Maegan Stone

6

SIX

I ran for my life. Pumping my arms and moving quickly, I bolted, trying to make it to my first class.

When I skidded into the room, with my hair wild from sprinting and my shoes muddy from running across the grass, people were staring at me. Trying to compose myself and avoid eye contact, I walked swiftly to an open chair, and sat down. I took out a notebook and a pencil and looked up at the teacher. He wore a button down shirt with a tie, and slacks. Since I am an expert on facial expressions, he seemed irritated with my entrance. He was holding a clipboard and was looking straight at me.

“Name?” he asked me in a tiresome tone.

“Maegan Stone.” I answered, trying to control my breathing.

He scribbled something onto the clipboard’s contents and placed it on the corner of his desk. He addressed the class, “Like I was saying, welcome to Samohi freshman. I am Mr. Jacobson. Now, turn to the person next to you and get to know them. Begin.”

I turned to the person next to me, who was a girl with brown eyes and bright red hair. She was wearing thick eyeliner and was chewing a piece of gum.

“Hi,” I said to her.

She smacked her gum, “Hey.”

“I’m Maegan.”

“I’ve noticed.  I’m Stevie.”

“Uhm… so-”

“What you do over the summer?” she finished for me.

Oh geez…where to start? Well, my parents are spies, they are kidnapped, and there is an assassin in your school. And, I’m supposed to catch him because I’m a spy.

“Was at my grandmothers house.” I answered.

“Cool, I was in England for the summer.” What a coincidence!

“Quiet down now.” Spoke Mr. Jacobson. “Now that you know a classmate, that person will be your study buddy. Now, take out your text books and turn to page fifty seven…”

I looked back at Stevie, who did a quick glance at me. I don’t know if we would be friends, or foes. Looks like soon I’ll find out.

The rest of the day when by in a blur.  When I got to P.E, things started to get interesting.

“Hey Mae!”

Guess who that would be?

“Hi Josh.”

We were in the basketball gym, and Josh was over on the bleachers with a group of people. They all stared at me, wondering who this girl was. He waved me over.

“Told you.” He said to me. “Guys, this is Maegan. Maegan, meet Joe, Mary, Jenny, Blake, and Crumbs.”

“Crumbs?”

“It’s a nick name,” a guy who had dirty blonde hair said, “I don’t really know why that name though.” He took a big bite out of a granola bar, spilling half of it over himself.

Huh. Found the answer to that one.

“I see…”

“She just moved here from England.” Josh said.

“OMG! You did? I went there once!” said a girl with black hair explained.

“Geez Jenny, take it down a notch will ya?”

“What? Just because I have something in common with her doesn’t mean you have to get all snappy bout it Blake.”

Blake was tall who had surfer blonde hair, with bright green eyes. He looked over at me and smiled, “Jenny can be over excited sometimes.”

“And you can be really annoying.” Said a girl with brown hair, who wore a crop top. She must be Mary.

“Cool it, will you?” said a guy with wavy brown hair, who must be Joe.

Josh just shook his head and smiled. A whistle blew and all the students gathered around the teacher. I went over and joined them.

“Welcome to P.E. students. I am Mr. Whistler,” There was some giggling through the class. “ I know very funny, cause, I have a whistle. Ha-ha. Yes, hilarious. Now knock it off. Today we will be playing some dodge ball.”

There were cheers all around. “For those who don’t know how to play-”

Me… “-you have to dodge the balls coming at you, and if you get hit by it, you’re out. If you catch one in the air, the person who threw it is out. Last one standing wins. This half of the room is one team; the other is… the other team. Now get on the court!”

I never played this game before, so I went on my side of the court and thought of a strategy. Josh was on the other team, and he seemed to stare me down, like he was telling me, “Better watch out; imma get you…” Before I knew it, the whistle blew and the game began.

I bent my knees and went into defense mode. I decided to just dodge first and when I got the chance to get a ball, I would use it. I stood in the back most of the time, stepping out of the way and throwing dodge balls at people. Then there were only three of us on my team left, and six on the other. A ball was thrown like a bullet at a girl in the front on my team, who toppled over and was out. The last guy on my team threw the ball at a person, but without enough power. The player on the other team caught it easily and was out. It was just me now. Josh was sitting on the sideline watching. The players on the other team were smirking wickedly and were setting up their attack. I took a deep breath and went into action.

A ball flew right at me, but I just stepped out of the way and let it hit the floor. Another one came at me, and I just sidestepped to the left when another came at me in that direction. I jumped over the flying ball and grabbed one on the floor, running as I threw it at my attacker. He got hit and exited the court. That’s when people started cheering me on. A ball came flying at me and I dove over it and went into a summersault. I picked up another ball and threw it at another player. Two down, three to go.

Two dodge balls came flying at me at once, and one of the players was ready to throw it when I moved. I bent my knees and side stepped then jumped over the second ball. The third one came flying at me and I caught it. The players were starting to get frustrated. They charged at me to the half line. They threw as hard as they could at me. I jumped to the side and did a back flip over the second ball. I grabbed one from the back and threw it at their knees. It hit one of them and they got out.

“Get her out Tommy!” a girl yelled from the sidelines.

It was just me and Tommy now.

I stepped over to the side slowly, watching his movements. He did the same. People were really cheering now. Obviously they wanted the new girl out.

“Go Mae! You got this!” Josh yelled.

That seemed to boost my spirits, so I ran across the court, to get a ball on the other side. He saw my objective so he grabbed a ball and threw it at me. I knew this was coming, so I slid on my knees and bent back, so the ball flew over me, and picked up my dodge ball. I ran towards the middle and then he threw another ball at my feet. I jumped in the air and threw it at him. It hit him in the forehead and he was out.

“OOHHHHH!!!” went the class as they burst into cheers. I guess they were cheering for me. I smiled my first real smile since I moved here, as Josh and my classmates rushed over to pat me on the back.