Chapter 22_ Pick a Team

I touched my bangs and brought them closer to cover my forehead. "Defense is the action of resisting attacks"I blurted out.

I didn't care anymore, if the teacher wanted

to embarrass me then he can. The least I would be called a loser and some students would try to bully me.

However, I would fight anyone who tries to

bully me, I can never be bullied. The kids

who get bullied, I believe they chose to get

bullied by choice.

I know no one would be happy about being

bullied but if you fought the bullies off at

first, that doesn't keep them from bullying

you but it would serve as a warning to them

that you were not an easy target.

"Very good Miss.Clarke!" Teacher Hunter's

voice brought me back to reality.

Did I just get a question correctly again?

The claps from my classmates gave

me my answer, wow I'm breaking records.

"Go to your seat" he told me and I walked

back to my seat with the girls.

"Teacher Hunter's girl" Mia teased me. I

was not surprised, I was waiting for her

comments.

"Looking at the teacher's appearance one

would think he would be into men but it

seems he is into younger girls," Mackenzie

said to my amazement. Oh, she's joining

Mia in teasing me too huh?

I stretched my neck at her "Even you?" My

eyes widened and they both laughed

silently to not draw the teacher's attention.

I rolled my eyes "He was picking on me, how is that related to being interested in me?" I stressed but they wouldn't listen as they

continued to tease me so l ignored them.

"There are different kinds of defense, there

is the defense against possession, defense

against demons, against your inner demon,

and defense against evil spirits. You will

also be taken on how to effectively use your

powers to fight off the bad guys during

missions, thank you. Class dismissed." he

finally called the class off.

The teacher gathered his books and walked

out of the class.

"Today's class took longer than usual," I

said to the girls.

"That is because we are having only a

class today and are expected to go with our

teams for preparation for the competition."

It was Bale, the boy who usually sits on

the seat beside ours that replied to me.

"Ohh, is that true?" I said absentmindedly

thoughts of the competition were already

on my mind.

"It is, what group are you girls going for?

He asked.

"I am going for the mind test group" Mackenzie announced.

Bale and his friends shook their heads

at us. I wonder why at first but then I later

got to know they thought we were ignorant.

"That is what I'm saying, you girls just come

to class and then back to your rooms. You

don't mingle or try to get familiar with the

school. You're new, you should be making

your findings on the school." Bale

stressed.

"Make findings? lt's not like we can go to

the net and search the school" Mia said

sarcastically.

"If we boys can do it then it's easier for you

girls. You can just hook up with the senior

boys and they provide you with important

pieces of information about the school. You

need to know more about the school

system to survive in it" Bale's friend

Devarn, added and they all started laughing.

Yeah, this is why we don't mingle with the

others. You people are ridiculous! I wanted

to say but I know I shouldn't.

"What is wrong with going for the mind

test group? " Mackenzie got impatient and

asked.

"People can lose their lives in the

competition, especially the mind test

competition. Some get swallowed up by the

evil spirits there, and some lose their

minds there. It is really scary" Devarn

almost shook in fear as he talked.

Wow, look at him talking as if he has been

there before! As if he has had any

experience with the mind test group before!

Smack!

Mackenzie slapped him on the back, this

lady!

"Stop spewing nonsense. Make sure you

gather facts before promoting the spread of

fake news." she scolded.

His friends laughed at him while he touched the spot where she had slapped

him " I'm telling you the truth!" he shouted.

"It's only the truth when I witness it

firsthand" the strong Mackenzie said.

I admired her courage and wished I had

such courage too. I was having thoughts of

entering the mind competition if only I was

18 but with the information Bale just

provided, I lost all hope as I always get

easily swayed.

"Whatever" Bale stood up and left with

his friends.

The class was getting fewer as some of the

other students were already leaving too.

"Guys, I finally decided. I'm going to join the

quiz team" Mia shrieked.

I and Mackenzie covered our ears, she was

making such a tiny loud shrieking sound.

"You do not need to shriek like a little girl

Mia" I scolded.

"Oh yeah, I'm a boy so I guess I'll shriek like

a boy. Hello young lady, stop acting

maturely. We are both under 18s " she

pouted.

Because we're under 18, we should be

stupid then. I wanted to shout at her but

decided not to. I do not know why l was

suddenly feeling frustrated.

For some reason, I wanted to join the mind

test group. I feel like I was born for it but I

knew I was being delusional.

"Which group are you joining?" Mackenzie

asked me.

I shrugged "I don't know yet" I didn't want to

tell them about how i was drawn to the

mind test team. They might laugh at me

and tell me to keep on dreaming.

"Let's move out, you can think of which

group to join along the way and if you do

not wish to join any group, you can just be

amongst the spectators. Lots of students

are not joining too" Mia said.

We took our bags and walked out of the

class.

We went to our lockers, the keys made

jingling sounds at us and each key went

flying to its owner.

We opened our lockers and dropped our

bags inside. There, we decided to part ways

Mia went away to locate the quiz team

while Mackenzie also went in search of the

mind test team base.

I thought it was a bad idea to allow

Mackenzie to join the mind group since she

didn't have a stable mind herself. But the confidence she had and the determination I saw in her eyes made me know it would be fruitless to try to talk her out of it.

Maybe she just planned on going to train

her mind more, maybe she did not plan on

entering the competition itself.

The hardest and most effective way of

training yourself is to face your fears, fight

and learn from them.

I walked aimlessly about, taking in the busy school view as it came.

I saw some groups outside and decided

to check them out. Turned out it was the

horse race group.

They were writing and busily recruiting new

members.

Two seniors were at the front seated on

chairs that have a table in front of them.

Some of my classmates and some seniors

were in a queue moving towards the

seniors who were registering them slowly.

There were various horses around, horses

of different colors. Big and small horses,

tall, thick, slim any body size, just name it!

They had a whole field of therm.

Maybe it was okay to move around with

horses in this dimension, it would be weird to

have so many horses in the dimension I

came from.

I wanted to move closer to one of the

horses since I was bored and alone, I

thought of playing with it when I saw the

seniors that wanted to bully us the other

day. The seniors Mackenzie had dealt with

coming towards the horses also. I stylishly

scurried away while using one of my hands

to cover my face.

Luckily, they didn't see me. I could not begin

to imagine the tragedy it would have been if

they caught me. There was no Mackenzie

here and Mia here, I was alone and weak.

Worst, other seniors were around. What

would I do when the seniors tell lies about

me and the other seniors decided to punish

me as a scapegoat for the other students?

The worst, annoying jerk passes by and

saw me getting punished then he would

laugh mockingly at me. I haven't seen him

laugh before but I vividly imagined how

annoying his mocking laugh would sound.

Arghhh.. It was all so annoying and fucked

up. I had so many lazy imaginations in my

head and I cannot shush them away. I increased my pace and I soon got out of

the field. I went back into the school

building and was hearing musical noises

and shouts of jubilations.

Was anyone holding a party in school?

Oh wow, definitely my thing. I got excited

and forgot all about the worried thoughts

was having and about the bad seniors and I

ran in direction of the music.