The Watch – Part 125:

Amy, Tom and I headed back to the main building. The enemy team wasn’t all that happy with how things went, but at least they scored a victory last time. I guess they’re not too happy with it being a draw at the end of the day. We, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier. We had won the second battle and fought hard to secure that.

‘So,’ Alex said who was waiting for us inside, ‘how’d it go?’

‘We won,’ Tom said, struggling to hold a broad smile in. It was a spontaneous reaction on her behalf. Alex ran up to Tom and hugged him in a celebratory manner, squeezing the breath out of him with excitement. She then realised what she was doing, retracted, looking embarrassed. ‘Sorry,’ she said with her head down. I was a little taken aback by that, but I guess she was just saying thanks for not letting her sacrifice go to waste. Amy, on the other hand, was smiling from cheek to cheek. I was about to ask her why, but she spoke up before I could say anything.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be much help in the end,’ Amy said.

‘You helped more than you think,’ I said truthfully.

‘How, I got shot before we could take the hut by force.’

‘Ah,’ Tom interjected, ‘it was your getting shot that allowed Sebastian to take him out and clear a path for us so we could enter the hut, allowing us to win the game.’

‘Well, when you put it like that,’ Amy said picking herself up again. ‘I guess I did help.’ She then turned towards me and said, ‘I see that you now know what it feels like to have a paintball smash onto your mask.’

‘It was certainly unexpected, I can tell you that much,’ I said, ‘one second you have clear vision, and the next it’s obscured by paint that appeared out of nowhere. In a split second, everything changes.’

‘I see that you really enjoyed yourself out there today,’ Amy said.

‘I would be lying if I said I didn’t,’ I smiled.

‘You see,’ Tom said, ‘come out a bit more and you will have this much fun.’ I would never have done anything like this before. It’s extraordinary to now realise just how much I have changed in a short amount of time. Well, from my perspective, I guess it has been a rather long time, but if I were to follow the days from when I got the watch to now, it has only been six days. One week has passed and look what has happened, how much has changed, how much I’ve changed. It really does put what can be achieved in one day into perspective, and makes me wonder what will happen during the next six days, and the six days after that, and for the rest of the summer holidays. What will college be like…?

‘Are you alright?’ Amy asked.

‘Sorry,’ I said, snapping out of my train of thought.

‘Are you alright?’

‘Yeah, sorry, I zoned out there for a moment.’

‘You looked lost in your own world there,’ Tom said.

‘It’s nothing important, just reflecting on how much has changed.’ I’m not sure if I were to keep that last part in, but I said it anyway.

‘I know what you mean,’ Amy said.

‘You went from being unable to leave the house to going paintballing,’ Tom said, ‘I’m proud of you.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, feeling that I’ve accomplished something even more now. ‘That means a lot to me.’

Alex chanted, ‘kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.’ Amy burst out laughing and both Tom and I turned bright red.

‘Ah, you’ve embarrassed them now,’ Amy said after she had recovered, wiping tears from her eyes.

‘We’re not embarrassed,’ Tom said with as much dignity as he could muster – which meant he had hardly any dignity.

‘I think it looks cute,’ Alex said to Tom. What did Alex just say? Does that mean…

‘Come on,’ Amy said, ‘we had better catch the bus back. There’s only two more before we have to walk.’

Am I right in saying that Alex…

‘Right behind you,’ Tom said to Amy and I.’ Amy noticed that I was standing there dumbfounded.

‘Come on,’ she said, grabbing my arm, ‘let’s get going.’

‘But, but, but, but, but,’ I said in quick progression.

‘Why do you think I invited Alex along,’ Amy said when we had given back all our gear and heading down the road to catch the bus. Tom and Alex were behind us, talking.

‘You mean you knew,’ I said.

‘Alex told me,’ Amy shrugged casually as if it was old news.

‘Wait. Alex? What? I’m all confused.’

‘Let me explain,’ Amy said once we had arrived at the bus stop. ‘Alex has liked Tom for a while now. She told me about how she would like to ask him out at some point, but wondered if it would be OK to do so.’

‘You mean she thought he would reject her,’ I said.

‘Well, yeah.’

‘So you invited Alex along in the hope that she and Tom would get together over the course of the day,’ I said aghast. ‘Well, I think you’ve achieved your goal.’

‘I know right. I wasn’t expecting her to come at all and I certainly wasn’t expecting them to get together in less than a day.’

‘Hey,’ Tom said when he and Alex arrived at the bus stop. He and Alex were holding hands, signalling their bond between each other. I just stared at them both, taken aback by sudden revelations and progressions,

‘What?’ Tom asked me.

‘Nothing,’ I said, looking away, trying to think of anything to start a conversation with Amy, but nothing came to mind.

‘You sure, you look like you’ve just been told something weird.’

‘Well,’ I said, tilting my head. He wasn’t wrong.

‘We’re not getting anywhere,’ Tom said. ‘Will you just tell me what’s going on?’

‘The bus is here,’ Amy said in that tone that indicated she knew just how long this conversation would last for as I was struggling to fully comprehend everything, and Tom was trying to understand why I appeared to be that way. We boarded the bus and walked to the seats at the back. The driver closed the doors and pulled away.

We all were tired and not wanting to do much else as we sat, watching many people get off and on at the various stops back to my house. There was something rhythmic about it, and the shaking of the bus as it continued on made me feel slightly sleepy.

‘Can I?’ Amy asked whether it was Ok to put her head on my shoulder.

‘Sure,’ I said, manoeuvring slightly so that we were both comfortable.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)