After rain comes the clear sky (Kaoearth)

54. Practice

Earth touched his sour throat. It was aching like hell after yelling so much.

‘Looks like I would have to gargle with salted hot water tonight if I want to speak tomorrow.’ He thought.

He looked around and saw none of the club members were in a better position than him other than Mona and Title, who seemed to have inhuman energy.

“The finals will be starting in three days’ time. Today will be our last practice before the performance. So, be energetic. Give it your all.” Mona shouted, making everyone groan.

“We can’t phi. I can’t even move my limbs.” A sophomore club member complained.

The gathering was supposed to be a meeting but ended up being a practice session after Mona found out that someone had made a mistake in the choreography when they tried on the costume and danced for trial.

“Mona, I think we should stop here. Everyone was already tired from the performance in the forenoon.” Title stepped in finally.

The club members looked at their President as if he were an angel who descended from the sky.

Mona was unwilling to stop but since Title had spoken, she couldn’t force it. “Let’s wrap up for today then.” She glanced at Title and then at the club members.

Everyone cheered and headed to the locker room.

Earth too pitifully followed the crowd to the locker room. He wanted to take another bath but it was almost closing time and the security wouldn’t allow students to stay back unless they had special permission.

By the time he came out of the room, most of the club members had left.

“Earth.” A voice called out from behind.

Earth whipped his head to see a boy whom he hadn’t seen before. “Khrab?”

“Fluke asked me to tell you that he is waiting for you in the C block. He is in the staff room to submit his assignment.” The boy said.

“Okay,” Earth said frowning a little. “Thank you.”

The boy ran away.

Earth headed to the C block.  He felt a little puzzled. He didn’t understand why Fluke would call him over to C Block which was quite far from the school gate. Normally, Fluke would ask him to wait at the gate rather than make him walk all the way.

Neither could he remember any assignment that Fluke had to submit this late.  He found the situation odd. Still, he headed to the staff room on the second floor of the C Block, only to find that it was already locked.

There was no sign of Fluke whatsoever. Earth pulled out his phone to call Fluke but found out that it had run out of battery.

Sighing to himself, he put his phone away and started looking around.

“N’ Earth, what are you doing here?” Kart, a member of the Jayhawks, asked seeing Earth walking around.

Earth waied at the older and replied. “I was looking for Fluke, Phi. Have you seen him?”

“Yeah. I think I saw him talking to JJ a while ago. I think he must be with them. Why don’t you come with me? I am going over.”

“Thank you, phi.” Earth was relieved that he finally located Fluke.

It wasn’t surprising for Earth to hear that Fluke was with JJ. Fluke had been really close to JJ for a while, especially after Fame transferred over to their school. There were times when Earth actually wondered if Fluke had a crush on JJ. But he gave up on the thought because he couldn’t detect any kind of jealousy or possessiveness on his friend’s part when girls approached JJ.

“Here we are.” Kart’s voice snapped Earth out of trace.

Earth looked and saw that the room was filled with basketball players from both their home team Jayhawks and the team from the neighboring school, Dynamos. Having watched the matches as a part of the cheering, Earth could recognize a few faces from the Dynamos as well.

He respectfully waiied at everyone.

“He was looking for N’ Fluke,” Kart said slightly pushing him forward.

Earth balanced himself without falling and maintained his smile.

“N’ Fluke? He just went to the washroom. He will be back soon.” JJ looked at Earth with his signature smile.

Earth nodded in understanding.

“N’ Earth, since you are here, why don’t you join us?” Tal wrapped his hands around Earth’s waist and asked. “You know, JJ is treating all of us for making it to the finals.”

Earth felt uncomfortable being touched by Tal. He wanted to squat the hand caressing his waist away but didn’t want to create a scene in front of the seniors.

“No, thank you, Phi. I need to go home. Please tell Fluke that I will be waiting at the school gate.” Earth didn’t want to stay there anymore.

Just as he turned around, someone caught his upper arm from behind. He turned around and saw that it was Tal.

Tal had a creepy grin on his face. “What is this N’ Earth? How can you turn and leave like this when Phi-phi is asking you to join us so sincerely.” He suddenly pulled Earth into his arms. “Come, come and give us company.”

Earth struggled to get out of Tal’s grip. “Phi, I am sorry. I need to get back home.”

“Come on N’ Earth. Don’t be a spoilsport. Come join the fun with us.” Pond, whom Earth identified as the captain of the Dynamos spoke.

Earth felt Pond’s vibe as revolting as Tal’s. “Maybe next time, Phi. It is already so late.”

“Don’t worry about being late, Nong. We will send you back home after the dinner.” Another player of Dynamos whose name Earth didn’t know spoke.

Before Earth could protest, Pond got up from his seat and forcefully dragged him to the middle of the crowd. He was made to sit right next to Pond.

Earth flinched lightly when Pond placed his hands around the backrest of his seat and leaned closer to him.

“N’ Earth, why do you look so worried, we were just inviting you to have some fun.” Pond placed his hand on Earth’s exposed thigh beneath the shorts.

Earth tried his best to maintain his composure as he felt his skin crawl by the way Pond was touching him.

“N’ Earth, your sweat smell so good.” Oat, a player from Dynamos said sniffing Earth. “It is making me feel horny.”

Earth jolted when Oat suddenly licked his earlobes. He stared at Oat in fear.

The other people in the room roared in laughter seeing the scene.

“Come on, guys, you are scaring N’ Earth.” Code, the captain of Dynamos spoke, helping Earth stand. “Look, he is trembling like a scared rabbit.” He turned to Earth. “Are you okay, Nong?”

“K- Khrab,” Earth mumbled.

“Then, it’s good. Because Phi wants to have a lot of fun with Nong tonight.” Code griped Earth’s chin and kissed his lips forcefully.