Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 47

Summer camping ended shortly after we all had breakfast the next morning and we returned back to the city in the same bus the coach had hired for the camping trip while Lori and the girls who attended the camp, drove themselves back home in a different vehicle of which they had driven to the camping area. Thankfully, everyone returned back in one piece and apart from the injury I sustained from the accident in the woods, the camp was successful in all respects. For the team, Things went back to the usual routine of planning for the eventual summer games after we got back to Houston townscape and the preparation for the events not only affected the athletics team but all groups that was affiliated with the summer games particularly the cheerleading team though there weren't many clubs that had something connected with athletics in Houston High.

The eventful day came soonest as expected by the entire school in the first of week of August despite the tension of being the host of the event and the first of the games was the outdoor games, a completely different approach that was taken compared to the pre-season games, not to mention that the number of teams competing summed up to twenty that participated in the events.

The stadium was by far broad enough to contain everyone that attended the first outdoor event as well as the participants of the game which turned out far more thrilling and exciting than the pre-season games especially the men and women hurdles relay and the pole vault that by far, surpassed the other games like the long jump and the sprint relay that was done around the green area of the field meant for javelin throwing.

The outdoor games ended with thrilling wins on each side of the teams and we were lucky to have won three gold medals on the men's side and two silver medals on the women's side. Next was the indoor games which was held at the gymnasium and times around, the audience doubled than the usual attendance recorded at the pre-season games since a good number of teenagers who supposed to have been at home during the pre-season games, turned out for the indoor games possibly to see any remarkable happenings under the pretext of watching the gymnast demonstrate their stunts in the arena.

Second quarter of the indoor games hadn't gone by when I was feeling a bit of a discomfort with my stomach caused by something I had eaten the day before as I sat at the bench with the other substitutes whilst the games were going on. Paige noticed that I was having an upset stomach and advised that I quickly go to the restroom inside the school before Coach Robbins would notice something was wrong. I gleefully accepted her decision to cover for me and surreptitiously left to the restroom to relieve myself of the pressure I felt inside.

Thirty minutes later, I found myself heading back to the gymnasium in one of the hallways where there was nobody except me after I left the restroom and I was pretty much getting close to where the gymnasium was when I heard the clanging sound of something breaking in one of the empty rooms which was under construction by the school management. I became curious enough to find out what had happened and when I got there, I stood by the door and peered inside in spite of the fact that the restricted cubicle was fairly dark but found nothing unusual nor did I find what had been the source of the noise I heard.

Dissatisfied with my findings, I turned to leave but I felt a push from behind and I stumbled into the room. Before I knew what was happening, the door was being locked behind me by someone else that must have deliberately pushed me inside without me noticing that the intruder was lurking around somewhere.

I didn't see the culprit nor did anyone hear me as I kept banging the door which was shut tight from the outside with all the strength left inside of me.

I knew at that moment that I was going to be in deep trouble if the unlucky situation were to be made known afterwards but what was frighteningly important was the fact that the games were still ongoing whilst I was trapped inside the room with no one likely to come to my rescue.

Coincidentally, Richard was headed to the dressing room through the passageway. He had somewhat found out that he had left his swimming goggles inside his locker at the dressing room before the indoor games even started and had surreptitiously left the gathering as well to retrieve what he needed to protect his eyes during the games. He knew taking the backdoor directly to the dressing room would expose his intent of leaving the bench where Coach Robbins needed him to present for the next round and unwilling to let the Coach notice his absence, he took a detour using the silent corridors to reach his destination.

On his way there, he heard the sound of someone trying to break down a metal door that was completely locked and stopped for a while to listen for the source of the noise. Twice he heard the noise coming from a different section of the hallway and scoured for the source using his instinctive ears to track where the noise was coming from.

The noise led him to where I was locked up and it took him by surprise that I was the one mysteriously detained inside a room. I felt a bit mystified as well how he came to find me out when I had almost given up every ounce of hope that someone else would find me if I kept banging the door despite running out of options in another suicidal predicament but all I cared about was for him to free me from the situation I was in. His perplexed face appeared out of nowhere outside the door and I felt a bit relieved that someone had responded after several minutes of screaming for help behind closed doors.

"How did you....?", "I'll explain later after you get the door open, so, please, open up!",

I shouted from within as I clung on the door knob but he could barely hear my voice.

"Stay calm....I'll get it open", He said and tried opening door but it didn't respond the first time he tried.

"Any luck?", "Nope....it won't budge", "Try harder!", "I'm trying...would you please just stay calm and let me do this?", He asked and I kept quiet.

He tried once again using all the strength he had left in his muscles. He tried with his last effort and the latch unbolted at the sound of a click.

"It's open", "Great", He flung the door open and went into the room leaving the door ajar.

"What happened?", "I don't know...I heard some noise and I came here and.....", I stuttered trying to narrate my ordeal and he could see that I was filled with dread.

