In the morning, right after breakfast, Sophia, and her father went out of their home, and Mia’s limousine was already there.
Inside, Emma and her parents smiled at her, with Sophia forcing a smile and trying to look as calm as possible.
As the limousine was going to get Mia at her mansion, Emma was talking with Sophia, trying to distract her because she could see very clearly how her friend was trying to be relaxed, despite her clenched fists.
When the limousine stopped, even before the driver could open the door for her, Mia opened the door herself and sat next to Sophia and her father with an enormous smile. “Good morning! One more day, one more medal, right?” Noticing that Sophia didn’t say a thing, Mia looked at Emma and asked, “What is up with her?”
“I am not sure. I am not going to participate in the Dodgeball event, so she has to do it with four boys on her team. Maybe she preferred another girl with her?”
“I think she is just thinking about what she can do to hurt her opponents without anyone finding out she did it on purpose.”
Everyone stared at Mia as if warning her not to mention such a thing, with her only shrugging and saying, “She already said yesterday what she was going to do today. At least try to look innocent, will you?”
With a grin, Sophia answered, “Actually, I slept on that subject, and I have my strategy all thought up. They won’t even know what hit them!”
“Sure, they will know! Dodgeball is with balls, silly! Even if some of them faint during a game, when they wake up, they will remember what happened. Well, unless you put someone into a coma for a few weeks. It is better if you don’t do that. You hear me?”
“I am going to aim at faces and stomachs, so I can’t promise anything, lady! But just to be sure no one will get suspicious, I will tell the boys on my team to also aim at faces and stomachs!”
With a raised eyebrow, Mia Mills said, “I don’t know if I should be worried or happy that you have a solid strategy.”
With Sophia winking at her, Mia wondered what she was plotting, with Jack Cross sighing, not knowing what to say.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive, and as soon as the driver opened the side door, Sophia and Emma rushed straight to the main gate, where the boys who were on Sophia’s team for the Dodgeball event were waiting.
Mia, Jack, and Emma’s parents exited the limousine and followed the group of parents to the gym, trying not to pay attention to the whispers and pointing fingers. It was clear that the parents were still worried that Sophia would try something suspicious, like on the previous day. Unfortunately, for as much as many parents tried, she came out of that meeting in the gym as innocent as a newborn baby. Even if she was guilty.
As they were entering the gym, straight to the changing rooms, Sophia whispered to the four boys who were in her team, “Everyone knows what to do, right? Just like we practised.”
One boy, a blond one with light blue eyes, said, “You and me at the front, the others at the back. You catch a ball and give it to me, then you catch another. The others just have to avoid all the balls the others throw at them.”
“That’s it, but with a slight change.” She then glanced around to be sure there was no one near who could hear her and whispered, “Like we practised, I will throw first, but I will tell you where my target will evade, and you just have to be sure to throw the ball to the place where he is going to be after evading my ball. When you throw a ball, you do the same. And the slight change is, aim to the face.”
“To… to the face?”
“Yes, to the face. Or the stomach. Or the genitals. The places that hurt the most. If our first match ends with all our opponents crying on the floor, the next match will be easy because everyone will fear us.”
With a frown, the blond boy said, “I don’t think I like that strategy. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“You prefer it if I hurt you? Because I will if we lose a match because you are a softie! They are our enemies. Enemies have to die. Since we can’t kill anyone, we can only make them cry and call for their mommies.”
“You can’t force me to hurt anyone! I am not afraid of you!”
While getting close to the angry boy, Sophia warned him, “I never saw you saying anything when Eliza and her gang were bullying me. Until now, you didn’t apologize to me for being a coward and not helping me when I needed you the most. Today, you either do what I say or you are going to spend a few days in the hospital with your pretty face all messed up. Understood?” The angry Sophia looked at the other three boys and said, “The same warning goes to you. None of you helped me. None. None of you apologized for doing nothing. None of you! And lately, you and everyone in this stupid school have called me a hero! I would rather have you helping me out when Eliza was trying to drown me in the bathroom! Or saying anything to stop her when she was calling me bad names!”
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The boys didn’t say another word, with Sophia grinning. “Going silent, are we? Remorse? I sure hope so! I hope you get sick with remorse for not doing a single thing to stop all the bullying I, Emma, and a lot of kids suffered at Eliza’s hands! Today, you are going to do exactly what I said. No excuses, no worries about how our opponents might end. You all owe me! I am going to get my revenge, or God helps me, I am going to kill you all and have a bath in your blood!”
