High School Pep Rally
Posted by mega on March 23, 2022 at 20:44:04
My favorite stories to read about on here are situations where people weren't prepared or planning to get wet and don't have an immediate extra change of clothes, so they're stuck in wet clothes for a while. So I thought I'd share this one from my memory bank.
This takes place my senior year of high school. For the last hour of school, we had a pep rally outside at the football field. Each grade had a section of the stands to sit in, with 9th grade on one far end and 12th grade on the other. It was kind of a bad set up, as their portable sound equipment wasn't very good and we couldn't really make out what was being said in the middle of the field. We had a fairly big school, about 1200 - 1400 students total (I consider that big). It was a very warm and sunny day, and I was wearing blue jeans and a blue short sleeve t-shirt. I wish I had shorts on because I was getting warm in my jeans with the sun beating down, but this was also the time of year when it would be kinda cold in the morning on the way to school, but be really warm by the afternoon.
So the activity that was planned for this pep rally was a water balloon toss, for each grade. They started with the 9th grade on the opposite end of the field from me, and with it being so far away, it was impossible to see anything that was really going on. Same with when the 10th graders had their turn. We would hear a few bursts of noises from the crowd down that side of the field, probably indicating a balloon popped on someone, but we could only speculate.
Eventually, it was the 11th graders turn, and we could at least see what was going on better. Me and my friends were seating kinda in the lower middle of the stands. They called down the predetermined students to pair up and participate. There were probably about a dozen teams of 2 students each for each grade. Teams would receive 1 water balloon, and begin by facing each other just a couple feet away. When the whistle blew, the person holding the water balloon would toss it to their partner. If the balloon broke, the team was out, and last team remaining wins. The first toss was basically just a hand off, but after each team made their toss, the partners would take a step back before the whistle indicated when to toss next.
Most of the students would dodge if they thought they were about to break the balloon attempting to catch or, or they would step to the side and try catching it from a side position so if the balloon broke it just got their arms wet, or they were uncoordinated in the toss or catch and the balloon just hit the ground. There was one guy wearing jean shorts and a green and white college football jersey. The toss by his partner looked a bit too high, but the guy tried catching it between his chest and arms, and the balloon exploded. The crowd cheered and laughed, while I just rolled my eyes and glanced away, as most of the water seemed to explode and launch away from his body. Glancing back, the guy stood leaning forward, shaking his jersey back and forth with his hand, while water continuously dripped off his jersey. The entire front of his jean shorts were a shade darker than the rest from the water balloon. Me and my friends wondered how 1 water balloon could get someone that wet. I was just glad that wasn't happening to me (this was still at the time where I didn't like getting my clothes wet, for those who read my wet evolution story).
After a few more rounds the 11th graders wrapped up their water balloon toss, so now it was time for 12th grade, and we found out how 1 water balloon soaked that guy so much. A cart was being pulled down the field, carrying a large rectangular tub on it. The tub had a healthy amount of water in it (probably to keep the balloons from bursting in the tub), and it had a bunch of water balloons. Each balloon was almost the size of a small melon. People couldn't even hang onto a balloon with 1 hand and keep it steady. Just seeing the cart wheeled in front of us caused some gasps of anticipation with the crowd. They started calling out names of students who were on their list to participate. I wasn't paying much attention while they were getting set up and situated, then one of my friends elbowed me saying, "I think they just called your name." I wasn't actually paying attention so I didn't hear it, but I knew I never signed up or volunteered to be in this. The next moment, there was a girl on the field that had come up to the edge of the stands, pointing and shouting at me to get my attention and waving me to come down. I refused to move, not wanting any part of this, and I didn't really like being the center of attention either. She gave up and found one of her other friends to partner up with.
The game started, and it went kinda like the others, with most people trying to avoid getting wet in the same ways. As teams got eliminated, they would go back to their seats in the stands, while some remained on the field off to the side. Everyone also began to notice the team of John and Pat. John was wearing silver basketball shorts with a short sleeve darkish gray t-shirt (not quite black), and Pat was wearing khaki cargo shorts and a red polo short sleeved shirt. Each round, John and Pat waited to be the last team to toss their balloon to their partner. They were super focused, tuning out noise from the crowd too, and had a great strategy for catching the balloon as the distance between them got longer. They would beging to catch the balloon when it was high in the air, but also swooped their arms down with the balloon at the same time, slowing the momentum and making safe catches. This strategy worked, despite some tense moments with some of the distance and height on the throws. It got down to just a couple teams left, and it was John's turn to throw to Pat. They stood there, waiting for the other team to toss first, staying focused on each other. Meanwhile, 3 of the girls who had already gotten out but were still on the field were seen carrying the big tub of water towards Pat, who had his back turned to them as he was facing John. There were a couple gasps as they approached, everyone knowing what was about to happen, and they were so focused on the game they did not see it coming. They poured the tub of water on Pat's head from behind, and he was so focused he wasn't sure what was happening at first. About 90% of the water got dumped directly on him before he even moved. The crowd erupted with cheers and laughter. After the shock and exchange of words, they got back to the game, and a couple rounds later, John and Pat managed to win. They stood in front of the crowd and celebrated, John raising his arms up while holding the only unbroken water balloon. Then, one of those same girls came up behind him and popped the water balloon. John jumped, but not quite fast enough as the water soaked the left sleeve of his shirt and got that side of him pretty wet.
Everyone went back to their seats in the stands while their were more announcements we couldn't really hear regarding the pep rally. John and Pat ended up sitting 1-2 rows directly in front of where I was, and I could hear their conversation.
"My sleeve is soaked and my side is all wet," John jokingly complained. "You didn't get it that bad."
"Dude! There's not a dry spot on me," Pat exclaimed while John laughed. When he was on the field, I thought the tub of water only got his shirt wet, but no, Pat was completely soaked head to toe. I could see his red polo clinging to him, also revealing the outline of his undershirt, which is pretty safe to assume was also soaked.
"Why didn't you tell me she was coming up behind me to pop the balloon on me?" John egged him on.
"Why didn't you alert me when they were behind me with the tub?" Pat playfully shouted back, which caused John to laugh some more.
"I didn't want them to go for me with that," John replied, grinning. They did actually want to dump it on John, as he was the boisterous one, but the tub was positioned behind Pat so they didn't want to risk trying to go around and get caught by John before getting him wet.
Someone else nearby asked if Pat had extra clothes and what he was going to do. "No, I don't," he responded. "I'm stuck in these, but it actually feels kinda good on a hot day." He was a good sport about it. At the end of the rally when everyone got up, John pointed out the big wet spot where Pat was sitting, laughing again.
- Re: High School Pep Rally NickT 19:01:06 4/13/2022
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