"Slow down...and calm down your nerves", "I'm trying...", I whimpered fighting hard to control my senses.

"I know you are scared but we'll talk about this later", He said and gave me a hug which I needed at that moment. Little did he know that he had left the door to embrace me and it closed behind us even before I realized that Richard had made a mistake leaving it to shut without us stopping it.

Slowly, I was getting back full control of my senses and broke free from him when I was sober enough to stop crying.

"Okay, let's go then", Richard said and tried opening the door but found it locked again. Both of us were aghast with surprise the moment we realized that the door had shut itself again behind us. Richard tried the wriggling door knob once again but the door refused to yield "Shit! Godammit!",

He cursed in frustration.

"It's of no use trying the lock. It's quite clear that we stuck here", I said and drifted back to solitude at a corner of the dark room where I sat with my back against the wall. He joined me after he gave up opening the door. "I can't believe this is happening",

"It's not your fault", "That's not what I meant", "Then why lamenting your frustration, huh?", "I really wanted to have good school year here in Houston when we moved in without any qualms but so far, things are not going as I expected them to be", "You mean all the mishaps you've been having since you came to the school", "Of course and you...are in the center of it all", "Sounds terrific", He said and squatted beside me after finding no other exit to leave the room. "I didn't want to say this but I admit Georgia was far better than place", "You schooled in Georgia?", "Yes, I did and that was last year. My old friends would laugh at me if ever they find out how I coping in this school", I replied in a funny way that made him laugh. He smirked briefly and peered at the ceiling searching for something that had caught his attention.

"Is that all you care about?", He asked after a brief moment of silence.

"What?", "What do other people say about you?", "Yeah, what about you?", "Well....Not all of them", "How come? Don't you feel concerned that your fans hate you?", "Sometimes but Being popular isn't what I had in mind when I took to athletics and what they think isn't always that important", "What is then?", "Things that matter to me....I just want to be good at my game", "Sounds nerdy", I said jokingly and we both laughed. Then he looked intently at the ceiling and I followed his gaze only to see that he was looking at the air vent which was somewhat sealed tightly.

"Do you feel it?", "What are...?",

I questioned halfway at the realization of what he was asking. I was sweating and Richard as well. The air was wearing thin each passing minute and I was beginning to feel hot around me.

"Now I see", "What's that?", I retorted, struggling to keep my breath steady.

"This room is under construction and the air vent isn't working", "Which means...?", "We might run out of air if we don't leave this room at least for the next couple of hours", We both felt stunned after deductively realizing the odds were against us. Soon we began to feel the air pressure dwindling and it didn't take quite long for us to be losing consciousness because of the lack of air that was supposed to be in the room. As a result, we both fainted at each other's arms and not until the game was over did the Janitor find us lying together quite unconscious and very much oblivious as to how the Janitor came across the room.

Incidentally, the ordeal Richard and I went through together inevitably landed us in the Principal's office and he was very much not intrigued by yet another scandalous occurrence which he was too surprised and too furious to phantom when the believable rumors reached his ears.

Despite the efforts of Coach Robbins to contain the mild rumors about Richard's incidental disappearance and the Janitor's discovery, his efforts proved futile when the silent but true rumor got to the Principal who was the last person to have known what happened during the games though like the staff teachers, he got to hear about three days after the games were over for Houston High to host the summer games in the initial stage of the tournament. Although numerous versions of what actually happened were told by nosy teenagers, the Principal was quick to summon both of us to his office, possibly to find out for himself, the credible truth behind the incident.

He didn't give us any chance to speak after we both told him what happened and he talked at length before dismissing us with a stern warning as well as an ultimatum not to be caught in another scandal which would spell our expulsion. Having received a fair warning from the Principal, I had no choice but to keep some distance away from Richard though I felt bad to discover that his popularity in school had suffered a major setback as a result of the two incidents that he got implicated because of me and it was clear to Chloe and the few friends I had that being around him seemed to have also attracted some sort of infamousness to my name after finding it hard to deal with the eyes that kept looking at me at every corner wherever I was seen in school ever since Richard's second fallout from the famous influence he had on the school.

Following a brief announcement that was addressed to everyone at the school auditorium the day after Richard and I were summoned to the Principal's office instead of our guardians, prom was the next the event the school had to prepare for though it was actually agreed upon by the teachers to hold the annual traditional occasion at the end of each school third semester but the Principal had other intentions thought out for the athletic team whom he specially wanted to appreciate them for their efforts in the summer games and thanks to him, the team were able to restore confidence in the home fans after his surprising Thursday announcement where he informed everyone that prom night was to be held in the school on Saturday night. It came as an astonishing surprise to everyone who heard his announcement and majority of the boys in the Titans team knew that the announcement was came up unexpectedly as a result of Coach Robbins's idea to disperse the ill rumors of the team's reputation and to win enough support from the home fans for the rest of the tournament.

