ZACK’S POV
Their words and support proved to be a catalyst for me. In no time, I was filled with energy. Their words had the greatest impact on my fucked-up situation and now, all I had to do was to get over myself like a strong man. For that, the best reason I had was my Zoe!!!
“Where were you guys during all these mess that happened in my life. If you had comeback long back I wouldn’t have had to go through such a crisis” I chuckled in disbelief thinking how I had forgotten my real buddies when worst time hit my fate like an apocalypse.
Hearing my joke, we couldn’t contain out laugh and laughed upon it simply stating that everything happens for a reason. Just right then, we heard the announcement of the next event of mine which was the 400m race. It felt like a blessing that came to me from out of the blue when I heard the event being announced. How should have I expressed my bliss because, it was my event. The event I was specialized in!!!!
It was the event for which my dad had been preparing me for the zonal championship ever since I entered athletics. However, the bliss didn’t last any long as usual when soon a feeling of fear struck me. I had already lost a gold in my first events and because of that, I had to gain the maximum points in the remaining events to win the individual championship. That simply meant that winning a gold was much necessary for me to achieve the victory I wanted to. This fear made me anxious of losing the other events. Noticing me sinking back into my terrible state, Will put his hands over my shoulder and asked me to remember my dad’s motto.
“Do not compete for competing rather, compete to satisfy our cravings” they recited the moto.
“we are champions and we don’t fear fate” like a possessed man, I muttered in a low tone and they smiled widely at me.
“Forget everything and focus on the events now. That's the first thing you need to do” Dash advised me.
Coincidentally, Will noticed that I was wearing the chain that they had gifted me at my farewell from the city. Will took it out from my jersey and showed it to me, to lit my head!!!
Showing me that, both of them reminded me about always having the chain with me yet never remembering who I was. They motivated him to win the remaining events and assured me that we will take care of the rest together even if it was failure I got on my way.
“For then think about Zoe and defeat your fears Zack” they held my back and patted me to go for it.
Strangely, I was filled with a wave of fragile confidence. I felt way too strong than before. With their advice, I stopped caring about everything. I was ready to go to the venue and this time, I stepped on tracks with faith in myself. A myriad of emotions was going on inside my head like crazy. Because of that, I felt a strange excitement in me thinking about how my dad might have felt on those tracks. I had to make my dad proud and show him that his son too was capable of winning it. Apart from all these thoughts, the entry of the all-time troublemaker of my life Noah, came and took his position next to me!!!!
“Are you here again to lose or to humiliate yourself furthermore. Have some self-respect dude” Noah contemplated me with his words as it was the best chance to break my left-over confidence!!!
With what my buddies had told me filled in my head, I didn’t even care for his words. I put on my bad boy mask and just gave him a wicked smile.
“Actions speak louder than voice” I replied.
Noah was taken aback by my sudden snap of confidence and felt is as a challenge from me. For him, this new me was not the one who had fear but was someone who seemed confident. That was something that worried him from deep within yet he didn’t express that worry on his face. I saw Dash and Will join my mother in the arena to cheer for me. For a moments time, I knew that I had got everything I wanted to win this race!!!!
Get, set...those words released a kind of lightning in me. All that was in my head was the adamancy to win this race if not for my dad, then at least for my Zoe. I had to win it here because it was the only place, I could get my life back into the tracks!!!
The gun was shot and the race began. It was a terrible start from my side because, I was way behind everyone. To be precise, I was in the last position. The other competitors were far ahead of me. Mom was hell worried for me while Dash and Will looked at each other and passed a wicked smile. 350m had been covered in a matter of minutes and yet I was in the same last position. However, it was not the end yet!!!!
This was the perfect time to use my secret strategy, the one which my dad had passed onto me from his learnings and experience. I increased my speed from the last curve on the tracks and then within seconds time, I was ahead of all of them. Noah was astonished by seeing his own strategy fail in front of mine and me, I was in the 1st position. Forgetting everything around me, I focused on achieving my goal and saw myself nearing the finishing point. For a moment, I imagined my dad on the finishing line, smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up. Seeing that, I closed my eyes with joy and then it happened. I won!!!!!
I had crossed the finishing line and couldn’t stop my race even after winning. I jogged and then halted when the announcement was made. My buddies came running to me and shared the joy with me. Everyone in the audience were really amazed by mu victory and were cheering loud for me. And the crowd, they were screaming my name. My heart was pounding like hell and to add more fuel to it, Dash and Will pointed my sighed towards the scoreboard and I saw it.
I had broken the record till then of 400m race and it was not the end. It was the record that my dad had set years ago when he had won the championship of his era!!!!
When I saw that, my heart stopped and then it pumped up with the honor that I sunk in. How wouldn’t it be an honor to win such a great accomplishment??? The 3 of us were filled with mixed emotions. This was the best victory we had ever seen in our lives. My buddies hugged me in exhilaration and in huge excitement, they lifted me in the air to celebrate such a once in a lifetime moment.
Coach David, from the audience, felt proud of my accomplishment and reminisced the moment when my dad had won it years ago. And mom, she was filled with tears. For her, her son had finally done it. Mom and coach David looked at each other and sighed. What they wanted had finally happened. Talking about Noah’s reaction to my victory, he was terrifically humiliated and disheartened upon my victory that too it being such peak one.
As I had no intention of filling my ignited confidence with his negativity, I decided t use it for my own good. This win had given me everything I wanted and so, all I wanted to focus on was my next events. The next two events were held in a short while and I’m not bragging but this newfound spirit of the old Zack I was, made it a piece of cake for me to win in both the events. For all that time, I only had dad and Zoe in my head so I performed exactly how my dad had trained me to!!!!
After some hours, the tournament had finally come to an end. Noah was embarrassed upon his defeat against me in all the events and his ego made him feel disgraced of himself. All his plans to bring me down had failed miserably and it had hit him harder than hell.
My enthusiasm was at its peak and when we all got back to the locker room, something strange hit my head. That one thought immediately made me act upon it without a second thought. I had no idea whether it was good idea or a bad idea, yet all I knew was that I had to try it, hoping for the best. I saw Noah surrounded by his minions who were trying their best to cheer him up. Knowing that softness was never a tool I had to use on them, I put on my bad boy attitude to deal with them and went towards Noah.
“Friends?” With a smirk I extended my hands towards him.
Noah was stunned by my gesture and frowned his eyes at me. He was extremely confused and didn’t have any clue on why I was doing it. Seeing his expressions, I decided to clear off his misunderstandings. But was my move going to be a contented one or was Noah going to go ahead with another of his worst plotting against me which was going to cause me more troubles????