The F Team

by Rawah Arja

  ‘Does anyone have any ideas?’ Aaron asked, accidentally flashing his light in PJ’s face.

  ‘Are you normal?!’ PJ yelled. ‘You friggin’ blinded me!’

  ‘Why doesn’t one of you lead at the front and the other bring up the back, and that way we’ll be surrounded by light?’ Riley suggested.

  ‘Yeah, maybe…’ I said. I didn’t want to follow Aaron anywhere. I wanted to say I’d go in the front, but I didn’t really know which way we needed to go. ‘Who’s got a good sense of direction?’

  Lee hovered near the edge of the bush and sniffed a few times. ‘Can you smell that?’ There was something funky in the air, like the socks Abdul left in his gym bag for weeks.

  Huss shoved Ibby. ‘Take a shower, bro.’

  ‘What? It’s not me!’ Ibby protested.

  The starting flag waved high in the air and the other teams took off, rushing into the bush. No one wanted to be the team to wake up extra early to cook and serve breakfast. The other teams seemed like they had figured out some sort of plan, and here we were waiting for PJ to be able to see properly again.

  Matt walked a few metres further into the trees, then called back to us. ‘It’s the smell of mangroves. That means the river is nearby.’

  ‘All we have to do is follow the smell and we’ll get to the river and the campfire site,’ Lee said. ‘We won’t be the first team, but you know, at least we won’t be on breakfast duty.’

  ‘Alright, let’s do this,’ I decided. ‘No one else has come up with anything better, anyway. Aaron will go with you to light the way. The rest of you, follow these guys. I’ll be at the back.’

  PJ clutched at my shirt. ‘I hate the dark.’

  That was an understatement. Back when we were juniors, Huss and I used to shut PJ in our tiny sports shed and switch off all the lights. We thought it was the funniest thing in the world until one day PJ totally lost it. He kicked the door out, then broke down, crying uncontrollably. Mr Ahmed had to drive him home. We hadn’t known that PJ’s mum would shoot up with random guys in their house when PJ was a kid, and they’d lock him in his room with the lights switched off. I felt like shit when Mr Ahmed tore into us later. I honestly thought he was going to kill us.

  ‘Relax, PJ,’ I said now, and made sure to shine the torchlight in front of him. ‘We’re just walking, it’s all good.’ Suddenly Ibby yelled that he’d stepped on a snake. He was trying to climb Huss like a tree. Huss worked out, and his solid body was built to handle things like that.

  ‘Get off, ya hmar!’ Huss shoved Ibby again, and he crashed off into the bush.

  ‘Can everyone just chill out and follow Matt and Lee?’ I said, fed up.

  ‘We’re almost at the river,’ Matt called out. ‘I can hear the water.’ We all rushed behind him.

  ‘The campfire is mine,’ Aaron said. ‘My dad and I used to always do them together, so I know what I’m doing.’

  I didn’t bother arguing. Building fires wasn’t my thing, and I didn’t think the rest of the Wolf Pack would have been much help either.

  Beneath our feet, the ground changed from branches and bush to a sandy beach.

  ‘We’re here,’ Matt called out.

  ‘Wait, what?’ Lee grabbed Aaron’s torch and swung it around. There were no other teams anywhere. ‘And we’re first?’

  ‘Holy shit,’ Riley said. He looked at Aaron. ‘Uhhhhh, I guess you need to build a fire now?’

  ‘Okay,’ Aaron took charge and started bossing everyone around. ‘We’ll need some dry pieces of wood, large and small to make the fire,’ Aaron said. ‘How about Huss and PJ get them and Ibby can –’

  ‘Wait, where’s Ibby?’ I asked looking around. ‘Don’t tell me we lost him?’

  Just then we heard a scream. ‘SNAKE!’ We turned to see Ibby running with his knees high up and his eyes wide with fear. His top was soaked in sweat and his tongue hung out the side of his mouth.

  ‘Wallah, I almost died,’ he panted. ‘You dogs! Why didn’t you wait for me?’

  ‘I’m impressed,’ Matt said, his hand raised for yet another high five. ‘You got lost but managed to make it here anyway.’

  Ibby stopped huffing and puffing. ‘I did?’ Matt nodded. ‘Wallah, I did!’ Ibby repeated, a huge smile on his face. ‘But also, all the other teams are nearly here.’

