Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
i. A GAME OF KICKBALL SENDS GWEN'S BULLY TO THE PSYCH WARD ━━━━━━━━━━━━
In all the years of gym class being a thing, it has never been fun. That was the one thing Gwen could think about as she loitered with her team, waiting for the moment that she had to step up to bat― or, in this case, kick.
She had never been particularly athletic. Short and a little stocky, she had always been a prime victim for teasing. And her kickball team was already on their second "out," so she knew she'd get stuffed in a locker if she got the third.
"Teasing" was a nice way to describe how the kids at school treated her. Getting shoved in the hallways, called plenty of colorful names, and having pens launched at her head in history class probably qualified more as "bullying." But when ninety percent of the school did it, the administrators liked to pretend it didn't exist.
Anyways, it wasn't just gym class that sucked. Every class sucked. Gwen had always been a solid C+ student, and she couldn't exactly skate by in Pre-Algebra. But English had always been the worst― all of the letters seemed to float right off the page.
Her parents had worked something out with the school to give her more time on tests, which was great, but it only ended in kids calling her "special ed."
Her classmates were demon spawn.
"Gwen!" One of them shouted from the outfield. "Kick it right here!"
Zach Sanford. Probably the worst offender when it came to bullying her. Gwen didn't know why he acted so high and mighty, since he'd been held back two whole years. Maybe lording over sixth-graders made him feel better about not being in high school yet.
She had been on edge all day, from the early-morning pop quiz in Pre-Algebra― which she had definitely bombed― to having bits of a PB&J sandwich flicked at her throughout lunch. She spent recess trying to wash jelly out of her hair.
And now he wanted to humiliate her in front of their gym class? Game on. She wasn't going to go down that easily.
Naturally, she did go down that easily. The girl pitching rolled the ball to her, and Gwen gave it her all... Except she kicked it straight to the kid at third base.
