Chapter 35: Glorio's Show

PING!~

The one-eyed referee has officially started the match with team Madtaks against the street players called team Bagsik.

"Heads!" Chiko called out their side as the coin flipped through mid-air and landed at the big dirty hands of the one-eyed referee. However, the moment the tossed coin landed, the referee quickly closed his hands and shouted,

"It's tails! Team Bagsik, gets to choose the side of the field and they also get the first service!"

Hearing the call, Chiko and the rest was stupefied.

The three of them looked at the referee with confused gazes.

"It's the rules here. You got a problem?" the referee seemed to have expected their reaction and just shamelessly continued.

In the normal competition, the one who guesses the right coin position gets to decide whether they will do the first service. In return, the other team gets to decide which side of the court they can claim. The referee didn't even look at the coin and just quickly decided on the spot. He didn't even bother showing the coin to the players.

But in these cases, the referee just one-sidedly decided in favor of the local players - the team Bagsik.

"Wai-" unable to stand the stupid decision, Ferdy was about to complain towards the referee when Chiko grabbed him. Ferdy looked flustered as he turned his gaze to Chiko only to see the latter shaking his head while smiling,

"Let it be. I told you we are here to experience and not find trouble. After all, getting the first serve and side of the court doesn't necessarily give them an advantage right?" Chiko calmly explained.

Chiko and the rest moved to their new side of the court which is facing the east. The moment they stood there, they quickly understood why the referee gave the east side of the court to the team Bagsik.

"Darn it. The sun's glare hurts!" The first one to react was Ferdy who was incredibly sensitive to the sun. As someone with the curse of Aswang, it was never a good experience for him to get a full brunt of the sun's light to him.

"So this is the reason..." Mark calmly added as he too squinted his eyes to adjust to the absurd sun glare facing their direction. It was already 2:30 in the afternoon and the sun's light angle was a perfect distraction against them. Imagine playing while a massive flashlight is being pointed in your eyes. This is what team Madtaks is currently experiencing.

"It hurts the eye indeed. But do not worry guys, after the first set, we will have the opportunity to swap with their places anyway. Until then, let's just brace ourselves." while squinting his eyes just like the others, Chiko tried his best to get used to the glare and cheered the team.

"Are you okay Teletubbies? Do you wanted to swap places with us?" said with a mocking smile by the criminology student who was being called Glorio by his peers.

"No, we are good. We are gonna switch court later anyway."

"Okay. Good luck."

"You too.." Chiko replied while thinking the other was suspiciously gentle today.

Suddenly, Glorio, the leader of the opposing team turned around and said, "Oh before I forgot, I believe you guys already knew about the minimum bet right?"

"There was a bet? I thought this is just a friendly game?"

"Correction, it's a friendly-bet game. Can't you see the long queue of players trying to play as well? Of course, there is a bet so we can make the most out of these games!" Glorio replied with dominance.

"But I don't recall another team is willing to play until we came out." Ferdy butted in.

"That's because you guys took their chance. Come now, spit it. The minimum bet is 100 pesos for each player so give to the referee your total bet of 300."

"What!? 100 pesos each? For a friendly game?" Chiko turned pale on the spot. He is someone who is not used to betting and this happens to be his first time experiencing this.

"100 pesos... That is like 2 days' worth of my allowance..." Ferdy mumbled to himself too until Mark's voice came to save them.

"It's okay boys. I already paid him the 300 pesos minimum bet. I happen to have extra cash today. Just pay me later when you have extra."

Chiko and Ferdy looked at the big guy with a surprised face. To spend such an amount recklessly was just never their habit, but Mark can do it without thinking twice. Well, he was after all a street gangster before.

With everything settled, the match quickly started. A group of a weird-looking trio of students from MCC is currently facing another group of burly street takraw players. The moment people saw the players involve, the spectators quickly increased.

Everyone is set, Chiko and his crew quickly assumed their spots and position. Ferdy is in the Tekong or center position, Mark is standing as a striker despite his huge size and Chiko is the feeder.

