Eric grinned as he aimed at Sophia’s team member, while the other boys in his team all aimed at Sophia.

She skilfully grabbed one ball, then the next one, jumped left while rolling on the floor, and the boys behind her avoided all the balls that nearly hit her.

As soon as she stopped rolling, she winked at her team member, and he threw a ball to Eric, and Sophia threw hers. Eric managed to avoid Sophia’s ball, only to get hit in the stomach with the other ball.

Sophia’s team’s counterattack also hit two boys of his team, and as Eric was leaving the field, holding his stomach, he heard Sophia shouting, “I told you that you would be the first victim!”

“You didn’t hit me! That guy did!”

“I never said I was going to hit you, did I? This is a team event, moron! Who lost focus? It sure wasn’t me! And to prove my point, check this out!”

Eric sat at a bench outside the field and saw a boy from Sophia’s team grabbing a ball she threw at him, and while she was in front aiming her ball at the other team, the boy threw his ball from behind her, making a tight curve, and the ball’s effect took his target completely by surprise.

One boy fell on the floor holding his bleeding nose; the other got distracted and got hit in the genitals.

Sophia and her entire team raised their arms with enormous smiles, and the referee whistled, declaring her team the winner.

The other team’s nurse rushed to help the bleeding boy, and Eric watched with curiosity as Sophia left the field to the benches to what he supposed were her parents, only to see an angry little girl grabbing Sophia by her collar and shaking her, with that strangely cute girl laughing hard.

Eric gulped when he saw Sophia’s beautiful smile, and he mumbled, “She is competitive and so beautiful. Who is that girl?”

After a cleaning lady took care of the blood on the field, the next match began with another school’s team and Eliza’s team.

Eric was still staring at Sophia, who was next to her friend, both of them watching the game, and strangely, cheering for the other team instead of Eliza, who Eric could perfectly see on the board with the matches, that she was also a student of that school.

Strangely, all the students in that school were also cheering for the other team, and they were all booing when the match ended with Eliza’s victory.

It was even weirder when he saw Eliza waving at Sophia with a grin, only to see her crossing her index finger on her throat from one side to the other, making Eliza stop waving immediately.

As Eliza and her team left the field, giving space for the next match to begin, Eric went to a group of students from that school and asked, “Hi! Do you know the name of that girl over there?”

One girl looked to where he was pointing and asked, “Who? Emma Pearson? Or Sophia Cross, our school’s hero?”

“The one who played against my team.”

“That would be Sophia. Your team was unlucky to go against her in the first match, you know? She is absolutely nuts, and she will probably win all her matches today! I heard her threatening her team members when they were practising in gym classes! No wonder they hit your team so hard! If they lost, Sophia would cut their balls and make them swallow them! That was what she said!”

With a laugh, Eric asked, “Hahaha! I knew it! I saw her running yesterday, and she won easily! Please, can you tell me why you said she is this school’s hero?”

While the girl and the other students told him everything that Sophia did to Eliza and her friends, together with all the rumours that were well-known in their school, Eric was becoming more and more mesmerized, and he couldn’t stop smiling.

Without him realizing it, the match ended, and another team was going to the middle of the gym for the next match. The cheering made him look at the field again, and he smiled. There she was again, Sophia Cross.

He thanked the students and rushed to his team while watching the game. He couldn’t understand how she could avoid all the balls so easily, grab most of them, give the balls to the boys on her team, and skilfully throw a ball, making her target avoid her ball, only to get hit by another.

It was almost as if it was premeditated, like some sort of weird strategy. But that couldn’t be, could it? Because for that to be even possible, the entire team would have to be in perfect sync after hours and hours of training.

Little did he know that it was what Sophia and her team did in preparation for that event. Not only the gym classes but before the classes started in the morning and as soon as they ended in the afternoon, they would be in the gym, practising against other students who would almost fight to be the next team against them. The entire school did their best to help the teams that would represent them that year.

The rest of the day was a total mess. Eliza’s team kept winning, and so did Sophia. Despite what most students thought of her, Eliza trained even harder than Sophia did because she was preparing for that event for months instead of days.

As for Sophia’s team, her strategy was working. Using her absurd reflexes and speed, she kept grabbing the balls the other team would throw at her, passing them to her team members, and throwing a ball as a distraction, only for her team to hit Sophia’s target right when he or she narrowly escaped Sophia’s ball. And since her team was doing what she told them to do, most matches ended with students lying on the floor crying in pain or bleeding from their noses.

It didn’t take long for entire teams to forfeit as soon as they were told they were going to face her.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

By the middle of the afternoon, a lot of angry parents were complaining that Sophia and her team were too rough, but the Principal made a small speech explaining that there were no rules stipulating where the participants could be hit or not, so there was nothing he could do besides promising that he and the Principals of the other schools were going to change the rules for next year.

As he stepped out of the field and was going to the balcony again, he stopped near Sophia and said in a low voice, “You are this close to being expelled from this event. You and your team.”

“But I won’t be, because, like you said, there is nothing in the rules. Go prepare my medal because this will end in no time.”

The Principal snorted and left, with Sophia clenching her fists when she saw Eliza and her team going to the field.

