All's Fair in Love and War

We ran back out, standing under our team flag. Everyone else was already there, and then Phil came over the megaphone. The cameras began rolling.

“Okay, teams! It’s time for the first challenge!” Phil bellowed, and we all cheered. I was so pumped for this. I looked over the other teams, and locked eyes with Joe. He smirked.

“You’re going down.” He mouthed, and I rolled my eyes.

“In your dreams.” I mouthed back, smirking.

“You will be racing! But, this is no normal race. Oh no. This is a race of amazing proportions! You will be racing in these gigantic hamster balls.” Phil said, waving his hand towards the large, gigantic plastic balls. My eyes widened.

“There will be three races. You will pick your fastest runners to participate. I’ll give you 5 minutes to pick, and then we’ll start the race!” Phil said, waving to the cameras to go to commercial. I turned back to my team.

“Okay, who are our fastest runners?” I asked as we huddled up.

“I’m pretty fast.” Emily said, and the rest of my team murmured in agreement.

“Okay, Emily, you’ll be first. Who’s next?” Dylan raised his hand.

“I’m pretty fast, and I’m sure my brother’s running for his team. It’ll be sweet to go against him.” He said, grinning widely. I laughed, and nodded.

“Okay, sounds good. One more person.” I said, looking around. No one volunteered, so I shrugged.

“Alright, I’ll do it.” I said, smiling. They all nodded, and we broke up our huddle, turning around to tell Phil our decision.

“Blue team, your runners?”

“Me, Dylan, and Emily!” I called back, grinning proudly. Phil nodded.

“Go over there and get set up.” He said, waving towards the hamster balls. We moved over, and I watched the other teams as Emily got set up in the hamster ball.

The green team picked Nick, Doug and Ashley. It looked like Ashley was up first. The yellow team picked Ellie, Cole, and Kevin. Ellie was up first. Finally, the red team. Brenda, Mitchel and Joe walked over. I smirked. Hopefully Joe would go last so I could cream him.

“Alright! We’re about to start! Will the first runners please line up on the starting line?” Phil said. Emily, Ellie, Ashley and Brenda all lined up, getting in a running position.

“And, GO!” The horn blared and they ran off, dodging the obstacles in the way. Dylan, Mitchel, Cole and Doug began getting ready in their own hamster balls as the teams were making it to the turnaround point.

Ellie was in first place, with Emily and Ashley in a close second. Brenda was right on their tails, and I was biting my nails with anticipation. Emily began inching her way into first, but it was still tied. Ellie and Emily raced across the turnaround, and began making their way back. It was close, but Emily made it back a hair faster. Dylan shot off, followed by Cole. Brenda pushed past, giving Mitchel third place. Doug was now in last place, but he wasn’t far behind. I quickly got ready in my hamster ball, taking the oxygen they gave me to wait with. Within seconds, the runners were coming back. The Jonas brothers and I lined up, and I looked over at Joe.

He was already staring back, and when I looked over, he seemed a bit embarrassed, and looked away quickly. I frowned. I was ready for some pre-race trash talk. I sighed, turning to the front. Looks like I would just have to cream him without it.

Dylan pushed past his brother, racing across the starting line, allowing me to start running. I pushed off, the hamster ball harder to maneuver than I thought. I had to push the ball with my hands and run at the same time, which slowed me down a little. I didn’t have time to look back and see who was behind me, so I focused all my attention on running. I moved past the stacks of tires, moving around and through the bright orange cones.

I reached the turnaround point, and whirled the ball around (which was hard too), finally able to see who was behind me. Nick was in front of Kevin, who was having a hard time figuring out how to keep going. I didn’t know where Joe was, and it was unsettling.

“Better get moving, Parker!” I heard his overly confident, cocky voice shouting at me through plastic as his hamster ball passed mine. I narrowed my eyes, starting to run again. As hard as I tried, Joe always stayed just a few inches ahead of me. I could hear his laughter in front of me, and it grated my nerves. He passed the finish line, his arms thrown up in a triumphant pose. I crossed the line a few seconds after him, heavy with defeat. Nick came soon after, followed by Kevin. The cameras quit rolling for a few seconds, standby guys coming and helping us out of the plastic balls. As soon as we were clear of the hamster balls, our teams swarmed us.

“That was so close!”

“You were so fast!”

“You guys did great!” Cheery voices surrounded me, lifting my mood. They made me forget about Joe’s smug voice for a few seconds.

“Tough loss, huh Parker?”

Like I said, a few seconds.

I turned around to see Joe smirking, his arms folded across his chest. I met his eyes with a defiant glare.

“Too bad you need to beat a girl to feel good about yourself, Jonas.” I shot back, my lips curling into a smirk. He rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t beat a girl. I beat you.” He said, stepping closer.

“That would be beating a girl, genius.” I said, moving closer to him. Our teams merged together, watching our standoff with wide eyes.

With a few more snaps at each other, we were standing awfully close. Of course, I didn’t notice this at the time. I was more worried about being unable to think of something quick and witty.

Joe leaned down, his face coming centimeters from mine. I could see every single detail about his face, but I kept my head up, staring him right in the eyes.

“How about we make a little deal, Parker?”

“What would that be, Jonas?”

“Loser has to kiss the winner.” I froze for a second, blinking. I raised one eyebrow.

“No.” Joe smirked again.

“Afraid?” He said, leaning closer. I scoffed.

“As if. I just don’t want you kissing me.” Joe laughed, his cool breath spreading over my face.

“Please. I’m not losing.”

“Oh yeah? You’re on.” I said, sticking my hand out. He smirked again, shaking my hand confidently.

“Just don’t get too excited when you get to kiss me, Parker.” He said, turning on his heel and walking away, his team following after him. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I turned around, back to my team. It was quiet for a second before they all rushed me.

“That was so weird!”

“Creeptastic.”

“We have to win now!” I smiled, glad that my team saw things my way. Demi giggled from beside me.

“This is going to be good.” She said quietly, and I laughed. She was right; this was going to be the best Games ever.