Sports Festival

Hello! My name is Heinrich Himmler, and today is my 12th birthday. I entered middle school and began sixth grade about a month ago, and I can't believe it's already been that long. My parents are getting the house ready for my birthday party tonight, it's the same every year, but it's always fun. I celebrate with my family, and Amalie and Evi as well.

"Heinrich, don't you ever want to make friends with other boys?" my dad asked.

"Hmm maybe, I'm happy with the friends I have now though."

I never thought about that, I guess it is only 1912, most boys my age are only friends with other boys. I did try back in kindergarten, but after that, I kinda gave up. Maybe I'll make some soon.

The two girls came over and we had a great birthday celebration. We were in the living room listening to the radio and talking when Amalie came over to me.

"Hey Heinrich, did you have a good birthday this year?"

"I did, thanks for coming Amalie, it means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it, do you still have the friendship necklace I gave you for your birthday all those years back?"

"Of course- I never take it off."

I reached into my shirt and pulled the necklace out, Amalie did too, and Evi was wearing hers as well. It's something small, but it means a lot to us. I'm really grateful to have such good friends here, I never had anything like this before.

Amalie grinned brightly and put her necklace back.

The next week at school, my homeroom teacher announced that we'll be having a sports festival soon.

"Essentially, all of the sixth graders will compete in the sports festival. It'll be two weeks from today. You guys are gonna compete in most track and field type sports. The javelin throw, relay race, fifty-meter dash, and stuff like that. It's a pretty big event at this school, so make sure to be prepared. Parents will be invited to come and spectate, so be sure to give them this paper to inform them about it."

A real middle school sports festival? This is like, straight out of an anime! I had no idea that Germany did these too, I thought it was only Japan. Regardless, I'm pretty excited. I'm actually pretty in shape, and I always do well in gym class when we play sports. I could do some running after school in the two weeks before the sports festival, just for some extra training.

After school today, I ran two whole kilometers. I feel pretty strong about my athletic ability.

The two weeks till the sports festival passed by in an instant. I stayed consistent and ran every day after school. At the end of the second week, I was able to run almost four kilometers.

Today is the day of the sports festival, a lot of people are nervous, but I'm honestly really excited. We all walked out to the sports field in a line, there was a pretty decent-sized group of parents there to watch. Mine weren't able to come, since they both had work. It turns out each student would participate in one sport, to spread things out. I was assigned the relay race. We were then given team numbers and told to meet up with our teammates. It was three people per team in the relay race. I was on team four. I walked over to my team and it seemed almost too good to be true. My teammates were Karl and Friedrich. I have to talk to them, I have to befriend them right here and now, the opportunity is too perfect.

"Hey what's up guys?"

"Hey man what's up"

"Yo"

"I'm Heinrich, nice to meet you guys."

"I'm Friedrich and this is Karl. Can you run fast?"

"Yeah, I'd like to think I'm pretty fast, I think we have a good shot at winning."

"I hope so."

Alright, I made some conversation with them, it's a good start. If I can manage to impress them in the relay race, maybe they'll be friends with me.

"So, who wants to go first second, and third?" Karl asked.

"I'll go first," Friedrich said.

"I can take third," I said.

"I'll take second, then," Karl said.

We watched the other events play out, and then it was time for the relay race, the final event of the sports festival.

"Ready? Three, Two, One, Go!"

Everyone darted off instantly. Friedrich was going pretty fast, but there were two people ahead of him. He then passed the flag to Friedrich. Unfortunately, Karl wasn't the fastest. He got outran by three other people. I got nervous, I really wanted to win to impress these guys. By the time Karl passed the flag to me, the other third runners had already started running. It wasn't looking good, but I trained for this. I almost dropped the flag I took off so fast after Karl gave it to me. I bolted off full speed ahead. I quickly caught up to the other two guys, and then, I passed them. I ran and I ran as fast as I could. Then, I passed the finish line, and we won. I saved the race.

"Team four wins!"

The parents spectating all clapped and cheered. Karl and Friedrich ran over to me, excitedly.

"Holy shit dude, that was nuts!"

"Good shit man, you won us the race!"

They were overjoyed about the win.

"You guys did great too, we won it together."

"Heinrich, we're planning on hanging out after school today, you wanna come too?" Karl asked. I did it. I had finally befriended Karl and Friedrich after seven years.

"Yeah, I'd love to! Where at?"

"Friedrich's house, I'll show you the way there after school."

"Sounds great, I'm looking forward to it!"

"Me too!" they both said.

After school that day, I went with them and we had a great time. We all got along super well and were now officially friends. They both turned out to be cool guys, and we got along well. My father was excited when I brought them over for the first time.

"So you can make friends with guys," he said to me after they left.

"Haha yeah, I guess I can."

I now had a team ready to help me stop the holocaust. I planned to tell them my secret after a few years of being friends. I'm not entirely sure if they'll believe me, but I have to try. Things are finally getting started!