Chapter 9: Dodgeball Defeat

KARA

“Kara!” someone shouted my name from down the hall.

I glanced behind me and noticed the head of messy blond hair getting closer to me.

Did I not make myself clear enough the other day? I rolled my eyes, turning to continue walking to my class.

I woke up late this morning, and Charlie was asleep, so I messaged Layla for a ride. We ended up coming to school halfway through the first period.

Just my luck, though, Jason happened to be the only other person in the same hallway.

After the situation at Quintin’s house, I tried to avoid him at all costs.

I was successful for two days—luckily he kept his distance in our classes—but clearly he decided today that he wasn’t going to do that.

As much as I enjoyed Jason flirting with me, I couldn’t allow myself to be infatuated by his charming personality. We both had our own issues to deal with.

“Kara, please,” Jason begged. I stopped abruptly in my spot. Was he actually begging me? Jason walked in front of me and studied my frozen form.

“What, did you decide to mimic a statue?” He smirked at his witty comment, and I snapped back to reality. I glared at him and tried to walk past him, but he cut me off.

“Okay. No jokes,” Jason said more to himself and held his arms out to stop me.

“I want to make you a proposition.” This caught my attention, and I took a step back from him. Jason seemed pretty serious, but of course I had my doubts.

“What?” I curiously grumbled. My eyes lingered on his navy blue hoodie. It had our school logo along with a football.

Jason continued to talk. “I—well, ah fuck.” He rubbed his hands over his face and let out a frustrated groan.

“Look, Kara. I’m not used to this. Hell, I’ve never done this before. I shouldn’t be—I mean girls practically drop to their knees and beg m—”

I scoffed and brushed past him. Of course he would say something like that.

Jason cussed and grabbed my elbow, whipping me around to face him. His blue eyes were vibrant. I’d never been so close to him, face-to-face, without the usual flirty comments or insulting words.

I was surprised to see him look so sincere.

“I’m sorry for”—he took a deep breath—“being an asshole. I thought you were like most girls at this school, but damn it, Kara. You’re so frustrating, and what I’m trying to say is can we just start over and try to be friends?”

He said this all so quickly that he was out of breath by the time he finished.

My eyes were wide, and he stood there waiting for my response, looking nervous and impatient.

“Say something.” Jason waved a hand in front of my face, and I looked at him in disbelief. My mind was racing, and I began asking myself questions.

Feeling doubtful, I took a moment to analyze the situation.

We’d been going back and forth for the past two weeks—fighting, teasing, touching each other. It was a strange situation.

Jason and my interaction at the food court flashed to mind. We both assumed things about each other from the jump, and this would be a way to start over.

“Um…” I took a deep breath and stared at the ground, pondering what I was going to say. After another few moments, I knew exactly what I wanted.

Fuck it, I was going to take the risk. “Don’t make me regret saying yes,” I snapped and looked back up at him, meeting two blue orbs.

Jason stood in surprise for a moment before showing me a giant grin.

“I won’t let you down.” Jason saluted right away, and I rolled my eyes.

“Well, now that I’ve practically missed the first period…” I opened my locker again and put my books back, no longer having a need for them.

I had Gym next, with Jason.

“Let’s go to Gym.” We started walking to the other side of the school.

The short walk included Jason asking simple questions in an attempt to get to know me better.

I explained why I preferred waffle fries rather than French fries, and in return I learned what a wide receiver did.

“No way,” Jess fake-gasped after I told her about my encounter with Jason this morning. We changed into our gym attire. “All I can say is that it’s about damn time.” She laughed.

Layla and Jess were completely dazed by the thought of me with him.

“He’s just a guy,” I explained. A really sexy one. I watched my friend drool over the thought of the blond devil.

“It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself that more than me.” Jess gave me a wink as we walked into the gymnasium. I rolled my eyes at her, hating that she was right.

We arrived a few minutes late, so Coach made us run two extra laps. After running, Jess and I sat down while Mr. Dott explained what we were going to be doing in class today.

Jason walked up to me once Mr. Dott finished. The feeling of us trying to be friends was still foreign, so I couldn’t help but still feel cold toward him.

“Can I help you?” I was leaning back on my hands, with my legs stretched out in front of me.

Jason laughed and held out his hand to help me up off the gym floor. “Since we’re friends now, you’re going to be my partner.” I accepted his hand, and in one swift movement he pulled me up onto my feet.

“For what?” I questioned, feeling embarrassed that I wasn’t listening to our teacher.

“Dodgeball,” Jason replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

My eyes widened, and I shook my head furiously. There’s no way in hell that I was going to play dodgeball. Jess and I sat on the sidelines during games like that.

“I’m not taking no for an answer.” He stared at me with bright sapphire eyes and continued to do so for another minute.

I bit my lip and watched Jess waving her hands like a maniac behind Jason. She was mouthing ~say yes~ and nodding like a bobblehead.

I sighed in defeat. “Fine, but I’m warning you that I’m terrible at dodgeball, so don’t be mad when you lose because of me.”

Jason flashed me a big smile and turned to walk back toward the group of students. “I already won by having you on my team.”

My eyes automatically rolled, but I blushed as he walked ahead. I should’ve known he wasn’t going to stop flirting.

Jess was grinning widely as I followed Jason away from the sidelines.

I walked up next to him and stood in place as everyone who was playing gathered around Coach.

“Okay, so the basic rules of 3-Step Dodgeball: You may play in teams of two. If a player hits you, you’re automatically out.

“You may run anywhere in the room, but as soon as you have a ball in your hand, you can only take three steps. The only way you can get back in is if the person who hit you gets out.

“The last team, or player, standing wins.”

He blew his whistle loudly, and the class cringed at the ear-piercing sound. “Go pick your partner.”