The blond boy slowly nodded and said, “I… will do what you said. I only entered this event because I thought it would be fun, but… I had no idea you were so angry… I just… I am sorry… I should have stopped Eliza, but… I was afraid she would start bullying me…”
“That is the problem with you and all the kids in this school. And that is why Eliza and her gang could do whatever they wanted. They are only three girls, and there are dozens upon dozens of students in this school. If only a few said anything, they wouldn’t get so much power like they had. Three girls had an entire school in their pockets! How stupid is that?”
With a gulp, a boy, a tall and slender boy with dark brown hair, said, “You… never said anything to them… or reacted when others were being bullied…”
“Because, unlike you, I know what I am capable off! If I had reacted like you said, I would have put her in a hospital months ago. I tried not to, but then I got enough. And you are mistaken. I always told them to stop when they were bullying someone. Why do you think they started to see me as a better target? But today, I want to hurt all the kids in the other teams — the ones who study at this school and did nothing. Just like you. Consider yourself lucky that you are not on another team. You are on my team. I will make sure no ball hits you. If I can’t catch a ball, try not to get hit. I want to get the medal for this event. I want to go to classes next week with three medals around my neck to show everyone what I can do if I try. Don’t tell me that you don’t want to gain a medal and brag!”
“Of course, I want to gain a medal! That is why I am here! But… you saying you want to hurt the other teams… kind of worries me…”
“You just have to escape the balls and throw a ball to the other team. I will do all the hurting if that is what worries you.”
The boys slowly nodded, and Sophia said in a low voice, “We also have to show the students of the other schools that they can’t mess with us. Our school never won an event. This year, we are going to win everything. Let’s go!”
They all put their hands on top of Sophia’s hand and shouted almost at the same time, “Let’s go!”
Sophia smiled at her team and rushed to the girl’s changing room with Emma. As she was changing into her gym clothes, Emma asked, “The boys didn’t look that happy. It was probably better if you didn’t threaten them. They might do it on purpose to lose, you know?”
“I could be worried if I didn’t know that I don’t need any of them to win this. I can win all the matches if I play alone. I would prefer to play alone, but I can’t do that because of the rules.”
“Okay, but at least try not to send anyone on the other teams to the hospital.”
“I can’t promise that. Who knows if one of those stupids doesn’t have a weak nose?”
While slowly shaking her head, Emma followed her thirsty-for-revenge friend out of the changing room, and while Sophia was going with the boys in her team to their side of the gym for the first match to begin against a team from another school, Emma went to the benches around the gym to meet her parents.
As she sat, Mia Mills noticed her worried look and asked, “What’s the matter? Sophia annoyed you, didn’t she?”
“She annoyed her team members more. Look, it is about to start. Darn brat, she will probably make her entire team disqualified!”
The Principal made a quick speech, encouraging the students to follow the rules and to have fun. As soon as he left the balcony, not before staring intensely at Sophia as if the speech was meant for her, the referee walked to the middle of the gym and told the teams to get ready.
He waited for a member of each team to approach him so that the starting team could be chosen through a coin toss, and a boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes joined the referee, with Sophia being the other team’s representative.
After the boy chose the side of the gym for his team, Sophia threw the coin up and called it tails. It ended on heads, so her opponent’s team got the first set of balls. As he offered a handshake with a smile, Sophia frowned and asked, “What do you want? Forfeiting already?”
“No, I was just being polite. It’s called good sportsmanship, you know? To greet your opponent at the beginning of a match and congratulate each other for a good game when it ends?”
“Well, I am not doing that. Why would I ever want to greet my enemy? You are just a step in my ladder for my medal, one that I will step on, and I won’t even remember when this finishes.”
“You are an angry, cute girl, aren’t you?” With a grin, he took one step closer, and while putting a curl of Sophia’s hair behind her ear, he said, “I am Eric. Eric Bates. What is your name, gorgeous?”
Sophia slapped his hand away from her and said with gritted teeth, “You may call me death, moron. And you will be the first victim today.”
“No one ever said you look absolutely beautiful when you are angry? I wonder if your smile would stop my heart!”
“I will stop your heart, all right. With a ball straight to your ugly face!”
As Sophia was returning to her side of the gym, Eric shouted, “This is going to end quickly if you get so angry with just a few words! Anger will make you lose focus, and your aim will suck!”
Sophia stood two metres away from her team member, with the other boys hiding behind them, making two lines.
The moment the other team members had one ball each, the referee blew his whistle, and the game started.