Love of a Thousand Colors

Chapter 6

I have to retrace my steps and get to the person who gave me the flyer!

My feet are itching to turn around and skip school. The store is nearby and two days have already passed since I got possession of the coupon. My memory isn't that sharp and it'll be better if I start investigating soon.

But school is important! I won't be a good example to my sister if she learned I became a truant.

"Hi!" Someone tapped me on the shoulders. A woman wearing shades, and office attire reached for my hand and shook it. "Are you in Israel's eSports team?" She removed her shades and flashed an incredibly blinding white smile.

I stood there with my mouth open. Am I or am I not part of the team? Uhhhhhh...

She awaits my reply and seeing that nothing coherent or smart is coming out of the biggest cavity in my head, her smile dropped into disappointment. "Oh, you have to go to your class? I surmise this is a bad time. Please send me a message or an email regarding your availability." She handed me a plastic card. It was simple but modern. It's a transparent business card with a minimalistic design. It states her name, the company she's from and her contact details. Israel already gave us a heads up that we're going to be busy. I wonder what sort of questions she'd be asking. She waved goodbye and stepped inside a company car.

The surroundings became unusually quiet, then the school bell rang! Crap!

I sat at the back corner again, with a detention slip in my hand. Just when I needed to get out of school earlier. I dropped my head on my desk in frustration.

The teacher draws different diagrams of electric circuits and we're told to create a calculator circuit of our own by the end of the term. I could imagine the amount of time and money that will be spent on that one.

One of my classmates dropped one of his books beside me. He bent down and took it while slipping a small piece of paper under my notebook. I made sure that no one else notices, I took it and read it. "Meeting and practice after school at the clubroom. --- Iz" After school commitments are mounting up.

I can't wait for classes to finish. My feet and fingers tapped anxiously throughout the day.

Finally, the end is nigh. I went straight to the detention to start writing a 5 paged apology letter. Israel has to wait longer for his turn. As I was heading there, I saw one of the cleaning staff taking out the trash. I saw something interesting and gross getting inside her cart.

"Hi! The teacher asked if you could go to this room to have the place cleaned. Thank you!" I lied and pointed out which room I'm talking about. The kind woman nodded and said she'll go there after she's finished.

There are already students seated in the room. We didn't bother saying our hi's and hellos. Each of us just gave a once over and continued what we are doing.

I handed my detention slip and the teacher motioned me to sit down. I set down my bag and pulled out my paper pad. I looked in front of me and my jaw dropped in the floor in utter disbelief and horror. Why are foreign letters written on the board?

I raised my hand, but the teacher was busy checking assignments. I cleared my throat and respectfully asked what's on the board. The teacher stopped checking and stood up. "That, young lady, is Mandarin for 'I will behave properly and follow school rules.'"

"owwww kay..." Is that it?

"You have to write the sentences 5 pages long back to back, no mistakes." He continued and went back to his work.

'What detention hell is this?' I cried in my mind. I looked at the other students but they are so engrossed with writing, they could no longer afford to be sympathetic or feel sorry for the situation we're in. I'd better get started then.

My gosh, the details are so complicated, I can't make sense of what I'm writing. I wonder if I have to do this perfectly and the teacher is an expert on the language. I wrote the first one carefully, nearly getting dizzy with the strokes and lines I have to write. I looked at the time and realized I spent a quarter of an hour doing a single one.

Somebody save us! The mental anguish within the four corners of this small square space is too aggressive and draining.

Then, like a ray of light, someone opened the door and made its presence known. It's the janitor, she asked if she can enter and dispose of the trash. The teacher let her in. Hope is lost and we have to resume enduring this torment.

The soft-spoken janitress went in and took the bin and was about to pour the contents inside the drum when she let out a bloodcurdling scream. She threw the bin inside the drum as if she's aiming at something.

We stood from our seats curious about what's the commotion is about. After a brief moment of silence, we heard a thump, then another one. Then a black thing jumped out of the drum, its eyes are red, its snout twitching and yellowish teeth snarling at us.

"Run!" Someone screamed. What a big rat! The janitress took her broom and smacked it but missed. It runs frantically inside the room, the boys and girls jumped and hurled their things at the ugly creature.

I made my escape while they try to exterminate it. Success!

Now I just have to go to the eSports club room. But I have a brilliant idea in mind.

I arrived, seeing all of them playing like a multiplayer game. Another guy is with them which I haven't met last time. Israel acknowledged my presence and asked me to seat beside him. "Have you tried this one?"

I told him no. There are lots of icons on the screen. The menu is like a hodgepodge of pictures and texts. They are enjoying but it seems to be a lot of work.

Israel let me sat on his seat. He took both my hands and put one on the keyboard and one on the mouse. "Are you alright? You ready?" He asked.

