the thing about revenge

25 e n t y - f i v e : dodgeballs and white grands

Gym class. I hated gym class with a burning passion (I hated it more than mayonnaise and tomato ketchup and mustard put together, and that really says a lot. I just didn't understand the importance of learning how to do a cartwheel or a front roll. And I completely didn't see the need of having to have balls thrown at you to improve reflexes, and more so having to queue up to have punches thrown at you (this was especially so during the semester we learnt karate).

"Huddle up, class!" Mr Elec blew his cursed whistle. I grimaced before walking slowly toward him. I mentally prepared myself for the bout of balls that were going to be thrown at me and scowled, even more, when I spotted the huge cage of dodgeballs. They were just begging to come out. I looked frantically around for Thomas, before realizing that he was sick. I facepalmed, ready to accept my fate. I was almost like a breathing, walking target. If I didn't know, I might as well have had a red target board pinned to my ass.

"Today, we will be playing dodgeball." Mr Elec said wickedly, a smirk on his face.

Mr Elec looked like any other physical education teacher. With muscles that could make Popeye jealous, he would have looked pretty hot if not for his hair. Imagine an egg. Imagine seaweed from the ocean. Put them together, and there you have it. Mr Elec.

"David, and..." Mr Elec paused, his eagle eyes scanning the class. I shrunk further behind Sophia, a quiet girl in my class.

"That girl there. Yes, you." He pointed at Sophia. She took a small tentative step forward.

"No. I meant the girl behind." My Elec said again, flicking his palm at Sophia dismissively and pointing his finger straight in my direction.

I turned to look behind me.

"You."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

"Oh I thought-"

"Who else would I be pointing at?" He scowled irritably.

"Because from the look of the direction of your finger..." I squinted with one eye. "You look like you're pointing at Jude."

"Well, I am telling you now that I was pointing at you. So just make your way up here, young lady."

I pursed my lips together, debating if I should get myself into more trouble by arguing about who he called.

"Both of you will be captains, so please choose your teammates."

Dodgeball was the stupidest game in the universe. Schools and institutions tell us not to be violent, to treat others with respect and to never ever injure another individual. Dodgeball goes against all that. Boys took this as an opportunity to throw balls at boobs and girls took this as an opportunity to scream and shout. God, what happened to the once beautiful world?

However, today, my mind wasn't on the game at all. I was thinking of social service later in the afternoon. Today was the eldercare facility across town. I had settled on a white button-down and black jeans, well, not now, but for later. If I were to say so, I'd say I looked pretty good.

The ball hit me squarely on my face.

"Out!" The whistle was blown and I trudged out of the court.

++++++

Asher was late. I had told Asher to meet me at the parking space immediately after school, after all, we had to clock a total of five hours a day.

I tapped my foot impatiently as I glared at the bricks in front of me. I spotted Asher a few seconds later.

"You're late." After last night, I figured it wasn't worth it to dwell over what I'd seen in the ring. I was going to forget everything I'd seen.