Chapter 135
At first, the kids found it all a bit novel and fun, but after a few days, they grew tired of hearing the same old thing.
And ever since last week, Dames had been bragging that Luna was coming over to his house, but days passed and he was still waiting for her to show up.
The other kids started to be dismissive of Dames, barely paying him any real
attention.
When Dames saw a couple of classmates heading toward Daph, he immediately snapped, “Anyone who teams up with Dafina has to stay after school to clean up the equipment! And the storage room, too!”
After that, no one dared approach Daph’s side.
The P.E. teacher had always favored Dames, even making him class rep for gym. It was up to Dames to appoint the kids who’d tidy up the equipment after each lesson. So, when the teacher noticed that only Monica and Daph had paired up, he called out, “Teams for soft volleyball are supposed to have five! You two, join the other
groups.”
He reassigned Monica and Daph, and Monica had no choice but to join a new team. “Sir! We don’t want Dafina on our team!” someone blurted as Daph moved toward a
group.
The P.E. teacher glanced at the other teams. “Alright then, Dafina, you-”
“Our team’s already full!” another group interrupted.
“We don’t want to play with Dafina either!”
“She cheats just like her mom! We won’t play with her!”
The kids only knew bits and pieces, rumors picked up from overheard adult conversations about Daph’s mother. They didn’t understand the whole story, but after swapping stories at school–and with Dames stirring the pot–they’d made Daph into the class scapegoat.
No one wanted her on their team.
In class, during recess, aside from Monica and Penelope, nobody would even talk
to her.
1/2
13:23
But Penelope was frail, and the teacher always had her sit out of gym entirely, so she couldn’t join in.
Daph stood rooted to the spot. Ever since she’d become “Dafina,” she’d been on her
own.
She bit her soft pink lip, her fingers clenching and unclenching. She’d promised her mom–no matter how tough things got, she’d keep going, bravely.
Daph raised her hand. “Sir, can I be a team by myself?”
The P.E. teacher laughed. “Dafina, maybe you should think about why nobody wants you on their team.”
He blew his whistle and rallied the others: “The winning team gets a gold star each!”
Dames crossed his arms, barking orders at his team like a little general. “You guys cover me, alright?”
The game kicked off, and the two five–person teams battled fiercely. Dames’s group barely scraped a win.
Then came the third and fourth teams–and Daph was left to stand alone on the
court.
“Go, Daph!” Penelope cheered from her little bench at the side.
The opposing team served first. Daph moved fast, catching the flying ball with
ease.
Five against one–and she scored point after point.
The whistle practically fell out of the teacher’s mouth. Daph waved at him. “Sir, they’re all down.”
He turned to see the kids on the other side collapsed on the floor, panting and out
of breath.
“What’s the score?” the teacher asked Penelope, who was keeping tally.
“Thirty–two to zero!”
In five minutes, Daph hadn’t missed a single shot.
One by one, she took on the whole class. As Dames watched his team lose, he burst out in protest:
“That round doesn’t count! I demand a rematch!”
2/2
13:23
་་་་་་་་
Chapter 1
