5 V: Achiever

It was Wednesday and we had this unexpected quiz during English class. Everyone was surprised as our adviser told us, well for me it wasn't since I know my English well. We then started the quiz, then our Adviser announced the Scores in front after her checking it.

"Ok, so for today's quiz we have 2 students who had perfect marks in their quiz."

I looked at Elisa as she bowed her head, as if she was praying. Well that's expected for our first honour. Our adviser then proceeded on announcing the names of the top scorers,

"First up is Mr. Manalo, and the other person who got perfect scores is..... Mr. Joshua Tolentino"

"What?!"

Elisa shouted at the top of her lungs as everybody in the room looked at her. She then slowly sat down, feeling embarrassed. I was also surprised that it was Joshua who got a perfect score. The same as me, Joshua looked at my direction as he nodded his head looking all cool.

"Next up is Ms. Elisa Monterosa with a score of 48/50."

Then she said the scores one by one. Kris had 43, and Patrick had 36 while John only had 30. After the bell rang we head out to grab some snacks and then stayed at the quadrangle. We talked about how well we've been doing in class, especially me since I've been having high scores and I'm participating in class more frequently. I then told them,

"Oh by the way guys, my Dad is inviting you guys on Saturday for an overnight outing. We're celebrating and he wants you guys to come."

"Wow, but isn't that kind of a bit early? I mean your birthday's not until August. What're you celebrating so early for?"

John asked me.

"Well, I haven't told you guys yet. But I finally made the teams lineup, plus..... I became Co-captain too"

"YOU WHAT?!"

The were all surprised, they had these priceless reactions on their faces. Kris asked me,

"How the hell did you even become Co-captain? Then that means..."

"Yep..."

I immediately interrupted him because I already know what he was going to say. Kris always hated Max, ever since he took Michelle from Kris. Michelle was Kris' ex girlfriend, who fell for Max's charm and flirty talk. Kris held both my shoulders as he said

"Dude..... promise me this. You beat the shit out of that guy and strip off that Captain title of his. So that I can finally get Michelle back"

"Dream on dude, as if she'd want someone like you who can't even do a single sport."

Patrick joked, we all laughed as Kris got annoyed at us again. I then asked them to make sure

"So, you guys gonna be there on Saturday or what?"

"Absolutely!!"

They all nodded. After classes I then went straight to training. Max was there, still glaring at me with those hateful eyes. The somebody put his hand on my back. It was the Coach, he then told me

"Ready for training today Andrei? I'm expecting good things from you."

We then proceeded to do the warm ups and, me and Max led the jog and I feel like he was giving out this aura that makes me feel sick. It's like he wanted to kill me. Then after the warmups coach said,

"We'll be having Game training today. I'll divide you into 2 teams. Max will be the Captain of the first team and Andrei will be the other. Both captains will take turns to choose. Max you pick first, choose the Libero first"

"I choose Christian Coach"

As expected he'll choose the more skilled one.

"Then you're with me Dave"

Dave was the shy kind of guy. He often gets scolded by coach because when he gets put on the court when Christian has an injury he'll end up screwing up because he gets pressured easily.

"Ok then, Andrei. It's your turn to choose the Setter."

I hesitated at first. I wanted to pick Michael, since he's the starting player but I'm more comfortable with Angelo since he was the one who tosses to me because Michael in my previous life never wanted to set to me.

"I'll choose, Angelo coach."

"Seriously? You're that lame at picking? Well, I think the results are clear now. Michael on my team."

I turned to Dave and Angelo and they both looked down on what Max has said out loud. We then finished up Picking the match starts. Coach acted as the referee. Max's team was serving first. I huddled my team and said,

"Ok guys, let's just focus on teamwork and we can win..."

"Are you kidding? You're hoping to win against them? Keep dreaming bro. The best we can do it score some points. They have all the best members on the other court."

Angelo interrupted me while I was speaking. As I thought, they was no flare of hope in their eyes. I then broke the silence and said,

"Who said that we can't stand a chance? Even though they have the best members, doesn't mean we have no chance of winning at all. We can beat them, but show some fight. We don't have the slightest chance of winning, if you don't believe that we can do it. If you show no fight, they'll just eat you guys alive. It's time to show them that we can also fight, that we deserve to be on the team, that we deserve to stand on the court with them. So let's all believe that we can win!!"

I gave that speech and they all roared

"YES!!"

They had this confidence in them now. I got through them successfully, with this we have a fighting chance against Max's team.

"Eagles on three!!..... one!... two!... three! EAGLES!!"

We all took our positions, Michael was the first server on the other team. He did his serve and Dave immediately reacted to it. The ball went up but the receive was shaky.

"Left!!!"

I shouted to Angelo, he then tossed the ball to my direction. As expected, Max planned to stop me with a three-man block. But luckily the Right Wing Spiker's hands had an opening. I directed my spike on to his hands and the ball went spinning out of bounds.

"YESSS!!!"

My team shouted as I heard Max say,

"Tsk... that was sheer luck. We'll stop you on the next play."

Angelo started the serve, it barely made it in 'cause it touched the net.

"Sorry! My bad!"

He shouted, Christian dove for the ball. As expected for the starting Libero. Michael set the ball to Max, as I waited for a Cut shot. Two of my teammates went for the block and Max hit a Cross. I received it and Angelo then Ran under the ball. I signaled him a fast play on the right. Max shouted

"Go for Andrei!! His going for a fast play!!"

I jumped to my highest and 3 blockers were in front of me. I grinned at them, Michael took the opportunity and gave our middle blocker a Quick set.

"SCOOREEE!!!"

