“I can’t believe we won…” I said quietly to myself while staring into the gym locker that contained my regular set of clothes.

“Well, of course, we won. We’re awesome!” Beth loudly declared beside me while grabbing me an entirely too tight side hug while still being partial between outfit changes.

“B-beth, g-get changed already before you start grabbing onto me, sheesh.” I complained with an embarrassed blush on my cheeks.

“Psh, come on, we change in front of each other all the time. Don’t be a prude, Jenni.” Beth scolded.

“I’m not!” I protested. “But there's a difference between changing in front of each other and squeezing me in a hug while you’re still mostly in your underwear.”

“Pfft, whatever, stop focusing on unimportant details.” Beth complained while finally continuing the process of getting changed herself. “You should be yelling and screaming for joy at crushing Jackie and her stupid cohort of morons in dodgeball.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe we actually won.” I repeated. “It came really close, but somehow…we did it.”

“I know, right.” Beth said to me with a smile now. “Everyone in the jail area was jumping up and down with excitement, giving each other high fives, hugging, and laughing. It was awesome.”

“Yeah, I saw.” I replied, remembering Beth and Scott hugging and smiling, and felt uncomfortable and unwelcome feelings at the sight. “I kinda feel bad that only me and Mira were the ones still standing.”

“Don’t be.” Beth quickly said. “The comeback you guys had at the end was the most epic thing I’ve ever seen, well, at least in gym class anyways.”

Skills Updated:

Dodge 33 => 35

Leadership 11 = 12

I guess the blue box agreed with Beth. This was a nice little boost to my skills for an hour or so of time in gym class. The dodge skill really did seem like an important one for me to focus on, but it was a shame that it was only classified as a basic skill and not a general skill.

The differences between the two categories were still unclear to me, but being put in the basic category probably wasn’t a good thing. There was also the fact that my list of basic skills was well into the hundreds, while my general skill list was only a tiny fraction of that. I wondered what the requirements are for a skill to be added to the general skill list. Was it possible to add more later? Maybe there is a way I can add a skill like Dodge to my general skill list. Another thing to ask Gunderson when I see him, I guess.

“Jenni?” A new voice asked. Looking up, I saw that it was Naomi, the girl on our team who lasted quite a bit longer than the others had. She was roughly my height, with a slightly athletic build, and dark brown hair kept back in a ponytail.

“Oh, uh, hi?” I asked with uncertainty, noticing several more girls had moved over to stand behind Naomi.

“I just wanted to say a good job out there. You really pulled things around at the end. It was amazing to watch, even if we were already knocked out of the game by that point.” Naomi said with a sincere smile on her face.

“Oh, um, no worries. It was, um…fun to play with all of you…” I said, struggling to figure out what to say to her. What was it that she was expecting me to say right now? I never wanted or expected to be the captain, much less one of the last players standing.

“That’s cool, I just wanted to say thanks, and you were awesome.” Naomi said while giving me a simple wave as she turned around to walk away. “See you around.”

“Yeah, you were really great captain.” Another girl said with a soft, high pitched voice, and whose name I didn’t actually know. I really should try to work on that.

“Uh, haha, uh, thanks, I guess…” I said awkwardly while scratching the back of my head out of nervousness. “You, uh, too.”

“Thanks!” The small chipper girl replied. “I hope you’ll be the captain of whatever team I’m on the next time we play with teams in gym class.”

‘Curse you for speaking that possibility into existence, woman.’ I thought bitterly about this girl but had the good sense not to actually verbalize it.

“Um, yeah, totally.” I said instead. “Haha.”

“Ah, she’s just nervous about all the attention you guys are giving her.” Beth said warmly at my side while grabbing me in another one-armed hug. This time thankfully, she was fully clothed. “Don’t let her shyness fool you. She’s still the fierce warrior goddess you all saw take down the wicked fiend Jackie.”

Beth’s overly dramatic description of me and my actions, plus the physical contact from the hug, were making me blush up a storm at that moment. I almost wanted to wiggle free and escape the whole situation entirely. Still, I decided that it would ultimately just embarrass me more if I attempted it. Even though she meant well, Beth was just too nice to me for her own good sometimes.

“Yeah, it was a pretty impressive turnaround, I have to admit.” The surprising and unlikely voice of Jackie said to us. “Congratulations, where it’s due. Good job, you beat us.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

A stunned silence descended on the small crowd of girls that had gathered together inside the locker room. I know why Beth and I were shocked into silence, but I was surprised that the rest of the crowd seemed to feel the same way. No one said anything for a few long moments before Jackie finally decided to continue speaking.

“Listen…” She started to say before stopping and displaying an emotion I was unfamiliar with seeing on her face.

Uncertainty.

“I wanted to…talk to you, if you have the time, privately.”

“Anything you can say to Jenni, you can say right now.” Beth quickly declared, jumping in to defend me. I wasn’t sure that was necessary, though. The look in Jackie’s eyes wasn’t confrontational or her typical haughty arrogance. Still, her expression and demeanor were almost uncomfortable and awkward, like she wasn’t used to acting this way.

“It’s fine.” I said simply. “I don’t mind.”

“W-what do you mean you don’t mind?” Beth asked with confusion plain in her voice. “This is Jackie we're talking about. If I let you go off alone with her, I might never see you alive again.”

