Friday afternoon, 6th Period Class

P.E. with Coach Cordova

The last class of the last day of the week.  Thunder rumbled outside the gymnasium.  A rainy day in Coach Cordova's class typically meant either an educational movie...or the time-honored tradition of "Dodgeball".

Gym was one of the few classes that Buffy, Chan, Darius, Garrett, Gracie-Lynn and Melba had together.  As they lined up for "Roll Call", maybe a few of them wondered if Coach Cordova would resort to the old "fall-back" activity.  Another peal of thunder cracked the sky as the students awaited Coach Cordova to start class...

"Normally I'd have one of the lovely school tapes on nutrition and/or hygiene, but unfortunately the Driver's ed teacher smoked out the VCR yesterday." Coach Cordova said as she walked down the line of students.

"And I need to get a general idea of the fitness of the students in my class." She  walks along the line and points out four students. "You four have health issues that I can't ignore, so take a seat folks." She says as she returns to the front of the class and starts counting out 1's and 2's, doing what she can to break up cliches, groups and hard core friends.

"Ones on that end of the court and twos on that side." She pointed to Melba and Buffy and motioned the two students to come over. "You two are team captains. Since Miss Summers is new, she can call the toss."

The Coach flips the coin and lets Buffy call it in the air.

"Okay.. the game is dodge ball. I want to see everyone do their best."

Buffy groaned to herself as she saw Coach Cordova decide to pick her out as one of the captains. She trudged up obediently, and her head perked up when the coach told her to call the toss.

"I...uh,tails?"

Buffy let out a breath as the coin flipped in the air. She was distracted from seeing the result when Coach Cordova announced that the game they would be playing...was dodge ball.

Crap. Buffy was the worst at dodge ball. Despite being fairly athletic, she just was no good at this game. Then again, the last time she'd played had been in early middle school, long before her Slayer powers came into being. Even so, Buffy pursed her lips and waited to hear the coin toss call...

Melba was intrinsically unsuited to this particular form of torture.  She was okay at throwing the ball but dodging was quite out of the question.  By the time she wobbled over, Buffy had called so she waited to see which way the coin fell.  She shrugged impressively.

Loose, school-colored clothing engulfed the fifteen-year-old's body. He pulled at his back uncomfortably, scratching at the cotton shirt. Having sensed the upcoming picking of Coach Cordova's "1's and 2's," Garrett maneuvered himself onto the same team as Melba, hoping Cordova wouldn't see or care. He was assigned to team 2 and meandered to his side of the court.

Being 6', Garrett stuck out like a gangly, albeit elegant tower, but those hours in the art studio hadn't dulled his athletic prowess when it came to hand-eye coordination. He hovered apart from the rest of his team, looking around contemptuously at the others, keeping an eye on Melba.

"This should be interesting..." he mumbled.

"Okay.. Miss Summer's gets to choose." Coach said with a grin as she looks at Garrett directly with the 'you've not fooled me' look. "Okay, here's the rules. It's dodgeball, that is self evident. Everyone eliminated will be doing laps till someone is last person standing. I want everyone to do their best effort. Anything I think of as unsporting will be called and you WILL be doing laps, till I'm tired. I've done my one and only talk on harassment and unsportsmanlike conduct, so I don't want any excuses about 'not knowing'."

She stepped back, motioned for the side that was starting off to pick up the balls and start the melee as she pulled out her whistle and gave it a loud piercing blast before stepping back to watch with her clipboard.

Brian White sidled up alongside Buffy.  The tall blond teen was known among Jepson's student body as one of the premier athletes.  He leaned down and whispered, "_{I'm glad we made the same team, Summers!  I'll try to make sure you only have to run one lap.  You can show your gratitude with a little extra 'bounce' when you run!}"  Brian flashed a wink and cocky grin.

Then, Brian caught gave her Garrett's contemptuous look.  While Cordova looked away, he discreetly moved over beside the arty teen.  "_{Who do you think you're looking down your nose at, queer bait?  I've got a ball with your face's name on it!}"  Brian's grin turned mean.  "_{Besides, I bet you'll get a big thrill with all those balls smacking your face!}"

When B.J. turned back around, Brian met her eyes with a congenial smile.  He gave a friendly smack on the shoulder to Garrett.  "Good luck, buddy!"

Unfortunately, in addition to the strong Jock standing, Brian White was also known to the socially-challenged as Jepson's resident, sociopath pain-in-the-ass!


OOC:

B.J., for subplot's sake, you won't catch Brian in the act!

"Mmm.  Brian is so cute!"  A pretty brunette standing with Gracie Lynn admired the jock.  She indulged the moment a little longer, then frowned at the "coin toss".

"I see that Cordova's trying to 'Help The Hopeless' again!"

Gracie stood there with ehr arms crossed across her chest as she she glared at Brian as he bothered Buffy and then Garrett. She did not think he would bother her, if he knew what was good for him. She could handle herself and then she had Darious who was such a gentlemen. She didn't care what team she was on and waited.