People scattered everywhere, and a taller girl skipped up to Jason. “Wanna be partners?”

She bit her plump pink lip and began twirling her strawberry-blond hair, staring up at him with shiny emerald eyes.

I snorted at her obvious effort, but she ignored me as if I wasn’t there.

Jason shook his head. “I’m already partners with Kara.” Jason nudged me, and I smiled awkwardly at the girl who now glared at me.

“Seriously? The girl who always trips over herself?” She scoffed in annoyance. A few people around us laughed, and I felt my face heat up from embarrassment.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows before narrowing his eyes at her. “And you’re the girl who desperately tries to get the attention of every guy on the football team. What’s your point?” Jason bit back coldly.

The people who were around us burst out laughing.

The girl’s eyes widened, and her face turned red. She gave both of us one last heated glare before stomping away.

“Thank you,” I replied after a moment while avoiding eye contact. Jason stared down at me with his intense blue eyes and genuinely laughed. I couldn’t help but glance at him for his odd response.

Our teacher blew his whistle, which meant the game was about to start, and dread filled my stomach as I had no clue what to do.

“Over here.” Jason gestured, leading me to an area that wasn’t so surrounded by people. It was in a corner, so at least people wouldn’t be able to attack me or catch me off guard from behind.

We all got into positions and then patiently waited for our teacher to give us a cue to begin.

“Go!” Mr. Dott yelled after keeping us anxiously waiting for a couple of minutes. As soon as he blew the whistle, colorful foam balls were thrown everywhere.

Although the balls were made to be soft, if thrown by someone with great force, it’s painful. I’ve seen a couple of students go to the nurse because of powerful impacts.

We weren’t even supposed to be throwing the dodgeballs that hard, but the guys got a little too competitive sometimes.

A green ball whipped past my face, and I yelped in surprise. My head whipped in the direction to look, and I saw Adam laughing.

My face went red from rage. Jason seemed to notice and chucked a ball at Adam while he wasn’t looking. It hit him square in the chest, and I laughed at him as his eyes widened in surprise.

Adam cursed loud enough for us to hear and glared at Jason with the same hatred as before. Jason shot a wink at him and turned back to me with a grin, letting me know he had my back.

I couldn’t help but smile back at Jason.

“Have you got anyone out yet?” Jason asked while coming up to me rather closely. I shook my head, and he bent down, picking up a blue ball.

Jason held it out to me, and I stared at it for a second before taking it into my hand.

Jason moved aside, and I looked around to see who the closest person was. I spotted a girl who was facing away from us, and I took aim toward her.

A second later, the ball hit her in the back, and she let out a small, surprised squeak.

“Oh shit. I actually hit her,” I mumbled in surprise. Jason shook his head while laughing beside me. I couldn’t help but feel a bit excited, considering I’d never participated in this game before.

“Good job,” Jason teased and threw a ball at one of his friends. I heard Jason grunt and turned just as the ball bounced off his side.

I frowned as he sat down on the ground while his other friend was laughing at him. The thought of being by myself now wasn’t boosting my confidence.

I looked around and realized only five people were standing. Adam and I were two of those five.

Now that Jason was out, Adam was back in. I looked him straight in his cold green eyes, and he was staring at me with such a dark look it terrified me.

This wasn’t good.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a girl walking toward me. She threw the ball, and I instinctively threw my hand out to block it. The ball bounced off of the one in my hand, and I was relieved that it hadn’t hit me.

I turned my head back to look at Adam, but instead felt something hard collide with the left side of my face.

The instant sting caused me to yelp in surprise, and I fell backward, clutching the side of my face.

“Kara!” Jason ran to my side. I was biting back tears by squeezing my eyes shut tightly. My face was stinging. It felt like someone was poking the left side of my face with a million needles.

“You little shit,” Jason growled, his footsteps echoing across the room toward Adam.

They can’t fight again. Panic struck me, and I shot up quickly. Immediately regretting it, I whimpered loudly. Jason stopped in his tracks, instantly turned, and walked back to me.

“Kara, are you okay?” Jason furrowed his eyebrows as he stared down at me in worry. I hissed in pain when he trailed his thumb over my cheekbone.

“Move aside,” Mr. Dott boomed with authority. The giant man knelt beside me along with Jason and Jess. “Can you walk?” my teacher questioned, and I attempted to shrug.

They helped me up, and I wobbled on my legs. “Can someone take her?” Jason instantly nodded.

A moment later, I felt his arm snake around my back, and his other arm hooked under my knees. He picked me up with ease and walked toward the gym’s exit.

The door squeaked open, and the sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the empty hallway, letting me know we had left the gym.

“Fuck, that hurt,” I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, laying my head down on Jason’s shoulder. My head was in so much pain, I couldn’t even process the rage that ran through me.

Adam’s stunt was going to come back to bite him in the ass. I could promise that.

For now, I just wanted the pain to go away.

Jason let out a long, deep breath. “I’m sorry, Kara.”

My head slowly lifted. I stared at him, which only made me woozy. “Why are you apologizing?” I tried my best to ignore the pain and instead focused on my curiosity.

“You wouldn’t be in this position if I hadn’t forced you to play.” Jason kept his eyes forward while I stared up at him.

My eyes weakly rolled in their sockets. “It’s not like you could predict that I was going to get pummeled in the face with a ball by my ex-boyfriend.”

Laughter rumbled through his chest, vibrating through me. I focused on the pleasure. “I guess.”

“Just hurry up. I can feel my face swelling.” My head returned to his shoulder, and I closed my eyes.

Jason whispered, “How do you manage to make a bruised face look cute?”

A blush spread across my face as I kept my eyes closed. My mind was already foggy.