Their last class that day was gym, which was Vic’s least favourite class at Dampgate for a number of reasons. For starters, the bottom part of the girls’ uniform here were little black booty shorts, which were great, but just didn’t cut it the same way for him as the skirts did. More importantly, though Vic was fairly tall and appeared fit, he had a complete lack of coordination, and therefore where everyone expected him to perform well, he actually failed miserably. The situation was further made worse by the fact that Sabor was also one of the people in their gym class, and that Sabor did not share the same kind of affliction.

“So, are we thinking shirts versus skins?” Sabor said and immediately began to pull off his shirt, revealing a muscly and hairy abdomen, a veritable six-pack, before pulling his shirt back down with an obnoxious laugh.

“Put your pinnie on, Sabor,” Mr. Box, the gym teacher, said, chucking a dirty yellow over-shirt at Sabor’s face. Mr. Box thought the one thing that could truly torture them that day was a full-class game of dodgeball, where Vic found himself on the same team as Marcia, Agnes and Liz, facing opposite of Sabor.

Vic, still reeling from being unable to answer Sabor at the end f English class, thought he could at least use the element of surprise and get a jump on Sabor and at least somewhat get back at him. He rushed the line at Mr. Box’s whistle. Vic did find himself in possession of a ball but when he straightened up he found himself staring almost directly into the grin of Sabor, who stood on the other side of the line and let loose a ball right into Vic’s face, knocking tears out of his eyes.

“Take a walk, Vic,” Sabor managed to say as he easily dodged a ball chucked at him.

“I thought the face was off limits,” Vic said, arms outstretched in frustration.

“An out’s an out,” Mr. Box yelled over the crowd of excited teenagers, “Quit your whining, Vic.”

Vic could have sworn that was a rule but accepted the gym teacher’s decision, turning around and walking to the back line, when he heard Sabor shout behind him, “Better keep your head up, Vic!” and then a moment later felt the dodgeball bounce off the back of his head.

Vic quickly turned around, fists balled at his sides, knowing he wouldn’t have been able to do anything as Sabor’s putrid smile looked back at him.

“Hey! Settle down, Sabor,” Mr. Box said but otherwise meted out no punishment. He actually seemed to be quite involved in the class today, normally checking out early to get head from one of the students behind the bleachers. Maybe the cruelty that came with a dodgeball game brought its own form of pleasure.

“I told you he was an idiot,” Marcia said, standing by the backline and chatting with Vic and Liz who were out.

“Yes, well, he’s proving himself prolific in his idiocy,” Vic said, face and ego still sore, but at least his comment made Marcia snort.

The only one who wasn’t with them at that time was Agnes, and that was because Agnes could actually play dodgeball, and was playing her heart out directing most of her attention at Sabor, but not being able to get quite close enough to get him out.

“Heads!” they all heard Agnes shout but it was too late – a high lobbed ball flew in a wide arc and conked Marcia on the head.

Stepping across the out line and joining Liz and Vic, Marcia turned around and shouted, “What the hell, Sabor?”

“Keep your head in the game,” Sabor said again with that same smile he had whenever he said anything remotely smart in class and while Agnes tried to use the momentary distraction to get him out, he jumped out of the way of the ball.

“Idiot,” Marcia hissed under her breath.

They mostly watched the rest of this round from behind the line, cheering Agnes on who was a one-woman show against the other team until she finally caught a ball straight on and could call one of them back.

“No offence, but I don’t have a really great choice here, do I?” Agnes said and all three of them shrugged. Reluctantly, she ended up choosing Vic, who ran towards the centre of the play area, not really looking forward to getting knocked out by Sabor again. If only he hadn’t made such a convenient target, Vic thought, and then he got an idea.

“Wait, hold on,” he said, as he pulled Agnes back further to safety so he could tell her his plan. He wasn’t sure if she was going to go for it, but apparently Agnes was as desperate as him to put any kind of dent into Sabor, so she agreed.

Vic picked up a nearby loose ball and headed for the line. He could tell that Sabor had sighted him but wanted to play it off like he didn’t see Vic to allow him to get closer, which was just fine by Vic. When he thought he was close enough, Vic tossed the ball, allowing himself for a moment to believe it would actually hit Sabor, though the other boy easily dodged out of the way at the last second, and then immediately wound up at Vic and released his ball. At least this time Vic knew it was coming for his face, so he brought up his hands fast enough to protect himself, but of course it still counted as an out.

“Surprised you went back for more, Vic,” Sabor said.

“Oh, I’m full of surprises,” Vic answered calmly and then went into a crouch, giving Agnes, who was hiding behind him the whole time, a clear shot at Sabor. There was only a brief flash of astonishment in Sabor’s eyes as he realized what his arrogance blinded him to, but it was too late – Agnes had already sent an absolute rocket into his crotch that he had no chance to dodge.

As he went down on his knees, Agnes rubbed salt in the wound by shouting, “An out’s an out … bitch!” before turning away and high-fiving Vic as he made his way back to the out line, where Marcia was still standing with Liz, also doubled over, but in laughter.