Dodging the Bullet [Katie & Tomo]

[Gia Stevens]

She really wasn’t a fan of Gym, at all. Scratch that, she wasn’t a fan of school, period, but Gym was one of those that really bugged her. She just couldn’t do it. Ask her to sprint around the gym? Sure, she’d totally beat the pants off of everyone else. Anything else? And she’d die, quick as a flash. Physical activity was not her thing.

Slipping on her shorts and T-shirt in the locker room, before following the rest of the girls out to the gym, Gia waited anxiously, nibbling on her lip, fidgeting with her ponytail, and all in all was unable to keep still. Katie was totally looking forward to this, being who she was, but Gia… nope, she wasn’t. Whoever she was, in her past life, she was not any kind of sport player. Why not keep it that way? Wishing that Brittney was there with them (the smart girl never shared classes with her friends), she cast her eyes up upon her gym teacher, a stern woman with the loudest whistle ever.

“Alright, kids!” she barked, sounding like a commander or drill sergeant from off of TV. “Today… We’re playing dodgeball.” There was an almost evil glint to her smile and face, but Gia didn’t really notice it, face paling as all of the blood rushed out of her cheeks. Crap. She was so gonna die. Why couldn’t it have been Whiffle ball? Kickball? Wall Ball? Hockey? Anything but dodgeball! It was like the torture device of high school! What was wrong with her teacher?

…Then again, Katie had the most interesting theories on that…

Inching closer to her friend, just in case, the amnesiac let out a small sigh of relief as they were put on the same team. Thank god. The redhead was actually good at this, so as long as she stuck around her, she’d be pretty safe, and wouldn’t get hammered into the wall or anything like that. That was a weight off of her shoulders.

The teacher stood at the sidelines, holding the basket of balls that she was about to overturn, and Gia shot her friend a small smile. “Wooh, fun,” she told her, sarcasm evident in her voice, although her blue eyes twinkled slightly. Any time spent with her friends was good in her mind, even if it was absolute horror.

And then the basket was tipped, balls rolling and bouncing all over the floor, and all hell broke loose.

[Katie Hearth]

“YEAH, Dodge ball! Katie cheered.

It was a battle cry that was not shared equally among her classmates. There were those that feared the unbiased judgment of the almighty ball. She could not blame them especially when she was ’tots’ going to slaughter them. (Perhaps in the long run, she might have to recognize that her brother’s had some sort of lasting effect on her). She inherently felt her competitive side surfacing through little by little. It was, as her brothers called it, a ‘Hearth’ gene passed down by their veteran grandfather, Russell- to which she never failed to roll her eyes. Whatever the case, Katie was already measuring up to her competition and assessing her situation.

There was Becky Johnson.

She was a monster on and off the field. Some say she drinks motor-oil for breakfast, that’s how tough she is. Last time she had virtually knocked someone’s tooth out from the sheer force of her throws. She would have been a valuable asset to her team but she had an unreliable temperament. Next in line was Erick Watson. He was dark skinned boy, thick around the shoulders and a strong alley though, his footing was not something to be admired. And lastly, David Preston. He was a God of unearthly good looks. If he willed it, girls would jump right in front of him to take on the blow of a hostile ball. His defenses would be hard to breach through but eventually, with much persistence, they will crumble one by one until all there is left is hottie Mc-hot-hot in the flesh.

Katie grinned.

A dark and dangerous glint ignited her green eyes and she was on the prowl for the small fries in her class. They weren’t hard to pinpoint. Jessica had a weak knee, Bethany forgot her contacts, and Anders- well, she could just stare him down and the waterworks would soon follow. And then there was Gia. As a rule of thumb, Katie could never throw a leather ball towards her friend even if they were in opposing teams, but, in the food chain of physical education, Gia was not exactly a lion. She could only hope that they would end up together in their fight for survival. Either end up together or die together! Was her dramatic motto. There wouldn’t be any need for that, however. Lady Luck smiled upon them today.

A sigh of relief escaped Katie when Gia joined the team. Katie gave her friend a large smile and offered a high five. “Dude, we’re going to massacre them,” she reassured. Now it was game on. No one would touch them. Katie dashed forward as soon as the balls were released onto the court and aimlessly threw the ball towards the opposite end. It didn’t matter whether she aimed or not. Everyone was a vulnerable target.

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[Tomonari Cahal]

Usually due to being extraordinarily quiet, there was one student who was closer to being the last picked for teams. However, there was also the fact that he literally freaks out the moment a game of DODGEBALL begins. It was a wonder why glasses wearing, skinny with no real strength teenagers like himself were even allowed in a gym class. Tomonari wasn't going to complain about this though, as he was WAY too polite to even think about doing such. Sighing, he watched as the students were split between two teams, not even going to say anything. Whichever team he was one, it would merely be a repeat of every other gym activity that involved teams.

