Gift of the Goddess

Chapter 14- The dodge ball of death

I spent most of the school-day pretty paranoid. Not just about last night, but Zack was worrying me too. See, he's the bragging type; if he thinks he has a leg up over someone, he won't hesitate to take them down. I'd imagine the ability to conjure fire, vines, and to summon a goblin-like familiar has left him feeling pretty high-and-mighty.

One of the rules we have as gifted is to not tell people about the goddesses. Zack's a really good liar, so I don't have to worry too much about him exposing them. However, showing off his superpowers to get a girl's number or to burn a guy he doesn't like, that kind of stuff I wouldn't put it past him. The last thing I need is him to expose himself like that. I had gym class next so I was gonna see him, and I hadn't heard any rumors of anyone fire bending yet, so that was a good sign.

I rushed into the gym, my teacher announced that we were playing dodgeball today and to get dressed immediately. As I walked down to the changing room, I noticed most people were already in teams, I also noticed that Zack was there. For the first time in the six years I've known him, he was on time for class (and it wasn't even a field trip.) That was the first sign that something was wrong. With that in mind, I started thinking of some contingency plans just in case Zack slipped up.

As I went upstairs, I noticed the two distinctly different groups on either side of the gym. On one side we had all the jocks wearing yellow jerseys, while on the other side were all the geeks, shy kids and Zack with no jerseys. Zack was standing in front of the geeks, sticking his tongue out at all the jocks, daring them to come closer. They all got a good laugh at his facial expressions.

That was the second sign that Zack was up to no good. He usually sided with the strongest people and hid behind them, or solely relied on me... Then a light bulb went off in my head. He was gonna rely on me and my new eyes to win. He chose the team I felt the most sympathy for!

I growled as I heard the coach yell my name and tell me the oh so wonderful news that I was on Zack's team. That evil genius played me by getting here early...

"Now that my knight is here you're all going down!" He cheered as the other team just chuckled and shook their heads.

If they only knew...

The coach lined up the balls, and we all stepped back against the walls. We all waited in anticipation for the whistle to sound us off. I looked over at Zack, who was flexing and making kissy faces at the girls. They looked like they were supposed to be playing volleyball on their side of the gym.

Then I felt my heart skip a beat. I could see Alexis waving our way, I felt the butterflies in my stomach begin to form. However, a knot soon took its place. I remembered she asked me to put in a good word for her for Zack. I didn't wave back and faced forward again, I needed to get my head in the game. Zack could pull something at any time. Besides, it was a lot better than letting my mind wander.

Then the whistle sounded off. Most of my team and the entire yellow team ran for the balls like sheep to the slaughter. I never understood why everyone always ran up to the balls, it was suicide.

"Get ready for the grand wizard to shine!" Zack cheered, punching my shoulder playfully.

"What does that-" Before I could even ask he was running off to the front lines.

Zack's a coward, he never runs to the front unless we already won. The final sign I needed. I activated my eyes and watched him carefully as I slowly made my way to the front. I noticed that there were only three of us now, my team had been annihilated. I watched in astonishment as the balls coming Zack's way were smacked to the side...by nothing. Zack pretended to dodge the balls that were smacked away, but I wasn't fooled. He stood up tall with a smirk and his arms folded as he stared down the other team. Then I remembered my fight with him in the woods, Bean, it had to be Bean!

"Ha! Your aim's crap, meatheads!" Zack yelled as the only other person on our team stared in awe at him.

"Y-yeah!" Our teammate cheered from behind Zack's nest of safety.