Memories

Diamonds - Jaxx

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit nervous today. Yesterday, my stomach was a twisted knot of insecurities and today it's only a bit better. With the private judging today, I have no idea what to expect. The topic yesterday was so hard. Who was insane enough to tell us to do glow in the dark? Over two hundred competitors passed out yesterday because of their idiotic choice. That's, like, five percent of the competitors. The medical staff was pretty good about it, giving the kids that passed out fluids and some ibuprofen, recording their names on a clipboard, and communicating with the judges to ensure they were scored. That's one big thing. If you pass out as a result of your build, you can choose to redo it since the builds should never cause someone to pass out. They also tend to dissolve as a result of passing out, which is why they would have to redo them. Only ten or so of them had to redo their builds last night, and were required to stay for another four hours to do just that. It's so hard doing the original build, let alone do it again because the first one caused you to pass out after only an hour.

"ID card, please," The volunteer drones, keeping a stale face. I can bet he's probably exhausted. Unlatching the card, he reads it and types my number into the tablet. "Find Matias Marks, group 17-6 volunteer, should be pretty close to the right wall with the 17-6 on a board." Clipping my badge back on, I head to where he was talking about and see the board with my group number on it.

"Jaxx Perry. You're the first one. Alright. Well, I'll give you guys the low-down once everyone is here. For now, you can do whatever. You don't even have to stay here. Just come back to check-in in a half hour." Okay, cool.

"Sounds good." I head over to 17-18, where Jayden is checking in with her volunteer.

"Come check-in at around nine-thirty." Jayden nods, before seeing me walking towards her.

"Alright, now, I saw a breakfast bar over there and I'm starving." You read my mind. Somehow, she has a bigger appetite than I do, piling her plate with every food available so it towers over mine. "What? You know I can down an entire eight stack of pancakes when I am given the chance." Okay, valid.

"It still never ceases to amaze me." I dig into my food at one of the many tables, before we start debating what the private judging will be. "I don't know. They're probably going to pick something super hard to do from one of the other elements. They never pick anything from the difficult Earth stuff. Or Air stuff. I mean, we could be told to make a cloud city or realistic crystals or something."

"As much as I agree with you, I want at least one of the themes to be balloons. That would be awesome." Okay, you're not wrong.

"Definitely. Especially if everything has to be 'balloons'." I imagine what I would even build if that were the topic, coming up with a million cool ideas.

"So, it's been a half hour. We should get going to our groups. I'll see you tonight. Dinner?" She checks her watch to say the one thing I've been dreading. I don't ever want to stop talking to her.

"Absolutely." Giving her one final hug, I make my way to my group, where seven other people are in front of Matias.

"Looks like we have two more people who haven't arrived yet, so I'll wait for those two to show up then start telling you guys about today's judging process." At least, I ate enough food to last until whenever lunch is. I can tell some of these people haven't eaten this morning and Matias definitely made it seem like no one can leave until he gives his speeches. "For anyone who hasn't eaten, go and grab some food, but be back in fifteen minutes." A few of them leave to get food, while the other five of us wonder what we can do for the next twenty minutes aside from playing on our phones. It's not the worst option, but none of us want to start a conversation with someone that we can't finish.