Thieves in the Night

4. Surprise Surprise

The first thing I notice when I walk through is that everyone is staring at me. I see Jack and Xavier standing around, talking to each other. Gym class is probably the only class when we see Jack without a vest of some sort. Some of the guys whisper as I walk by towards my friends and Victor steps in my path.

"Hello again," he says sarcastically.

"Goodbye," I respond, trying to sidestep him. Victor only follows my movements and blocks me. "Why do you constantly pester me? Seriously. It's getting old." Victor grins at me.

"Nah. I have too much fun watching you squirm." I roll my eyes and cross my arms, still in my socks. "I wonder...how much would you writhe if I-"

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to be nice to people every once in a while," someone chimes in. It sounds like Xavi. "And I thought I told you before to leave her alone?" Victor turns around and I see both Jack and Xavi standing there.

My knights in gym uniforms.

"You two really grind my gears," Vic says, walking towards them and forgetting about me. I take this chance to put on my shoes.

I hate not wearing shoes in school. "And you pretty boy, you don't stand a chance against me. You've gotten on my nerves ever since you arrived here."

"Good. Then I hope you never forget anything I say," Xavier replies nonchalantly. I giggle a little, and smirk. Victor turns towards me with a look of pure annoyance and hatred. A shiver goes down my spine as I gaze into his cold harsh eyes.

The gym teachers enter the room as the other girls walk in, making my stomach turn again. The first teacher has on a red athletic shirt with a black baseball cap and a whistle around his neck. His hair is a shaggy brown and he has green eyes. He looks like he wants to be anywhere but here.

The second teacher has jet black, curly hair, dark brown eyes that almost look black and a pierced ear.

I don't remember the other gym teacher, but the one with black hair is Mr. Skyy. He has on a pair of grey sport pants and an grey hoodie with a white shirt.

"Alright boys, settle down," one teacher says. Xavi grins a little and walks away. I hurry to his side. Even a somewhat hothead like me values protection.

"You're gonna have to face him on your own one day," Jack murmurs to me. I shake my head and do my best to hide behind them both.

"Not planning on it any time soon." Xavier and Jack shake their heads and I think I hear one of them laugh. "Don't you mock me," I hiss.

"Today, gym will be a little different. Instead of splitting into our different classes, like we normally do, we will have a friendly game of Rim Scatter. For those of you who know the game and think that it's a kid's game, we won't be playing with the soft, squishy foam balls you played with in middle school," the new teacher says. I groan in anticipation of what we could possibly be playing with.

I close my eyes and pray to God it's not actual dodgeballs. If everyone targets me, it'll be a bloodbath. Made up of my blood.

"Instead," he starts, "we will play with actual dodgeballs. Before we get the equipment to start the game, let's go over the rules and the penalties. You hit above the neck, that's a foul. You will have a warning. You do it again, same person or not, you're out for the round. A third time and you're done for the day."

I hang my head in disappointment and lean on Jack, paying attention to whatever he has to say. Maybe I can just hide in the back the entire game period. Or sneak off to the locker room?

"The person you throw the ball at catches it, you're out. But you can deflect. If you have a ball in your hands and one is coming at you, you may bounce the ball away. If someone throws a ball and it bounces and hits you, the ball is out of play after the bounce and doesn't count. Also, if you shoot the ball into any of the basketball hoops on the other side of the gymnasium, your entire team is in. You shoot it into one of your own hoops, the other team is in."