His underlying idea turned out good for the team and the idea of having midterm prom was welcomed by almost everyone who was thrilled to have more fun to hang out with the ladies in their beautiful attire particularly Clyde and the teenagers known for their craving desire for parties with drinks and all.

On Saturday night, I prepared for the party quite earlier than everyone did thanks to the glittering sexy black blouse my aunt bought for me to celebrate the occasion including heels I wore to the party, arriving there in school along with Chloe who drove Amanda and I to the prom just in time before the party even started. We briskly found our way to the school auditorium which happens to be the main venue of the party after Chloe had parked her parent's car amidst other cars that were already there on the school field outside the building.

Some of the teachers were already at the venue, listening to the background music that filled the decorated auditorium which was sparsely crowded with other guests yet to join the gathering in their natty outfits, especially three teachers whom we met chattering with each other a short distance away from the main entrance. Two were women and the last was a man we all knew to lack proper decorum for the norms like those boorish teenagers hanging around Clyde most of the time.

Before we got to where they stood keeping an eye on everyone that entered into the hall, I overheard their conversation as we walk to find ourselves a suitable spot to hang around during the occasion particularly the man in a black hefty denim jacket and black pants who spoke first after taking a sip from the liquor inside a red cup he held with his left hand. I knew at first glance that he was the basketball coach and the PHE teacher while one of the women, dressed in blue blouse which fitted her chubbiness was the Guidance Counselor standing beside the English teacher known for her tall skinny stature and awkward style of dressing but this time she really did put up quite a fabulous garment for the occasion and a good makeup to hide the pimples on her face.

"I should be having some time alone at the pub downtown instead of babysitting some teenagers", "Gerald, you know orders were given", "Yeah, tell me about it", "We have a job to do here, so let's keep to that", "Damn the job, I say. My only concern here is to stop teenagers from ruining themselves by getting drunk", "Good thing you know why we are here", The Guidance Counselor replied and caught sight of me, walking past them in the midst of Chloe and Amanda to join the gathering in the middle of the hall. She left the two teachers and briefly caught up with me from behind after Chloe and Amanda went ahead to scour for some drinks.

"There you are", She said and tapped me by the shoulder. I turned around at the sound of her voice, very puzzled that she spoke to me as though she had been waiting for an opportunity to confront me.

"Good evening, ma'am", I greeted trying not to feel awkward around her. She held me by the hand and drew me closer even when I didn't want to have anything to do with her.

"Evening dear, I've been wishing to meet you in person after I heard what happened to you at the gymnasium", "Okay....", "You feel better now, right?", She said with all smiles on her face "Yes...sort of", "Hmm, it's a good thing you recovered quickly", "Yeah....all thanks to my aunt", I replied, feigning a smile.

"Alright, you can go have some fun with your friends but not that much fun", She said and walked away, returning back where she had come. I too went back to find Chloe only to see them already gotten their own round of cups from a baldheaded teenager who had taken up the role of serving drinks for everyone as a waiter for the evening.

"So...the party hasn't started yet", Chloe was the first to break the silence as soon as we got comfortable enough to wait for the party to commence and took a sip from the cup. "Nice brandy", "Actually...it's red wine from the 80's", Amanda said, drinking her wine as well.

"Huh...Now who's the history freak?", I remarked taking a taste as well and looked around searching for Richard's presence amidst the crowd but found nothing. "Who're you looking for?", "No one in particular...", I lied after Chloe caught me staring at those coming into the hall with each holding their partners by the hand. "Who else but Richard Jefferson", Amanda commented and Chloe's countenance immediately turned sour.

"Come on, Rosalie. We've had enough drama already; so, let's forget about him if only for tonight", "You clearly know I'm responsible for the mess he's in right now", Amanda intruded.

"Well...that's true but I really don't want this moment ruin because of him", "He didn't do anything wrong", "I didn't say he did. We could start this evening with a good discussion", "Like?", "How pretty your dress is or... who'll you dance with tonight?", "My dress is okay, alright but as for whom my dancing partner is....that'll be nobody", "You aren't thinking of Richard, are you?", "I don't know...should I? Because I didn't ask anyone to the dance", "Really?", "Yep, what about you two?", I asked.

"Asking Ryan to the dance was what I had in mind but I forfeited the idea in the end", "That was unexpected", "As for me, I thought Tyler would do but he......", Amanda paused midway at the sight of the person she was talking about accompanying Lori to join the group of guests who already arrived. She gasped when she saw Tyler and Lori entering the hall and the rest of us all turned in their direction as well as everyone else who saw them putting on a charade as they entered the whole. The hall suddenly became noisy with the guests whispering to each other the moment their presence was felt in the gathering that was brightly illuminated by the colorful lights emanating from the disco ball in the roof above the heads of the entire guests in the hall.