  As he said the words, the other teams arrived on the beach and were on a roll with their campfires. They knew exactly what to do and where to go. Huss, Ibby, PJ and I just stared at them.

  ‘White people, man,’ PJ said. ‘They know all this camping sort of stuff.’

  Aaron had the boys running to and from the bush, collecting firewood. I helped him build the fire, smaller sticks and bigger ones all piled together like a pyramid. He stuffed bits of dried grass through random holes. ‘Now we need to get a spark and then catch it with that kindling,’ he said searching the ground as he spoke. He picked up two large, flattish rocks.

  ‘What’re you doing with those?’ I asked.

  ‘They’re flints.’ He passed them to me. ‘We have to strike them together, so that they make a spark.’

  I had a few turns but starting a fire was much harder than I thought. The boys had collected enough wood but I couldn’t get any spark. Aaron took over, banging the rocks together over and over again.

  ‘I thought your dad taught you this stuff?’ I asked, hearing the shortness in his breath. ‘You sure he knew what he was doing?’

  I could see glimpses of sparks from the teams around us. It was now down to whoever could start the flames first.

  Aaron threw the rocks on the ground and sat back. ‘You try then.’ ‘What are you doing?’ I said, picking them up. ‘Why’d you give up? We still have a chance.’

  He shook his head a few times and wiped his face with his shirt. ‘Obviously my dad didn’t teach me shit!’

  He stormed off to sit alone beside the water.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Huss asked looking after him. ‘Bro, he is not normal.’

  Riley tried the rocks himself. ‘It’s a long story. Let’s just leave him alone and try to get this done.’

  ‘Majnoon,’ Huss said, shaking his head.

  I wasn’t sure if Aaron was crazy, but obviously something I’d said about his dad pissed him off. I had two options here. I could go and apologise if I’d hurt him, and convince him to come back and help us with the fire, or I could ignore him and try to get the fire started myself. If Mr Archie were watching, the first option would probably score me some points and show off my leadership skills.

  I’d just stood up and was about to walk over to Aaron when the A Team jumped and cheered as one of the instructors declared them the winner. Their fire rose high in the night, as one by one, the other teams’ fires caught alight. All except ours. We couldn’t even get a spark. The other teams toasted their marshmallows while we sat next to our cold pile of wood.

  ‘Were you going to go and talk to Aaron?’ Huss asked, tracing his finger in the sand and not meeting my eye.

  I shook my head. ‘Nah, man. I was just going for a walk.’

  Being close to the river had me needing the toilets, which were back near our cabins. I was headed there when I heard footsteps behind me.

  Aaron.

  ‘Your dad must be so proud,’ I said, annoyed that his tantrum had lost us the challenge. ‘You said you knew what you were doing.’

  I heard his breath quicken. In the moonlight, I noticed his tightly clenched jaw and fists.

  ‘Don’t talk about my dad,’ he snapped.

  ‘I didn’t say anything about your dad, arsehole. Chill out. I swear you need medication.’

  Other voices filtered through the trees. Aaron and I ducked down and saw Hunter and his boys laughing as they threw a box of matches into the bushes and headed back out to the river.

  ‘Let it go,’ Aaron said, standing up. ‘Hunter isn’t worth it.’

  ‘The guy just cheated and you want me to let it go?’ If there was one
thing Aaron should know about me, it was that I didn’t let things go.

  ‘Trust me, you don’t want to tangle with him,’ he said. ‘Anyway, everyone will just think you’re a sore loser. It’s not worth it.’

  ‘It is to me. They cheated. They should be the ones to serve breakfast. Not us.’

  ‘So you’re going to go out there and snitch to Mr Archie in front of everyone.’

  ‘Nah, I’ll do what I did to him in the cafeteria,’ I said. ‘I fight my own battles. Oh, but that’s right. That’s not your style. You’re too weak to stand up for anyone.’

  ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ he said, and walked off.

  Chapter 11

  Day 3 began with Captain Black and Mr Archie standing in our doorway and blasting their voices through a megaphone again, this time way too early in the morning.

  ‘You have ten minutes to get dressed!’

  Lee rolled off his top bunk when Ibby screamed, in a panic because he thought we were being invaded. We scrambled and staggered like drunks to get dressed in the same (now grotty) pink uniform.

