35. Ch 35- Dodging Something Else

After they finished talking in the hallway, they both joined their classmates, sitting in their respective seats while waiting for Mrs Johnson to arrive. Once the teacher had arrived, she checked the attendance, reminded the class about how the gym hall would be unavailable the next day so their lessons had switched, then held English class, before sending them to gym. Heading into the changing room with his friends, Lincoln places his gym bag on a hook and began to get changed, when Rusty leaned over to the white haired boy and asked, "what were you talking to Girl Jordan about?"

Lincoln rolled his eyes as he responded. "It's not important, Rusty, just stuff related to my sister's fashion show."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Zach whispered to the taller boy, who stifled a snigger, whereas Lincoln just gave an unimpressed look at the boys.

"I thought we were done with this. I told you, she's just a friend, that's it. Is there some part of that you don't get?"

"Hey, we ain't saying it's a bad thing," Liam reasoned. "Ain't you ever wondered if she likes you that way?"

"No, because it doesn't matter! Look, guys, I get where you're coming from, but-"

"Hey, Lincoln!" They heard someone say, and turned to see Artie walking over to them.

"Hey, Artie."

"Hey, maybe he can help us out," Rusty suggested, making Lincoln facepalm and Artie look confused.

"Am I missing something?"

Lincoln sighed as he traded his orange polo for his red gym shirt. "Basically, these guys are insisting that, just because I'm hanging out with Jordan, I like her."

"It's not JUST that," Zach clarified. "You have seemed like you enjoy hanging out with her."

"I do, but I don't think about her that way!"

"To be honest, I never thought that either," Artie told the white haired Loud. "I just thought you were having fun, you know? Though, I'll admit, I was surprised you wanted to join them at the mall. It's not exactly my favourite place to go."

"Me neither, but my sisters were going to be going anyway, so I figured it'd be better if I didn't have to watch my sister's bags the whole time for once."

Artie couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, I get what you mean. No offence, Lincoln, but after meeting one of your sisters, I can't see myself wanting to hang out with all ten of them."

"It's an acquired taste," Clyde pointed out, while Zach and Liam simply shuddered at the memories of when they first met some of Lincoln's sisters. "And it's easier once you get to know them."

"If getting to know them means pretending to be a corpse, I'm good." He gave a shudder of his own as he remarked, "I've never run so fast."

Lincoln gave a soft chuckle, shaking his head as he tied his shoelaces, now fully dressed. "That's fair, but yeah. They're… I guess quirky is the word, but I wouldn't want them to change."

"I get you."

"ANYONE NOT OUT HERE IN TWO MINUTES HAS TO DO TWENTY PUSH UPS!" They heard Coach Pakowski hell as he poked his head in through the door. "ANYONE WITHOUT THEIR GYM KITS EITHER TAKES PART IN THEIR USUAL CLOTHES OR IN THEIR UNDERWEAR! NO EXCEPTIONS!"

After the gym teacher walked away, the other boys all looked at each other for a second, before instantly making sure they were ready, walking out as quickly as they could to join the rest of their classmates in the gym hall, sitting down on the bleachers. After a couple of minutes, there were a couple of stragglers, who fell prey to the coach's warning, and were made to do push ups before sitting alongside the others.

"Alright, I will be the first to admit," Coach Pacowski spoke up, silencing any chatter amongst the students. "I was caught by surprise by this 'mathletics' competition. I had originally planned to lead you through some outdoors exercises, namely doing some shot put. However, the school rents equipment for activities such as the shot put, pole vault and javelin, so I've had to reschedule that for two weeks from now, because they were unable for today and have already been booked for next Friday." He then formed a sly smirk. "However, I have decided to make the most of this, and bring back an old favourite of mine."

"The parachute?" One of the students, Trent, asked hopefully, though his hopes were shot down by Pacowski's loud scoff.