It was the final, and there she was, the one she wanted to hurt the most. But her father didn’t raise a fool, so she faced her team members and said, “Same thing, okay? I distract; you guys hit them. But this time, aim for the feet. Make them stumble and fall face-down. That way, no one can accuse us of being too rough, and I won’t give any excuse for that traitor Principal to get rid of me.”

The three boys nodded, and Sophia walked to the middle of the field, joining the referee and the nervous Eliza Francis. She grinned and said, “You can still give up, you know? There is no need for you to get hurt today.”

“I… I won’t get hurt! You will see! I am going to win today!”

“Fat chance. Even if your parents paid the Principal and this referee to give you any kind of advantage, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that. Not with so many people watching. I don’t even need to throw a ball at you. You will lose all by yourself.”

The referee frowned but didn’t say a thing. Eliza chose the field, and Sophia gave her the starting balls, not even bothering with a coin toss.

As she walked to her side of the field, the blond boy asked, “Why didn’t you throw the coin? We could start this match!”

“No need. Same strategy, remember? Aim to the feet, and everyone at the front this time, a few steps apart. Let’s make them work hard for this, shall we?”

One boy said with a grin, “Strategy 5, then? Nice! My time to shine! You grab, we throw! And don’t forget to move around to be a tough target, Sophia! They will aim at you for sure because you are our strongest player, and they will want to get rid of you fast!”

“That is why Strategy 5 will work flawlessly!”

On her side of the field, Eliza Francis frowned when she saw Sophia and her team making a line, not doing the same formation they were using in all the previous matches, and that made her shout, “Get ready, everyone! They are changing things! You all know what to do, right?”

The referee told them to get ready, and Eliza squeezed the ball in her hand. The moment the whistle echoed in the gym, she and her team members aimed at Sophia.

Like an acrobat, she grabbed one ball with each hand and evaded the others, giving plenty of time for her team members to grab the balls.

As soon as she saw they all had a ball, except one of them, that she quickly passed one ball to, they all aimed at one member of the opposing team. Or, better yet, two of them aimed at one member, with Sophia grinning at the nervous Eliza.

She threw her ball first, making Eliza jump to the right, only to get hit by another ball on her feet, making her stumble backwards, falling over a boy behind her, and turning him into an easy target for another ball.

The fall disrupted her team’s concentration, and two more were eliminated by the same strategy: one ball to force them to evade to one side, only to get hit in one foot by another ball.

Only a boy on Eliza’s team stood in the field, staring at the five on the other side of the field. He put the ball on the ground and shouted, “I am not going to get a ball in my face for this! I give up!”

The referee sighed and declared Sophia’s team the winner.

While the crowd was booing with only a few clapping, Mia Mills got up and shouted even louder than everyone else, “Shut up, you sore losers! Your kids suck! Deal with it! Way to go, Sophia! You rock!”

Jack rubbed both hands on his face and said, “Don’t encourage her, darn it!”

From between his fingers, he saw Sophia smiling and waving at the proud Mia, shouting back at her, “I know I am awesome! I told you I was going to win everything, didn’t I?”

It was evident for everyone who was observing that the Principal was not liking the way the event ended. He walked to the middle of the field with Sophia and her team standing in a line, and he gave them the medals with an annoyed face and left without a single word.

Sophia went to the sad Eliza Francis and said, “Nice fall, dumbass! You said you were going to win, didn’t you? Guess what? You were wrong, moron! You better call an ambulance for tomorrow, because if we meet in the ring, I am going to hurt you so much that your mother won’t recognise you!”

With Eliza gulping, Sophia joined her team, right when Mia Mills was jumping the small wall that separated the field from the benches where the parents were seated, making her wonder why she was smiling so much while she was running towards her.

To her surprise, Mia pulled her up and gave her a tight hug while saying, “You won, and you didn’t kill anyone! I am so proud of you, you darn brat!”

“Hey, let me go, you crazy lady! As if I was going to lose to these weaklings!”

With a huge smile, Mia looked at the surprised boys and said, “Ice creams are on me! Go call your parents and let’s celebrate today’s win!”

Emma arrived with Jack Cross, who tried to stop the overly excited Mia, and Emma raised her arm and shouted, “And dinner! In a fancy restaurant! For everyone!”

“Okay, let’s all have an early dinner, then! I know a wonderful restaurant in the city centre! Bath for the players after talking with their parents, and let’s start this party!”

While the boys were rushing to talk with their parents, Jack Cross said, “Strange to see you so fired up with a mere Dodgeball game.”

“Shut up! I used to be a good damn player in my school years, you know? But what Sophia did today was amazing! Like a pro!”

With a shrug, Sophia said, “I know I am amazing; you were the one who doubted me, remember?”

“You shut up too! Go have a bath! You stink!”

“Hey! I don’t take baths in perfume like you do every day, lady! This is normal sweat and my normal, cute smell! You are the one who needs tonnes of perfume to hide your rotten corpse smell!”

“What did you say, you brat? I am not dead or a zombie!

While going to the changing room, Sophia answered, “Go say that to the one who unburied you!”

“Jack! Say something!”

“This is so tiring… every single day…”

While Sophia was running to the changing rooms, Eric Bates was smiling while mumbling, “Dang, she is so cool!”

A boy next to him thought he had heard him saying something, but he smiled and kept staring at the running menace.