was also a snack that was just enough for all of us. Sally glared at her boyfriend who just laughed at her. "Hey, you should finish your meal now. It's almost time." Ron said to his friends. They obeyed him and some even answered him, "Yes, master." Ron laughed. But after that, we all ate in peace.

The first bell for that afternoon echoed at the four corners of the canteen indicating that the first class for that afternoon will start any minute from now. Ron and his friends bid their goodbye. "So, we will go ahead now. Enjoy your lunch." Ron said smiling. Some of them waved their hands. Then from my peripheral vision, I saw Brix exchanging numbers with Ron's friends. "I'll text you all when I have someone to introduce, okay?" He joked. But knowing him, I know that's also true. Sally nudged him, giving him a warning look but the latter only raised his two fingers to form a peace sign. I can only shake my head at their craziness.

IT WAS HALF past one when we decided to finish our meals. I have been receiving text messages from my teammates that Coach Roxas is so furious because I and Brix are super late. And since I am the team captain, I know that he will scold me later because I forgot to have 'self-control' just like what he told me every time I made mistakes. "Clean up your mess," I instructed the two. When the three of us are done, we all stood up and left. "We'll be dead." I heard Brix said with a nonchalant voice. I chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. We're so dead." The three of us walked our way out of the canteen. We did not hurry walking because after all, we are late. We all took the time to chat while walking.

When we entered the gym, all eyes were on us. On the way here, Sally already went to the school ground where their practice is being held. "Coach is so mad." Someone from my team informed me. I only winked at her. From a distance, I heard coach Roxas faked a cough. "You two, 10 laps around the gym and 50 pushups." The coach said with conviction. "Here we go." I heard Brix whispered before he went to the boy's locker room. I bit my lip then walked the other way to go to the girl's locker room.

After tidying myself up, I waited for Brix to finish whatever he is doing inside their locker room. We will do the punishment together just like before because it is way more entertaining to do the punishment when you are with someone, you won't get bored. "I'm done!" Brix said while half running to where I am. "What took you so long?" I asked. He raised both of his hands as if to surrender. "Chill!" He joked. I rolled my eyes at him then began stretching. After 5 minutes of warming up, we started running around the gym to finish or punishment.

What a nice way to start your training, eh?

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