"Nope! We will instead be doing… the obstacle course!" There were loud moans of displeasure at this, causing the teacher to roll his eyes before blowing his whistle, silencing them immediately. "No more crying! Any further complaints, you can do it twice." No one dared complain after that, knowing that he never bluffed when it came to extra 'exercise'. "Of course, it won't be the same course as last time, as this will be an outdoors course, and there are certain restrictions I now have to enforce if I want to keep my pay rise." He saw a couple of the students raise their hands to ask a question, but Pacowski ignored them. "Alright! Let's get warmed up. Do two laps of the gym hall, then make your way outside. Last one there has to do ten squats. Go!"

He blew into his whistle, and the twenty plus sixth graders immediately got off the bleachers and started jogging around the gym hall, some mumbling under their breaths about sitting high up in the bleachers. It didn't take long before the students began to make their way out to the field behind the school, where they could see the obstacle course laid out for them in a straight line, with reactions ranging between outright fear and plain displeasure. The seven section course started with a fifteen tyre tyre run, which led to a series of hurdles. Following that was a monkey bar set, a climbing wall and a vault swing. This came before a barbed wire crawl, after which was a balance beam which led to a rope climb with a bell at the top.

As the rest of the students made their way outside, with Clyde being unfortunate enough to be last and having to do squats, Lincoln asked, "coach? If you weren't able to rent the other equipment, where were you able to get this from?"

"Ah! Good question! You see, Loud, I've got an uncle who worked at a barracks, and he was able to lend me this stuff on short notice." Turning back to look at Clyde, who had just finished his squats, he barked, "McBride! You're up first!" The glasses wearing boy could only moan as he slowly jogged over to the start line, taking a puff of his inhaler. "Average time to complete this is one minute and a half. If you finish in over a hundred seconds, you have to do twenty push ups."

"Wait, what?"

The poor boy had no time to clarify, as Pacowski blew into his whistle and yelled "GO!"

With a yelp, the McBride boy took off, tripping up straight away on one of the tyres before gingerly getting back up and continuing. His friends could only feel sorry for the not so athletic boy as he continued.

"How long before he gets an asthma attack?" Zach whispered to Rusty. "I'm guessing the climbing wall."

"Nah, he'll just get past that and have one on the vault swing," the taller redhead replied.

"I dunno, fellas," Liam replied. "Clyde was never any good at the monkey bars."

"Give him some slack, guys," Stella chastised. "He might surprise you."

"Hate to spoil your optimism, but I'm with the guys here," Lincoln told her. "I think Rusty's got it spot on with this one." As he returned his gaze to his best friend's attempt at the course, he winced when Clyde tripped on his laces and went face first into the climbing wall. "That's gotta hurt…" Looking away from his friend's pain, he noticed that he wasn't the only one who was struggling. He turned back to Stella and said, "I'll be back in a second," before he walked over to Jordan, who was shaking slightly. "Hey… you okay?" With a gulp, she shook her head. "What's up?"

"B-barbed wire…"

The boy looked back at the course, before remembering the last time Coach Pacowski had tried to make the class run an obstacle course, and what Jordan had mentioned to him after that. "Ah… of course. I'd say ask Coach if you can skip that, but… I think we both know that won't work." When she frowned more at this, he regretted saying it. "Sorry."

She shook her head before saying, "it's okay."

"Alright, McBride. You're done," Pacowski called out, just as Clyde collapsed before he could try the vault swing. "Spokes, go pull him out of the way." As Rusty obliged, the gym teacher turned to the others and said, "Rosato! You're up next."

With a gulp, she started to walk over to the start line, but before she could get there, Lincoln shouted out, "actually, Coach, can I go next?"

While Jordan was surprised by his volunteering, Coach simply shrugged and said, "eh, sure, why not?"

Lincoln walked forward, passing his friend who simply watched curiously. As he approached the starting line, he approached the teacher and whispered, "would it be possible for Jordan to avoid the barbed wire? It makes her uncomfortable."

