The Days we Knew

It was just another typical day at Orchard Park Secondary School on a chilly Thursday. Minwoo was sitting in geography class eagerly waiting for the bell to ring at 11:12 so he could go to Torino’s to hang out with his friends and grab some food. As the bell rang, he met up with his friends in the hallway and they all headed to Torino’s together. Once they arrived they swarmed the foosball table and had fun and jeered each other as plays were made and goals were scored. As they were playing, Minwoo noticed two unfamiliar faces walk into the store, look over and then say, “Look at those faggots playing foosball.” Minwoo and all of his friends ignored the comment seeing as how only half of them heard it. Minwoo continued on playing and after he lost the game he went over to the counter to buy a drink where those two unfamiliar faces were still standing waiting for food. All of a sudden one of the strangers, named Mike, shoves Minwoo and says to him in a demeaning manner, “Don’t touch me” to which Minwoo replies “I didn’t though”. Mike stands straight up towering over Minwoo now and says, “Yeah you did kid” so Minwoo faces him as well and says, “okay, my bad, wanna relax now bud?” Minwoo and Mike are now face to face with only an inch of space separating the two of them and are about to start throwing fists into the air. Right when Minwoo was about to strike, Minwoo’s friend, Valdrin, steps in and says, “Guys, relax! We can settle this a different way” and both Mike and Minwoo look at Valdrin and ask, “How?” Valdrin snaps his fingers and magically a ping pong table started to rise from the ground where the foosball table had been and then two paddles and a ping pong ball appeared out of thin air. Everyone inside of Torino’s stared in awe and wonder and then Valdrin explains, “You two shall play a ping pong game up to seven and the loser never returns to Torino’s ever again.” Minwoo and Mike looked at each other and agreed to play.
Minwoo was nervous since it has now been 7 years since he last held a paddle on that horrible day. Minwoo was the national ping pong champion and was returning to defend his title. His coach, who was addicted to gambling and had bet a million dollar’s that Minwoo would win. Sadly, Minwoo was defeated and his coach had no money to pay back the shady men he always dealt with. One day, three big men came into their practice room and took his coach away. He never saw his coach again. He swore to never hold a paddle ever again. This memory had become omnipresent on Minwoo’s mind and sweat started trickle down his forehead. All of his friends were counting on him to win so that they could come back and always hang out there. He slowly reached for the paddle as the image of his coach being dragged away flooded his mind.
He grabbed the paddle and all of his friends started cheering for him but the paddle felt like a stranger in his hand. He was no longer familiar with the feeling of the smooth wooden handle and thus he became more nervous. His knees were weak, and arms were heavy, there was vomit on his sweater already. He was preparing to serve but the sweat on his hands made it much more difficult to hit the ball. He threw the ball into the air to hit it but the ball went wide off the table. He continued to play horribly but somehow managed to gain points from the faults of Mike. The score was 6-4 and it looked hopeless for Minwoo and his friends. It was Mike's serve now, he threw the ball into the air and hit it towards Minwoo, the ball was traveling fast but skimmed the top of the net which called for a reserve. All of a sudden Minwoo slipped on the wet floors (the floors were wet when Minwoo dropped his Nestea pop-can to fight Mike) and lost consciousness. While he was knocked out he saw images of his coach cheering for him and his coach told him that everything was alright and that it would all be over soon. Minwoo woke up to his friends yelling for him and picked up his paddle which felt familiar once again. He told Mike to serve even though his friends were worried. Mike served the ball with a ridiculous spin but Minwoo hit it back right at Mikes head no problem. He returned Mike's serves like they were nothing. On the last point, it was tied 6-6, and Mike hit the ball with incredible speed and it looked like all hope was lost but Minwoo's hand just reacted naturally without his mind controlling it and hit it back right at Mikes forehead. The impact of the ball knocked Mike out and gave Minwoo the game winning point at the same time.
Minwoo and his friends left Mike there on the ground and went out to celebrate. Later back at school he was called down to the office was told that he may be charged and was being suspended. He went home scared to face his parents but when he arrived home his coach answered the door. Minwoos face lit up and he knew that everything was going to truly be okay afterall.