I didn't quite fear this day, I just hated it. It was Talents Day Eve. You had to show off your greatest skills. Sounds easy, looks easy. For me? A scrappy 12 year old? Nope! It wasn't easy. I had no talents. I was freaking out because we had to show off our skills by tonight. Clay had a skill where he could win any sparring match, despite being one of the younger 20s kids. Opal had a talent where she could hide excellently, and nobody could find her. Whereas for me, I couldn't. I was scrambling to find a talent because everybody else had a talent already. They were preparing while I was using the Cabin Emergency Tablet to search up random talents I could do. I was extremely nervous as well. I sort of prayed nothing terrible would happen for me. I scrolled desperately. Nothing astounding on the list. Just comedy, singing, juggling, and dancing. I could only juggle, but not great. I sighed, deleted the search history, and turned off the tablet. Mrs. Drews had made it clear nobody was allowed to withdraw themselves from the competition. And on top of that, it being a competition was even more stressful. If you were ranked below 30, then you would get picked that ranked in Free Games, which was just as stressful as Talents Day.
"You got a talent?" Logan asked, barging into the Cabin. I shook my head. "Really?" He yawned. I nodded and grabbed my coat. It was oddly cold in the cabin. I walked towards the door and grabbed my skateboard, carefully clearing a path of rocks with my boots. I got on the skateboard and slowly skateboarded to the Mess Hall, with Logan chasing after me. "Wait!" He wailed, trying to catch up. I grinned and sped up, skating right into the Mess Hall. I chuckled and slowed down, leaning my skateboard up to stop. The Mess Hall was packed, like, jam-packed, no space in space type of packed. I picked up my skateboard and set it down at Table Champion, waiting at the table for Logan to get there. Cooper and Clay walked up with their trays of food. I got up again and trudged over to the Breakfast Line. My mouth watered because they had cinnamon rolls and waffles. I got bacon, a waffle, and two cinnamon rolls. And I got some apple juice. I headed back to Table Champion, and saw a glimpse of Logan still hustling to the Mess Hall. He was sprinting faster than I had ever seen. I walked back grinning to myself. "So I'm thinking about sparring some kid," Clay ate some of his waffle. Cooper nodded. "I'm thinking about using one of my creations and showing it like Shark Tank." Clay chuckled and nodded. I sat down and moved my skateboard over. Logan finally got in, sweating and panting. He sighed and looked over at me, shaking his head as I grinned. He slowly got his tray of food. "What talent 'you doing, Walker?" I shrugged. "I don't have one yet." I answered, sipping my apple juice. Clay nodded while Cooper paused. "You have tons of talents, so I'm guessing you can't pick one." Cooper shrugged, and waved over a frustrated Logan. "This kid," Logan panted, almost slamming his tray down, "made me run all the way here, sprinting." He sat down, and kept furiously panting. Cooper smirked. "Dudette, he's 12." Cooper pointed out. Logan groaned and bit into his cinnamon roll. "I think you should skateboard as your talent," Clay said, pointing at my skateboard. Logan nodded. "You're really good, too." I hummed and nodded. Maybe I could. "But skateboarding is basic. Shouldn't I do something while on the skateboard?" I asked. They all nodded. Cooper quickly finished his meal after that and shortly left to go to the cabin. None of us questioned it, and kept eating.
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"What if you shot a bow and arrow while doing a backwards skate-flip?" We all stared Cooper down. Was he wanting me to attempt something that sounded as dangerous as playing with a lighter and a match? My jaw slowly dropped. "That's extremely dangerous," Clay finally broke the silence. I nodded quickly. Logan had stopped panting and was actually agreeing with Cooper. "You might've saw that in movies, but this is real life!" I sputtered out. Clay agreed with me. I ate the rest of my cinnamon rolls and put the tray in the recycle bin, grabbing my skateboard. Cooper put a bow and arrow in my hand. "Please try." He whispered out of hearing range of Clay. I grumbled and fiddled with the bow and arrow. I waited for everybody else to finish before heading back to the Cabin. I skated, racing Cooper this time. He was slow compared to me, which felt awesome. I was a slow runner, but I was a quick skateboarder. I rushed into the cabin, slamming into somebody bunk and picking up my skateboard. the arrow fell scary-close to my stomach when I crash-landed. I sighed and picked it up, putting it all in my bed. "I am definitely doing skateboarding, and maybe Coop's dangerous plan," I whispered to myself, and climbed up in the hammock I nailed in the wall the other day. With Jake's permission, of course. Cooper and Logan barreled into the Cabin, and Clay followed behind. "You HAVE to do skateboarding, Walker! You are extremely fast, which isn't fair in races." Logan said, and looked behind himself to see if Clay was close or not. I nodded. "I am doing skateboarding, I just might not do Cooper's idea. I want a safer idea, not one thats death itself." I said, and studied their expressions. Logan was calm and Cooper looked a little hurt but calm. Clay finally got in the cabin, and looked at us three. "He's skateboarding, right?" Clay asked as he grabbed his jacket. Cooper nodded. Clay grinned and looked at me. "I know a buddy who can professionally paint skateboards," Clay gestured to my skateboard, which was just red and black. I nodded. I did hate how boring it looked.
"I will skateboard, but I'm gonna practice until Jake tells us to do something." They nodded, and I headed outside. I was gripping my skateboard to tight my knuckles turned white. I cleared off the rocks on the patio I was at. Some 8th graders thought putting rocks there was genius. I put my skateboard down, and practiced doing flips with my skateboard. The look on Jake's face when he watched my flip was hilarious. I grinned and sighed, hoping tomorrow would be a good Talents Day.
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