Chapter 3: The Arena made of Hay

Days passed and Sanus is 6 years old, the season for harvest has arrived. Farmers began draining the water from the rice fields. For some, the harvest has already been done so they're drying the grains at the road and in basketball courts.

In the afternoon, children of different ages have gathered in the rice fields. Sanus ran from home after fetching 65 liters of fresh water, hoping she wasn't too late. The cheers can be heard as she neared the field. Her breathes were ragged, eyes losing focus but the excitement is still there.

In her peripheral vision she saw Arianee, a pupil in grade two, sitting with a girl she had never seen before.

[Which nutcase wears skirt, in a windy and cold afternoon infested with hungry, bloodsucking mosquitoes?]

However, this wasn't the reason why Sanus was there so she ignored the queer, new kid in the barrio.

"Punch him!" A 12 year old guy named Jimmer, urged Legarda from the sidelines.

As Sanus arrived, she saw Legarda who just got rammed in the stomach by another boy with chocolate skin, black hair named Andrew.

"Challenge!" Sanus shouted.

Everyone finally noticed her. Sanus observed the arena made of hay laid around on top of each other. As Sanus stepped into it, she bounced a little as the hay made it springy.

There are three groups of children who were playing in the makeshift arena they had created. The first group consisted of a mix of boys and girls in elementary. As it was already afternoon, most wore jackets or sweatshirts paired with comfortable pants that allows mobility to be flexible. They are doing a showdown on who can demonstrate the flashiest, and coolest tumbling.

"I'll go first,"

The girl tied her jogging pants and tucked her t-shirt in it then demonstrated a side-tumbling of three successions: planting both hands on the ground, falling sideways and then ends in a standing position.

"Good going Limeria!" the crowd complimented.

Then without warning, a boy wearing cargo pants did 3 successive back-tumbling with which earned more hoots from his playmates and made Limeria look back to him, arms akimbo.

"Greg!" she said, unwilling to admit defeat.

"Hey,hey,hey! I'm still here. Don't forget me."

The one who just spoke walked using his hands, feet at the top and head at the bottom. His jacket and t-shirt rolled down as he hand-walked, showing his navel for all to see. Then he stood up and did a flip wherein he rotated in the air for once without planting his hands on the ground: bowing when his performance was done.

The kids clapped altogether, "Drayton, You're the best!"

The second group composed of girls who jumped over other girls that were crouched or bowed from low to high. The one that is unable to jump over the human vault will join the other human vaults. This process repeats until everyone quits or decides to change the game.

The last group is where Sanus went

They are a group of boys wrestling amongst themselves, the strongest being the most dominant and obeyed for most of the decision making until someone beats them through wrestling.

Lauren remained with Jimmer, waving to Sanus which she acknowledged by nodding her head. Everyone remained quiet for they waited for Andrew's response.

"I accept," he said, airing his heated body by shaking his shirt.

"Yeah!!!" everyone cheered.

Andrew and Sanus stood 1 meter apart, Jimmer in between them.

"Are you ready?" he asked both.

"Anytime," Sanus confirmed.

"Let's do this!" Andrew seconded.

"Okay then, now fight!" Jimmer backed to his viewing position.

Legarda joined Lauren while shouting, "Avenge me, Sanus!"

Instead of attacking, both fighters jumped back: eyes on each other, not wanting to miss a single movement. Andrew made the first move by balling his fist and throwing it to Sanus. Sanus set it aside with her arms and responding with a back kick which landed on his chest, causing him to trip.

Everyone is shouting moves they should do but Sanus could no longer hear them. Her attention is solely concentrated on her opponent and no one else. Andrew stood up by pushing his upper body using the momentum he built from his arms and then launched his feet first: standing up like a slinky.

[Damn! I can't even do that.] Sanus thought with envy.

This time, Andrew tried to topple Sanus by charging at her like a bull. However, Sanus only treated him as a vaulting box, easily jumping over him.

"Wooooo!!!" the boys commented as other girls began to gather around the fighting pair.

This time, Andrew attempted a kick but everytime he did, Sanus blocked it with her feet. He's running out of options so instead, he went for the punch again. Unfortunately, Sanus caught it and threw him on the hay.

