Shoot Your Shot

VII: In Your Pocket (Dina)

Dina took a few photos for good measure, just in case someone ended up blinking. As the girls shuffled apart, she registered a squeeze to the hip from Ellie, biting her tongue to keep herself from smiling.

Unfortunately for Dina, every thought she's ever had has manifested on her face one way or another, and therefore, she was a goner.

Mel managed to wrangle the collective after a moment or two, Dina ignoring Camren's pointed elbow to the ribs as her captain quickly explained the rules of the game. It was all boilerplate, so Dina tuned it out, letting her eyes drift.

She had always loved this event since she was a freshman starting, as it allowed her to be more rough and tumble with upperclassmen and bond outside of her team, which sometimes tended to get cliquey in her experience. Talia had always been around to break it up, though, and everyone surely thought she would be captain in her senior year.

And she would've been.

Dina exhaled softly through her mouth and looked around at her team, trying to distract herself from the sinking feeling. It was impossible to NOT think of Talia at one of these things, especially since she was the one to think of doing an event like this in the first place. She tried to return her focus to Mel but to no avail, her thoughts all-consuming. She felt her eyes begin to water as she bit the inside of her cheek and stared down at the grass, feeling someone nudge her gently. Dina's watery eyes drifted to Ellie's concerned face.

Ellie seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if accessing the situation, before leaning in to speak into Dina's ear.

"I didn't realize my touch was so distressing." Ellie said, Dina caught so off guard that she couldn't help but let out a chuckle, trying to keep quiet as Ellie grinned at her, happy to have diffused the situation.

Successfully broken out of her prior train of thought, Dina wiped the tears from her eyes and nudged Ellie with her shoulder appreciatively.

"Thanks."

Ellie nodded and offered her a soft smile before looking back up at Mel, who was now having her fellow volunteers grab the big buckets filled with water balloons and dispersing them around the four soccer fields. Of course these weren't any old water balloons, as each contained dye to stain their clothing and so everyone could keep track of how many times they got hit. Among these volunteers was Jesse, who gave Dina a discreet wave as he got to work. 

Mel explained that each team would start in their own quadrant and after could move about as they pleased, the volunteers planning to shrink their space as time went on. Once a player got hit three times in a row, they would be out. Seemed simple enough, except for one thing.

Dina sucked at dodgeball. It wasn't the aim that ended up getting her, but the speed at which she threw. Hell, anytime her gym class played her whole technique was to evade until she got caught. Jesse thought it was hilarious, as her gym try hard friend, but tried to help her out anyway. Now that she would be on her own in this game, she wasn't too sure how she would fare, as she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of... people.

Eventually a volunteer Dina didn't know led their team over to a spot in the green grass, parking them near the corner arc and re-explaining the rules, the girls around her already getting rowdy, Camren talking to Ellie arduously on the side like the two were forming a game plan.

Leah eyed Dina nervously.

"Let's hope Camren can carry us to victory."

"Hopefully she will, I'm not a dodgeball fanatic myself." Dina finished making a face which made Leah crack a smile. 

A mildly scared looking volunteer stood in the center circle, knowing the moment he blew his whistle everyone would come flying to the center. Ellie had rallied their purple team and managed to somewhat come up with some sort of idea of how they should line up.