Chapter 2 Frozen
Valkyrie
"That's enough." The class quiets down with my command. I grab the girl's things and follow her. It begins to pour harder now.
"Darn, if the rain continues we won't have our game." Baekhyun says.
I head towards the roof thinking she may find solace up there. Her first year here I found her crouched in the corner of the roof, crying. Maybe she will be up there again. I open the roof door and I see her standing close to the ledge.
"Kyrie? I brought your book bag. And gym is about to start." She continues to stare towards the horizon. The sky has finally returned to a light blue color and the clouds seem to quickly move away.
"Thank you."
"I can speak to others, if you'd like, I can tell them to stop-" She turns around and look at me in the eyes. I never noticed how her eyes have silver swirls in them, my eyes are playing tricks on me. I break our awkward stare and look at the ravens perched on the ledge. One of them keeps staring at me.
"Don't bother with me class president. I am not worth it." She gives me a 90 degree bow and leaves the roof top. I expected that from her given she is a loner. I never see her talking with anyone and kids make fun of her only to be scared of her too, even the teachers are spooked by her.
The roof is all wet from the short rainfall we just had but a small patch is noticeably dry, the area where she stood. I pick up the piece of paper she dropped, her mythology reflection, and I read it:
'My history is not much anymore, my powers are nothing much either. It's not like I can use them to change my fate. I am still in exile, and I am still forever alone. I'd much rather be sent to the hall of Valhalla, our heaven, than live my immortal life in this realm without companionship, without love.'
Wow, she really is odd. She wrote about valkyrie in a first person point of view. At least she did the assignment. I pocket her paper and head to gym class. Dodge ball. The class is split into two teams. Baek and I are in one team and Luhan and Sehun are in the other. She stands in the left side of the gym floor just inside of the dodge ball allowed parameters. She is avoiding any physical movement like she always does. Balls fly around her and she watches her teammates dodge and duck and throw and run. Just like other gym classes there are always close calls, the ball looks like it will hit her but they manage to turn and avoid her. Lucky girl. She doesn't even flinch. Baekhhyun and I are laughing as we dodge Sehun and Luhan's fireballs which are always directed at us. Baekhyun almost gets out but swiftly he blocks it with his ball. He fires at Sehun and he jumps to avoid it.
The game continues and Hyuna, Baekhyun, and I are the only ones left in our team. Sehun and Luhan have three of the nerf balls and Kryie is still standing on the same spot. Sehun and Luhan throw together and their aim is Baekhyun, I run out of the way and I see Hyuna attempt to throw a teardrop towards Kyrie hoping that she remains still long enough for the ball to land on her. The ball reaches its highest peak and begins dropping. It seems it could land right on her. But Kyrie notices and steps to the side allowing the ball to drop. This was enough time for me to get her out. I set aim for her but Hyuna grabs my nerf ball and throws it at Kyrie. It misses and the ball hits the gym bleachers. The ball begins to roll back towards us so we should have another chance. Baekhyun gets Sehun out and Luhan and him are in a stare down and laughing the entire time. I watch Kyrie grab the ball that managed to roll back towards her. She picks it up and throws it at Hyuna with what seemed like very little strength. I watch the ball almost hit my head as I duck down and it somehow turns slightly to hit a running Hyuna who was trying to avoid it. Hyuna gets knocked over and I get up astonished by the impact the ball had, I look towards Kyrie and Luhan gets me out on the shoulder. Baekhyun apparently got out before Kyrie hit Hyuna. Game over.
The teacher blows the whistle and tells us to get ready for the next class. My boys and I are giving each other high-fives and we get pumped for the upcoming soccer game. I take one more glance at Kyrie and she helps the gym teacher pick up all the nerf balls used for dodge ball. I pick up some of the balls and place them in the basket for her. She continues to avoid eye contact with me.
"That was a good throw, you hit Hyuna with a lot of power." She doesn't reply. "I think this was the first time I saw you active in gym class." Still silent.
"Kyrie!" Our literature teacher calls her form the gym entrance. "You need to go to the principal's office right now."
"What's wrong, teach?"
"Oh Kai. You're here too? She hit Hyuna too hard and now she's in the nurses office complaining about her back. You saw what happened right? Could you tell the principal what Kyrie did?" I look at the teacher. I know what Hyuna's doing. Just another one of her tricks to get Kyrie in trouble. Kyrie walks past me and heads to the principal's office. "Go ahead and change first Kai. Let her speak to the principal first."
I make my way to the principal's office and I hear her yelling at Kyrie. "Do you know who Hyuna's mom is? If she finds out that her precious daughter got injured she will cause more trouble for you. You don't have parents of your own so you don't understand…" I didn't know what happened, but for some reason I reacted to that last remark. I enter the office without begin allowed and I begin to yell at the principal.
"That last statement you said is too much. I think you and Hyuna should apologize. Things happen in gym class that are clearly accidents. Stop showing your bias. It's too obvious." I grab Kyrie and she stands up. "Let's go, you need to change and head back to class." I bow at the principal and take my leave. She doesn't say anything to me, she knows I am right.
I follow her to the gym locker room to make sure she gets back safely. I head back to the classroom and Hyuna is wearing an ice pack around her back. She runs to me and tries to give me a hug but I push on her forehead and move her to the side so I can walk. Our math teacher begins the lesson on Pre-Calculus, my favorite subject, but my mind is elsewhere. Kyrie hasn't returned. The class bell rings for lunch. We make our way to the cafeteria and I see her standing at the lunch line buying a chocolate milk. I guess she's feeling better. She sits in her normal table at the corner of the cafeteria, alone like always. 'I'm not worth it' she said to me. Perhaps she's right.
The game is about to begin and I nod at my teammates. Sehun at goal, Luhan next to me, Baeks at defense. The crowd is large and the student cheering section is chanting our war cry. Just then a cold gust of wind rushes through the field and sends a chill down our spine. Luhan doesn't seem affected by it at all. The whistle blows and the game begins. The wind begins to pick up and so the ball is harder to control. But no matter, Luhan passes by defenders with ease and sets me up, I kick the ball in for a goal and the crowd goes wild. Luhan runs to me and jumps on me as we celebrate. In a few minutes we are up by three goals to none. Sehun is getting bored at the other end and so is Baekhyun. Luhan is just too good of an attacker and seems he will carry us to another victory.
Two minutes left in the game and we are up by 8 goals. The other team has not scored a goal thanks to Baekhyun and Sehun's defense. Luhan and I run towards the goal for a fast break opportunity we pass midfield and suddenly I feel the wind push me back. I can't seem to control my body, I feel stuck. Luhan looks over his shoulders realizing that I am not moving forward like I should. Sehun is running from the goal and approaching me with Baekhyun too. Luhan kicks the ball high towards the goal and turns quickly towards me. I still struggle to move. There are no defenders around me and the crowd and officials have their eyes on the ball. I look around me and Baekhyun, Luhan and Sehun are running towards me. The ball is hovering in the air and doesn't look like it's making it's way down at all as it should be. I scan the crowd and their eyes are fixed on the immovable ball, they look frozen in time.
A cloud surrounds me and my vision is taken away, all I feel is cold air. I barely hear the guys' voices calling out my name. What the hell is going on? I feel pressure on my chest and it shoves me out of the way, out of the cloud of smoke, Sehun catches me as I fall to the ground. Baekhyun is staring up at the sky as it turned dark and gray. Luhan looks down at me and asks if I am OK. I nod. The chill in the air is gone. The crowd screams and the ball bends towards the goal. The buzzer sounds for the end of the game and we score our last goal. Our teammates hug each other and I look up at Luhan for answers. What did I just experience?
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