Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle-Out of the Game

Chapter 2

-Spencer-

As I bounded down the steps of the bus, I wondered how things were going to be between me and Martha from now on.

As I headed toward the school entrance, I heard someone call my name. I turned my head to see Fridge. "Hey man," I said bumping fists.

As we walked, I noticed Bethany talking to her friend. "Hey!" I called out. She turned around saying goodbye to her friend and heading over to us, smiling."Heyyy."

"Hello." I said shifting my backpack on my shoulders.

"Yo."

"So, anything interesting happen lately?" She asked jokingly.

"No, I can't think of anything." I sighed exaggeratingly. Fridge just shook his head. "Hey, have you guys talked to Martha?"

"Oh, I was texting her this weekend" she responded. "Have you talked to her?"

I bowed my head, thinking of how to talk to her without it getting awkward.

"Hey, there she is." Fridge said with smile.

We all stopped when we saw Martha heading up the sidewalk toward the school.

"Go get that girl, Dr. Bravestone" Bethany said, smiling.

Suddenly knowing what to do I ran over to her. "Hi."

"Hi." she said questionally.

"I-I really, really wanted to call you." I stuttered out.

The next few sentences I really didn't know what I was saying until I stopped for a moment to look at her. This brave, smart, badass girl who I loved. She didn't care what others wanted to make her out to be because she would make her own person. I wanted to kiss her, to be someone then just a friend if she so chooses. And if she doesn't, I can respect that.

"What?" She asked.

I leaned down and kissed her. I thought I was going to pull out of it quickly but she started to kiss me back. It wasn't like our first kiss or second, but a kiss that told she had definitely accepted my silent question.

I pulled out of the kiss when I heard the familiar sound of drum. I looked over to Fridge. He had a "heck no" look on his face. He ran inside, no doubt heading for the storage room.

I turned back to Martha and saw she was smiling, which I think just made my heart beat faster. She said "Of course I'll be your girlfriend."

With butterflies in my stomach, I turned to see Bethany heading towards, unconsciously slipping my hand into Martha's.

"Finally." Bethany squealed, "I thought you would never get around to it."

Smiling I put my arm around Martha's shoulders. Before I knew what was happening, I was on back staring up at the sky, and Martha was apologising rapidly. I shook my head, wincing as I sat up. Bethany looked shocked as did Martha. My respect for Martha just grew.

"I didn't know you knew jujuitsu," my eyebrows raised.

"That's the thing" she murmured,"It was on reflex."

Confused, I looked at Bethany, who shrugged. The bell then rang, so I rushed inside, yelling back that I would see them in 3rd period, PE class.

Language arts and math went by quickly. I noticed that Bethany seemed to pay attention a lot more in math, raising her hand a lot to answer question. This surprised me, knowing that she had had difficulty in the class before.

By the time it had gotten to PE, some of friends had noticed that I was talking to Bethany between classes. I didn't really know what to say, so I simply said that the math teacher had asked me to give her help in math because she was lagging behind- which was true, even though that wasn't the whole story.

I got changed, then headed out to the gym to to wait for everybody else. Seeing Martha, I ran over to her to see if she had talked to Fridge between classes. "Hey Martha!" I yelled, trying to keep a smile off my face.

"Hey," she said, putting her hair in a pony tail. "What's up?"

"Do..I mean have you talked to Fridge about the ...drumming? I asked.

She nodded. "He said that the vice principle wouldn't give access to the storage room until after school, which I'm nervous about because even though we beat the game, who knows what could happen." She looked around, spotting Bethany, she waved her over, then informed her of what she had found out.

Bethany nodded, then said "Well, there is nothing we can do about it now, let just, you know, focus on the present."

Sure, the present. Ok.

The PE teacher told us to pair up. I instantly grab Martha's hand. She smiled and nodded. The teacher looked over at Martha, looking as though she was going to have to tell her off again. The teacher's eyes widened to see us holding hands, then gave Martha an approving nod.

Martha looked miffed, opened her mouth about to say something, then closed it. I mouthed to "you ok?". She whispered, "I'm fine.", though she sounded irritated.

When I looked back to the teacher, she was finishing explaining that we were playing dodge ball today. Personally I like dodge ball, people played by the rules, but I wasn't very good at it. I wasn't able to dodge a ball or throw one with much power or accuracy. Which was irritating because in video games, it was so much easier.

I was going to do my best though, even Martha seemed excited for it, which was unusual.

Me and Martha got separated on to other sides of the gym, with the balls in the center. When the whistle blew, I ran forward, to the ball, grabbed one and backed up quickly, managing to avoid any balls the other team threw at me.

Seeing Bethany, I threw the ball in her direction. She was turned the other way to grab a ball on the floor, when the ball hit her on the back. Surprised she turned around and saw me smiling. Frowning playfully, she left the field.

When my eyes left Bethany, I saw a ball heading straight toward me. Leaping to the left, I managed to avoid it. I grabbed the ball, and threw it were it came from. One of my friends, who had thrown it got hit on the chest. Surprised, he gave me a thumbs up and left the field. By this time, there was only three people left on each side including me and Martha.

She managed to take one of the people on my side, before turning to me smiling and throwing the ball at me. I dodged it, picked up a ball and threw it at her. She jumped out of the the way and lobes a ball at. The next thing I knew I had caught it, she was out and my friends were giving me high fives.

"Dude, that awesome!"

"Yeah, I didn't know you could do that!"

"When did you learn to do that?!"

Not being able to answer the questions, I ran over to Martha amd Bethany. "Hey, good job, though sorry about hitting you in the back Bethany."

"It fine." She says offhandedly. "What i want to know, is how you two got so good at dodge ball. The like, last time you two played it, you guys were out in the first ten seconds."

Martha shrugged "I don't know, it just came naturally. I didn't really try."

I nodded."It is like she said, I didn't really try, I just wanted to avoid the ball and hit you guys, though I didn't think I would actually be able to do it. It was automatic."

"Huh." Bethany looked at me questionally. "Anyways, I'll meet up with you guys at lunch, I have to get to Biology." She walked off, leaving me and Martha by the lockers. I sighed, knowing it was going to be a long day.