She looks at Lucy "Maybe he is but he is an ass" she says with a smirk.

Gracie's succinct, but harsh, critique of Brian visibly surprised Lucy.  "Really, Gracie?  Funny, I thought you would've devoured him by now, too!"  The comment was made "playfully", in that way only a devoted "Frienemy" could manage.  Lucy laughed cordially as she playfully touched Gracie's arm.

"Just kidding, Gracie Lynn!  Hmm.  Maybe Brian will ask me to the Spring Formal?"

Buffy watched Brian go for a moment, not quite believing what she was hearing. She was also cursing the fact that he was on her team. Which meant she couldn't smack him with a dodge ball! Buffy sighed as she looked around. Honestly, she just wasn't looking forward to this.

Dodge ball was something she never did like that much. Buffy glanced over at the various members of her group from the night before, and also couldn't help but notice Lucy talking with Gracie.

Buffy marched back towards the starting like, like a prisoner to a firing squad, determined to get this over with...well, once the game started...

OOC:  I forgot an essential piece of information--the teams!

Buffy's Team

Buffy
Chan
Gracie-Lynn
Brian (heh-heh!)
Lucy


Melba's Team

Melba
Darius
Garrett
Kieran
Joe Campus
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:18, Tue 19 Apr 2011.

"Jackass!"  Kieran bitterly spat the word at the departing Brian.  He cut sympathetic eyes toward Garrett.  "Don't worry about that knuckle-dragger.  If he tries anything, I'll kick his ass."

Kieran Metz held an honestly-earned reputation as an "Outside Among Outsiders".  Mostly quiet, kept to himself and a select group of students.  A group that, thanks to shared Art classes, included Garrett and Melba.  Kieran's solitary nature didn't mean he was a pushover, though.

Much to the chagrin of the teachers, Kieran tended to get into a LOT of fights.  Only his talent with the guitar and paints--and the fact his father and older brother died in a house fire--shielded him from expulsion.  As the game commenced, Kieran gave Melba an encouraging "Thumbs Up".

His eyes lingered momentarily on Gracie-Lynne...and Coach Cordova...

Physed was generally the low point of Chan's day. She'd never really enjoyed any part of it. Her idea of exercise was yoga and some light jogging, but not a whole lot more than that. Of course she was starting to reconsider the wisdom of that given the recent revelation. She wasn't the least bit surprised when she found herself on the opposite team as Darian. At least the other team wouldn't have it out for her, that was positive.

She rolled her eyes when she overheard Gracie and Lucy talking, of all things about Brian. He might be pretty, but he definitely gave off a creepy no feeling. At least he was ignoring her for now, and Buffy could take care of herself.

Chan's strategy for dodge ball was simple, she just concentrated on not getting hit by the ball and otherwise ignored it. It might not be exactly in the spirit of the game, but it did cut down on laps.

Melba grinned.  "Dumb game, I know, but I'd rather avoid running laps, and I'd quite like to see that psycho running laps if possible, so I suggest we keep the ball away from him and when the time comes, hit him on the ass, then hold out as long as we can without getting hit.  If one of us gets hit, then we go on the offensive.  Does that sound like a reasonable strategy?"  Melba's ideas on teamworking in tactical situations came from an Israeli Defence Force manual and part of that involved discussing ideas with the troops first of all.

Darius listens to Coach Cordova's take on the rules. Or, rather, her version of them. He arches a disbelieving eyebrow at the mention of single elimination and the prospect of his teammates having to do laps rather than be brought back into the game with a catch. Seemed rather... unfair to those less fortunate. Not that Dodgeball was considered a fair game, it was just weird to see a school-version punnish the less sports inclined with laps while those with better skill (or a bout of good luck, it was dodgeball after all) participated in the more entertaining activity.

The fact that he couldn't just catch an intended strike, and bring teammates back onto the floor was really a downer to Darius. He liked that thrill of saving the day, and with all of the strangeness going on... he could really use the solidarity of such an event. To re-ground himself so to speak.

He's silent through Melba's discussed strategy, his head bobbing in an understanding nod. His plan would have been a little different, but this wasn't his team. This wasn't even really his moment to shine. Here, he was just one of the players, and Melba was the assigned captain. In all honesty, he'd be perfectly content to be the first one knocked out of the game~ He'd have an easier time of the laps if the game drug on for awhile.

His dad called it Followership. One of the first tennants of Leadership, is knowing when and how to follow orders. There was no reason to take charge here to Darius thinking, it was a viable tactic given the team balancing.

That's not to say he wouldn't do his best to help his team take the win. He knew some moves beyond throwing and dodging after all. Deflecting a throw with a clutched ball tended to make for a nice surprise in games like this... Or a ball in each hand~ One to block with, the other to attack with. Oh yeah. He'd try and bring home the win... unless it started to look like teammates running the laps were miserable and he were the last one standing. Then, and only then, would he consider bowing out.