Based on KEEPER of the LOST CITIES EMPATHY

Chapter 7

P.E. is one of my least favorite classes.

It's not because I regularly fail at it or anything... It's more of an "I can't eavesdrop without getting caught" sort of thing.

And when I can't eavesdrop, I die of boredom.

Oh, great. Today Lady Alexine is dividing us into teams. Which means a game will be going on. 

"Okay, everyone!" Lady Alexine calls over the hubbub of noises. When almost nobody responds, she takes out an Amplifier and shouts, "OKAY, EVERYONE!"

That gets our attention.

"GIRLS OVER HERE!" she continues. "BOYS ON THE OTHER SIDE. NOW, GIRLS, WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE THE CAPTAINS?"

The people regularly chosen for captains (not many girls enjoy being captains), Aveline and Karlyn, are picked. Like usual. On the boy's side it's completely different-- they're having a giant rock-paper-scissors tournament to decide who should be captain. Unfortunately, according to other people I'm really good at physical education, so I'm usually picked first. 

Just like I predicted, Karlyn starts off by calling out, "Everlie." I try not to look disappointed as I walk up behind her.

Aveline shoots Karlyn a glare that clearly says "that's who I was just about to pick," but she settles for choosing Harmonia.

Now that the attention has been lifted from me (everyone's paying attention to the people getting picked), I can continue my habit of eavesdropping. 

Sophie's chatting with Biana.

They're talking about who Sophie actually likes, not knowing that I'm eavesdropping, until Sophie gets picked by Harmonia. Then Sophie says "Bye!" to Biana and walks to her place behind Harmonia. That means I'll be on the opposite team as her.

I snap out of eavesdropping mode and focus on the real world. I've located Biana; she's next to a girl from Level Two and another girl from Level Three (judging from their uniforms). After a while, she gets picked by Aveline.

Some more time has passed before Lady Alexine clapps her hands and calls into her Amplifier, "TODAY, WE ARE GOING TO PLAY CAPTURE THE FLAG. FOR ALL OF YOU THAT STILL DON'T KNOW HOW THIS GAME WORKS, IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND: YOU TRY TO CAPTURE THE OTHER TEAM'S FLAG BEFORE THEY GET YOURS. YOU HAVE THE WHOLE OUTER FOXFIRE GARDEN TO PLAY. IF SOMEONE TAGS YOU WITH THIS STRIP I'M HANDING OUT NOW, YOU WILL BE PARALYZED FOR FIVE MINUTES. NOW FOLLOW ME."

As we make our way from the P.E. area to the Foxfire garden, I search the crowd for Lefay and Marella. Marella seems to be on the same team as me, but Lefay isn't. I wave at Marella for a few seconds before she notices me. Then, smiling, she comes over to me.

"So, capture the flag, right?" she mutters.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure there's that 'don't hurt others' rule again," I mutter back. "Which pretty much renders a lot of our abilities useless."

Then I scold myself internally for reminding her of how she still doesn't have an ability yet to help her mother, but I know apologizing will only make it worse. So I change the topic to a more light-hearted, "I hope Karlyn has an actually good plan this time." Karlyn isn't known for being the smarter of the two.

"Exactly," Marella agrees. "Remember last time, when she thought of staying at our base and driving the enemy back when they came? I wonder how she even thought of that."

"Of course I remember," I exclaim. "Wasn't that the time when we lost quite spectacularly with Aveline's team simply going around where Karlyn positioned most of us?"