This ain't a diary, this is a - mirror?

Chapter 34: The Rules of Dodgeball According to an Overexcited PE Teacher

Samantha couldn't get a hold of Cheryl throughout the entirety of the Science lesson. By the time she'd shoved everything in her bag at the end of the lesson and rushed out to find her, she was gone.

Samantha sighed - and lowered her head in a sneeze as something brushed against her nose. She blinked a few times to clear her vision and realised there was a particular blue feather on the ground. "Must've been the culprit of my... sneeze," she said to herself as she picked it up. She admired it in the sunlight - it seemed to shimmer with dull green, blue and purple all at once as she tilted it in the sunlight.

She tucked it into her pocket and checked her schedule again. She grimaced as she read the name of the lesson off her timetable. "Ew, Physical Education." She hurried down the stairs - and froze as she realised that she'd forgotten her PE clothes in her dorm room. She swore under her breath and made a run for her dorm.

---

"Just made it," Elena whispered as Samantha skidded to a stop by the school field, dressed in the school's PE kit. "Good job - did you forget your kit?"

Samantha simply nodded, too breathless to speak. Thankfully, the teacher hadn't arrived yet to see Samantha out of breath and red faced from her run.

Samantha inhaled deeply and straightened up. "Well, I've already done a warm up, so can I miss out on this one?" She joked as she scanned the group of students that were milling around. Unfortunately, Cheryl wasn't in the same class as her, so she couldn't continue inquiring on what she'd said earlier.

Elena chuckled at Samantha's joke. "You wish. I hope our teacher isn't one of those... you know, 'give me a hundred pushups for your warmup' type of guy... or gal. No matter how much I like running around and throwing balls, I've never met anyone who liked doing pushups every other day... including me. So yeah, basically, I hate fitness stuff."

"Hopefully," Samantha agreed. "My primary school teacher was kinda like that, but something happened - someone apparently lost control of their powers and did something to him - and he just gave up and retired."

Elena giggled. "That's hilarious. I would've loved to see that. I guess I'm lucky my primary school PE teachers were... nice." Elena hesitated for a moment, as if considering what to say. "Well -"

"Alright, class! My name is Ms Howen and I'm your PE teacher for the term! Woo!" A pink furred dog skipped down the stairs, twirling what appeared to be a long, sharp shell, and waved. She appeared to be dressed in... armour and an ancient looking cape. Thinking of it, the outfit actually reminded Samantha of somebody...

"I'm going to make sure that you'll enjoy PE this year! After all, fitness starts with 'f' - just like fun!" Ms Howen pranced back and forth, clearly excited. "And I love to start my classes with memorising your names... at least, for the first term. Hopefully I'll have it all in the bag by then!"

"She's... very excited." Elena whispered into Samantha's ear. Samantha stifled a giggle and nodded. "Yep. Definitely."

Ms Howen bounced back to the bag she'd left by the stairs and pulled it over. She dropped it and several balls that appeared to be made of a soft, squishy material fell out.

"Alright! Time for some fun and getting to know all of you!" Ms Howen exclaimed. "So, we're going to play dodgeball!"

A few students cheered. Most of the others groaned.

"Did I hear a few groans?" Ms Howen squinted at everyone. "Why not try that again?"

This time, there were a few more half hearted cheers. Ms Howen grinned and jumped over the half spilled bag of dodgeballs. "Excellent! So I'll be organising teams... if you're team one, go to the left of the bag, and team two, go to the right. Oh, and when I point at you and tell you your team, tell me your name in a loud, clear voice!"

Ms Howen trotted through the group of students. "One, two, one, two~"

"Er... Alexander?"

"Kiara Jay, at your service, madam!"

"Hmph. Riley."

"I assume you already know my name... but I'm Abbey Peters."

Samantha's eyes widened. "So they're in our class too?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Apparently, yes." A smirk crossed her snout. "Well, I'll definitely enjoy beating them in dodgeball by a ball straight to the face - pow!" She pointed her paw and accidentally fired off a tennis ball.

One of the students immediately leaped out and caught it between his jaws. He dropped it and looked around sheepishly. "Whoops."

Ms Howen simply chuckled. "Great catch, er... your name?"

"Kane Lester, miss! And, er, yeah..."

"Team one, then. And who threw that...?" Ms Howen scanned the class of students. Elena immediately tried to look as inconspicuous as possible and slunk behind Samantha. Unfortunately, Ms Howen spotted her and waved her over. "Your name?"

"Ah... Elena." Elena scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "And, er, about the ball... I didn't throw it. Well, I didn't throw it, it just kinda... conjured itself out of thin air."

Riley's eyes widened and narrowed. "You...!"

Ms Howen didn't seem to notice Riley's reaction and just giggled. "Your power, is it? Well, team two it is!"

Ms Howen went through the remaining students rather quickly. Samantha was elevated to find herself in team two, but was slightly disappointed with the fact that Abbey was in her team, too.

"Alright, everyone!" Ms Howen exclaimed. "I assume you know the rules of dodgeball. The middle line is here..." She bounded along the middle of the two teams, tracing a line with her... lance. To everyone's surprise, the lance - which was somehow now glowing blue - was creating a shimmering blue line wherever it went. Ms Howen traced out the boundaries and returned to the middle.

"Once you're hit, you're out. We'll play elimination for now... but I'll add more rules later on! Oh, and shots to the head don't count -"

"Pity," Elena whispered, glowering at Riley.

"- and if you catch the ball that they throw at you, you're out! And no using your powers, of course." Ms Howen lined up six balls along the middle line. "Everyone, go to the end of your boundaries... yes, over there... and when I say go, you go! You have to bring your ball back to your side to activate it... and when it's activated, it'll turn blue! Simple, isn't it?"

Ms Howen paused for a moment, then hurried over to the balls and touched them once with her lance. The balls shimmered faintly as she touched them and Ms Howen hurried back to the outside of the 'battleground'. "If you're hit, you'll hear a popping noise and the ball will glow green. I trust you all to play fairly!"