Valentina's Point of View

This is harder than I thought. I massage my head because this activity makes my head hurt. I looked at Nikki who is bored and is cutting our designs for our small booth in the field.

"Hey." I turned around and saw Sajan, the third year baseball player, a varsity of our school.

"Sorry, we're close. Booths will open at 1:00 p.m it's still 9:00 a.m." I bowed down a little and turn back around and sighed, continuing massaging my head.

A pair of palms touched my head. I'm about to scream yet Sajan's voice came out.

"Let me. You're doing it wrong." I simply nodded and let him massage my head.

I closed my eyes and let myself be driven by the strokes of his fingers. He is good with this and I think my head is not hurt.

"Excuse me. Mr. Luxus said that the students under him must go to the gym to start the judging." I tilted my head and saw Agapius, the assistant of Mr. Luxus. I smiled at Sajan which made him move his hand away.

I stood up and walk towards the direction of Nikki. I pinched her cheek to wake her up for she fell asleep while cutting those papers. I looked at her, with pity since we haven't slept for two days, preparing for this activity. I told her to wait for me. I grabbed my backpack and walk back where Sajan is standing.

"Thanks for the massage, it helped a lot." I handed him a Gatorade that made him smile. He raised the bottle and muttered good luck, walking away.

I sighed and walked towards, Nikki. I grabbed the heavier stuff from her hand which makes her give me a duck face. I just rolled my eyes and laugh. Someone clears his throat behind us that made us look back.

"Hey, Aga. Mr. Luxus must be looking for you." he shook his head and grab my things and the things from Nikki's hand.

"You're the only pair who's not there that's why he told me to find you. Let's go." he walks up first which made us followed him.

I looked at Nikki and hold her shaking hand. I smiled at her and gives her an assuring look that everything will be fine and we'll pull it off.

When we reached the gym, we saw our classmates preparing their different dishes. I looked at Nikki, who is now worried since we're the 6th pair who will be going to present. Aga dropped our things in our preparation station.

"Thank you, Aga." Nikki and I chant together.

"No worries, ace your activity. Good luck." he put his hands in his pocket and walks away.

We prepared the menus we listed and prepared for the later days. I am nervous so as Nikki since she wants to get straight A's and I don't want to upset her so I'll do my best for my friend.

Pair 5 has the best dishes that have been prepared so far. I tapped Nikki's back when the group 5 is done and got 9.7 out of 10. I saw Vida, one of our classmates' smirk at me. I just stick out my tongue and rolled my eyes as well.

"That witch." Nikki cursed which made me laugh.

"Pair 6 on the platform please," Aga called. He smiled at me that made me smiled back at him.

Since I can't see when it's far, when I walked to the platform with Nikki, holding the plates we've prepared, I saw Clint, who's in the judges' table giving me a thumbs up and made me smile nervously.

"Shit," I muttered.

"What's wrong, Val?" as she placed the plates on the table for the presentation before tasting.

"Clinton, he's the stockholder. The guy who brought me lunch last time when I have to practice." she gives me a whispered oh that made me even more nervous.

"And Cion's here too. The president who is eyeing on you." I rolled my eyes and pinch Nikki secretly.

"Ready?" Mr. Luxus asked us that made us nod.

Nikki started the introduction with the healthy dishes that may put in a dish and make it as delicious as it can be that can fill the stomach of every student here in the university. I just nodded at eyeing the dishes while exhaling. I gripped into my knuckles yet looked up when someone shouted.

"Go 6!" I saw the group of the baseball players, holding their bats and throwing their balls in the air. I saw Sajan waving his hand that made me even tenser. Nikki poke me in the side secretly, telling me that it is my turn.

"So good morning, I am Freya Valentin Amore. Our dishes focus on the wants of the students, their craving but we've managed to plan out and made it healthier." I grabbed two dishes and walk upon the judges and I felt Nikki do the same too.

I placed the dish into Cion's table, I looked at him while he's examining our dish. I placed the other into Clint's dish, as I looked at him, he muttered thanks. We walked back to the platform and stand near the podium.

"We called it the Five Siders. As you can see, we have there the fries as the side dish. The fries are made from eggplant, coated with seasoning, cheese, and garlic salt, and these veggie sticks are broiled and not fried." I saw them nodded and dig into the food.

"Then we have the brown rice seasoned with cilantro and lime with its main dish, rosemary and garlic basted sirloin." I looked at Cion who is not pleased with our presentation that made me frown.

"Lastly, for the healthy dessert. We have there the mini cinnamon cheesecake rolls." I smiled and put the microphone in the podium.

I looked at Nikki who hugged me after I talked.

"Is that okay?" she nodded. I hugged her back and exhales while leaning my head to her shoulders.

"Excuse me." I let go of the hug when one of the judges' voice called, Mrs. Primrose.

"Yes Head Mistress?" we asked in unison.

"If I am not mistaken, your dish is called the Five Siders right?" we nodded.

"Why are there only for dishes? If I include the rice." she looked at us.

"Yes, you are not mistaken. It is purposedly the Five Siders since if you're done eating, kindly slide the small plates outwards. We've made a lemon ginger kombucha to help you from digesting your food." I smiled.

I heard a clap and a shout above the bleachers. I saw the fussy shaking of bats that made me chuckle.

"Sajan is into you, Val." Nikki lean at me and whispered. I glared at her that made her shrug.

"Thank you Pair 6. And now, for your scores." I held Nikki's hand, she looked at me and gave me a nervous look.

Scores flashed from the judge's screen, including Mr. Luxus' screen. Mr. Luxus gave us a 10 and smiled at us. Mrs. Primrose gave us a 10 also and clapped. Clint, giving us a thumbs up while pressing the score button, gave us a 10 also. I gripped harder to Nikki's hand. I saw Cion looked at me and press the button, revealing us a score of 8. Boo from the bleachers was heard, definitely from Sajan's group which Aga took action from it and made them leave. Yes was heard from the previous group, Vida's for not topping their score. I saw Nikki grabbed the microphone from the podium and utter a thank you. She pulled me away from the platform and dragged me outside the gym.

"I'm sorry. We lost." I frowned at her.

"No, we didn't. We'll focus on our booth, we have a 75% chance that we'll top this, Val. I know we can." she pulled me for a hugged that made me feel relieved.

Does Cion hate me so much for rejecting him the first time we saw each other? Then, screw him for bringing that up in this matter.