Although there was one thing that he finally realized about today, and it took some thought before he came to a realization: TODAY WAS DODGEBALL DAY!

Immediately his face dropped upon getting this fact through his head, thinking of all the possible ways this could turn out. However, none of these even involved his team winning, or if they did, Tomonari still in the game upon victory. One by one the students were separated, and to him it looked as though people thought this as the last time they would see each other, as though it were a war zone. What diabolical plot was set in motion that would ruin the lives of young teenagers worldwide?! Alright, so it was schoolwide moreso, but still! Would his own death be quick and painless, or slow and painful? Tomonari didn't want to think about this right now, but his mind forced him to!

Finally, the boy was chosen for a team. In a sigh that told he was expecting defeat, he wandered over to the side of the gym his team was forced upon. Two of the others on his team were Gia Stevens and Katie Hearth. Not that Tomonari really talked to them, however. All he was expecting, if he were to be called out towards, was either 'Geek Boy!' or 'Weird Book Kid!'. The latter had been created due to the fact that some had caught Tomonari carrying his spellbook in his satchel, although nobody really tried to mess with it. The nickname was all that was important right now. Whatever the case, the boy watched as their teacher, with seemingly malicious intent, ready the dodgeballs.

Almost due to extreme anticipation, he could've sworn the teacher's eyes glinted something fierce, and opened up the bag of death dodgeballs. Soon after, the objects of mass termination were let loose, and as such, hell had come upon the gym! As such... Tomonari jumped in pure and utter shock as he watched the rest of his class go at it.

[Gia Stevens]

Oh. Dear. God. Gia was fiercely reminded of why she hated this activity when her classmates surged forward, descending on the balls like wolves to meat. This was not good, not good at all. She didn’t head towards them, knowing that if she got caught up in that entanglement, she’d be gone in a heartbeat (in fact, so many people ended up getting out by trying to get at the balls), and instead waited on light feet, and then threw herself down at the ball that came her way, pounding off of the wall behind her (she swore it made an indent), and then dashing away.

Had that been Becky? Crap. Hopefully not.

Rounding Jessica, who promptly got hit with a ball as she couldn’t move out of the way in time with a squeak, and taking a quick moment of shelter by Matthew, who might not have been good at dodging, but could catch any ball that came his way, the girl’s eyes widened slightly at the skinny boy that clearly didn’t have a strategy. She didn’t recognize him (which probably meant that neither of her friends knew him, because that was how she knew virtually everyone that she did), but he needed to do something. Get a human shield to hide behind, learn who to avoid and who to not, just something.

Inwardly cursing herself, she darted out from the shelter of Matthew’s big bulk (he had caught like three balls in the time she had been standing there, she swore), passing by Erick (thank goodness he was on their team, if the other one had Becky), and tapped him on the shoulder. "Move! Find shelter! Something!" she told him, before she was off again, bounding past Olivia as the brunette hit the floor to avoid a ball. Dang it, dang it, dang it...

Katie would provide shelter, though, or at least a good spot to stop for a moment to maybe catch her breath. This was war, something which she had learned on practically her first day of school. Then again, they had forced let her join in with the Gym class while her tests were still going through. Had to know how far she was in school, after all. But she had gotten pounded within an inch of her life, no joke.

So maybe she knew a little better and was a little more wary than most.

[Katie Hearth]

Playing dodge ball was as much mental as it was physical. Katie had this tactic going for her. The second she grabbed a ball (preferably one that rolled her way), she would make eye contact with the first person she would see, pull her arm back and then throw- at a completely different target from her direct line of vision towards the peripheral view. This caught people off guard and, most importantly, it gave her an advantage. Other times, when she felt herself pulling the same move too many times she would throw it, point blank, straight ahead. The purpose of her strategy was making sure no one caught on to what she would do next, every move had to be unpredictable, and if that included jumping behind someone to avoid a hit, then so be it.

The clear voice of her friend broke her concentration. She craned her head and was surprised to find Gia helping some scrawny, bispectle, kid out. A point of weakness was the first calculated thought that crossed her mind, followed closely by easy kill. He seemed nice. Nice as in weak. Nice as in I might as well be a sitting target. Not the kind of qualifications to win this game and surely, within a few minutes in he would fall like the rest of them. Katie turned her head back in the game just in time to duck out of the way. She heard the ‘SWIIIISH!’ of Becky’s ball narrowly grazing her ear and the pounding of it connecting to someone else’s body. It was rubber against soft flesh that echoed in the room.

Another soldier snuffed out.

Damn her.

"Hey! Guy-with-the-face, think fast,” Katie warned, she pretended to throw the ball towards a suspecting boy, only to change the course of her throw towards the adjacent student. There was a satisfying thack! And an out from the coach. “Yo’ home skillet,” she grinned, “Don’t suppose we could use specs over there as a decoy, huh?” She seriously needed to knock out Becky’s thunder.