“You’re being dramatic.” I told her, almost laughing but keeping it reeled in. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.”

“No way I’m taking chances.” Beth said to me resolutely. “If you’re going with her, I’m coming too.”

“Fine, you can both come. It's…not really a big thing.” Jackie said with a small hint of annoyance that I was much more familiar with hearing. “I just wanted to have a private word about something that’s more… personal.”

“Like I said, it’s fine.” I said, trying to reassure her. “Let’s go.”

Something made me want to hear what Jackie had to say to me. Was it curiosity? Or did the expression she’d shown glimpses of hint that she had something meaningful and worthwhile to talk about.

As the three of us made our way to a different empty spot in the girl’s locker room, Jackie brought us to a halt.

Turning back around, she looked at us and said without preamble. “Thank you.”

Waiting for a follow-up explanation, I didn't say anything for several seconds. I turned to look at Beth for an answer, but she just shrugged at me, equally confused.

“Thank you?” I asked.

“Yes, thank you for what you did at the party last Thursday.” Jackie said, finally starting to explain a little. “You…both of you, I guess, saved Letitia’s life. The others as well, of course, but Letitia…

Jackie paused again to gather her thoughts, neither Beth nor I said anything to interrupt her. Whatever animosity there was between us, now wasn’t a moment to interrupt.

“Well, all of my friends mean the world to me, and losing Jessica made that fact all the more clear to me.” Jackie finally said, raw emotion leaking into her voice as she did so. “So, thank you, Jenni, for stopping that animal from killing her and persuading Beth to help bandage her, and thank you, Beth, for helping to stop Letitia from bleeding out before the paramedics arrived. Thank you.”

Beth and I were both too stunned for words at that moment. Neither was able to mentally process what had just happened, much less respond to what she had said to us. No wonder Jackie wanted to have this talk in private and away from an audience of onlookers and gawkers.

“I…” Was all that I managed to get out at first. “I’m glad Letitia made it as well. I hope she’s doing better.”

“She is.” Jackie confirmed. “Me and the other girls all try to visit her as often as we can while she’s still in the hospital recovering. At least one of us goes to see her every day, usually more.”

“That’s really nice.” I told her sincerely.

“It is…” Beth said with a voice that was still in shock, both at what Jackie had told her but also that she could express empathy toward Jackie and her friends.

This was such a bizarre juxtaposition from the still fiery and confrontational Jackie that I had just been facing off against, in our dodgeball game. Where was this Jackie before now? Was this the real Jackie, or was this something she was only showing us as part of her saying her thank you to us.?

“I…” I began before Jackie interrupted me.

“Anyways, that’s all I wanted to tell you two.” With that, Jackie turned around and walked away from us at a brisk pace. Not stopping until she was completely out of our eyesight.

“What just happened.” Beth asked me in disbelief.

“I don’t know.” I replied, equally at a loss about seeing our once mortal enemy opening herself up to us emotionally like that.

“She was just saying thanks for helping her out. What’s complicated about that?” The voice of Mira said from behind us, causing Beth and I to jump in surprise at hearing it.

“W-wha, Mira? What are you doing here?” I asked reflexively.

“Getting changed, obviously.” She explained dispassionately. “I prefer to use the toilet stalls to get changed in. It's a lot more…private.”

Her words sparked a memory I had from the vision I’d received about Mira. I think, in it, she seemed to focus on bathroom stalls a fair amount. I wonder why they were so important to her that they would show up in a dream about her?

“So, you’re Jenni’s mystery girl that she managed to track down?” Beth asked the both of us.

“Hmm, I suppose, you’d know better than me.” Mira shrugged while looking in my direction. “The tracking down part is true, at least.”

“Why don’t we…all get going so that we’re not late for our next class.” I said to them, feeling somewhat uncertain about where the conversation between the two of them would end up. Mira was still a wild card to me, and letting Beth hear our conversation seemed like it was an excellent way to risk messing with the veil.

Maybe I was being too paranoid, but I’d rather be overly cautious for now about this stuff than have it turn into something dangerous because I made a mistake.

“Whatever.” Mira shrugged while waiting for the two of us to start walking.

“Interesting girl.” Beth coolly observed, but her tone told me she wasn’t a fan of Mira’s yet.

As the three of us exited the girl’s locker room, we ran into Coach Philip waiting outside in the hallway.

“Ah, of course, the last ones out would have the person I’ve been standing here waiting for.” He told us with a cheerful voice.

“Waiting for us?” I prompted, feeling a mixture of confusion and anxiety at his words. Was I in trouble for something? Why would he need to see me outside of class?

“Well, technically, I only wanted to speak to Jenni, but it's nothing secret, so I’ll just get to it so you three won’t be late to class.” Coach Philip explained before pausing before he got to the heart of the matter. “Jenni, how would you feel about joining one of North Shasta High’s sports teams? Now, I think you’d be a good fit for our volleyball team, but we have a number of teams you’d do amazing in, I think…”

‘Oh no. Nonononononononono…..’ Were the last thoughts in my head as I could feel my soul begin to leave my corporeal form behind and move on to the afterlife.

“Jenni…?” Coach Philip's concerned voice asked the vacant husk I had left behind.

Beth gave me a hard elbow to the arm when I still wouldn’t respond to Coach Philip’s words.

“Ow!” I yelped irritably, giving my friend a dirty look in the process.