Our middle screamed as he celebrated and ran around the court. Coach was impressed at what we did. The score was 2-0 and our team was in high spirits. As the match was happening, some of the students came into the gym when they heard the loud chanting and celebration. Joshua and the rest of the group came in and then chanted

"LET'S GO!! LET'S GO!! LET'S GO!! MANALO!!"

I then turned towards them and gave them a thumbs up. Max looked frustrated because we played them during those 2 points. Angelo then started serving again, but this time it was the other team getting the point as Max did a Block-out. As the match progressed, it kept getting heated up, we were up 24-23. It was my turn serving, I walked further away from the court. As I stopped and looked at my target. I locked onto Christian, and gave him a jump serve. He received it and it went directly under the setter's hands. They did a quick play and we were unable to get the winning point. The score was 24 all.

"AHHHH!! I'm sorry that was mine. I shouldn't have gave it to Christian."

"Hey come on no one's to blame. It was a minor error. Let's get back that point back."

Dave said as I looked at him with a big smile.

"Bring it!!"

All of us on the other court shouted boosting up the teams mood. Max was serving, and then he hit the ball to our court. Dave received it without a problem. I signaled Angelo a pipe play (Pipe play is when we do a fake quick but an attacker from the back-row will hit the ball.) and he nodded. Our middle jump to a set, as the blockers from the other side took the bait. I jump as high as I can reach then spiked the ball to the other side. It was a clear view because there were no blockers. I put it in the corner where there was nobody guarding, and we scored.

"Alright!!!"

We screamed as we huddled together.

"Let's get the last point guys. We can win this. Let's prove them we can go toe-to-toe against them even if we are just substitutes. Eagles on three.... one.. two.. three.."

All: "EAGLES!!"

Max had this nervous face. He then screamed

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING!! WE'RE GETTING BEAT BY A BUNCH OF NOBODIES WHO CAN'T EVEN MAKE IT TO STARTING LINEUP! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND GET THIS SHIT DONE!"

The rest of his teammates were shocked, as they looked at him with hatred. My teammate served, and it went directly to Max. He made a grin as he shouted

"Chance ball!!"

As he looked at the court his teammates were already leaving. The ball dropped, and then coach finally blowed the final whistle.

"We won!!!"

My teammates shouted as they swarmed around me and lifted me up. After that the losing team came to our court and shook our hands. Max stayed on the other side as he was being furious of what happened. After they shook hands with us Michael said,

"Congratulations, you guys did so great. We're sorry we looked down on you too much. We hope we can build the team's spirit this year."

"We thought we had you guys for good, but we got too conceited."

Christian followed up. We all gathered and coach told us,

"It was a great match. Now I have seen every single one of your potential now. Nobody held back and thanks to Andrei, he was a focal point of that happening. I expect big things from this team this year. I hope we can make it to the top. Ok boys, huddle up."

We then gathered a circle and held our hands to the middle. Coach then started saying

"We play as one, we fly as one. We'll reach the top no matter how hard it is. Eagles on three!... one... two... three!"

All: "EAGLES!!"

We all head to the lockers to freshen up and head home. After that we all said our farewells. This was the first time seeing the team get this close. The substitutes are now given more attention. I then packed my things then headed out of the place. As I got out of the door. Max was leaning on the wall, he then grabbed me immediately and pinned me on it.

"Listen you little piece of shit. Don't get cocky just 'cause you won today. You're just lucky my team gave up. I'm bringing this team to nationals. You're just a nobody, and you don't stand a chance against me"

"Oh.... you say that so casually even though your team lost today. You know why you lost?"

I told him, while putting on a grin on my face.

"It's because a shitty person like you can't possibly lead them. You're ego is too high. You're too afraid that a little nobody like me can bring you down. That if you get stripped off of your title, you won't have power anymore. Isn't that right?"

He looked at me totally furious, as he grabbed my shirt and threw me on the ground.

"Are you bluffing? You're inferior to me. You can't get to my level, and you can never possibly reach it. I'm just waisting my time with you. I'm out of here"

He kicked my bag and right after he left. Joshua and the others ran towards me. Joshua, John and Patrick came to my side as Kris tried to catch up to Max. He then ran back to us when he glanced that nobody was following him.

"Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"

Joshua asked in concern.

"He ran too quick, I wasn't able to catch up to him"

Kris said as Patrick giggled and said

"Oh please... just say you got scared because nobody was following you to beat that guys up. You had no chances winning against him so you ran back."

"Hey!! I can totally beat him up 1 on 1 ok?"

As he tried looking cool and courageous.

"Yeah.... sure you do buddy. You go do that."

Joshua said, as we all laughed together.

"Seriously dude, you're getting in trouble with that Max dude this past few days. We should report it to your coach."

"Nah, It's nothing I can handle. Besides, that was a weak throw. I just faked it to make him look tough and all."

I laughed as Joshua smacked the back of my head and sprayed tons of alcohol on the scratch on my elbow. I screamed in pain and said,

"Ouch!! Dude what was that for?!"

"Quit acting tough. You're obviously hurt. Let's get you fixed up and we'll get you home"

Joshua said in a calm manner as he cleaned the wound and applied bandage to prevent infection.

"Thanks, guys. For having my back."

They all smiled as they picked me up. Patrick then said,

"Anyway, Congratulations on your win dude! You totally beat the crap on that Max"

"It was nothing, plus my team played a huge role on it. We couldn't possibly have won without their help."

I said in response, as Joshua said.

"You looked quite the leader that time. It looks like we're gonna be having a superstar as our friend now huh?"

"Hey, don't flatter me that much."

We all smiled as we walked home with our arms on each others shoulders.

~End of Part 5~