Читать книгу The Night Flyer's Handbook 2-Book Bundle - Philippa Dowding - Страница 17

Jez and I have gym class after lunch.

We share the class with the grade nine girls, which is quite awful, especially if we are playing dodgeball or something. They are so much bigger than us, and better shots. Unfortunately, our gym teacher, Mr. Short (who is actually very tall), really loves dodgeball. And he has this unnatural belief that every teenager loves dodgeball, too.

Who wouldn’t love being pelted with heavy rubber balls?

We walk into the gym in our shorts and sneakers. Yep. We’re playing dodgeball. Shelley Norman bangs into me with her shoulder and snickers.

“Get ready to pay, Golden.”

I’m in for it. I might as well paint a target on myself right now. Sure enough, every shot from Shelley is directed right at me. I get pretty banged up. I get a shot right in the head, but Mr. Short has his back turned and doesn’t notice.

Jez tries to protect me for a while, but Shelley is a wicked shot and keeps missing Jez and hitting me. I’m a magnet. Shelley can’t miss.

Eventually I just give up. Balls are bouncing off me in all directions. The other grade nine girls start to join in and the pack mentality really takes over.

I start to feel sad. But I start to feel a little angry, too. And with that little feeling of anger, I also get a tiny tingling in my foot. Then both my feet. My arm starts to float out to my side. Even though I don’t want to, I start yelling, “What’s wrong with you, Shelley Norman? Can’t you just leave me alone?!”

The grade nine girls back up a little. Balls bounce slowly to stillness and the class gets quiet. The girls know what’s coming. They’ve all seen my bad temper leak out before, and they’re smart enough to be wary. One of them even says, “It’s okay, Gwen, just calm down. We were just kidding around….”

But it’s too late. I’m yelling at the top of my lungs and I can’t turn it off. It’s like a light switch got stuck on. Mr. Short finally starts to pay attention and blows his whistle, and Jez takes the opportunity to start running me out of the gym and down the school hallway. She has her arms locked around my shoulders as we run. I’m yelling my head off, and scared students are jumping out of our way.

I must look pretty crazy. Crazier than normal.

Jez runs with me into the staff washroom, clinging onto me like a vice. I’ve never noticed how strong she is in the arms. As soon as she slams the door behind us and locks it, she lets me go. I bob gently up to the ceiling, all the fight gone out of me. I stop yelling and just float there, swirling around in the current like a lost balloon. Jez reaches up and grabs my shoelace then gently tugs me back down to Earth. I float slowly toward her, and she looks exactly like a little kid pulling a balloon down from the ceiling on a string.

When I bob eye-to-eye in front of her, she puts her arms around me and I whisper, “Don’t let me go, Jez. Just don’t let me go.”

“I won’t,” she whispers back. “I promise.”