On the other side, Glorio is their team's tekong, a certain Erap as the Feeder and Noynoy as the Striker. All of them have a well-defined body and their faces were full of a confident smirk. They knew, that they already have this game in their pocket as long as they have Kayong as the referee.

Looking at the weird composition of Chiko's group, the spectators could not help but comment on their individual appearance. The one that stood out the most was Mark who happens to be still a very big and fluffy guy despite losing more than 10 kilos ever since he started training. A very unusual sight for sepak takraw players indeed.

Meanwhile, Ferdy is someone who looked like a vampire with his pale face, and Chiko on the other hand was not really that unusual except for his usual painted black combat shoes. He happens to have forgotten to wear the proper rubber shoes their school provided.

The truth is, despite the confident look of the team Madtaks, all three of them actually have their hearts throbbing like crazy since it was their first time to play on a real match. Not to mention, the 300 pesos stake that Mark would lose the moment they lost. The pressure is building up and sweat was already dropping on their faces without the game even started yet.

"Match start! All love!" the referee beckoned as the feeder of the team Bagsik threw the ball for their first serve.

Seeing the ball coming towards him, Glorio quickly shouted, "Hey Teletubbies! Check this out!"

WHAPANG!~

Glorio performed a powerful spike serve and sent the ball towards their court with a blurring speed. The spectators on the side quickly shook their heads at their amazement of Glorio's performance.

"I got it." Ferdy was quick to react and intercepted the ball with a perfectly timed inside kick. Unfortunately, the ball hit the bottom end of his shoe and bounced away towards the crowd's location instead of his receiving teammates.

"Damn it, my bad!" Ferdy shouted. The reason he was not able to receive the ball properly is because of his shaking body. As someone who is used to staying away from people's sight, seeing countless eyes looking at him play was actually a nerve-wracking experience for him.

"Out of bounds! Score 1-0 in favor of the team Bagsik!" The referee immediately announced the moment the ball landed on the ground and non of Team Madtak's players managed to save it.

"Easy ace. Come on Teletubies, you can do better right? What's the point of all your showing off at school?" Glorio taunted them but Chiko and the rest refused to give in to his insults.

"Should I give that guy a beating when I see him at school?" Mark said calmly and Ferdy quickly rebuked him,

"Unless you wanted to be out of the scholarship. Go ahead."

"Naah. It's not worth it. I ate even more crazy insults before breakfast so this is nothing new. I just hate it when someone underestimates me."

"Let's just play seriously guys. We have 300 pesos at stake here." Chiko added.

WHAPANG!~

Glorio performed another spike serve for their second turn. This time, he aimed the ball towards Chiko's direction and the latter quickly reacted by raising his knee. Fortunately this time, the ball bounced upwards and Mark was swift to react with an inside kick.

PANG!~

"Ferdy!" Mark beckoned as he sent the ball to Ferdy's direction.

"On it." Ferdy nodded in confirmation. He quickly positioned himself closer to the centerline with his back facing the net. Seeing that the ball is on the right height, he jumped as high as he could and performed a bicycle kick for a start. His right leg stretching sideways over his shoulder.

"Not bad for a pale Teletubbies!" Glorio's mocking voice startled Ferdy. Glorio's long and muscular leg swept upward from the other side and easily blocked the ball from getting to their side.

"Point to the Bagsik side! Score, 2-0!" The referee confirmed the clean block coming from Glorio and team Madtaks was starting to get annoyed.

"Easy telly-tubby." Glorio casually taunted as he moved back to his position.

Seeing the flawless performance of Glorio, team Madtaks finally realized that this guy is actually a sepak takraw veteran.

"This won't be an easy game..." Mark commented.

"I am expecting this much," Ferdy added,

"It's time to get serious." Chiko pulled out his loose combat shoe strings and retightened it. Their nervousness is slowly dissipating and the game is just about to get fun.