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[Tomonari Cahal]

Forget knowing that there were people who had all kinds of super powers! High school dodgeball was complete and utter war! Every ball from the bag was already flying around the gym, with some that the boy could have sworn were defying the laws of physics. He didn't care that nobody had targeted him yet. Tomonari's only idea of playing dodgeball was to avoid everything that came his way, which did end up working if he actually decided to MOVE. People were already getting out, although in his eyes it was like a mine exploding a group of soldiers bravely charging down the battlefield. However, the reality was that he was a part of this too!

As such, all he did was stand there, trying to force his rather intelligent mind to think of a plan. This usually didn't work too well at times like these though. Nobody even really bothered to say anything to him, as Tomonari was still another one use meat shield. That is, until he was tapped on the shoulder, and he jumped in surprise with a yelp. Looking at who tapped him on the shoulder, it was a blonde girl who yelled at him to get moving and find shelter. Nodding rather hesitantly, the girl apparently ran off to find her own source of protection. In the mean time, Tomonari himself had to do something as well, actually deciding to take her words seriously.

Soon after, there was another call for him from another girl, who seemed to be in cahoots with the girl who told the boy to get moving. Looking over, he jumped in surprise as he was talked to as if a ball was going to be thrown at him. Jumping in sheer shock as he thought it would be, it seemed as though it was merely a distraction, since as soon as he opened his eyes, another person was out. It seemed like an eternity with his eyes being shut, but in reality it was only a few seconds. Tomonari had his own problems to worry about though, as someone from the other team had made the boy their target! "AAAAAH!", was the only source of a voice that came from his mouth, as the teenager dodged a ball that had come flying at him.

The same person who targeted him had thrown two more balls at Tomonari, each time missing the boy, thanks to him being rather speedy, super powers or not. Thankfully he didn't turn on his super speed to avoid the spherical death devices. But when he finally saw who had targeted him, he only had a few seconds to think of something. The ball was flying right at him, and due to the physics of dodging, it was thrown during his dodge. This would make things difficult, and a swirl of panic and doom filled his mind. What was he to do with this ball?! It was coming right at him, and the only option was to catch the ball. However, this wasn't too familiar to him, since he didn't think he could do it. That is, until something else came into his mind: baseball.

Quite suddenly, the sound of rubber smashing into his hands could be heard, and Tomonari didn't quite know what was going on. However, as he looked down, the coach had yelled another 'OUT!', promptly making the other person who targeted him leave the field. Blinking a few times, the boy had realized that he had, in fact, caught the ball for this to occur. Tomonari was still quite worried and shaken, although his thoughts soon came to fruition. He was catching a ball... and when he played baseball... he was a REALLY good catcher. Was this factor of ball catching really in both baseball and dodgeball? From what had occurred just now, the answer was such: YES.

[Gia Stevens]

Wincing as Becky’s ball slammed into Olivia, something which would likely cause a massive bruise tomorrow, Gia refocused on her friend at the question, and didn’t even have to consider it before she nodded. Sure, it wasn’t exactly nice, but this was war, and sometimes, you had to make sacrifices. “Definitely, he’s an easy target,” was her prompt response, before she saw the balls headed in his direction. “…Unless he gets out first…” That would suck, in more ways than one. For one, the more fodder they had on their team, the less likely it was that they would be instantly targeted by the other people, and secondly, well, it seemed that Katie had a plan in the works.

So the girl watched, frowning, as the older boy was targeted by the Hartman brothers. Alone, they were useless, but together (and they were smart enough to always work together) they formed a pretty quick barrage of balls that usually got any of the ‘lower ranked’ players out. Needless to say, she had been a victim of them before. Gia expected him to get hit, even as he dodged, but… he caught it. He caught the ball. No one caught the ball (except for Matthew), and the primary way to get out was to get hit, period. But he caught the ball! One of the brothers was out (they looked a ridiculous amount alike, so she could never tell Josh from Jake), and the other was essentially crippled, posing pretty much no threat.

Suddenly aware that her jaw had sort of dropped (she hadn’t been expecting it, okay?), she turned to her friend, kind of wide-eyed. “If we can get her to target him, he might be able to get her out,” she spoke, her words sounding surprised and as if they were coming out on the spot (which they were). If he could catch the ball, well… He’d be one of the few that could. Matthew probably could’ve, if they decided to try and pit him against Becky, but she was smarter than that, and the boy in question would be pissed if he found out what they did. Almost as bad as John freaking Cena.

But… she had no idea how to go about such a plan, honestly, how to get her to target him. This wasn’t her area of expertise. No, this was where Katie, the great master, stepped up to be awesome. So, Gia questioned her BFF, ready to play her part in whatever this was going to be, even if it meant getting out by one of Becky’s dangerous balls. Taking a hit for the team, of course. “What’s the plan, then?”