  While other teams slept, tucked away nice and warm in their beds at five in the morning, we had to get our training session in early so that we could make breakfast. The air was cold and heavy on our chests as we trained under the floodlights. Captain Black yelled like a psycho anytime we tried to catch an extra minute of sleep. Once training was done, we headed to the main hall to help with breakfast. I hadn’t had a chance to tell the boys about Hunter’s team cheating. Huss was going to lose it when he heard, so I had to choose the moment wisely.

  When the tables were set, it was time to cook breakfast – something I knew nothing about. At home, Mum always made the food and my sister Feda cleaned up after, so making us boys do this stuff was weird. I hung back as Ibby charged into the kitchen, excited to be let loose to cook on this scale.

  ‘What’s wrong, Tariq?’ Matt asked as he pushed past.

  ‘This is women’s work,’ I said, gesturing to the kitchen. ‘It’s some bullshit that they’re making us do it.’

  Matt stopped in his tracks and stared at me. ‘Dude, that’s messed up. Men cook stuff all the time, what are you talking about? Look at Ibby!’

  Ibby was babbling to Mr Archie as he tied an apron around his waist.

  ‘Sir, I’m so excited,’ he said, almost bouncing out of his skin. ‘This is like the best punishment ever.’

  ‘I watched you closely in Term 1, cooking with Miss Nada in Home Ec,’ Mr Archie said to him. ‘You have a real talent, lad, so I expect to see you show the rest of the lads some of your skills.’

  Captain Black spoke from behind me, almost making me jump out of my skin. For such a big guy, he moved very quietly. ‘Unless you plan on living with your mum and making her cook for you for the rest of your life, I suggest you get over yourself and learn how to fry an egg, bro.’

  He moved past me to give us our instructions, while Mr Archie stood to the side with his clipboard, still taking notes.

  ‘Each of you will work with a partner to prepare three items on the menu,’ Captain Black said. ‘Eggs – scrambled and fried – beans, tomatoes, hash browns, mushrooms, spinach, toast, sliced fruit, bacon, sausage and freshly squeezed orange juice. Once that’s done, you’ll make sure that the cereal tubs and the milk jugs are full. Any questions?’

  Huss, Ibby and I all raised our hands. ‘We’re Muslim, so we can’t work with bacon.’

  Captain Black nodded. ‘Anyone else have any issues?’

  ‘I can’t work with bacon either.’

  Aaron?

  ‘You’re Muslim?’ Ibby asked, shocked.

  ‘No, I’m Jewish. Well, technically half Jewish.’

  ‘That’s why he’s such an arse,’ Huss muttered to me. ‘He’s a Yahooda.’

  Okay, quick recap. So, if you don’t already know, us Arabs and Jews aren’t necessarily the best of friends, mostly due to the whole Israel-and-Palestine, colonised-land situation. Basically, one country has the freedom to do almost everything and the other gets stopped at checkpoints, shot at in the streets, taken away by soldiers in the middle of the night, no matter their age, gender or health status. Well that’s what the YouTube videos show at least, no matter how many times my dad says that I shouldn’t judge a whole people based on some people’s actions.

  ‘Alright, easy fix,’ Captain Black said. ‘Riley and Matt, you take care of the bacon and sausage. Do the tomatoes while you’re at it. Ibby and –’

  ‘No, sir,’ Ibby called out. ‘Let me work on my own doing the eggs. I don’t need any help. Plus, they’ll just stuff it up.’

  Captain Black shrugged. ‘Fine. Lee, PJ and Huss take care of the spinach, hash browns, fruit and juice.

  That left Aaron and me with the mushrooms, beans and toast. I was fixating on the fact that he was Jewish. I’d never met anyone Jewish before – not that I knew of, anyway. I was pretty sure the minute I opened my mouth I would say something that would get me into shit with Mr Archie, so I stayed silent as we got started cranking open the cans of beans. Mr Archie walked around and watched us prepare breakfast.

  ‘Did you know that people who eat half a fresh grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice before each meal lose more weight than people who don’t?’ Lee sliced one in half.

  ‘You saying I’m fat, Nintendo?’ PJ said.

  Ibby had three pans working, frying and scrambling his eggs like he was on a cooking show.

  ‘It smells good, lad,’ I heard Mr Archie say. ‘But make sure we don’t leave here with a heart attack. Cut back on some of that butter.’

