Okay, what the hell are we gonna do? I wondered mercifully in my head. This was something that Ivan would do. This was definitely something I would turn around from. The fact that I could do something stupid in front of these people lingered inside my head and only seemed to be the possible outcome of this.
"Hey Ivan! Whoo hoo!" Someone whistled. I turned my head around. It was Ivan's jock friends-- and their girlfriends.
"Hey!" Ivan waved to them. He was still gripping onto my hand. Obviously he knew me better. I would try to escape-- every chance I got.
"Okay! Now there are eight couples gathered here on this stage. They are to peform in three mini-games!" the announcer boomed into the microphone. I could feel my nerves racking and that I was sweating from nervousness. At times like these, I could almost feel my whole face turning beet-red.
A staff member came around sticking numbers into our backs. Ivan and I were couple number three.
"Hey, my lucky number." Ivan winked at me. I sighed. It was going to take more than luck for me to get this over with.
"The first mini-game would be the 'Partner Shootin"!" the announcer said with a wild accent. "The male partner would have to carry the female partner as she tries to score as many balls into the hoop in  forty seconds."
Oh sh*t, I mumbled to myself. Great, the perfect game to show-case my mad shooting skills.
"Can't it be the other way around?" I muttered.
Ivan snickered. "I doubt you can carry me in even eight seconds."
I frowned at him. "If we lose, it's definitely your fault, so don't bother blaming it on me afterwards."
"What if we win then?"
"Psh," I scoffed, crossing my arms. "Not likely."
"At least have some faith in me," Ivan whispered.
"Yah, I'll give you faith," I spat.
The announcer called up the first couple to begin the shoot-off. When the timer buzzed, the boyfriend, maybe a year younger than us, hitched his girlfriend onto his arms as she tried her best to throw the round mini-basketballs into the adjacent hoop.
Surprisingly, the girlfriend's aim versus mine. She accidentally shot the ball up at the banner, where it ended up in some staff member's lunch, which looked like soup. The crowd bursted off into laughter. After the forty seconds was up, the judge calculated their scores. Each ball shot in was two points. It turned out the girl only shot in two out of the eight balls.
"Four points!" announced an annoyed judge. I guessed that it was his lunch that got ruined.
"Couple number two!" hollered the announcer. The second couple stepped up and this time they tried a different alternative. The girl hitched up on his back and when the timer buzzed, she tried to fling the ball into the hoop. This girl was a bit better, but still, I've seen better aim from a nine-year old than her.
"See, looks like we have hope after all," Ivan pointed out.
"There are still five other couples," I retorted.
Ivan still smiled cheerfully to himself though.
"Six points!" an alternative judge announced. The second couple jumped up and down, probably believing that they had some chance to win.
"Couple number three!" boomed the announcer.
I nearly choked on my very own spit.
"Com'on!" Ivan shouted to me through the applause and shouting.
I ran to him as he grabbed my arm and hitched me on his shoulders.
Ivan chuckled, "you're so light."
I bared my teeth at him before getting ready to shoot the mini-balls handed to me. The timer buzzed, its sound ringing in my ears. Atmost immediately, I began aiming at the hoops. One ball, two balls, three balls, four balls... Crap! I missed the fifth one. I began my aim once more. Five balls, six balls! And the very last...
I suddenly felt like the crowd was pressuring me.
"Shoot it in! Shoot it in!" they chanted. I took a deep breath and glanced at the timer. One second?!
And I immediately shot it in just as the timer began to buzz.
"Seven balls shot in, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer shouted. "Incredible!"
"Fourteen points!" the judge yelled. The crowd cheered and whistled crazily.
Ivan leaned down so I could get off his shoulders.
"Oww," he winced as he cracked them.
"Not as light as you thought, eh?" I asked menacingly.
Ivan then grinned wildly at me. "I guess the excitement got to me. You did great you know? No chance of winning now?"
"There are still five more couples!" I reminded him harshly. But actually, deep down, I was quite proud of myself. I had to stop myself everytime from grinning like a huge  idiot.
"Couple number six!" I immediately gulped as I spotted the sixth couple. The boyfriend was brawny and displayed an incredible amount of muscle. The girlfriend herself looked sporty, not that she was wearing Nike sweats and thermal top but that she also displayed an amount of brawniness. You can see the gleam in her eye how she tolerated this competition. And my guess was, easy peasy.
***
The girl's aim was wild, and her throws always made a loud thud on the board. I was sure I choked each time she got one in.
"A full sixteen points!" This time the crowd was so loud, it was impossible to drown out possible words coming from them. The brawny boyfriend kissed the brawny girlfriend on the lips. This made the crowd madly chanting, "go couple six! Go couple six!"
But then again, I guess that was why they were meant for each other.
The following couples didn't have much of a chance against the sixth couple. Ivan whispered into my ear that we were second place and had chance to win a Toshiba laptop for each of us. I muttered back that I already had a laptop and it was Toshiba too. I guess Ivan was trying to keep up the faith, but seriously,  I could see the nervousness in him and it wasn't often that you could see Ivan nervous.
"The second mini-game is called Obstacle Diabolical!" My eyes widened when they revealed a large, blow-up obstacle course. Staff members were rushing as they spilled bubbly soap water all over it to make it even more difficult.
"Let's just say, ladies first!" the announcer boomed. I nearly hacked then. I glanced over to couple number six where they were grinning widely with assureness.
"You can do it!" Ivan smiled at me. I returned it with a weak, nervous smile although surely I should've frowned.
I didn't have to worry much about the rest of the couples but the brawny couple and my own dignity.
***
Tweet, tweet! The whistle blew. All eight girls, including me ran up the slippery blown-up wall in giant neon snow-suits to start off. Some girls slipped and made major drama announcing that their ankle or wrists were broken. Now there were probably six girls left. I made to the top but the brawny one was already slipping down the slide like it was some children's playground. But trust me, don't let the colourful, blown-up structure fool you. I guess that was why they called it, 'Obstacle Diabolical'. I wondered till now, as I dashed madly, and nearly slipping, why I didn't even once tried to escape. Maybe it was to save Ivan from any shame. But then again, why did I care?
"Aah!" I slipped on a large puddle of soap water. I managed to get up but found that I only slipped once more. I guess getting up was no use. The snow-suit was also slippery itself, and like a penguin, I laid on my chest, using my arms to guide it through the rest of the maze. I found my resolution to be much of a gain to my side as I realized I was inching ever closer to the leading girl, Bambi. I found out her name when she had to reply to a short interview with the announcer and judge. It was worse when I spotted a TV camera pointing at us. Great. Not only am I going to be humilated by the enormous crowd ever-growing at the mall's stage but it was going to be city-wide humilation also.
Anyways, Bambi doesn't seem to be a very suitable name for this girl.
I grabbed the slippery ropes leading to the last slide of the finish line. One thing I was good at in Gym was rope-climbing. I managed to tie with Bambi as she frowned at me. I laid once more on my stomach sliding neck-and-neck with Bambi, the brawny girlfriend.
And not once did I glance to my fake boyfriend Ivan to see his expressions as I made it that far on the obstacle course.

[Sorry that it took so long to write this chapter. xD]