Fragile Bones

Chapter Seven

"Come on Winters, don't just stand there, throw something!" I heard the harsh yell of my gym teacher and sighed, reluctantly moving my feet a little closer to where everyone else was standing. My least favorite class, and second to last class of the day had rolled around. I had tried to convince Coach Reynolds that I was feeling sick in hopes to avoid participation, but he wasn't having any of it and made me join the dodgeball game that was currently happening. Dodgeball was his idea of a good time; apparently he liked watching kids get hit with the rubber balls, and those things really hurt.

Usually I didn't bother participating, and opted to stand in the very back and just move when a ball came flying my way. This time was no exception, but unlike other times, Coach Reynolds seemed dead set on getting me to hit someone with a ball. Perhaps he had finally noticed my lack of effort. I hovered around some of the other people on my team who paid me no mind at all. They were probably annoyed that I was on their team and I didn't really blame them; PE wasn't my strong suit. I can admit that I barely tried in this class at all. Not to mention, I wasn't a very strong person, and my lack of strength showed in the sports I attempted to do.

A ball went zooming past the left side of my head and I was happy that the person who threw it didn't have the best aim. It would've hit me right in my face, and trust me when I say the Coach wouldn't care about that. An out is an out he would say, no matter where it hit. Another one of my teammates got hit by a ball, leaving me with only two people left on my team besides me. Unfortunately, we were pretty outmatched as there were three times as many people on the other team, two of them being Asher and Lindsay, but I pushed that fact out of my mind.

I focused on the balls, darting my eyes around on the other team, watching and anticipating their movements. My parents always said I was pretty perceptive, and I never really understood what that meant. I was just good at people-watching, which is actually more a reflection of my creepiness than anything else. I saw a boy pick up a ball and look around at the three people left in my side, and saw him quickly glance at a girl to my right, but looked away. A fake out, it was easy to see what he was planning. Sure enough, the dodgeball hit her square in her stomach and she was out.

And then there were two. I looked to the other guy on my team just as a ball hit him on his leg. Okay, apparently there is now only one person left. Oh god, I really didn't want to be in this position: in everyone's range of fire. I stood still, feeling like a gazelle facing off a pack full of wolves. I had nothing to throw, and I know I wouldn't even succeed in hitting anyone if I had. I turned to the coach, ready to ask him if I could just forfeit but he shook his head at me before I could even say anything. Damn it. I looked back at my opponents.

The first person I saw was Asher who was staring right at me, switching a dodgeball between both of his hands lethargically, but he didn't throw it, just continued staring at me. I was so busy focusing on him, I didn't even see the ball that landed right on my cheek, knocking me backwards onto the ground. I faintly heard the sound of Lindsay laughing, and mentally scolded myself for not realizing she would waste no time in finding a way to humiliate me. I sighed and closed my eyes, not bothering to get up off my back from the floor.

"Oh shit, that looked bad," I heard Coach Reynolds mutter. "Just walk it off kid, just walk it off!" Oh how I wished he would move to another country.

Although I just wanted to lay there for all eternity, I slowly rose to my feet to find multiple eyes staring at me and zeroing in on my cheek. I immediately hid under a sheath of my hair, preventing their eyes from boring into me any more. I ran into the locker room as Coach was starting up another lighting round game of dodgeball, and he didn't bother saying anything about it. I ran to the mirror to see a faint bruise forming on my cheek, directly under me right eye. Lovely.