Jolly Holidays

Being back at the Huckleberry dorm was a breath of fresh air for Faith. She was glad to be away from the toxic life of her university campus. She swore to herself to make the best out of the two weeks vacation she got.

Faith bolted out of the taxi almost forgetting to pay the driver and take her luggage out of the trunk. Once she passed the gates into the compound of the Huckleberry dorm, Faith abandoned her luggage in the compound. Getting rid of that weight meant she could see her friends sooner. She ran into the common room and after scanning the room with no sight of anyone from room 5, she went upstairs heading straight to the room. The room was just like she remembered it. The bunk beds, the messy floor and the maroon curtains.

A lot of her roommates were out attending to personal business. She could only count 4 or 5 heads and Sarah was not one of them. She went to Sarah's bed. If putting a blanket over herself was Sarah's attempt at hiding, it was a very bad one. Except she was not hiding. This was Sarah's reading ritual. Faith pulled the blanket off and smiled. Sarah had no reaction on seeing Faith.

"What book are you reading?" Faith squatted to see the book cover."

"Oh! Storm over Paradise. I've read that. The main character is infuriating"

Sarah still gave no reaction. Sarah was mad that Faith only called her five times for the 3-4 months she was away at school. Faith realized Sarah was not happy with her and made an effort to console her. Sarah had too soft of a heart and soon she was over it. Instead, her ears were itching to hear about the drama at Birchmount University. Faith told her everything, intentionally omitting the hate she had faced from a part of the school's population. By the time Faith finished her story, her audience grew from one to six.

"I am tired, I need a nap" Faith said and closed off her story with a yawn. That was okay because there was also another University student in room 5 who just arrived and so the audience shifted their attention to him.

The one thing everyone at Huckleberry was looking forward to that December was Cher's inter house competitions. Each travel house in Cher would take part in various competitions and the winners of each would represent Cher in the Zelia global traveller's inter nations competition. Each dorm in Cher wanted to produce the most representatives for Cher at the global competition to be held in June 1985. Before the Cher national inter house competitions, Huckleberry dorm had some domestic competitions to choose representatives to compete in each game.

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It was the day of the inter house competitions and Huckleberry dorm was hosting the other four dorms of Cher because it was more spacious and had a lot of facilities , thus more capable of holding events for a large crowd. Huckleberry was expecting to receive a total of an additional 960 travellers. With the inclusion of residents of Huckleberry and staff from all dorms, that day, Huckleberry was to house about 1260 people. Despite, the huge building , spacious compound and backyard, Huckleberry would look too small to accommodate such a crowd to the average non-traveller's eye. But there was more to Huckleberry that meets the eye- literally. The common room on the ground floor led to a hallway that was out of bounds to travellers on a regular day. There you could find an elevator that looked rather normal. That elevator led to a whole new world, a magnificent world beyond belief. It was almost a whole mini city. It was known by residents of Huckleberry as Boraland. It was a name made popular by a former resident of Huckleberry. He was a foreigner to Cher and bora meant purple in his mother tongue. He named it Boraland because it had a purple theme. Boraland had everything. It had a theatre, a stadium, a theme park and more. That was where the inter house competitions were to be held.

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Before the arrival of travellers from the Grace dorm, Pinewood dorm, Centennial dorm and Mulberry dorm , the staff led Huckleberry residents to Boraland. The Huckleberry travellers waited for those from the other dorms in the theatre where there was going to be an initial assembly before the games started. They naturally sat according to their rooms.

Soon the travellers from the other dorms started to arrive. When they were all there, the program started. There were some encouraging words from the organizers and authorities and soon the crowd was dispersed for the commencement of the games. The games were happening all over Boraland. Travellers could go and witness whatever games they were interested in. There were various competitions like archery, swimming, wrestling, football, basketball, spelling bee and more.

