The Fountain Girl

Chapter 13

I sat at the side of the bed, reading Anna a storybook that I bought at the mall. It was about a princess who had been rescued by an evil wizard from a dragon, and had been turned evil by the wizard until a prince came along and made her good. I didn't understand how Anna (or anyone for that matter) could possibly enjoy a story like that, but as long as Anna enjoyed it, I would read it.

Anna tucked her legs under my blanket and clapped her hands after 'Happy Ever After'. She smiled at me.

"Bedtime, Anna." I told her calmly.

"One. One," she said, indicating that she wanted one more story. She raised her index finger to emphasize her point.

"No no, tomorrow I'll read you another one, okay?" I asked her gently. She nodded her head and yawned, stretching her arms out wide and into my embrace. She leaned her head against my chest and closed her eyes, and soon enough she was sleeping soundly. I leaned back against the wall and patted her to sleep, my eyes slowly drooping to a close.

"I'll be back in the afternoon, Anna, " I told the young girl as I left the house. I was exceptionally early today, only because I had received a text message from Katie saying that Jess was early in Chemistry class that day. I couldn't believe I was immature enough to think that Jess was the one and that I would score a chance with her, but I arrived in class early anyway.

"So Jess, how's it going?" I asked her awkwardly as I set my bag down on my table, not noticing Katie, who was lying face-down on her desk behind me.

Jess smiled and nodded her head slightly. Gosh, I loved when she did that. "Good, what about you?" She actually asked me about myself! I blushed and stammered, "Gr-great, great. Yeah, um I should start studying..."

"Really, you never do that. Ever," Jess said to me as I was taking my Chemistry notes out of my bag. She paid attention to whether I was studying or not! That was new.

"Well, just for today. I really want to do well for my test," I shrugged and sat down, my eyes briefly skimming over the words on the paper. Jess turned away and sat down.

"Really?" Katie whispered to me from behind. "You know you never study." I didn't mind when Katie pays attention to my studying habits, because she always does.

"I know," I smirked and stuffed my notes in my bad as Mr. Swathesbourg entered the classroom. "Just trying to make an impression."

We had dodgeball for gym class, the favorite sport for the guys and the hated sport for the girls. Not only did the girls not get to text on their phones at the side of the gym, they also had to run around screaming in the gym, trying not to receive the full impact of a deadly bright-red dodgeball.

I stretched my legs as I warmed up for the game, Katie warming up beside me and Bryan's gang doing manly nudges in one another's shoulders and macho grunts, winking brotherly-like to one another. Jess' clique was gossiping in another corner, and the rest of the class were distributed unevenly across the gym.

Mr. Crescent stalked into the gym, his muscles rippling under his ridiculously small tank top, his thigh muscles expanding and contracting as he took every step. Everyone went absolutely silent.

"Let's get this game started!" Immediately the whole class broke into a mass of frenzy as they chose which team to be on. Most of the girls tried to be on Bryan's team as that was always the winning side, and where you didn't have to endure that much of the physical pain aspect of the game.

Katie and I were on the same team as usual, and Jess had led her clique over to my team, much to my surprise. The girls in her clique were already hugging one another in fear and must have been already preparing their death wishes. Bryan's gang were on the other team. Mr. Cressant lined the centre line with a dozen dodgeballs, and blew his whistle with all his might.

All our ears rang as we scrambled hurriedly for the bright-red dodgeballs. I got one and passed it to Katie, who received it with thanks and threw it, but it missed an opponent girl by a hair's length. "Good shot."

"It didn't hit her."

"Not in my book." I caught a dodgeball rolling on the ground and jumped higher than the net, slamming it towards the girl with so much force that she fell down on her butt. "All part of the plan, Kate." Katie smirked and focused her sights back on the game.

I was watching Bryan from the corner of my eye, dominating the entire game, eliminating my team's members one by one. Katie passes me a ball and I threw it as hard as possible towards Bryan, hitting him with an audible thud on his shoulder, and immediately he groaned in frustration and stalked of the court. I don't think he knew that I was the one that did it.

Against all odds, through literal sweat and tears, my team managed to clinch the winner's title in the game, the first time in dodgeball history where Bryan's opponent's team won. Hugs were exchanges and death wishes were taken back, classmates congratulated one another and walked off to lunch break.

"I saw you eliminate Bryan," Katie said when I was wiping the sweat off my head with a towel.

"So?" I shrugged her comment off. "No big deal."

"Not bad, not bad at all."