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There were three major gossips going around the school.

The first one was the reason why Kongpob wouldn't pick up his phone. Almost every girl was speculating what was the reason for Kongpob's continuous ignorance to all calls and messages.

The next was about me. It seemed like more and more people were beginning to think of me as an evil villain who vowed to destroy Kongpob's "happily ever after".

And the last, but definitely not the least discussed talk among the people in the hallways, was about the first game of the varsity for this season. They were really anticipating to see Kongpob's performance. After all, he was given the title of MVP for two years in a row already.

However, they were completely unaware of what was to happen later at the game.

"Okay, something's up. Come on, spill it out." Nam remarked as soon as she saw me walking inside the room. She must've noticed the huge smile I couldn't wipe off my face ever since I talked to Michael yesterday.

I decided it wouldn't be fair if I told Nam about my plan when I practically forced Michael to agree with it yesterday. "What do you mean?" I asked innocently. "I just woke up at the right side of my bed today, that's all."

Of course, Nam knew better to see right through that. She looked at me suspiciously. "You've thought of a new plan again, haven't you?"

"Maaaybe..." I answered with a teasing smile as I took my seat.

Nam slapped my arm lightly. "Yah, I'm a hundred percent sure that you've come up with another scheme of yours. Come on, tell me!" she insisted, shaking my arm.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Nam, but this time, I can't tell you." I apologized, seeing how she kept on insisting. Whenever Nam wanted something, she wouldn't stop until she got it.

She frowned at me. "I thought I was your best friend." She remarked with an angry pout.

I couldn't help but be shaken by that remark. She was my best friend, and I almost never kept secrets from her. But even though she was more important than Michael, I couldn't just betray him like that. We had a promise.

"I'm really sorry, I really can't tell you." I told her. She then pouted so I just gave her a small hint. "This is all I can say, okay? It's going to happen during the game later."

"That's it?" Nam complained with a raised eyebrow. "I want more details."

It was a good thing our teacher finally came in so I didn't have to continue refusing to Nam's request. And since the lesson was pretty heavy, she forgot all about it after that class. In fact, she didn't remember about it until it was time for the game. The school had cancelled all the afternoon classes, because they wanted students to cheer for their unbeatable team as moral support.

"Hey, you still haven't told me about your plan." She finally remembered as we took our seats at one of the bleachers.

I showed her a mischievous smile. "Don't worry, you'll notice it soon."

As soon as the players stepped foot into the court, the crowds of people cheered enthusiastically. But even though the cheers for both teams were very loud, they were beaten by the cheers of Kongpob's fanclub which filled the whole place and almost burst my eardrums.

When Michael and a tall player from the other team finally prepared for the first jump ball, the crowd settled down. It was Michael who got the ball and passed it to another teammate who seemed very familiar. His jersey's name said "Daniel", but his name was unfamiliar to me. I couldn't help but wonder where I've seen him before.

"Why isn't Kongpob in the court playing? Is Michael crazy???" Nam suddenly exclaimed, distracting me from my thoughts. "At this rate, I don't think they can win this game at all."

I checked the scoreboard. Our school's team was still leading by one point, but it was close. Very close. "I think they can win this without Kongpob." I replied to her, trying to sound calm and focusing back to the Daniel guy. He had just shot a ball successfully and suddenly, he was looking at me with a disappointed expression. That was what reminded me of who he was. He was the weird guy in detention with Michael last time. They were probably friends and it looked like Michael didn't keep the secret only to himself after all.

As the game progressed, our school became behind by five points. By this time, everyone on our side had noticed the problem, even Kongpob's fan club. And so the angry shouts started.

"Bring out Kongpob! Bring out Kongpob!" the people all shouted together repeatedly. Even Nam started joining in the demanding shouting.

I expected Michael to bail at this point and just decide that the game was more important than meeting some girl, but he didn't. He continued concentrating on the game, giving his best to win it without their star player, Kongpob.

I then turned my attention towards the bench where Kongpob and the other players sat. Kongpob looked pissed and definitely not enjoying staying seated, especially since his teammates kept on pushing him to enter the court and yet he couldn't without the captain's permission. Since Nam and I were seated near the bench, we, or at least I, could hear some of their words.

"Michael's not in his right mind right now. You have to take action, Kongpob." One of his teammates told him. "Just go out there. He can't send you back when you're already out there."

"But Michael will definitely be upset if you disobey him." Another put in carefully.

The first one to speak shook his head. "But can't you see what's happening? I think Michael's trying to make us lose!"

Kongpob didn't say anything. He just continued to watch the game intently like he couldn't hear any of his teammates' remarks.

For the three quarters of the game, our team was behind, causing more and more people to shout for Kongpob to be put in the game. They kept complaining about Kongpob's absence. However, because they were too busy complaining, they didn't notice that Michael and his teammates were now working extra harder. Soon, they managed to catch up with the opponent's score. Fortunately, when they got ahead by eight points with forty seconds left, people finally settled down and Kongpob's cheers slowly died down.

"I told you they can do it without Kongpob." I told Nam as we waited for the seconds to finally end. "Kongpob's just overrated."

Nam turned to me when I spoke with a surprised expression on her face. She had finally realized what my plan was. "Wait a minute... You are responsible for this, aren't you?" she asked with widened eyes.

"For what? For not letting Kongpob out in the game?" I asked, trying to play around before I admitted my masterpiece plan.

She raised her eyebrow at me. "What else?"

I let out a laugh. "Okay, okay, fine. Yes, I was the one who told Michael not to let Kongpob in the game." I finally admitted. "And it worked, didn't it? Now people won't be thinking of Kongpob as someone so almighty and great."

But Nam didn't see it in the same light. Her expression turned into a frown. "You're crazy! You almost made our team lose the game!" she exclaimed, almost angered.

"Hey, why are you getting mad? Can't you see the score? We're way ahead. How can you call that losing?" I answered back, trying to get mad myself. She of all people should be able to understand what I did. I mean, I was doing all of this for her!

"Well, it would've been better if you told me about it earlier!" She shot back.

I couldn't believe it, Nam and I were actually arguing about something as small as this. "What difference would it make?!" I asked her, beginning to feel irritated.

Nam was taken aback by my question for a short moment. But she recovered quickly. "A lot of difference. For instance, I wouldn't be all nervous sitting here worrying whether the team would win or lose." She remarked angrily.

"Oh, so now you think I knew from the start that we were going to win?" I said sarcastically. "I must be so good then, I can manipulate the game."

Before any of us could say another word to each other, the buzzer signaling the end of the game finally went off and the announcer declared our team the winner. And like any other game, the people got out of their seats and started heading for the court to congratulate the players.

However something else happened as well. Suddenly, the players that were sitting on the bench stood up and walked over to Michael. And when they got there, they started pushing and shoving him angrily.

"What do you think you were doing out there? Why didn't you use Kongpob? Are you crazy??? We could've lost the game!? Why are you playing around like this???" They were yelling at him angrily.

Michael stayed silent and just accepted the verbal and physical hits with his head lowered. They were supposed to celebrate their victory, but instead, he was feeling like a complete failure.

"See what you've done? You've just ruined someone else's life." Nam accused me before she stood and left.

And damn, that hurt.

Maybe I really had gone too far?

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