The Winners' Tent
The yellow team pones, no matter what you say. The Comets pone.
That's right, I am a yellow Comet. And I'm proud of it. I never really consider myself a Disney Channel star, but I guess I am and that's how I got on the Games. I have a TV show on Disney, called Unknown Popular about an unpopular popular girl. Weird, I know, but I enjoy the plot. I'm scheduled to start filming Camp Rock 2 next year, so that's also a bonus. But the biggest bonus of being a Disney Channel personality and a Comet is that I get to hang around with my biggest celebrity crush: Kevin Jonas.
By the way, my name is Tory Roberts, not related to Emma or Julia. I'm seventeen years old, have semi-curly dark brown hair that goes to my shoulder blades, chocolate-colored eyes, and a pretty wicked tan. My hobbies are softball, writing, singing, acting, and partying. Not crazy partying like Lindsay or Paris. Like Joe partying. Even though that's dangerous in a wholesome way, it's still dangerous, so I try to hold off on the Joe-like partying. I'm currently single, but I have my eye on a certain curly-haired, hazel-eyed cutie from Jersey. And that would be Kev J himself. As some famous dude would say, "O Captain, My Captain." As he is the captain of the yellow team, and a good one at that.
Anyway, this is about the best encounter I have ever had in the DC Games. And it all starts with the first unofficial, literally "point"-less challenge.
"Y to the-E-double L-O-DUB! Y to the-E-double L-O-DUB!" we chant, huddling over Moises, Kevin, and Kyle. At the end of the cheer, they toss up Moises into the air and he lands safely on the ground below. The rest of the teams do their lame cheers (blah) and we end up being crowned the best cheerers by Brian Stepanik himself. Anyway, the blue team and the green team get called over to do the second real challenge whereas we the yellow and those of scarlet origins must pass over back to our tents. I am psyched and me and Selena get the rest of our members pumped for the next obstacle we're going to face.
"Gotta play as hard as we can!" Selena encourages, with a roar of approval from the team.
"And focus like crazy!" I add, which earns another yell of assent. "Yeah, we got this! The team with the most energy and the most hype will go on to be victorious! Am I right?" Everyone else choruses 'YEAH!' "So who's gonna win this next challenge?"
"YELLOW!"
"And who's gonna crush the competition?"
"YELLOW!" I give a nonchalant and subtle glance in Kevin's direction. He seems to be very pumped up, sitting beside...Sabrina Bryan, from the Cheetah Girls.
It's not like I have anything against Sabrina. Really, I love the girl to death. But Kevin likes her. Trust me. I can tell these things. So I brush it off and me and Selena keep the energy flowing and rally up the Comets. Finally the green and blue teams are back in their tents and it's our turn to take down the red. We're going to be doing "Hang Tight" which means that we all are connected by small lengths of rope and we're going through this wicked obstacle course. Sabrina leads us in the front and Kevin stands in the back. I'm shoved second to last, and that means I get to feel his skin bumping against mine if we get held up. We're all adjoined by ropes as Brian hits his little gong.
And it's on. We're all communicating, getting each other in and out of every situation well. I'm starting to fall in the hoops, but Kevin props me up and it has never felt so nice to have a teammate on your side. We pop through the tires and over the round-ish hurdles and under a little stringy loft and finish first. Winning is awesome. I hug the first person I can see, which is Yi-Chun Chou, and she's really a sweet girl. Then I proceed to Selena and Moises and I throw him on my back and carry him around, and everybody getting in this big group huddle/hug.
"Good job, you guys," Kevin whispers from my left side, his left arm resting comfortably around my waist. But it gives me crazy butterflies. "You all did great!" he encourages, and we're starting to get rowdy.
"Whooooo!" I cheer, throwing my arms up in the air. "Go Yellow!" Moises leaps off my back and pushes his way into the center of the action and starts dancing. This gives us all a laugh and our adrenaline is definitely up.
The second round is over, so now it's time to take down the Cyclones, who defeated Lightning, the winners of last time, so we're going to have to turn it up. There's one twist though: three people from each team have to wear blindfolds! Brian hands out the yellow bandanas to each captain. Andrea Guasch (of international Disney Channel), Moises, and I put them on and scatter ourselves in the midst of our teammates. I'm in front of Kevin, again, Andrea is behind Sabrina and in front of Yi-Chun, and Moises stands between Yi-Chun and Kyle. (A/N: The actual order for the games was Sabrina, {blindfolded} Martin Barlan, Yi-Chun, {blindfolded} Moises, Kyle, {blindfolded} Andrea, Kevin, but I had to change it for Tory's sake) We maneuver our way through the maze again, I wonder who's winning, and as cheers erupt from our side, I assume we've won, so I rip off my blindfold and turn around and engulf Kevin in the biggest hug he's ever experienced. And then I don't know how it's happening, but my legs end up around his middle and he carries me around like that and we're just laughing together.
"Ow! Kevin and Tory!" Sabrina yelps, giggling a little herself. Kevin clears his throat and lets me down. The whole team, along with the Lightning, Cyclones, and Inferno, go over to join Brian at the scoring...place beside the Winners' Tent. We're in second place, tied with the Lightning, slightly below the Cyclones. And then of course, there's the Inferno in third place. Brian dismisses us over to the Winners' Tent, saying something crazy about a game room. It's wicked inside. There's a pool table and all your classic arcade games and an air hockey table and a foosball table and...yeah, lots of tables. It's insane.
"Who would like to challenge the champion at some air hockey?" I taunt, raising an eyebrow. "Nobody? C'mon, someone have the guts!"
"Please, Tory, I could destroy you," Selena says, rolling her eyes from the pinball machine.
"Then why don'tcha come over here and take me down already?"
"Fine. I will." She and I go up to ten, and guess who's the first to get ten? That's right, ME! Booyah! Kyle, Andrea, and Kevin are all playing pool and I go over to hang out with them, Selena and I watching from the sidelines.
"You guys wanna play?" Kyle offers. We exchange a look.
"Not for me, thanks," Selena says. I shrug.
"I just don't know how to play."
"I'll tea--"
"Kyle," hisses Andrea in an undertone.
"I'll teach you how to play," Kevin says, bringing me toward him. The look on Andrea's face is triumphant, almost cocky. His arms are draped over mine on the pool stick, and I hear random phrases like "break" and stuff like that but all I really can hear is the intense thumping of my heart up in my throat. He lets go of me briefly and I stare at the pool stick in confusion. "Get it now?" I shake my head with a guilty giggle. He laughs too, but instead just holds me to his chest and plays pool with me there, demonstrating over and over every successful move and every ploy. In the end, he takes down Kyle and Andrea and his arm lingers around my midsection. "Wow," he breathes, his smell husky and contained. "This is the first time I've ever beat anyone in pool. Guess you must be my lucky charm." A smile curves his beautiful lips upward.
"Why, thank you," I say, placing my hand over his on my waist. His breath is warm, centimeters from my lips. Kyle just rolls his eyes.
"Just kiss her already!" he shouts. Andrea hits him over the head. "What?"
"You just killed the moment," she whispers.
"Sorry," he groans, rubbing his head. Kevin nods toward the front of the tent. He takes my hand and the two of us walk over and out, the bouncer nowhere to be found.
"So Tory..."
"So Kevin..."
"You know I like you?" he says, his eyebrows formed into this playful/teasing expression.
"Now I do. And did you know that I like you too?"
"Well, now I do."
"So are ya gonna kiss me?" I breathe, my eyes already half-shut and the feeling of that soft air pressing against my mouth.
"Yes," he whispers, and rests his lips on mine. So this really must be the Winners' Tent. I know I'm definitely a winner.
