Happy and Selfish
The Dodgeball round was about to start. The teams were separated by team one: Desmond, Diana, Ingrid, Eloise, Eva and Jett, against team two: Wolfgang, Grace, Jean, Damon, Cassidy and Kai. The teacher decided not let Toshiko play so the teams would have the same amount off players (and because she would be hurt). Wenona and Ulysses were absent.
The PE teacher decides to explain the game, just to let the rules clear for everyone (skip if you know how dodgeball works).
𝘋𝘰𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯.
1. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥, 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮. 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.
2. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.
3. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.
Diana takes a look at Eva, who is visibly uncomfortable, realizing it's probably her first PE with her classmates.
"It's okay, Eva. We got this!" The girl cheers her up.
"Hell yeah!! Lets beat their asses!!" Jett says with excitement. "You hear that? WE ARE BEATING YOUR ASSESSS!!"
"HAH! I wanna see you on the ground, Jett! LET'S GOOO!!"
As Cassidy screamed, the Teacher whistles to start the game. Both sides run as fast as they can to the middle of the field. Unfortunately for Diana, Jean is the first one to catch the ball.
"My bad for this, but you will have to dodge this one!"
The man used her all of her strength to throw it to the enemy team, the ball quickly came right towards to Ingrid, who catches it with charm and success!
"Jean! You're out!" The teacher exclaimed
"Woah... Nice catch, Ingrid!" Jean praised the blacksmith as he leaves the field.
"Oh c'mon, you flatter me..." Ingrid responds, blushing.
Team Two seems to tense, eyes focused on the blacksmith, focused to get out of her way at any time. Ingrid runs to the middle, stop right before the center line and throws the ball as hard as she could. But it wasn't enough, the players where too far from her and attentive right after she eliminated Jean. The ball stops at the end of the field, which is caught by Grace.
"It's my turn! Eat shit, you fucking LOSEEERS!!"
The ultimate golfer is faster than the wind to turn the tables, throwing the ball directly at Eloise. In the last second, Desmond jumps in front of the Ultimate Fencer and protect her from the attack, but in return...
"Desmond! You're out!"
"Ah! D-Desmond, are you okay?!" Eloise asks.
To defend the girl, he tried to catch the ball, but it went right at his chest.
"Heh, I'm great. Thanks for worrying about me, Eloise." the Ultimate Marksman says, as he leaves the field.
"I'm the one who should be thanking you!" She responds, proudly.
"Don't smile much, you're still getting eliminated, huh?!" Grace screams to the Fencer, confident.
"We'll see that." Eloise responds, confident as well, and pass the ball to Jett.
"Me?! Alrighty, fencer girl!! Let's make this more interesting!" Jett blinks to Eloise, even though she can't see it because of his helmet.
Jett decides to revenge Desmond and Eloise, aiming directly at Wolfgang.
"Tch, Wolfgang!! watch o--!"
"Ah-- OUCH!"
As much as Grace tried to warn him, he wasn't focused enough, sports was not his strength, and the ball hit right at his left shoulder with a lot of strength, leaving a red mark.
"Smart one, Jett!" Eloise comments.
"Yeah!! REVENGE FOR DESMOND!!" Jett says, as he offers the other girl a high five. She returns it in a more shy way.
As the game was going on, Diana was obviously making sure Eva was being protected from getting hit. She gives her a glare to see if she looked anxious.
"Diana, you don't need to protect me. I'm focused." Eva says.
"Ah, I wasn't protecting you, uhm, it's just better to focus when you're in front of people instead of behind!" She responds. But to Diana's surprise, Eva really looked focused on the game.
"It's time for you to see a gamer girl gaming!"
Cassidy shouts to the other team, grabbing the ball from the floor. She positions herself far from the middle line, holding the ball at the side of her waist, she concentrates all of he strength.
"HADOUUUUUKEEENNN!!!!"
The ball hits directly at Ingrid, who wasn't quick enough to catch such an unexpected attack from Cassidy.
"Ingrid! You're out!"
As if the universe suddenly had favorites, the ball returns to the enemy side right after eliminating the blacksmith, giving them another round.
"What the hell Cassidy?! It even returned to us..." Damon says confused and admired.
"I'm not using cheats! I promise!" the Ultimate Pro Gamer says.
Kai catches the ball as it stops by his feet. "Now let's make this a real videogame plot twist, everyone!"
The Ultimate Influencer throws the ball once again and scores, hitting the Ultimate Drag Racer, who was caught by surprise.
"Jett! You're out!"
"Goddammit, man!" He frowns as he lefts the field.
"This is no good, we have less players than them..." Diana comments, nervous.
Eva catches the ball on her side, giving it to Eloise. "Try eliminating Damon, he is not good at sports." Eva gives her an advice.
And soon as she says, Eloise throws the ball at the Ultimate Debater, who already accepted his fate (he was begging to be eliminated at first). But an unexpected appearance of Cassidy goes right in front of him, attempting to catch the ball, but it slips from her hands, giving team one a score.
"AGH! Game over for me..." Cassidy says dramatically as she leaves the field.
Damon tries to catch the ball, but was he was just about to grab it, he steps over the line in the middle of the field.
"Damon! You're out!"
"How unfortunate." He said, glad he was finally out.
"You fucking dickheads! I'm done of this BULLSHIT!"
Grace exclaimed, angry, catching the ball and striking Diana with all of her strength. It hits right on her nose, which starts to bleed out.
"Diana! I said you shouldn't have to stay in front of me..." Eva says, angry and worried about her friend.
