Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Thirteen

I closed my eyes unprepared to witness a negative outcome. When I finally looked down, my hand was pressed down on the button with the all uppercase letters spelling out do nothing.

And then I turned my head to the right, and a sigh of relief flew out of me as I noticed the other boy's hand pressed down on the same button.

He grinned at me and stood up, dusting off the back of his jeans. "Good game," he said before sprinting off back into the game, leaving me sitting there, shocked by what he'd chosen. To be completely honest, I hadn't expected him to do what he did. I hadn't exactly fully trusted him, even though I had gone by his decision.

I stood up, and ran back onto the field, but as I was making my way back to the border, careful to avoid being tagged, a player from the other team managed to slip out from the fray of my teammates, carrying the bright blue colored flag in hand. The girl crossed over the white spray painted boundary and immediately loud cheers came from all around me as the opposing team celebrated their victory. I slowed my jog to a walk, realizing the absence of danger since the game had ended.

One of the black outfitted guards, who was watching our game from the side of the field, stepped forward into the middle of the field with a loudspeaker. He pressed the button on it and static filled the surrounding area.

"Red team scores one point. Whichever team reaches three first ones. Let the second round begin."

The blue flag, since we were the blue team, was returned to its spot on the field, and once again I stood in wait for the shrill whistle to announce the official start of the game. It came, and once again the running started.

The second game seemed to go on slightly longer than the first, with people running to grab flags, but always failing. I tagged one of the other team's members as he was grabbing the flag forcing him into jail, and throughout the game, managed to avoid returning to the situation I'd been in during the first game. I prevented myself from venturing too far into the other team's territory, not wanting to risk elimination.

After what felt like a half hour, the dirty blonde haired girl began sprinting into the other side, where the majority of the other team was already occupied with their own people they were trying to tag. The girl slipped past the main defense, and reached the flag without a problem. Her hands were tightly clutched around the bright red flag of the red team, as she came running back towards the boundary undetected, and then passed it, still undetected.

Now it was our team's turn. I shouted out spiritedly with the rest of my team as people randomly gave the girl hugs and I grinned at finally being able to win one of the rounds. Maybe working tomorrow was not in the near future for any of us.

Again, the guard appeared to announce the blue team's win, and the starting of the following, and final, round.

The red flag was returned, and the whistle blew one last time to signify the start of the game.

People came sprinting at me, and I started tagging as many of them as I could. My fingers brushed against shirts, elbows, shoulders, sometimes even legs. Overall, I managed to send many of the other team's members to their own jails, where they discussed and decided which button to press. I'd been carefully paying attention to what had been happening in the jails, and had watched as all three of the scenarios had taken place. Already, eight of the players were sitting out beside the field, looking tired and probably wishing they had chosen differently. Out of the three options, the most common had fortunately been the do nothing button for both, making it so each team hadn't lost too many players.

Suddenly, a player came hurtling by me and I barely managed to reach out and touch their shoulder. I had been so lost in thought I hadn't even seen the player coming. My feet brought me closer to the boundary, where an apparent stalemate was taking place. The players of both teams faced off, carefully watching and waiting for a player from either team to take a chance and make their way out onto the opposing side.