The General Gist of Things

The General

"Are you the General?" some boy on the front lines asked. He looked about 16, and was surrounded by the rest of the class A third years.

The girl smiled, she looked pretty ordinary, not at all like the stories we heard: your standard brown hair, brown eyed girl. On her side of the hallway were class B, first years. Kevin was only half paying attention, sitting by the window of a story above and looking down at the scene while scribbling on his notepad. After all, the 3rd years had Honey there was no way they would lose. 

"That's a pretty silly nickname, right?" Said the girl, "Though yeah, I guess that's me."

The coach stood up from his place on the bleachers and bellowed: "Right, so I assume you've all noticed the weird setup. The net above you is to place you all at the same hight." Here he glaced at Shaun, he was probably the tallest one there, standing next to the shortest: little blond Alex, known to everyone as Honey. "We don't want anyone to have an unfair advantage!" He continued, " The point of today's activity is for one team to take off all the hats from the opposing team. The hats must be worn, the hats must be unencumbered by anything including hoods, etc. All of this, you should already know."

At this, everyone began to put on their hats properly and a couple people pulled their hoods off.

"Right! Everyone ready? THREE... TWO... ONE..." A buzzer sounded.

"OFF!!!" yelled the girl general. Kevin looked up, surprised. As the 3rd years began running towards the 1st  years, about half of the latter ran off into classrooms along the side of the hallway and the other half (with the general) reached up and pulled themselves up in the nets. The ones to get up only just missed getting trampled by the hoard of 3rd years. 

"StarBURST SNATCH" chanted the general, "starBURST SNATCH." On star the acrobats moved, on burst they prepared themselves and on snatch, they took a 3rd year's hat. They were wide brimmed and easy to take off so almost everyone on the nets took one.

"StarBUST SNATCH," This time the 3rd years ducked. On star, they began trying to reach the acrobats or climbing up.

"SWITCH!! STARburst SNATCH! STARburst SNATCH!" This time, the acrobats reached down on star, moved on burst and prepared on snatch. Kevin stared in wonder, they had incredible discipline. Already more than half of the 3rd years were missing hats and walking off to the back where the disqualified sat. Still, Honey was still standing (Shaun had gotten his hat taken long ago), so there was still a chance of them winning. Kevin saw him deftly taking the hat off an acrobat that crouched too low - Honey being so short, it was quite an incredible feat, but that was Honey. He was always being a little incredible.

Another switch of rhythm later, almost all of the 3rd years had decided to lie on the ground in defense, the attack from above being too much. 

That's when the general yelled "CHAAAARRRGE!!!"

They're not gonna come down are they? That's not a very good idea... Thought Kevin, then something unexpected happenned.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH" bellowed the swarm of 1st years, charging out from the doors of classes on the 3rd years' side. They must have gotten out the back door of the classrooms they were in and come back in to those other classrooms instead, only to charge the 3rd years lying down in the hallway.

The invaders had almost every hat taken, then the general yelled "CHESS!" and Kevin just made out two guys from the backround nod to her. What is going on? 

The general made her way deftly to where Honey was still battling, being a complete ninja and taking off yet another 1st year's hat. Then she slipped through the net yelling "Three!", she took a broom lying in the hall "Two!" and swung it toward the brim of Honey's hat "One!". Honey caught it in his hand and the surrounding people gasped.

Uh oh. Thought Kevin, but when he looked at the General, she was smiling.

"Check" she said as one of the two guys who had nodded earlier ran behind Honey and snatched  his hat. Shock. The 3rd years stood frozen. But how...? 

"THIS IS CHECK MATE GUYS, FINISH 'EM!" She yelled and ran off, snatching as she went.

In another 30 seconds, the hat war was won with many cheers from the 1st years. As soon as everyone quieted down, the coach, a little terrified, stood up to speak. "Congratulations Class 1B..." then sat back down. The applause coming from the 1st years was so loud, there wasn't really any point in trying to speak.

"Right, you all did great guys!" Kevin heard the General laugh at a group of 1st years bellow. The coach then congratulated the losing team on having lasted the longest against the 1B class and (mostly) everyone gave a little cheer. The 3rd years didn't look quite so utterly gloomy anymore, though there were still a few black clouds brewing in that corner. Honey forced an award winning I'm-not-a-sore-loser smile towards the girl general, which she caught and sincerely returned.

The coach stood up then, finally taking charge: "Alright, alright, well done. Now, on to the next activity!" Kevin returned to his notepad. Interesting... he thought. Withought really thinking, he doodled The Girl General into the corner of his page.