Capes and Magic Hats: Chapter 7

Gym was probably my least favorite class, and that hadn't changed since middle school. Though Emma's constant taunt and mean comments about my body had been mostly to hurt my feelings, they were sometimes grounded in some semblance of truth. One of those truths was that Taylor Hebert was far from athletic, or anything even nearing it.

With my recent upgrade though, things were different now. Better. I was better.

I barely glanced at the ball headed towards my face as I dodged it automatically, barely restraining a grin as I caught the look of frustration on the face of the girl who tried to knock me out of the game. Dodgeball was a sport that I normally did my best to sit out whenever it came up in class. All it usually amounted to was bruises and jeering remarks, and I got enough of those in the hallways between classes. There was no point joining a game basically designed to torment people like me.

Now though, my body was practically hand-tailored for a sport like this. With my improved balance and reflexes, as well as the overall increase to my strength and stamina provided by my aura, dominating the dodgeball court was a very trivial task.

So trivial in fact that it almost felt like I was cheating even though I was deliberately holding back as much as I could to make sure it wasn't too obvious, but I honestly wouldn't complain. It was absolutely hilarious to see the looks on my bullies’ faces when I put them out of the game. Especially one in particular.

Unfortunately, I couldn't have too much fun. I was steadily gaining attention with how I was one of two people left in the game I should have, by all means, sucked at, and there was only so much I could attribute to luck. It was time to take a dive.

Luckily I didn't have to wait long for that opportunity. As someone on the opposite team caught a ball meant for their partner, my last teammate was forced to the bench and one of theirs came off. One with a nasty look in her eye and a chip on her shoulder. Sophia.

Now, if this were a week ago I'd be wondering what could have possibly made her so angry and how I could avoid having that ire focused towards me. Unfortunately, there wasn't much hope of that this time, because less than two minutes into the game I had been the one to put her on that bench. And once she got over her surprise that wimpy little Hebert managed to put her out of the game, she was not happy about that.

While the fact that she had gotten so worked up about it was genuinely a little concerning, it did provide the perfect opportunity to put an end to the game in a convening way. As Sophia was handed a ball from one of her less athletic teammates, she wasted no time in stepping ahead of the rest of the herd and rearing an arm back… right as I deliberately looked away to glance at the clock on the wall.

The ball slammed into my sternum hard enough that I didn't even have to fake the pained noise that escaped my mouth. I fell backwards with the hit to soften the impact and also make it seem like the ball hit me much harder than it actually did. I hit the ground with a grunt and curled up, clutching my chest like I was actually hurt.

The moment I hit the ground, the shrill screech of a whistle pierced through the gym, calling an end to the game.

“Alright, that's the match! Red team wins!” Our P.E. teacher, Mr. Colby, called out for everyone to hear. As I sat up, panting theatrically, he glanced at his watch, “We don't have time for another game so go ahead and collect the balls and put them away. Once that's done, if you brought a change of clothes for gym, you can change in the locker room and then hang out for the rest of the period.”

As the rest of the class moved to our the dozens of rubber balls back where they belonged, Mr. Colby looked at me as I made a show of getting my breath back, “Good hustle out there, Hebert. If you showed half that dedication during the rest of the year, you'd be at the top of the class.” He gave me a once over, “Are you alright? That was a pretty nasty hit there.”

I nodded, making sure to look and sound slightly out of breath as I responded, “Yeah, I'm fine. Just really out of breath. I think she knocked the wind out of me.”

He nodded, “Stand and keep your head up, you'll recover faster like that. You can go ahead and get changed and get some water if you need some.”

