The tension that surrounds the mud-colored Pit is so thick that even if I had the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’d never be able to slice through. We’re all waiting. We’re all watching. We’re all desperately hoping that the deceivingly soft-looking, cream-colored ball would somehow end up in our arms, and one of us would gain the opportunity to battle frighteningly fiercely for the glory of our grade.

I’m standing where I have the Pit in front of me, and the weathered, gray fence behind. The trees above my light-brown hair are sunlit and emerald, and the ground beneath my sketchers is hard and tan, thankfully not muddy and wet. Munching on my Sunkist tuna, for now I’m causally observing the Freshmen, Eighth and Seventh graders battling to earn a place of great respect and honor in their own Grade. A dark shadow passes over my figure, and I frown as I watch one of the Freshmen,Tony, target his unsuspecting, undeserving victims with merciless velocity and ferocity. He mostly targets either the Middle schoolers or the young women of his own grade, which I think is immensely immature and idiotic, but there’s unfortunately nothing I can do except allowing my thoughts to scold him throughly. As I’m fuming at this lack of fairness, a angelic freshman, Luca, sweeps into my field of vision. When I’m observing and totally not staring at him, he flings his light-brown, flowing hair out of his countenance and gently chest bumps the ball away from himself. My chest claps my heart tightly as a friend would to my arm if she were excited. My heart, clearly not minding if it was caught in a clasp, starts fluttering as if it were a dove trying to fly to land on Luca’s arm. But before I can process, this round is over with, and a new one is just beginning.

I set my tuna on the ground beside the fence, and after hopping over the Pit’s wall, I walk over to my friend, Daisy, who’s leaning against the sunny side of the wall.

“Hello.” She acknowledges me with a polite greeting.

“Hi!” I exclaim cheerfully back.

“Ga…ga…ball!” Everyone inside the Pit exclaims.

I turn my full attention onto the game. The ball’s being hit back and forth, to and fro, from person to person. The more aggressive of the group dive towards the middle of the Pit, while the more reserved stay near the edges. Tony, of course, is right in the middle of everything, absolutely smacking the poor ball with his hand left and right, hitting every Middle schooler and Freshman lady that he is able. Everyone who is touched by the ball, no matter how soft or hard, below the thighs are out until the next round. As usual, I’m able to stay in the game by sticking to my usual strategy of watching the ball as a falcon to her prey, and by staying mostly close to the edges of the Pit’s walls. Daisy, on the other hand, is leaping and dodging the ball with the agility and grace of an antelope as others try to get her out without any success. Frustrated and probably slightly embarrassed, Tony chucks the ball straight for her calf, and with a triumphantly sinister grin calls, “Daisy, your out!” Daisy only shrugs and with the same incredible ability, leaps out to the other side of the wall and stands on the sunny side of the Pit to watch the rest of the round. As the game continues, I’m able to withstand any of the attacks that come my way, which aren’t many. But finally, everyone else has been beaten and only Tony and I are left. As we circle each other, his cold, icy-blue eyes sinisterly grin at my sky-blue ones. Even though I’m nervous, I notice Daisy smiling and giving me a thumbs-up, while Luca…is actually smiling shyly at me! As I see that adorable grin, I know I can’t let them down. I sprint towards the ball, but Tony’s too swift, and he smashes it to me, but I dodge and smack it…right towards his calf! He lets out a yelp and bends down to hold it for a sec, frowns deeply at me, then walks away. As I’m still processing what happened, Daisy and Luca surround me, along with others, to congratulate me, as I had won!