Blood Solstice 2 (Sequel)

Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Dodgeball

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Dodgeball

"Bella, it'll be fine," Alice soothed as we made our way towards the gym. "I'll be there the whole time, I promise."

I groaned uneasily. Playing dodgeball was bad enough on its own. While I was worried about it, truth be told, I was far more concerned with the people playing it. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would become the primary target for most people, the girls especially. We shared PE with Lauren, Jessica and their little bimbo friends, who all had it out for Alice and I, me especially. I also worried about Alice's control over her instincts, especially when most of the people she wasn't happy with, Mike included, were in our class.

Was I nervous? Yes, very.

"Bella, if you'd like, I can take you to the nurse and make up an excuse to take you home early to get you out of PE," Alice offered.

I was actually considering that for a moment, but shook my head.

"No, because then I'd be disappointing Esme," I sighed.

"Bella, you won't disappoint her by missing one class," Alice stated, shaking her head. "If anything, she would understand completely why you wouldn't want to go. I understand, I do, so don't think anyone thinks less of you."

I bit my lip and mulled it over. We were at the doorway to the locker room now and I had a choice to make. Go in there, change, and face my fears or run away from them. I couldn't just run away all the time. I'd been running away from things from far too long now and I sure as hell didn't want to keep it up. Not with the Cullens, my family, being brave and willing to face anything that came their way head on. This was a stupid game of dodgeball, not some murderous vampire out to get me, after all.

I turned to Alice and saw her coming out of a vision, likely of my decision. She smiled at me.

"You don't have to do this, Bella, but if it's what you want, then I'm fine with it."

And with that, we walked down the stairs into the locker room. I ignored the glares and jeers thrown my way and went over to my locker, Alice right next to me. We proceeded to change into our PE outfits, which for me consisted of black sweatpants and a short sleeved gray shirt. Changing into different clothes wasn't a big deal since I slipped the sweats over my jeans and quickly switched shirts. Alice was already waiting in her attire by the time I had my sweats on.

"Show off," I muttered. Her lips curved into a smile, but she chose not to comment.

Once I was done we both walked up the stairs together and into the gym itself, where most of the other students were already waiting. Mike Newton was there, standing with his friend Tyler Crowley and two other boys I didn't recognize. All of their eyes, save for Mike's, averted and stared at us as we made our way inside. Alice's eyes darkened in irritation, but she made no move to growl and snarl at them, thankfully.

Our teacher, Coach Clapp, finally made his way into the gym from the boys locker room as the remaining students filed in. Once everyone was present and our roll was taken, he cleared his throat and announced that today we would be playing a game of dodgeball. That earned a collection of groans, whining and grins of excitement from nearly half the class.

"I'm going to be separating all of you into two teams. When I call your name, please move to the side that your team is on," he announced. Then he started calling names at random order. It seemed like he had gotten the list made up right before he started class. That didn't sound good.

It didn't take long for me to see that my initial fears were made true, only worse. Alice wasn't on my team; she was on the opposing team. When he made that announcement, my heart nearly dropped in my chest as I gaped at him. It took me a moment to realize what that meant. I turned to Alice and saw the same shell shocked expression on her face.