I nodded thankfully, following his advice and making my way towards the door, all the while grinning internally at my flawless performance, completely unaware of the eyes following my every step.

~~~

A few minutes later, as I slipped on my normal pants in place of the looser pair I had been wearing before, I once again found myself thinking about how lucky it was that I preferred oversized clothes to things that fit me properly before the changes. If I had been in the habit of wearing clothes that fit me, I doubted I'd have anything to wear anymore. After all, I already filled out these clothes more than I'd like thanks to my increased size.

Though it wasn't like I would really complain too much. I glanced down at my arms, the muscles slightly swollen from the rigorous activity that was throwing rubber balls at running teenagers. That tune-up was a godsend. I looked good.

‘Alright, cool it with the narcissism, Taylor.’ I thought wryly as I pulled on my hoodie, ‘Don't want to turn into one of those capes. Nobody likes the crazies.’

Unless you were Myrddin or something. Then it was marketable.

I collected the rest of my stuff and made my way to leave the locker room, only to stop in my tracks as someone stepped out of the doorway and directly into my path. Any prior happiness curled up in my gut and died a grisly death as I slowly looked up towards their faces and was met with a pair of angry brown eyes.

“Oh hey, Sophia.” I said slowly as I stepped back. She followed me every step of the way, staring into my eyes from only a few inches away as I tried to back away from her, “D-did you need something?”

Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed angrily, “Yeah, I need something.” She bit out, “I need you to tell me who the hell you think you are.”

I swallowed at her words and tone. This wasn't good. I never expected that Sophia would actually follow me in here, and now we were alone. That was a recipe for disaster if I'd ever heard one.

Knowing that I couldn't act too out of character, I feigned fear and shrunk back against the wall as Sophia loomed over me angrily, “I don't know what you're talking about.”

That clearly wasn't what she wanted to hear. Her scowl deepened and her eyes flashed with a dark anger that brought back bad memories. Memories of situations just like this one, except then, I wasn't faking the fear.

“You gonna lie to my face? I thought you were smarter than that.” Sophia moved closer so I had no choice but to look her right in the eyes, “Emma told me about what happened yesterday. You think you're hot shit, Hebert? Started losing a little weight and suddenly you're the boss bitch around here, right?”

My eyes widened minutely at her words and the knowledge that Sophia had somehow noticed the sudden change. I thought I had hidden it well enough under my baggy clothes, but it seemed she was more observant than I had given her credit for.

Luckily it seemed she didn't think the sudden changes were weird, or at least not unnaturally so, but I couldn't help but wonder what else she had noticed.

Much more wary than before, I did my best to feign ignorance, trying to see if I couldn't get some more information on exactly what she suspected, “What? I don't know what you're-”

She slammed a hand on the wall beside my head, making me flinch as she lost her temper, “Shut the hell up, Hebert!” She snarled, “Weaklings like you need to remember their fucking place!”

What in the world was this girl talking about? I knew she was screwed up, but this took it to a whole new level!

I scowled at her, forgetting about my facade for a moment, “What are you talking about? So I'm not allowed to fight back when you bully me, is that it? Did you just expect me to take it for four years and never get sick of your shit? What kind of messed up clown world do you live in?”

Sophia smiled and it was an ugly thing that made my gut churn, “The kind where people like me Emma don't take shit from trash like you. You might think you have a chance to be something different but you don't. You'll always be that weak, skinny little bitch who cries and eats lunch alone in bathrooms because her childhood friend realized just how much of a loser you are...”

Man, she really was pulling out all the stops, wasn't she? That one actually stung a bit. I must have really gotten to Emma yesterday if her little attack dog was coming at me this hard.

She leaned in closer, and that was when I decided that this had gone on more than long enough. Sophia was acting more nuts than usual and we were alone right now, there was no telling what she might do if she thought she could get away with it. She might actually hurt me. I needed to get her away from me right now.

And as luck would have it, I had recently picked up the perfect spell to do so.

As Sophia repeated her question in a much more demanding tone, I moved one hand behind my back and out of sight, channeling my magic and enforcing my will on the area around me as I focused on the space over the athlete's shoulder.

Loud footsteps sounded from the hall just outside of the locker room, seemingly making their way towards us. Sophia immediately backed away from me, turning to look at the doorway where the sounds were steadily drawing closer before turning back to me with a glare.

“This isn't over, Hebert.” She growled, before turning away from me and walking deeper to walk deeper into the locker room. Maybe she actually needed to change or she was just hiding from whoever she thought was coming. Either way, I wasn't sticking around to find out.

Pulling on my backpack, I immediately beat a hasty retreat in the opposite direction, clearing out before she realized that nobody was actually coming and we were technically still alone.

I slipped through the back hall, making my way towards the nearby emergency exit with the notoriously faulty alarm sensor and leaving through it. The day was over anyway, nobody would care if I was gone five or ten minutes before the bell actually rang.

As I made my way home, my mind ran through the intense confrontation that I had just narrowly escaped. It really sucked that I had to resort to using Minor Illusion just to get away from her, and it sucked even more that I couldn't just use my powers to get her to back off permanently. With how our encounter had ended, Sophia was going to be all over me tomorrow and there was no way I was gonna be able to avoid her all day.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to punch the psycho athlete in her face or even give her a nice little shock with my magic, I knew that all that would achieve is a swift reprisal from the school and maybe even the Prt. Not ideal. For now, I'd just have to bear with it and pretend I was the same weak, awkward girl who couldn't fight back but happened to grow a bit of a spine recently. Easier said than done.

‘Just a little bit longer.’ I thought, ‘Soon enough, I won't have to deal with any of them ever again.’