Pencils & Polaroids

34: mood board

For the next ten minutes, Archer prepares us for the game. We zero in on one aesthetic—Dark Academia. Sparrows take Cottage Core, Hawks take Goth, and Owls take Minimalistic. We're instructed to place our mood boards in boxes that are drawn behind the starting line. Once the whistle is blown, one person from each group rushes to the gigantic black pit placed on the other side of the field with scattered polaroids that are a picture-mix of aesthetics in a span of thirty seconds. There are some polaroids hanging from the tree branches and tree trunks, which we ultimately have to fetch and run back to our boxes. We then have to give it to the two of our other teammates who apparently will only be working on the mood board pasting the polaroids (not running at all). 

If we end up picking polaroids of aesthetics that belong to other teams, then the bunch of them will be stacked in a Standby Bin. Post the game, the number of extra polaroids is counted and the totality is multiplied by two. The resulting number will be subtracted from our total time. The whistle is going to be blown four times. Each time the whistle is blown, the runners get to run to the pit and collect pictures. 

The catch is that only two people can run from a team. The other two need to be sticking the Polaroids. The two people running have to go on alternate whistle blows. The same person cannot run on back-to-back blows.

Apart from all these rules, we were also supposed to discuss and submit the names of the two people running and two people sitting beforehand. The names once submitted could not be altered. 

Primarily because we spent half of our discussion time making Zach understand what Dark Academia is and then the difference between our aesthetic and Goth (and ended up failing), Rainer and I decided to go for the run.

Cut to now, Rainer is standing behind the starting line in position while Sadie and Zach are ready with glue and scissors. Grayson is running from the Sparrows (in spite of having Hannah, I'm shocked), Marcus from Hawks, and Dorian from the Owls.

Once the whistle blows, I'm surprised to see all four of them running in their tracks maintaining the same speed and thus, the same row. From the back view, they look like they're running in a line--uniform and mirrored. The uniformity is only until they reach the pit and then everyone gets scattered. I see Rainer is the quickest in hunting images. By the time of the siren, his hand is filled with pictures that almost overflow but he runs back without losing even one of it.

Sadie and Zach don't need supervision because they sort the pictures out and instantly begin sticking. We're the fastest in filling up the board and honestly, ours looks the best. I have to say, I am a bit impressed with how Rainer didn't pick up even one wrong Polaroid. All his picks were right and useful. 

I prepare for the second whistle and Rainer comes beside me. "Stack them up. It's easy and you can collect more." Duh, I majored in Polaroid cameras, I know that already. But I stifled my cockiness not to provoke another fight with him. "Check the edges and the corners. I got most of them there but they were all upside down. Don't look at others and don't get the wrong ones."

"Okay." I exhale and stare at the pit.

I held back comebacks--someone go add five points for me on that e-board!

Once the whistle is blown, I don't hear, see, or care about anyone else. I sprint to the pit and go directly for the corners. I've found the quickest five pictures and I'm about to pick the sixth one but a stronger hand smacks over mine, making me drop the entire stack I held. I follow the hand with fury until I'm looking at Jayden who leisurely gives me a wink.

"Can you ever get something done without bullying?" I scream and try to gather the Polaroids again but his hand comes stronger this time and he ends up scratching my arm to a degree where it instantly starts to bleed.