"Hmm… I guess so." Lincoln nodded to thank him, then walked up to the start line. "Alright, and… go!"

Coach blew his whistle, and Lincoln took off. He quick stepped his way through the tyre run, then clambered his way over the hurdles. After that, he swung across the monkey bars, climbed over the climbing wall and used the vault to reach the rope and swing across. He then got down to the ground and army crawled under the barbed wire, feeling it prick on his shirt a couple of times but avoiding it pricking his skin. Once he was done, he quickly got up and practically sprinted across the balance beam, leaping off the end to grab the rope which he started to climb up, and though he was beginning to tire, he was able to reach the top and ring the bell, ending his run.

"One thirty-two! Not bad, Loud!" Pacowski commended, Lincoln giving a small fist pump as he made his way back. "Alright, Rosato! Your turn!" Jordan gulped, making her way up to the start line and getting ready to do her run, but was surprised when Coach leaned towards her and said, "if you don't want to do the barbed wire, crawl alongside it. That's the best I can do for you."

"Huh?" While he didn't say anything to the surprised girl, he did give a small jab of his thumb towards the Loud boy, who was being congratulated by his friends, and she gave a small smile. 'Thanks, Lincoln…'

After Jordan took her run, she sat down with the rest of her friends as one by one, the other students all took their attempts at the obstacle course, some completing it in good times, while others were unfortunately slow, which meant they had to perform the 'punishment' the gym teacher had previously warned them about. As Mollie finished her run, Coach turned to the rest of the students and announced, "okay, back into the gym hall. You can rest for two minutes, and then we'll finish with a game of dodgeball."

A few kids groaned, but chose not to voice their complaints as they made their way into the gym hall. "Why does Coach always end things with dodgeball?" Stella asked Lincoln.

"Beats me," he replied with a shrug. "He's done it as long as I can remember."

"I guess. Still, at least that obstacle course is done." She looked at a rip in her gym shirt. "Why did he have to use barbed wire?"

Lincoln again simply shrugged, but before he could say anything, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned around, he saw that it was from Jordan. "Hey, Lincoln? Can I talk to you a second?"

"Yeah, sure." He turned to Stella and said, "I'll catch up in a second," then turned back to Jordan once Stella nodded to him. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say… well, thanks," she told him. "Coach kinda told me what you said to him."

"Oh… he did?"

"Sort of. So… why'd you do it?"

"I'll be honest… I just kind of did. Maybe it's part of having ten sisters, but… I didn't want you to do something you were uncomfortable with."

She looked at him for a couple of seconds, surprised by how selfless his gesture was, before smiling, placing a hand on his shoulder and saying, "well, I really appreciate it, Lincoln. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Jordan."

He started to walk away, before she added, "just so you know?" Her smile turned to a smirk. "That doesn't mean I'm going easy on you in dodgeball. I've got a title to defend, you know?"

He offered a chuckle before replying, "I wouldn't expect any different. Just hope you're prepared to lose that title."

She scoffed and walked past him, giving a "we'll see" as she headed over to her friends. Lincoln simply gave a soft shake of his head, before heading over to the guys and Stella. After about a minute, of everyone sitting around and talking, Coach Pacowski reappeared, closing the door as he entered the gym hall.

"Alright, get in a line!" He commanded, the students wasting no time in doing so. "We're gonna have one game. Everyone left of Loud is one team, everyone right of Freilich is the other team. I say you're out, you're out, no messing about. Got it?" He didn't wait for a response before blowing his whistle, prompting the sixth graders to move to either side of the gym hall. He laid out five dodgeballs along the halfway line, then stepped to the sidelines. "Ready?"

He blew his whistle, and the students rushed to grab the balls, before returning to the far sides of the hall. "Okay, guys! Scorpion formation!" Rusty commanded, prompting the others to form a line facing the other team. Looking at Lincoln, however, he saw that the white-haired boy was not in formation as the scorpion's tail, and was instead stood with a dodgeball in hand. "Lincoln! What are you doing?"