I said yes which came out like a high-pitched grunting sound. Some of the guys looked at me momentarily and went back to the screen.

The back of my head feels warm and my hands are clammy due to nervousness. I can smell him from this distance. Not a heavy man's spray like Axe and Old spice or an effeminate cologne, more like a good smelling fabric conditioner. He smells like he has just taken a bath and have fresh clothes on. It's making me uneasy.

"Did you hear what I just said?" Israel asked, sounding annoyed.

"S-s-sorry." Did I just stutter? Curses! Curses! Curses!

The redhead spoke without looking at me, "Did you know how many people are trying to get Israel to coach them? Can you imagine that we also get thousands of applications daily so they can join our team? Our first rule is don't be a liability." He barked, he's also slamming his mouse on the table much noisier this time but there's nothing particularly exciting going on on his screen.

I didn't ask for this and I'm getting berated for this. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind but Israel placed his finger on my lips. He shrugged and shook his head. He pressed the enter key and his name appeared with a colon sign next to it. He typed "He forgot that he was once a beginner." I nodded. It's true, that once people achieved something great, they forgot their humble beginnings and belittle everyone else. "And I used to teach him, too. He spilled coffee on my CPU, which was a very expensive customized rig, out of clumsiness and nervousness." He gave me an okay sign and he resumed teaching me.

"Good afternoon! Thank you for accepting my request for an interview." The same woman from this morning opened the door without knocking. She has her cameraman with him and she looks livelier than ever. Oh, I almost forgot what I did! I immediately covered my face so she'll not notice me.

"You must be Israel? You are much good looking in person. Oh, what's this? What a nice playground you have here?" The reporter inspected every item she sets her eyes on. The guys tried to stop and quietly asked her to leave since they didn't agree to an interview. But the woman is quite persistent and dense, she asked the camera guy to focus on the units, the merch and on the players' faces.

I made my exit and hurriedly got out of school. 2nd hurdle successfully removed!

I went home and checked on my sister. Thankfully, she's already home. After preparing snacks and dinner, I told her I'll be home late for I got some errand to do. This is true since we're running out of supplies now. It's basically not just an outdoor trip to find a very mysterious business out there.

Quickly, I went straight to the store. If I'm unable to get any clues there, I'll check the social welfare building I've been to a few hours before I went to the store days ago. I'll get back to the places I visited if there's any luck getting information there.

However, the store's already closed when I've arrived. Worse, it has shut down. Don't tell me all the promos and coupons I redeemed spelled the doom of this small business. But I bet it's not, still, I'm very disappointed.

I turned around and saw a man in the shadows. His back is on the wall, his arms crossed. I studied the figure slowly and realized who it is.

"Why the hell did you pull that stunt off Trina?" It's Israel, and he's really angry. He walked towards me, his eyes are glaring and unforgiving. I only planned to escape school and go home sooner than usual. I forgot to plan what I'll do after achieving my goal.

"I..." Now I sound guilty, but why do I have to apologize or explain? He's the one who forcefully brought me in. "I never said I want to be a part of your team Israel." Wow, that sounds lame.

"I know. It was an excuse on my part so I can be around you with a valid reason." He explained. "Initially, it was for me knowing more about Jacob's Robe, but seeing how you and your sister are, I sincerely wanted to make you one of us so your life can change for the better."

I was taken aback by what he said. True, I told him the coupon is gone and he still wanted me to be ready to join future battles with them. He knew I am a newbie but he taught me patiently today. He was an encourager, too. It's just... I'm not ready... and this is not how I envisioned myself doing to be able to help my family's disposition improve. Perhaps, I got too contented being a charity case, I didn't see myself doing anything else.

"I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have done what I did. I'll just cancel the whole thing." Israel left and walked away.

A tear fell from my eye but I couldn't say a word. Should I tell him I'm desperate? That I'm very dejected?

I couldn't say anything but I have to stop him and apologize. Maybe I can be more honest with him this time. I chased him and ran after him when he turned and walked to an alley. "Israel, I'm..."

But he was gone. And instead of an alley, I found myself standing in front of a little boy. He has a pen and paper on a clipboard. His eyes stared at me intently, "Ms. Trina?" He asked.

'Where am I?' I thought. I know the community and neighborhood pretty well and this is the first time I felt lost. "Excuse me kid, but where is this?"

The kid c****d his head to the side. "You don't know? This is Jacob's Robe?"

My heart was about to jump out of my chest. "Seriously? But you guys have no address and I was out and about to go look for you."

The kid laughed and a very melodious one at that, "If there's no address, you don't go looking for us." He checked the box next to my name. "We go look for you. Welcome to Jacob's Robe!"