Chapter 17

At twenty to ten, in complete silence, they began to leave the editorial office. They were waiting at the main exit of the building. It soon turned out that not only the chief editor and all the females were going to the event, but also Nicolas Williams, who had just parked his car in front of the building.

The bosses cunningly waited for the male half of the team to leave, then followed right behind them so that one wouldn’t have the opportunity to get missing and disappear somewhere around the corner unnoticed.

Journalists really wanted to get lost, but assumed that the consequences could be severe.

When they entered the sports hall belonging to the Academy of Physical Education, they lost the rest of their good humor for the day.

“Damn it! What are we doing here? There are journalists of all local mass media, and maybe even national ones.” Simon commented. “And there are even those damn spectators!”

The huge sports hall, full of people, was almost bursting at the seams. Teams representing the media sat in the stands in designated sectors right next to the pool.

Rival journalists stood out from the crowd in colorful bathing suits. Their turquoise in comparison with juicy orange, blood red, glaring purple or angry yellow turned out to be quite a decent color.

They recognized the well-known faces of artists, politicians, city authorities and the local social cream in the stands.

The huge number of spectators, of which many of them were idols and authorities, was especially terrifying.

The TV crew, which was supposed to capture the competition of journalists, also aroused fear.

They knew perfectly well that they could not hide anything in front of the camera lens, namely their puffy, tired faces, and especially their poor physical condition.

“I'm getting out of here! See you guys!” Simon, seeing the cheers and claps by the spectators in the stands at the sight of more journalists entering, began to panic. “I'm not making a fool of myself in front of so many people!”

“Stop! Where are you going?” Adam protested. “We won’t be able to make up the numbers! I won’t take part in all disciplines!

“Er... what disciplines?” Michael, equally terrified, spoke up.

"I don't know, but it won't end with just one, right?” Adam guessed.

“Gentlemen, Adam is right!” Alex said, who had already finished greeting some of his friends from other editorial offices and found out in which disciplines they would be competing. The future wasn’t so rosy. It would be really hard to face that day’s competition, but he didn't want to scare his already scared colleagues.

“Gentlemen, there are too few of us! We will have to compete in several disciplines. Michael, you too! Did you hear me?” Alex turned to his friend standing next to him. He looked terrified, just like the rest of them.

“Simon, don't whine! Go and change! You have no choice, man!” He tried to call out his colleagues to assemble up.

“I don’t care!” Simon said indignantly. “I'm not going into the pool! End of story!”

“Don't grumble like an old woman! You swim well!” Adam tried to encourage him. He knew that Simon was a great swimmer at the university. "Once... of course." He muttered under his breath, but his friend didn't hear that anymore, because he started walking towards the locker room.

“This is definitely our end!” Thomas accurately assessed their situation. “Today they will bust a myth about the great guys from the ‘Man’ magazine. Gentlemen, we are finished! We should accept that…”

"Shut up, Thomas, it won't be that bad." Alex tried to cheer up his friends. "We have a few aces up our sleeve; you have me. Adam, you swim well, too? Don’t you?" He kept his spirits up, although he himself didn’t believe what he was saying. Only a miracle could save them.

The rest of the team found any comments unnecessary, and the attempts to protest senseless. They came here ‘almost’ of their own free will. Their fans present in the stands saw a great team of ‘Men’ entering the hall.

Colleagues from the other mass media houses had already begun laughing at them, because they knew perfectly well that the favorite place of the ‘Man’ editorial team is the Tavern, and their favorite entertainment - heavily drunk parties until its closing.

They worked for such an opinion for several years. There was nothing left for them to do but save what was left of their honor.

After a few minutes of silence, individual reflections on the dramatic situation in which they found themselves, they followed Simon towards the locker room to change into their turquoise knickers.

The first competition of the event was the contest of the chief editors in freestyle swimming.

After the commentator announced the discipline, the boys burst out laughing, not out of joy, but of despair and helplessness. The end was approaching inexorably. A total defeat awaited them.

The only sport practiced by almost sixty-year-old Williams, since he became the chief editor, that is for a very long time, was struggling with the editorial team, i.e. with them, to write something meaningful. And he was rather poor in this discipline, let alone in swimming. Besides, he didn’t hide that he had serious health problems recently.

“Gentlemen, our end is near!” Adam announced.

“What a nightmare!” Thomas choked out. “Get me out of here, I don't want to watch this!”

“It will be fun!” Simon said. He wanted to howl in despair, it just didn’t befitting in public. “The last place, ladies and gentlemen, was taken by the chief editor of ‘Man’ Nicolas Williams.” He mimicked the commentator's voice. “That infirm old man fought to divide…” Then he fell silent.

The rest fell silent with him. After a while, the male audience in the stands also held their breath. Their witch in a turquoise tunic appeared in the hall. Slowly, like a graceful and charming top model, Alice was approaching the pool.

At this point, the commentator announced that ‘The Man’ will be represented by a new chief editor, Alice McNielsen.

When she reached her seat, she nodded in greeting, then tied her hair into a ponytail and slowly removed her tunic, remaining in a turquoise one-piece bathing suit.

The spectators gathered in the stands reacted with a veritable uproar. The men gasped in delight while the women hissed and purred with envy and jealousy. Not only did she bite Michael Johnson in a way that was completely incomprehensible to them by becoming the chief editor, but in addition to a beautiful face, she also had a perfect figure.