On the Board

On the board, it projected that there were two minutes left on the clock before the games started. She assumed that the minutes that were ticking down were the warm-up time.

It wasn't long before the first two teams got in position to face off. 

She did recognize some people down there as the guys down on the field ran to their positions to start.

A referee rolled a ball over to the people in the center which seemed to be Rowan on one side and Samuel on the other side who got his colored band for his team on his head like a wicked headband. 

Alice laughed lightly to herself as the guys in the center squared off, speaking to each other with some banter. To her left was a team with red bands and to her right was a team that had golden yellow bands. 

It would seem that Alice would have to wait a while for her homeroom team to come out after Berlyn handed her a sheet that had all the names and placements on it. They were sixth on the list, and it would take a while to get through all of the games. 

The brackets that led to the final two face off were going to take some time if it got down to it, and Alice read the words on the back carefully wondering who printed it off since there were some random errors on it which made her realize that the little tournament that they had arranged really was rushed to be put together.

Each timing set was thirty minutes in total, but they were playing halves meaning that it was fifteen minutes up on the board and ready to go down when the referee called it time to start playing. 

Alice flipped the paper back over and read to see which teams were put together. The better teams were put against each other while the others were put against one another. It was pretty fair, to say the least since there were going to be two winners. One winner in the upper bracket, and one in the lower.

The first-round games would determine which bracket the teams would later play on with there being a chance for one team to be able to get bumped up, and one team having to be pushed down. Either way, Alice was looking forward to it since she did find it interesting to watch rather than play it herself despite not being that interested in sports.

Her homeroom team was towards the last of the first round. Alice leaned over to Berlyn's ear since people were beginning to get rowdy as they cheered on for their teams. Berlyn shifted over to try and hear Alice better before eventually coming to sit down on her left-hand side.

"Do you know when it'll end?" Alice asked.

"We should be done in about three hours," Berlyn answered.

Alice nodded. "That's not too bad considering how many teams that we have to go through. Are you cheering for the red team?"

Berlyn grinned. "Well, of course. It's to keep the pride of our class considering that Rowan is on our team."

Claudia leaned over to join the conversation. "I honestly think that our team has a chance of winning, Alice."

Alice clapped her hands together excitedly. "Yes, well, I hope so considering that we have energetic people playing from what I can see from the bench."

"Talking about Rowan again I see?" Sophia interjected. 

"We're not," Claudia answered as she rolled her eyes. "What is the prize for the winner?"

Berlyn grinned. "Look at how hard Claudia is trying to change the subject."

Claudia slid Berlyn a false smile, and Alice pattered Claudia's arm since she got it. Claudia didn't really like to talk about Rowan since she got iced out one time. Not that truly mattered according to Claudia since she couldn't care less. 

Alice didn't get all of the backstory, but she assumed that it wasn't any bad blood considering that Claudia was an extremely welcoming person to everyone that crossed her path, so she wondered if there was anything she wanted to dig a bit deeper and ask Claudia.

But Alice didn't want to do anything that Claudia didn't want, so it truly wasn't any of her business to enquire about it if it was only going to bring more distress upon her. Alice would have to ask Noah to get a better scope of Rowan. 

Alice laughed lightly to try and mull over the situation. "If anything, she is just trying not to fume any flames."

Claudia rolled her eyes. "I have to admit that the red team may have an advantage."

Berlyn grinned. "Well, of course. Rowan's a nice guy if you get to talk with him."

"If, stressing the if, if you get close enough to even speak with him," Claudia said sarcastically. 

"Well, he's grown on a lot of people," Carissa leaned over. "He has been getting tons of love letters from the day that he's been here."

Berlyn shrugged. "I think he's fine. I worked with him for one project, and he's an amiable person to get along with."

"He's good friends with Noah," Alice slowly mentioned since she didn't want to slander Rowan too much without not knowing much about him. "Take that information however you see it."

Claudia squeezed Alice's shoulder telling her that she got what Alice was putting down, and Alice slipped an arm around her best friend's waist to say that it was okay. For moments like these, she was truly grateful that she and Claudia could exchange messages without even doing much. 

She respected Claudia with everything that she had inside of her, and she only wanted the best for her. Alice could see everyone start to get antsy as the timer ticked down closer to the beginning of what was to come, and the players on the field had their game face on ready to go.