Chapter 11: Dodge Days

Abeona’s triumphant “GOT YA” was immediately followed by an exasperated “OH COME ON!” as Eve, seemingly effortlessly, dodge rolled out of Wheeler’s path.

As the truck drove away, Lily stood in shock, staring at Eve who was now stood safely on the sidewalk in front of her.

“What do you know, I didn’t even drop our drinks.” Eve crowed proudly.

Lily’s eyes were wide, she was shaking like a leaf. “Eve...”

“Here’s your drink.” Eve offered with a wink.

“You almost got run over by a truck, AGAIN!” Lily screamed, stomping her foot.

“Yeah, I know weird right?” Eve casually blew a strand of hair out of her face.

Lily’s mouth fell open, “That doesn’t bother you? Not even slightly?”

Eve tilted her head in confusion, “Why would it? I mean now it’s me two, trucks zero.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU; THIS ISN’T A COMPETITION DUMBASS! YOU ALMOST DIED! AGAIN!” Lily’s reaction bordered on thermonuclear.

Eve held her hand up defensively, still clutching the drink bottles. “Hey, chill girl, I’m completely fine. Sure, it was close, but just like in dodgeball, it's the hits that count.”

Lily’s eyes were still filled with tears. “We aren’t talking about dodgeball. We are talking about a truck.”

“Well, they are kind of the same thing.” Eve argued.

Lily raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Really? How?”

Eve’s eyes darted around as she frantically searched for an answer. “Because... because...” After a brief pause, the dodging obsessed girl hung her head in defeat. “Yeah, I got nothing.”

Lily started laughing despite herself. “Typical Eve,” she thought, while wiping away her tears. “She’ll never change.”

Lily, being honest with herself, she’d also never really want Eve to change either. Well, maybe she’d appreciate her friend being at least a little more cautious.

“So how about giving me a sip of that water?” requested Lily, pointing at the bottles in Eve’s hands.

“Oh, this isn’t water, I got us something better than plain old water.” Eve boasted as she handed one of the bottles over to Lily.

Lily took the bottle and read the label, “Chad Energy?” She then turned the bottle over to read the ingredients. “Oh goody, just what I need when I’m feeling on edge... caffeine.” She grimaced.

Eve had already begun chugging her bottle. She downed half the contents in one before wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “SO GOOD”, she squealed.

“These drinks can’t be good for your heart.” Lily grumbled.

Eve gave Lily an encouraging slap on the back. “Come on, one’s not gonna kill you. Live a little.”

After taking a small sip, Lily had to admit to her friend “It’s actually not that bad” before slowly drinking more.

“I know right!” Eve beamed enthusiastically. “Anyway, we better get moving or we’re going to be late.”

The pair resumed their journey to their college campus, with Eve bouncing along without a care.

Lily, however, still found her mind drifting back to that truck. It had vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. She wondered where had it gone?

Meanwhile, the truck in question, Wheeler, was being chewed out. “You missed her again?” Abeona complained.

“It’s not my fault she’s so nimble” Wheeler fired back. “Besides I was just following your so called ‘fool proof’ plan.”

“Maybe I underestimated the size of the fool!” bellowed Abeona, her charm furiously flailing its arms. “My plan of approaching in miniature mode, then returning to full size a second before impact was perfect.”

“Yes, and it failed perfectly” Wheeler chided. “I timed that exactly like you told me down to the second and she still dodged me.”

Abeona took a breath, her charm mimicking the action of inhaling, then breathing out, with its arm following the flow of air. “Look, clearly, I underestimated that girl. I knew she had skills, but she’s...”

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Wheeler interrupted, offering the suggestion of, “A freak of nature?”

“That’s rich coming from a living truck.” Abeona chuckled.

Ignoring the jab, Wheeler sighed, “Shame we can’t just explain the situation to her.”

“What you mean like, ‘hey pretty please let us run you over, we promise it’ll be worth it?’ Call me crazy but I don’t think that would go down well.” Abeona scoffed.

“I mean if we pitched it to her that she’d get to dodge fireballs and monsters in another world, I bet she’d jump at the chance” Wheeler suggested.

“You’re probably right on that one” the goddess admitted. “Shame we’ve got no way to communicate with her”.

“Why didn’t you give me an ability so I could communicate with anyone beyond just you? Instead, I’m stuck with just *HONK*ing honking.” Wheeler blared his horn as a demonstration of his truck body's limited discussion skills.

Abeona’s charm started wildly waving its fists once more. “Hey, I’ll have you know you are a feat of divine engineering. Your very existence right now is a miracle, so be grateful!”

“Oh, gracious goddess, how grateful I am that you imprisoned my soul in the body of a truck for your own ends.”

“Hey! Remember you're not doing this for me. You're doing this for every soul who yearns for another life filled with wonder in another world.” Abeona reminded Wheeler. “Every individual whose heart aches for an Isekai adventure, all those poor...”

“OK, OK, don’t overdo it!” Wheeler’s engine emitted a low grumble. “We just have to keep trying. I mean, Eve can’t dodge us forever, can she?”