"It's just a game, don't worry... besides, you can still win, you know!" Diana says wipes away her tears and blood, smiling.
Unfortunately, they got distracted with the hurt Cosmetologist and didn't realized the ball slowly rolled over to the enemy team again.
"Don't you fucking take it, soybean!! I'm ending these bitches right now!!"
"Damn, sure Grace..." Kai said as he steps away from the ball, giving the round to the Ultimate Golfer.
"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" She screams as she aims at the Mathlete, using all of her strength. The ball flies away in impossible speed, but talking about impossible...
"Grace! You're out!"
"Huh?!"
In front of Eloise, Eva was set down clinging to the ball with her life!
"Bweh... T-this was scary." She comments.
"My goodness, she really catch Grace's attack!" Ingrid says to Diana.
As for the final round, Eloise eliminates Kai, making her and the Mathlete the winners of the classes Dodgeball!
"You did it... YOU DID IT!!!" Diana runs to Eva and hugs her.
"I-it was pure lucky for me really, Eloise did everything..." Eva says nervously, as she couldn't breathe because of how hard the Cosmetologist was holding her.
"Either way, I'm so proud of you!" She let go of the hug, leaving her hands on the black haired girl's face, scooping it.
Eva smiles in response, letting the girl touch her face. A true smile, she thinks to herself. It was the first time she was so happy about an event at school, and the first time someone says "I'm proud of you" to her as well.
"You know, I fucking hate to lose but Diana's right, huh? You did well for a Mathlete." Kai tries to praise the girl, but too annoyed about the fact he lost to her.
"Yeah, you eliminated Grace. T-thanks, Eva." Eloise says.
"You should join PE more often, ya know?" Ingrid comments.
Everyone was happily talking about the game and eventually parting from each other to do their talents training, but Eva stayed there, completely stunned. People weren't making fun of her, weren't jealous of her... They praised her.
"Tch, it was fun, huh?!" She is surprised by the appearance of Grace, the person who was probably the best at hating her.
"I'm gonna give you the respect for winning, but don't you dare thinking you're better than me or something, you fucking bitch!" Grace says, surprisedly embarrassed, and disappears.
"Was that an attempt of compliment...?" Eva chuckles to herself. The girl didn't thought she was better than Grace at anything. But maybe, finally, she doesn't think she has to be, not as long as she was with...
"Hey, Eva! Wanna watch the talents trainings with me and Toshiko?"
...𝘏𝘦𝘳.
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"Hah, finally at the dorms... 'M soo tired!" Diana collapses onto the her bed, the bottom bunk.
It was the first time both girls return to the dorms together, since usually Eva stays late outside and only returns when Diana is already asleep. They had spend the rest of the day along to the other students, the pink haired introduced the Mathlete and they were walking around for hours.
"I never talked with so much people at once, it's a bit different to me."
Eva comments as she lie down on the top bunk. She sighs in relief.
"You were really lively there, huh? I knew it was a good idea for you to chat with everyone!"
"Hm. Kai is kind of annoying though."
Diana whines in surprise. "Don't you talk about my boy-bestfriend like that!"
"He is just too dramatic to me. But it's funny to see how he interacts with Damon."
"Oh yeah, that's a thing too! The first time i met Damon, i took him for a very serious guy. But when Kai rants about him, he looks like someone pretty silly, haha!"
Eva laughs back to her.
"You know... Damon was the first person here to talk to me."
"Huh?! How did i not know about this?"
"He came to me and asked why did i lie about my talent." The girl lower her voice, embarrassed.
"...Did you answer him?"
The room stay silent for some seconds, as if the Mathlete is considering if she should open up to Diana. She ends up speaking either way.
"I told him I acted under pressure. I just wanted to have a different title and 'Ultimate Liar' was the first that came to mind. It was just something i was compared to as a child."
"That's silly though. Why did you felt like having a different title so badly?"
Eva doesn't want to tell her. Diana could never hate her, she was too kind, too nice to anyone. All of her friends was just as important to her. She wasn't special to Diana.
"Don't worry about it."
"Ah.. okay, sorry." Diana responds.
"But i have a question for you too, Diana. Why are you so kind to everyone?"
The Cosmetologist was caught by surprise, if she wanted to be simple and clear, she would say she doesn't know. But Diana went silent, she wanted to search deep down for a good answer for Eva.
"...Diana?"
"I can't see people in pain, i just can't handle it. Like if it's my duty to make everyone happy and comfortable."
"So in the end, you do it for yourself."
"W-What?" Diana sits on the bed, looking up to the top bunk above her like if she was looking at her friend.
"If you see others get hurt, you get hurt. So you will always help everybody to keep yourself stable. It's a selfish comportment."
Eva was hoping for Diana to cry, to shout back at her and tell her she is a horrible person. If she wasn't special to Diana anyway, then why keep being friends with her? She believes she should be forgotten by the Cosmetologist for good. To Eva's surprise...
"I guess so. I am pretty selfish." She confesses.
"...It's not a problem to be selfish." Eva now feels a little guilty, and tries to comfort her.
"Yeah, even if I'm doing if for myself, I'm still helping people out in return, right? So there's no problem!" Diana smiles and lies down back, knowing she defeated Eva's pessimism.
Silence engulfs the place once again, both girls don't know what to say. They're confused about this topic, this whole thing about selfishness is not just about Diana, or just about Eva. Both of them, had a single thought in common:
Is it selfish that I want you so badly?
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