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As I peeked over the cardboard ramparts, I couldn’t help but admire Red Team’s formation. Their best throwers stood in the front row. The others’ stood behind them, passing them ammunition for the next volley.
“Ready! Aim! FIRE!”
As the cry echoed across the battlefield, a wall of red slammed into our defenses. I felt the vibrations through the corrugated boxes, followed by cool mist as the contents of the projectiles spilled out. Cries soon followed from the unfortunate ones who failed to duck behind cover. Their clothes were soaked. Piercing shrills of whistles blew. The teachers-turned-referees gestured for the waterlogged students to leave the arena.
The cycle would repeat again and again. Even when we didn’t lose players, our cardboard walls slowly disintegrated under their relentless barrage. Soon, there would be nothing for us to hide behind.
The main source of our plight towered above his teammates. His muscular figure singlehandedly blotted out the sun. My rival from dodgeball, Bill Watkins of Wald Hall. His balloon throwing technique was unparalleled. Not only could he throw several at once, but his balloons could also break physics and pierce wet cardboard to hit those hiding behind it. Judging by his deep, bellowing commands, he lived up to his military pedigree.
Beside that lumbering beast, I noticed a tiny head of pink hair passing Bill his balloons. Anya Forger. The entire school had been split between red and blue teams for field day, independent of classes. The events were, however, still segregated by grade. As first graders, our water balloon fight was the final event of the day. We could earn 150 points for our team. However, Blue Team was down by 175 in total. We had already lost.
As the thoughts crossed my mind, Anya turned her head. Our eyes made contact. Even from across the battlefield, I could see a wide, mocking smile spreading across her face. I felt my face warm up. My nails dug into my palms. To simply accept defeat… What was I thinking? That’s not how a Desmond does things!
I won’t give up so easily! I won’t let a simple commoner mock me for a victory she had almost no role in! However, from the looks of my fellow teammates, morale was scraping rock bottom. I would have to batter them with sophistry, dumb platitudes, and pathos-centric drivel to get them to follow me. I needed to take Anya down a peg. So just this once, I must go all out!
“Emile! Ewen!”
““Yes, Lord Damion?”” my two friends answered in unison.
“Help me gather the survivors. We’re going to win this event!”
*******
“Blue Team, assemble! I have a plan to get out of this situation!” The survivors of Blue Team gathered behind the furthermost wall of boxes. I could still hear the pops and splashes of the balloon barrage, but we were safe for the time being.
“What’re you doing, Damian?” asked a red-haired boy from Specter Hall. I believe his name was Floyd.
“I have a plan to win,” I calmly replied. “It’s simple. As soon as Red Team throws a barrage, the bulk of us will charge in to act as bait and draw Red Team’s fire. We’ll try and hold their attention as long as possible. As we play decoy, Emile and Ewen will each lead a small group and attack them from the sides.”
Whispers rippled through the crowd. My teammates gave me dubious looks. Floyd then asked, “…You do realize we can’t win, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, you’re saying that since we’re going to lose field day no matter what, we should choose to go out fighting?”
“Yes.”
Floyd scoffed at my single word replies. “If we’re going to lose no matter what, then why should we play along with your dumb idea?” A few teammates nodded with Floyd’s dissent. “Do you think of yourself as some hero that can pull a victory out of nothing? What is this, a dumb, melodramatic anime? Why should we commit to a dumb attack when it’s all meaningless?”
“You’re absolutely correct,” I admitted. Floyd was taken aback by my admission. “It’s all completely meaningless. Whatever hopes and dreams you might have had at the start of the day. However fortunate you were to survive Red Team’s water balloons up until this point. None of that matters to the score deficit. We will lose today, either by 25 points or 325 points.”
“But does that mean our water balloon fight is meaningless?” I asked, increasing the intensity of my voice. “Does that mean our efforts are meaningless? Would you say the same about our seniors in the events before us? Were their wins and losses meaningless as well?”
“They were not! Their valiant victories! Their anguished defeats! We cheered for them. We grieved with them. We were there for it all. They were meaningful because they shared with us precious and thrilling memories of this day!” I gestured towards the spectators’ stand at the edge of the athletics field. Even at this distance, we could see students with blue head bands watching the battle unfold.
“Though we may be charging into certain defeat, we can rest assured that our fellow teammates will be with us until the end! We will share our fight with them! Give them memories the way they did for us! And not in a dumb ‘Yo, these memories are, like, memorable, bro’ kind of way. We will show our seniors, our teachers, our parents, ourselves, the valor we have when faced with the cruelty of this world!”
“We’ll push forward! We’ll scream out! And we’ll engrave our struggle into the memories of all that are present! Now who’s with me?”
When a roar of cheers answered, I couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps, if the morale holds, we have a chance.
******
“So that’s what they decided to do, huh?” I watched as Blue Team charged out from behind their cardboard walls in a final, desperate, and suicidal charge. Damian Desmond of Cecile Hall led in the front as the tip of the spear. He’d cleverly timed the attack with the impact of the last barrage to minimize the number of balloons we could throw.
But it would make no difference. I opened my hand to accept more balloons. However, my loader tugged on my sleeve to catch my attention. It was the pink-haired girl who dodged almost all my throws in the dodgeball competition, Anya Forger.
“Be careful,” she warned, “That’s a decoy. They wanna surprise us with attacks on our sides.”
Sure enough, I noticed two smaller groups trying to sneak up on our formation from the edges of the field. I smiled and gave Anya a thumbs up, which she returned. “Squads Alpha and Foxtrot, we have enemies trying to flank us! Focus on them first!”
With Anya’s warning, we eliminated Blue Team with no losses. A perfect game.