  ‘I luv ya, sir, but don’t tell me how to cook. This is the only thing I’m good at in my life.’

  ‘I’ve seen your skills in footy, lad,’ Mr Archie said. ‘You have some real talent there, too. Don’t sell yourself short – it just makes it easier for other people to do the same.’

  Ibby flicked the pans, the eggs flying high then landing perfectly.

  Matt whistled at Ibby’s octopus hands.

  ‘Get me some salt, Goldilocks,’ Ibby said shaking the eggs. ‘Yallah, yallah.’

  ‘Sorry, Chef. Coming right up.’ Matt bolted across the kitchen with the salt.

  ‘When my mum got sick and was in the hospital, I had to learn this stuff or else I’d have died,’ Ibby explained to Mr Archie. ‘My brothers were never home and Dad was working overseas sending us money.’

  Huss snorted. ‘Your brothers wouldn’t have done you any good even if they’d been around.’

  That was true. Ibby’s brothers, Salah and Kassem, were both construction workers, and more likely to use him as a punching bag than feed him. It was one of the reasons he spent so much time at my place.

  ‘Mum would never have let you starve,’ I called across the kitchen. ‘She’s convinced you’re one meal away from anorexia.’

  ‘Yeah, Tariq’s mum’s a feeder.’ Ibby salted the eggs with a flourish and threw in another cube of butter as Mr Archie shook his head.

  ‘How’s your ma now?’ he asked, discreetly moving the butter away from Ibby’s reach.

  ‘It’s been exactly a year and four months, sir, since she last had to do any doctor stuff.’

  When Ibby first told us about his mum’s not-so-serious operation, he had been completely chill. He told us that she had to stay a few extra days to get some scans done, which was normal for women who were overweight. It was Salah and Kassem who let us know that Mrs Nasser actually had breast cancer. They hadn’t told Ibby how serious it was because he was too attached to his mum. One Friday night after that, we were playing cards, and Ibby said something shitty about Huss’s dad always coming and going. As usual, Huss lost it and retaliated. ‘At least there’s a chance he might come back again. What chances does your mum have against the cancer?!’

  Dad had held Ibby as he cried his eyes out. It took weeks for Huss and Ibby to talk again, and they only did so after my dad spent weeks lecturing them about forgiveness and letting go of anger.<
br />
  ‘You’re a strong boy,’ Captain Black said to Ibby now, his arm tight around his shoulder. ‘And you’re built for this game.’

  Ibby’s eyes welled with tears. ‘Sir, I know this is a moment, but wallah, I can’t feel my arm.’

  Mr Archie continued to take down notes as we finished up breakfast prep. I thought this was the perfect time to get as many points as I could to seal the deal as captain.

  ‘Let’s go boys, we only have half an hour until the other teams arrive,’ I called out. ‘We’re almost there.’

  Aaron stared at me and immediately picked up on what I was doing.

  ‘I’m almost finished with the beans,’ he called out. ‘I’ll come around and help everyone once I’m done.’ The boys all looked at us like we were insane.

  Mr Archie came to stand behind us. ‘One of the key elements of being a leader, lads, is being genuine.’

  Well, that plan failed fast!

  Captain Black and Mr Archie spoke for a bit, pointing and taking down notes.

  ‘Just so you know,’ Aaron said under his breath as he put some bread in the toaster. ‘I’m not going to stop until I’m captain.’

  ‘And what makes you think I’m going to stop? You don’t have the skill and you’re not at my level.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ he said, taking out the tray of toast.

  ‘Yeah, we will see.’

  So now it was officially on. Aaron needed to be put in his place and I needed the Wolf Pack to know what had happened with Team A in the woods.

  While the Cronulla boys were setting up the cereal containers, I met the boys in the toilets and told them what happened.

  ‘That little dog,’ Huss said, seething in anger. ‘Why didn’t you tell me before? I would’ve smashed his face in.’

  ‘Just shut up and listen,’ I said. ‘The only way to get back at Hunter is to stay in the competition as long as possible. Once we’ve made his life hell, we’ll be able to leave. Plus, Mr Archie will suspend us if we make it too obvious.’

  ‘Yeah, and you have to get captain back too,’ Huss conceded. ‘Then we can leave. I think I know what to do. It’s a cracker of a plan, but we’re going to need Riley, Lee and Matt onside as well.’