Chapter 5: Uncomfortable Silence
The tournament progressed and my friends and I had many challenges still ahead of us. I barely got to see Julia, Mina, Jaime, Christie, Xiaoyu, or Miharu. I hung out mainly with King. It was actually pretty fun to be here with him, we learned a lot about each other. I just feel that maybe I could tell him that…oh never mind, it's not important.
Julia was able to fix my iPod and I was so happy. Now I didn't have to tell King about it, he probably would've been quite upset. I was sleeping as I pondered these thoughts. I was half awake, half asleep as I noticed that my body was shaking. My body temperature began to rise to normal a few seconds later.
Slowly, I opened my right eye and saw King laying back down in his bed. I realized that he had given me his blanket. I wanted to wake up and give it back, but I was way too tired. Soon, I was asleep again.
Darkness. I looked around me to see nothing but a sheet of blackness. Suddenly, a light came forth and I could see somebody in it. I could tell that it was a woman. As she came closer, I realized that it was Jamila. Once she saw me, she turned the other way. 'Even in my dreams, she's mean to me.' I decided to follow her.
As we walked, I noticed that she picked up the pace of her steps. I could barely keep up with her as she broke into a sprint. She uttered no words, just the sound of her heels was heard. Suddenly, the floor gave out underneath me and I fell into the heart of the blackness.
I woke up gasping for air. I felt like I was having an asthma attack. Slowly and calmly, my breath came to its normal pace. I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked over to King's bed. He wasn't there. Where is he? I went to the bathroom after getting dressed to brush my teeth. On the mirror was a small yellow post-it.
"Meet me downstairs in a few for breakfast, King." I read aloud. Come to think of it, I was pretty hungry. How nice it is that King is going to wait for me:) I'd better get ready to go. A few minutes later, I came out of my room and headed towards the elevator. I noticed that there was an open elevator and it started to close.
"Hold the elevator please!" I yelled as I sprinted to the doors. I barely made it. Once I got inside, I bent down, putting my hands on my knees panting for air. I don't think I've ever run that fast in all my life, well maybe that time I broke King's china cabinet and he came after me.
I looked up to the person in the elevator and offered a smile, expecting to see someone like Steve or Eddy. Wrong. It was none other than Jamila. 'Yeah that's cool. Now I have a 15 flight ride with this chick.' I thought to myself. I quickly stood up and looked at the wall next to me. I was afraid to make eye contact with her.
As we waited, I noticed that the elevator was pretty slow and that there was classical music playing. 'Yuck.' I thought to myself as I looked to the control board of the elevator. There was a music button, so I decided to press it. The classical music began to fade and on came the Quinone Mix of Sean Paul's Get Busy. Overcome with the heat of the song, I began to dance (and I dance horribly), totally forgetting that Jamila was there.
Looking over, I recognized that she was there. She was giving me this horrible death stare. I immediately stopped dancing and pressed the music button again. The classical music reappeared and I, being highly embarrassed, crossed my arms over my chest and looked back at the wall. I placed my right foot up against the back of the elevator and silently prayed for this hell ride to be over.
With my wonderful luck, my shoe slipped off the wall as the elevator came to an abrupt stop, causing a fart sound to echo through the elevator. 'Oh no…'
"It wasn't me…" I managed to say, not giving Jamila eye contact. I heard her exhale in disgust as the elevator opened. Quickly, she left and made her way off to the gym area. I was so embarrassed that I stayed in the elevator, almost forgetting where I was. I snapped out of it when the elevator began to close.
"Crap!" I yelled as I threw my hand in between the doors before they closed. As the doors reopened, I looked into the cafeteria and saw King. He looked my way and smiled, motioning for me to come over. With my head down, I walked over to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I just made the biggest fool out of myself in front of Jamila…" I said. At that very moment, Hwoarang flung some grits off of his spoon. Of course, I was standing in it's course, and the grits slammed into my face. King closed his mouth, holding back his laughter as I stared at him, not even blinking. I took a napkin and wiped the food off of my face as I said "Let's just eat."