"Great!" Legarda jumped, his fist in the air as though the one who won was him.

Andrew didn't show any reaction as he lay where he fell, watching the clouds casting its shadow on the arena.

Sanus walked over to him, "still want to continue?"

"Nah, I'm good!" Andrew raised his arm, allowing Sanus to pull him up. He raised his clothes to his nose, smelling the scent of sweat on it. While doing this, Sanus saw his back, damp cloth clinging on his back.

"Next time, I'll win for sure." Sanus promised to Andrew before walking towards Clara's group who played vaulting.

Confused by this behaviour, Andrew couldn't help but follow her departing figure with his eyes. [What a weirdo.] he thought.

Lauren approached him from behind, patting his shoulder before saying, " That's Sanus for you. "

The boys followed behind their new boss, tailing her from behind but never in front.

"Can we join you?" Sanus asked Clara, who was in charge of the game.

Without confirmation, Clara clapped her hands and the girls gathered around her.

"Everyone, these guys want to play with us. By following the rules, they will have to be the vault first."

"Vault it is," Legarda said as he crouched down on the hay.

"No problem," Andrew seconded as he is already on all four.

Lauren got in line but distanced himself 1.5 meters away from Andrew, not wanting the girls to accidentally crash into him. He bent 90 degrees and signaled for Sanus to follow.

Sanus distanced herself 1.5 meters away from Lauren, bending 110 degrees. Jimmer followed the action, bending 130 degrees and then giving the ok sign to Clara.

"Okay, girls. let's jump! If you fail to jump, you will have to join the guys as vaults so do your best." Clara informed.

Clara jumped over the guys at ease as the other girls followed her example one by one.

Sanus judged the amount of force each of the girls applied on her. For those who were tall, they only applied a light force while those who were shorter in height applied greater force. Despite the difference, everyone still got past them. However, the greatest obstacle is Jimmer. He was the tallest of them all and even Clara couldn't go past him.

"Ha, I give up!" Clara lined up between Sanus and Jimmer, expecting the other girls to fail the last jump as well.

"Arianee, have mercy on me!" Legarda joked, snickering at Arianee.

"Shut up! or I'll step on you." Arianee threatened.

"It's okay, Ziana. Go on." she continued to say to a girl hiding behind her.

Sanus can't help but turn her head to see the person Arianee is coaxing.

[It's that girl wearing a skirt. She looks so weak, can she even jump?] Sanus thought.

Ziana kept fiddling with the ends of her skirt as she easily jumped over Legarda, then Andrew. She hesitated for a while when she saw Lauren but decided to place her hand on his back and then jumped, nearly planting her face first on the hay.

[She's taller than me.] Sanus observed, displeased at this realization.

One of what Sanus didn't like is that people are taller than her. She didn't like the feeling of looking up to a person she had never acknowledged nor have lost to. This time, Ziana deliberated whether to give up or not as she asked for advice with her eyes from Arianee who had been following her. Arianee didn't say anything but she motioned with her hands for her to continue. Sanus saw Ziana's courage as a bull ready to charge at her.

[What's she gonna do?] Sanus is panicked, knowing full well that Ziana will fail.

She didn't want to be rude so she just remained in place, closing her eyes and waited for the impact.

[At least, she's not a loser since she's not giving up.] Sanus smiled at this newfound conclusion that she just realized.

However, for her, moments like this are very shortlived because just as Ziana ran towards her as she gained momentum, Sanus' mother's voice boomed 500 meters away from where they were playing.

"SANUS!!!!! Come home, NOW!!!"

Not only that, Sanus rose up from her position just as Ziana is about to jump over her: causing Ziana to instead crash into her.

*plop*

"Are you guys alright?" Arianee asked.

"Sanus!" the boys shouted.

"Ugh!! What the heck, mother?! The whole barangay can hear you!" Sanus cursed.

[Why am I the only one who get's the broadcast call while everyone doesn't?]

Ziana quickly pulled herself up from Sanus, hiding again behind Arianee before muttering a small, "sorry."

"It's okay," Sanus replied.

She looked around and realized that they can't even see their own faces. As such, Sanus instructed to them, "You heard my mother, we're dismissed!"