The sting was reassuring. It was evidence that the game was in control. Mistakes were made when there was a little pain. As her coach said often, if her arms weren’t red by the end of the first five minutes then she didn’t want to win badly enough.
And if nothing, Ariadne always wanted to win.
The gym had been divided into six separate stations for the class that day and only one of those stations was volleyball. The majority of the class had dedicated their hour to spending time at the dodge-ball station for the opportunity to pummel each other with rubber balls. This meant that Ariadne got to practice some one-on-one rather than deal with her apathetic classmates.
“So, he shows up late and the class grinds to a halt? Possibly shakes the foundation of your whole Stone-Wall persona?”
Paris Montague grinned as he bounced the volleyball back over the net to Ariadne. She took one quick strafing stride to her right and smacked the ball back over the net. She put a little side-spin on it, hoping this would throw off his return. Paris glided into place naturally and returned the ball without any difficulty.
“He didn’t shake any foundations. He was just…interesting.”
“What do you mean by interesting?”
“I don’t know…”
“You think he’s hot.”
“I don’t think he’s hot. I won’t deny that he’s handsome but he’s not my type.”
Paris was grinning as he returned the volleyball again, aiming behind Ariadne so she had to back pedal to get under it again. He’d have to try harder than that if he wanted to beat her.
“What exactly is your type, Ariadne? Apparently there isn’t a single guy at this school who fits the type you’re looking for.”
“I’m not looking for any type Paris, you know that,” Ariadne replied, adding a note of finality to her words.
“Yeah, I know.”
There was a tone of dejection in Paris’ voice and Ariadne felt an instant pang of guilt. Paris was a year younger than Ariadne but had registered for the twelfth grade gym class with permission from the teacher. Since gym was only required in grade ten and Paris was highly athletic, obtaining permission to jump to the twelfth grade class had been relatively easy for him. Ariadne had sensed Paris’ attraction to her the moment they’d met but she’d always done her best to ensure he understood that the principle she held on to regarding high school relationships applied to him as much as anyone else. Where Paris differed from all the other boys in her classes was that he didn’t take that to mean they couldn’t be friends. Thus, a great friendship had grown between them. However, it was in moments like this that Ariadne remembered Paris’ feelings were still lingering there in the background.
And it wasn’t like Ariadne didn’t have plenty of reasons to reciprocate those feelings.
Paris was almost identical in height to Ariadne. He had messy blonde hair and light china-blue eyes. He had a wide chest and thick shoulders that look symmetrical on his well-proportioned body. He was strong, muscles clearly defined on his arms and legs. His smile was infectious, a wide white grin of teeth that he was always quick to display. His nose was a little too small, and his ears were a little too big, but overall Ariadne thought he was very attractive.
If Ariadne was honest with herself, she was attracted to Paris. He was handsome and he made her smile. He was athletic like her and he wasn’t anything like the other boys in her grade who often thought first with their groins and then with their brains.
But she resisted her own impulses to pursue that relationship. She wasn’t one of those girls who liked to drag a guy along with the hope that maybe someday they’d move beyond just being friends. She honestly liked Paris and enjoyed the times they hung out and talked. She wanted to maintain that friendship even if she couldn’t justify moving it beyond that stage, as much as she may have wanted to.
As quickly as the dejected look came over Paris’ features it vanished and was replaced by a grin.
“So, what is my challenge for tonight?”
Ariadne grinned back. “How does five minutes sound? If you can’t find your way out by that point I’ll come in and lead you out of the dark and confusing corn maze.”
It was Halloween and that night the whole school would be coming down to the field where a carnival had been set up to celebrate the night. Among the many potential things to do was a corn maze set up alongside the field that Ariadne had been overseeing the growing of as part of Student Council for weeks. She knew the entire map of the maze from memory and could easily find her way from beginning to end without any problems. Her challenge to Paris was to see how long it would take him to make it through the maze. As per the rules of their challenge, Paris had not gone out to see the corn maze the entire time she had been working on it so that he didn’t have an unfair advantage heading into the challenge.
“Five minutes huh?” Paris asked, volleying the ball back to her. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ariadne was only half listening as she moved in for the kill. She raced forward, seeing that Paris’ volley was going to fall close to the net. She raced under it, leaping up perfectly in sync with the falling ball and slapped it sharply with the palm of her hand. Her aim was true, and it shot downwards hitting the ground just inside the line. Paris had reacted a split second too slow to stop the ball hitting the ground and slid across the polished gym floor laughing.
“Wow,” he laughed, pulling himself to his feet and lightly kicking the ball back to her under the net. “That was a risky move, if I’d been a split second faster you would have been out of position.”
“You don’t win games by playing it safe. You have to take risks like that if you want to earn your victory,” Ariadne winked, tossing the ball into the air for another round.
“I don’t like him, by the way.”
“Who?”
“Janus.”
“You haven’t even met him. How can you know you don’t like him?”
“Do you like him?”
“I don’t know him either.”
“Well, there’s just something about the way you described him that I don’t like,” Paris explained, returning her serve. “He sounds like a rich snob.”
“What? Like me?”
“I have never seen you behave in any way that could even remotely be described as ‘snobbish’,” Paris replied.
“Nice save,” Ariadne grinned, volleying back to him. “But still, you haven’t even met the guy and I haven’t gotten to know him very well either. He resisted the advances of some rather attractive girls outside of history class today so it’s entirely possible that he’s another you.”
“Another me?”
“Nice,” Ariadne covered. “That’s what I mean.”
“So you’re saying he reminds you of me.”
“No, I didn’t say that.”
“So, you think I’m handsome,” Paris was grinning widely now as he hit the ball back to her.
“I’m sorry; I think this line of conversation has gotten off topic.”
Ariadne volleyed the ball back to him. “Maybe it’s right on topic.”
Ariadne glanced away from the ball to Paris and their eyes locked for a moment. She felt a rush starting to build in her chest but she fought it back. She didn’t need Paris saying things like that and complicating their relationship. It was bad enough that she felt undefined and unexplored feelings for him beyond friendship, she didn’t need him trying to bring them out like this.
Paris was suddenly in motion and it took Ariadne a second to force her stirred emotions out of the way and look back to the ball. Paris was already off the ground, slapping the ball downwards, perfectly repeating the move she’d pulled on him a second ago.
She slid forward, falling to her knees and ignoring the slight pain as they slid along the ground. She got under the pall as it fell down to her and smacked it back over the net. Paris, having put himself out of position by spiking the ball, stumbled backwards trying to get beneath her return but couldn’t get into position in time to stop the ball landing inside the lines.
“I guess you have to time your risks a little bit more carefully, huh?” Paris asked, picking the ball up again.
“Uh, yeah,” Ariadne nodded, rubbing the back of her neck as she rose to her feet again.
They stood silently for a moment, just staring at each other. Paris opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something, and the bell rang. It was almost too cliché and some small part of Ariadne hoped Paris would say whatever he had been about to say, but he didn’t and the moment passed.
“So, I’ll see you here tonight then?” Paris asked.
“Yeah,” Ariadne nodded.
Paris gave her a departing smile and headed towards the equipment room to return the volleyball. Ariadne let out a slow breath as she watched him walk away.
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