Sarah was to partake in the girl's basketball competition but that only started some hours later. The boys basketball game was on. The winners of the basketball game the previous year were given a privilege. They didn't have to play the first rounds. The previous year, Grace dorm won the boys' basketball competition. Pinewood was matched against Mulberry and Centennial against Huckleberry for the first round. The losers were to play against each other for 4th and 5th position and the winners were to play against each other for a chance to play against Grace for the trophy. The first rounds of matches were happening simultaneously on different courts. Sarah and Faith went to see the Centennial and Huckleberry game.

There were three other people from room 5 that were representing Huckleberry in other games. Namjoon was one of the candidates for Huckleberry in the Spelling Bee competition. Angela was taking part in archery and Samuel was competing in swimming. The competitions that drew most attention were football, horse racing and basketball.

Peter did not want to be at Boraland. He hadn't been himself for months. While people were out to watch the various competitions, he stayed in the theatre. Madam Eunice went up to him to check on him. He told her he was feeling sick. So she gave him a special exemption to go back to the room. Once he stepped out of the elevator, it was eerily quiet. No one was in the main building and that was very odd. Of course this was because everyone was at the games. Peter felt scared. He was scared to go up the stairs alone. He reminded himself that he lived during a war and the last thing he should be afraid of was a quiet building. This gave him the courage to get to room 5. As soon as he got to his bed, he buried himself in the sheets.

Huckleberry won the boys' basketball game against Centennial and was up against Pinewood for the next round. Faith and Sarah went to grab some pop corn and soda before that match began because they were hungry. When they got back the match had already started. Faith thought she saw a familiar face on the court. She scanned the yellow shirts of the Pinewood players and even borrowed Sarah's glasses for a good view.

"Olabanji!" Faith said a little too loudly. Heads turned to look at her seemingly judging her for interrupting their concentration.

Olabanji was on the basket ball team at Birchmount University. His name was a mouthful for the people of Cher so he went by Ola or Banji on campus. It never crossed her mind that some of the students at school could be travellers. She hanged out with the basket ball team on campus a lot so they were already friends. She was so excited to meet him after the match. She was excited that she had someone who shared her secret on campus. She was curious about what year he travelled from and what year he arrived. Huckleberry lost the match but Faith was all smiles. Pinewood played against Grace and the former won.

It was announced that the girls' basketball match was happening soon and players should head to the locker rooms. Faith did not have to go change immediately because Huckleberry was the winner for the previous year's competition. They were exempted from the first rounds of matches. However, she left Sarah with no word and ran to get changed. Faith hesitated to go into the locker room assigned to Huckleberry girls. She walked down the hall scanning the doors until she came to one with a sign, "PINEWOOD BOYS." She stood there for a while hoping to see Banji come out of there. After what felt like forever, the Pinewood boys came out of their locker room.

"Banji!" Faith called out.

"Faith, what are you doing here? You're a traveller? " He was excited to see her.

"Yes, I am at Huckleberry. I arrived in August 1984 from 2020. What about you?"

"I came from 2022. This is so exciting. I hope we become closer when we're back on campus." Banji replied.

"I am playing for Huckleberry in the girls' game so I came to get changed." Faith explained.

"Of course you are. I hope Huckleberry wins the girls' game so we can both represent Cher next year. Okay I gotta go. Would say add me on snapchat but it is 1984." Banji smiled at Faith.

"Lol." Faith said as she waved to Banji who was on his way to scold his teammates for teasing him because he was talking to a girl.

Huckleberry girls won the basketball competition. The dorm also won the horse race, spelling bee and eating competition.

Soon the games were over and the winners of each game were announced at the closing assembly. They were to represent Cher for the global competition in June 1985.

Faith borrowed a basketball from some boys in room 10 and practiced regularly for the rest of the two weeks she was at Huckleberry. While she was on campus the previous semester, Faith practiced with the boys for fun but now she planned on doing it with a goal in mind. A goal to be in shape for the June 1985 global games. At the beginning of the two week holiday, Faith dreaded going back to Birchmount but Olabanji was her new found hope.

After the national competition she spent her holidays doing fun activities with her roommates like having picnics and going to watch a movie. Soon the holidays were over and everybody was back to school or work.