The crippling secret

by Jonny Bench


Chapter 3

"All right maggots, today we're going to start out with the basic fundamentals of gym class! Now, who can tell me what they may be."
Coach Iron Will shouts out to his latest batch of freshmen. A short one who has brown spots with white skin meekly replies

"Girls vs Boys, sir?"

That is correct son, Boys Vs Girls is one of the three core ideas of gym class!"

"Ooh, ooh, Coach Will I know!"
A girl with greyish, purple skin says, catching the coaches attention.

"What is it Miss Doo?"

"Having fun!"

"That is correct, now who can tell me what the last basic part of gym class is?"

All of the people present stop, and start to think about what the last point is. While most of them are still deep in thought, a boy with dark brown skin, and a rust colored mane caustiously raises his hand. Iron Will notices this and calls on him

"Button Mash, can you tell me what the last point of the system is?"

Button swallows hard, knowing he may regret his decision in more ways than one, and says
"Is it... Dodgeball, sir?"
"That is correct! You have guessed not just the last point of gym class, but also the game you all will be playing today. It will be regulation rules, boys vs girls, dodgeball. You two, pick which side you want to start on."
Iron Will says, while pointing at a boy with grey skin and black hair, as well as a bubblegum pink girl who has two tone white and lavender hair, and eyes that look like swirls.

"Tell you what, I'll let you choose first. Yeah know cause you're a girl, and obviously you're all gonna lose."
The boy says to the girl. The girl grins evilly for a second, before politely saying

"Thank you Rumble, we'll take this side of the gym, while the boys get the other side."

"Alright then, best of luck to you, you're going to need it!"
Rumble says to the girl before leading his team around the edge of the gym to the starting line. Iron Will throws some balls out around the gym, some landing close to the middle line, some landing close to the starting lines. While he is throwing the balls, he starts to also shout out rules

"When I count to three then you'll run out and grab the balls. When you grab a ball at the start of the game, you must return to your starting line before throwing the ball. Failing to do so, results in you being out. If you catch a ball, then the person who threw it is out, and one of your teammates is back in. If you block a ball with another ball, you are not out. If a ball hits you, but someone catches it before it hits the ground, you are not out. If a ball hits your teammate, and then hits you, both of you are out. Finally, friendly fire is disabled. If there are no questions, then you all may begin!"

All of the kids in the room rush to grab the balls, except for one lone boy, who stayed at the line, sensing something was off. Suddenly, all of the boys start to slip and slide about, while the girls look on in confusion. Then the girl who had picked sides speaks up.

"Oops, looks like Janitor Discord put too much wax on one side of the gym earlier."

"Screwball, that's a lie and you know it! You asked him to make it unfair for you."

"Hey, just because I'm his daughter, doesn't mean that I ask him to help me cheat. He did this all by himself."

Screwball and Rumble begin to argue back and forth at each other, coach Iron Will being completly oblivious to what's going on. Soon screwball and the other girls decide to peg all of the guys, and after a few seconds, only one boy is left standing. Screwball grins with glee, seeing how she is about to win the game for her team, and throws a ball straight at the boy. Everyone holds their breath as the ball nears the boy, waiting in anticipation to see whether or not he'll dodge. At the last second, though, the boy hits the ball straight up into the air, before jumping up and catching it, catching everyone off guard. Then, he hurls the ball straight back at Screwball, who hasn't even been able to process what happened. Then, it hits her, and rolls back to the side the boy is on. Screwball is fuming as she walks off to the sidelines. Then all of the girls pick up a ball, and prepare to throw, as the boy grabs the ball that had rolled back to him, and prepares to move. All of the girls throw their balls at once, each one missing their mark as the boy either dodges or deflects the balls, sometimes hitting one of the girls with the ricochet. After a while, all the balls end up on the boys side, and he walks around picking up each one of them, before walking to the middle of his side of the court. Then the boy smirks and says

"Target confirmed"

In a robotic voice, before unleashing ball after ball upon the girls, until there is only one left, standing on the court, holding a ball she had used to protect herself. Then the girl runs towards the center court as best as she possibly can, and throws her ball with pinpoint accuracy, while the boy does the same, while taking interest in the way she runs. Each ball hits its mark, eliminating both players at the same time. Then Iron Will walks out onto the court and says

"Great game out there, the best one I've seen all day! Sadly that'll have to be it for today kids, now go get changed and head off to your next class early. You all have earned it. Also, screwball, could you stay behind for a moment. I need to have a word with you."

Everyone heads off to the locker rooms to change, while the girls flock the orange skinned, and purple haired kid who eliminated the last person. The boy on the other hand, is busy helping his classmates up, while watching the girl walk out the door, or more specifically, the way her feet don't bend at the joint when she moves.

"I don't know what's up with her, but I'm definitely going to find out."
He says to himself as he walks to the men's locker room to get ready for his next class.