Wheeler and Abeona slowly made their way to the entrance of Eve’s Campus, parking up outside an abandoned construction site that sat across the road from the college. There they waited patiently for Eve to emerge.

“So, what do we do while we wait?” Wheeler asked.

Abeona began to sing, “ninety-nine people in front of a truck, ninety-nine people in front, mow one down, send to Isekai town, ninety-eight people in front of the truck.”

“This is going to be a long evening,” Wheeler thought to himself.

A few hours later Wheeler saw Eve leaving the campus with Lily in tow.

He immediately attempted to alert Abeona. “Hey, hey, Abeona, look, it’s Eve.”

“Twelve people in front of... or was I at eleven... damn it I’ll have to start over”.

“No Abeona, our target is in sight” Wheeler insisted.

“Oh, at last, why didn’t you say so?” Abeona giggled. “Full speed ahead then!”

Wheeler hesitated “That other girl is with her”.

“Right, of course, we don’t want any collateral damage, so just follow them for now.” Abeona confirmed.

As Lily and Eve left the campus, Lily was on high alert.

“You look tense, what’s up?” Eve asked.

Lily’s eyes were everywhere, checking every road, side road, parked vehicle. “Nothing”, she lied.

Even the usually oblivious Eve could tell Lily wasn’t being honest. “Let me guess, you're still worrying about that truck?”

“Trucks.” Lily corrected “Two trucks, two days running.”

Eve shook her head dismissively, “It’s a coincidence.”

“But what if it isn’t?” Lily shivered.

“What you think someone’s trying to kill me with a truck?” Eve put on a mock pantomime of fear, pretending to bite her nails.

Lily considered the possibility; it seemed outlandish on its face. “No, of course not, that would be ridiculous.”

Eve gave a hearty laugh. “Exactly. Besides, no matter how many trucks someone threw at me, I’d dodge them all.”

Lily relaxed, “I guess it's all behind us now.”

Eve stepped onto the crossing “Right, it's all behind...”

“EVE! BEHIND YOU!” A large vehicle, ignoring the red light started to unexpectedly reverse over the crossing at speed.

This time Lily didn’t freeze. Instead, she grabbed Eve’s arm, pulling her to safety in the nick of time.

The two women tumbled onto the sidewalk, tangled together in a heap.

Eve was breathless. “Thanks, I didn’t see it.” she seemed shaken for possibly the first time since Lily had known her “That would have hit me...”

“You’re welcome,” Lily gulped. She could feel Eve’s heart pounding against her chest.

“Could you perhaps... get off of me please?” Eve requested.

Realising her body was lying directly on top of Eve’s, Lily awkwardly got up, before helping her friend to her feet.

"Ok Eve, this is serious; you've almost been hit by a truck three days running.” Lily rubbed the back of her head. “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times..."

Eve gritted her teeth and pumped her fists "Is a CHALLENGE!" she declared fiercely.

Lily immediately face palmed hard. “No Eve! Three times is enemy action. I’m really starting to think someone might actually be trying to kill you now."

“Who would go out of their way to kill me? I’m completely normal!” Eve remarked.

Of all the words Lily could use to describe Eve, ‘normal’ wasn’t one of them. “Aren’t you undefeated in dodgeball?”

Eve stared blankly at her friend “Yeah, so?”

“Maybe some jealous rival is trying to take you out?” Lily suggested.

“You might have a point...” Eve looked spooked, then drew close to Lily’s ear. “You know assassination attempts on dodgeball players are surprisingly common.”

“Really?” Lily’s eyes widened.

A small crack appeared in Eve’s serious expression, which then began to crumble into a grin, before she collapsed into gales of giggles. “Of course not, that would be ridiculous.”

Lily clenched her fists tightly, “Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”

“Look no harm, no foul” Eve shrugged “It’s not that deep. So I had a few coincidental close calls with a truck. I’m not hurt, you’re not hurt, so why worry about it?”

“You think I’m overthinking it?” Lily looked Eve in the eyes, only to be surprised by her friend sweeping her up in a hug.

“Yes, but I appreciate you looking out for me.” Eve held Lily close to her, making Lily feel safe in her arms.

While Lily wished she could have remained in that hug forever, it ended all to soon as Eve released her.

As the two resumed their walk home, Lily noticed Eve was unusually quiet and fidgety, shuffling from side to side and craning her neck in various directions.

“Maybe she is actually a little worried?” Lily thought to herself, somewhat surprised. Was it possible that final close call had bothered her dodging obsessed friend far more than she’d let on?

Finally breaking the silence, Eve asked, “Do you think we’ll run into another truck?”

Lily smiled to herself. Maybe Eve was taking the reoccurring truck incidents seriously after all.

“I hope not.” Lily admitted.

Eve’s gave an uncertain smile, “I hope...” Eve mumbled the last part of the sentence, so Lily didn’t quite hear what she assumed to be the, “not.”

Just before they entered the dorm, Lily saw Eve give one last forlorn look down the street.

“Don’t worry,” Lily reassured her. “I’m sure we’ll never see that truck again.”