Protecting John (earlier: Bad Boy Needs Protection)

CHaPTeR THiRTY oNe

Dark clouds loomed on us as the five of us stood in the open field, staring at the long track ahead of us. The air lay still, the humidity creating a thick atmosphere of tension. John and I waited at the pseudo starting line, waiting for the others to reach the other end of the field, at the end point. My fingers twitched, waiting to let out some energy. I looked at John to see that he had also assumed a stance, just waiting for their signal.

Grayson, John and Jules had reached the other end of the field, fenced by a long chain of trees. Jules pulled out the popper Grayson and I had bought from the store earlier and raised it in the air. Noticing the cue, John and I assumed our positions, ready to start at any moment. Daniel started counting to three on his fingers, counting down loudly which surely, didn't reach our ears and immediately, Jules pulled the string of the popper and the confetti shot out. Adrenaline shot throughout my system and my legs started running, propelling me forward. I didn't let myself get distracted by anything and kept running forward, the red ribbon hold taught by Grayson and Daniel the only target. All these years of running everyday without fail came into good use today and I could see the finish line running towards me.

Suddenly, I heard loud thumping of footsteps behind me, too close to my liking and I whipped my head backwards, and shockingly, saw John just a few inches behind me, a smirk on his face and determination in his eyes. My legs started moving faster and I ran like my life depended on it. Seconds ticked by and soon, I reached the ribbon. A sense of joy ran throughout me and I jumped towards Jules, laughing with exhilaration, only to see her focused on the scene unfolding behind my back. I turned around to see John smirking at me like a proud winner and he was not even out of breath!

Umm..what happened here?

As if reading my mind, Grayson stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Q and John tied in the first round of competition, so we will be now moving into the second part of the competition which will be physical combat between the two.

"Oh my God! How is that even possible?" Mini Q was frantic,  ready to strangle John to death.

"Guess I'm not as bad as you think, Bumblebee." Joehn whispered into my ear and walked past me to where Grayson had arranged for the fight. The hair on the back of my neck stood up in irritation. How dare he.

"Bumblebee?" Jules asked him.

"Oh yeah, you have a bee on your back." he said nonchalantly and turned around to walk away.

Jules shrieked in horror and jumped up and down, demanding me to turn around. I sighed, knowing that he was just lying and was doing that on purpose, hoping to distract me.

"Calm down Jules! He was just joking!" I grabbed her shoulders to steady her and looked at her firmly.

"Let me at least check..." she said with her puppy eyes. "Puppy eyes? More like Hippo eyes"

I turned around for her sake and waited her to finish her inspection of my back and my hair. I had to remove my ponytail and shake my hair, just so that she could be satisfied that the bee wasn't hiding in my hair.

"Okay. You're good to go." she said and gave me back my hair tie. I took it from her and collected all my hair to put them in a high pony tail. Just as I was about to finish tying it, the hair tie snapped and all my hair fell messily around my hair.

"Perfect!" I groaned out in anger. Why did this happen to me in the worst possible situations? I trusted this particular hair tie for the last four months and out of all the days, today she decided to betray me.

"Do you have anything to tie my hair with Jules?"

"Don't look  at me like that! I never tie my hair! I couldn't even I wanted to! It's too short!"   She exclaimed.