He looked over at Rusty, then to the other team, where he saw Jordan with a daring smirk on her face. He mirrored it, then turned to Rusty and said, "sorry, guys. Not this time."

As soon as Pacowski blew his whistle, Lincoln ran forward, throwing the ball at the other team. "Lincoln!" Rusty called out again, only to get beaned by a ball from Jordan, prompting Clyde to yell, "ABANDON FORMATION!"

As his friends abandoned their usual strategy, Lincoln found himself in a different world of sorts. Rather than his usual methods of 'try the scorpion formation until one of them gets beaned, then throw and pray', Lincoln found himself recalling the different 'lessons' he had learnt from Lynn whenever she trained him over the past week. After his first ball missed, he immediately jogged back to the far wall so he could keep an eye out. While a few of his teammates had already fallen prey, he saw an oncoming ball from Kat and quickly positioned his hands so he could catch it, eliminating her. Seeing that Artie was about to throw his ball, Lincoln moved forward and timed his throw so it left his hands just when Artie's arm was fully extended, giving him no time to react before he was eliminated. Lincoln didn't waste any time celebrating, as he was able to see Jordan throw a ball his way, which he was able to sidestep, though it did hit Clyde instead.

On the other side of things, Jordan had noticed how Lincoln wasn't going for his usual strategy. 'Guess he really is playing to win,' she thought, a grin reappearing on her face. 'Okay, Loud. Game on.'

From there, the two teams continued the game, balls flying back and forth between them. Players were eliminated every so often, some just getting caught off guard while some were absolutely pulverised by the projectile impact. A couple of minutes later, after Jordan managed to block an oncoming shot and return one of her own, Stella was eliminated, walking over to the bleachers where the others watched on as Jordan and Lincoln remained in the game, one on one.

"Lincoln's really going for it!" She admitted as she watched Lincoln throw another dodgeball, only for Jordan to duck it.

"I've never seen him like this before!" Clyde confessed.

"Maybe it's because it's Girl Jordan," Liam suggested. "After all, she is the dodgeball queen."

"Or maybe it's because he wants to impress her," Rusty countered, a sly grin on his face making Stella groan.

"You guys really need to let that go." She looked back at the game in hand, and noticed that Lincoln did look more determined than usual. "Still, he's definitely into this game."

While they talked, Lincoln rolled to one side, dodging an oncoming ball and landing in position to grab another from the ground. Standing up tall, he saw Jordan reaching for more 'ammo', and he smirked. "Time to end this!"

He arched his arm back and threw it at his opponent, but Jordan had already grabbed another ball, and used it to block Lincoln's attack. "Nice try, Lincoln," she said under her breath before returning the favour. She threw the ball and it hit him square in the chest, knocking him onto his backside. "Yes!"

However, she and everyone else gasped when Lincoln held his hands up in the air, the dodgeball firmly in his grasp. No one said anything for about ten seconds- not even Coach Pacowski, whose whistle fell from his hands and dangled from its strap. Jordan was undoubtedly the most shocked, having been so certain that she had won again, only for the exact opposite to happen.

"… he won," Clyde finally said, snapping some of his friends out of their stupors.

"HE WON!"

The next thing Lincoln knew, his team had run over and were lifting him into the air, treating him like a hero as they chanted his name. He couldn't help but revel in it for a few seconds, cheering for his momentous victory, before he looked over at Jordan, who was still in shock at her loss. After his friends finally put him down, he walked over to the girl. "Hey," he said, holding out his hand. "Good game."

She stared at his hand for a few seconds, then back at him, before giving a smile. "Good game, Lincoln," she replied, shaking his hand. "Gotta admit, wasn't expecting that."

"Me neither, to be honest. Guess Lynn's training paid off."

She gave a small laugh, then said, "well, I might not be undefeated, but I'm still the school's dodgeball queen, so don't expect the same result next time."

He gave a laugh of his own and told her, "we'll see."