I blinked at the screen, unable to comprehend the words before me.
Ok this has got to be a mistake or a prank, I thought. And the same thing must've occurred to Princess because she typed a similar reply in the chat.
Is this some sort of joke, Amina?
The response was fast.
No, it's not!
Listen to this audio!
A sound bite popped up next on my screen and took about a minute to download.
"Hey Ak-"
"Sssh!" I tapped the play button, ignoring Chad as he drew closer. A crackle fizzled out of the speakers, mixed with a few shuffles, then Coach Sarah's voice entered the blend.
"...and you promised me you wouldn't let Ethan get to you, now look what you've caused!" She sounded quite frustrated and I could visualize her rubbing her temples.
"You can't pin this on me!" Daniel's defensive tone joined in. "Ethan is to blame too, he's the one who kept provoking me."
"Well you should've ignored him instead of choosing to break your goddamned captain's nose! I cannot let that go unpunished!"
"But it was an accident, Coach. He made me so angry, kn-
"That's not an excuse! Accident or not, you hit your team captain and I'm a hundred percent sure it would've gotten worse if Seth and the other boys hadn't stopped you." Coach heaved out a sigh, "You have issues, Daniel. You clearly haven't gotten over that incident that happened two years ago, and it was my mistake for believing that you have and putting you back on the team."
There was a brief pause. "What are you saying?" Daniel asked in a very cautious tone.
The person secretly recording the convo must've gotten excited because there were a few rapid shuffles, in an attempt to move closer to catch the juicy details on tape. When Coach spoke again, her voice came out clearer than before.
"I'm taking you off the team, Daniel. Go and empty your locker."
"Oh my God," a feminine voice whispered with a chuckle.
"What the fu-" Daniel cut the curse word from flying out of his mouth. "That's not fair!"
"It is in my eyes," Coach countered. "It will give you enough time to get over that stupid grudge you insist on carrying. That competition happened two years ago. You lost, accept your defeat and move on for crying out loud."
"No! I'm not going to because Ethan cheated!" Daniel was yelling now. "He was on drugs! But you were all so dumb to ac-"
"That's enough, Daniel!" Coach had finally reached the end of her rope. You could hear it in her voice as she roared, "Get out of my office, now!"
As to whether Daniel did or not, I couldn't tell because in the next second the audio came to an end.
"Woow!" Felix chortled beside me. "Talk about drama."
"I know right," someone else responded.
When I lifted my head, I met all nine faces of my group members. They had stopped working and were now surrounding me, drawn in by the audio from my phone. I pushed down on the power button, causing the screen to go black. "Ok guys, shows over. Let's get back to work."
There were a few mumbles but everyone retreated to their initial position. Thankfully, Shola and the other groups hadn't noticed the disruption. They were still occupied with their section of the robot. I also did same, picking up a screwdriver and getting back to work.
The wandering thoughts bombarding my brain were like a thousand rain drops falling from the sky. I understood that Coach needed to punish Daniel to serve as a warning to other members of the team not to pick fights. A simple suspension would have done the trick, but she kicked him off the team entirely. In my opinion, that was just too...harsh.
"Hmm, the swim team," Felix rumbled and when my gaze landed on him, he grinned, "You guys are walking on eggshells around that coach, huh? Just a single punch and Daniel is off the team. I wonder what would've happened if the whole shower thing had blossomed into a fight," he chuckled, propping his legs up on a vacant stool. "There probably wouldn't be a swim team by now."
"You weren't listening well, Felix," Chad voiced out from where he stood, fixing on the second traction motor. It was only when he'd completed his task that his eyes moved to us. "The coach didn't kick Daniel off the team because he punched Ethan. She kicked him off the team because he has past issues with Ethan. I bet you're all thinking the punishment was a bit too punitive, but if you ask me, it's the best thing she could've done, looking at the history of those two."
"Their history?" Felix quizzed with a laugh. "What are they? A couple?"
"No, but they were friends once. You know that, right?" Chad directed the question to me and I nodded.
"Yeah, Ethan hinted at it a couple of times."
"Wait, so if they used to be friends, how come they're behaving like Naruto and Sasuke now?" Felix pulled his leg down, readjusting himself in the seat. "What happened to them?"
"Well," Chad sighed, drawing closer so the other group members wouldn't get reeled in again. "It's a long story but...it all started with the 2018 edition of Penfield's Annual Swimming Competition. It was down to the final race that would determine Penfield's next greatest swimmer. Daniel and Ethan were in it with six other swimmers, but the spotlight was on both of them because they had each won every single race they were in. So people really wanted to see who'd win the final one and get the title." He paused. "And you already know who did."
"Ethan Osei-Boateng." Felix mumbled and Chad nodded.
"Yep, he won. But before they could even award him, Daniel started yelling at the top of his lungs that Ethan cheated with drugs; steroids to be specific. Of course, no one believed him since all the swimmers were tested before the competition began, but Daniel kept insisting so they called off the award ceremony just to test Ethan again. The results came out clean, so Ethan took the win. Daniel still refused to accept the decision so, he quit the swim team, only to return this year..."
"Because Ethan won the same competition again last year. He came back to get his revenge," I added, remembering what Daniel had said the first day I met him at the tryouts.
"And unfortunately, it didn't work out," Chad continued. "Ethan is currently the first ever two-time reigning champion of Penfield's Annual Swimming Competition, plus he's the Mayor's son. That's why everyone adores him."
Upon hearing the entire story, I slowly began seeing everything in a different light. Ethan was one of the best athletes in this university. He came from a very prestigious family and to top it all up, he was good-looking, attracting female attention everywhere he went. He was basically living the life every regular uni guy dreamt of. Could all of that have been enough reason for Daniel to get jealous, and go on a false accusation spree just to destroy Ethan's reputation? Or was he accusing Ethan of cheating because it was true?
It wasn't true. My subconscious chipped in. Chad said they drug tested Ethan a second time and the results came clean. Daniel is just a jealous prick who doesn't want to accept the fact that he's a sore loser.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I sat back down on my stool, attempting to use work to distract myself from falling deeper into issues that didn't concern me.