9

“Line up for dodgeball!” the P.E. teacher shouted as Parker and the rest of the class filed into the gym.

In the past, dodgeball had been exactly that for Parker—he dodged balls. He didn’t try to throw. He didn’t try to catch. He just did his best to avoid oncoming balls until he was hit or his team won. He hated every single moment of it.

The past week had been different. He didn’t fear dodgeball anymore because he’d gotten remarkably good at dodging. With a little help from his ability, he had managed not to get hit once.

There had been a couple close calls. Kids on the other team had sworn the ball had curved for no reason, but Parker just shrugged and kept dodging. At one point, he’d been the last player on his team, but after slowing a ball considerably with his mind, he made a catch and saved his team from the brink of loss.

Today was no different. Parker stayed in the back, allowing stronger and bigger kids to do the throwing while he dodged. His team wasn’t doing particularly well. Before long, it was down to just him and a kid named Kevin, who also solely dodged during these games.

Parker looked across the gym. Paul Thornton was picking up one of the balls, and Parker could tell from the look he was giving him that Paul was about to throw it as hard as he could straight at him. Kevin dropped back and moved away to Parker’s left.

Parker knew he wouldn’t have a lot of time to react. Paul wound up and hurled the ball at him.

Parker panicked. He didn’t like it when anyone threw a ball at him, but Paul was the biggest guy in the class. If the ball hit him, it would hurt a lot. The moment the ball left Paul’s hand, Parker gave it a little push to the left with his mind.

It worked—the ball was going nowhere near him, but time seemed to slow as he saw the horrible mistake he’d made. The ball was now flying straight toward Kevin’s head. Parker tried to give it a mental push in another direction, but it didn’t work, as if his ability had missed.

Kevin wasn’t even going to try to dodge. His arms came up to protect his face, but at the last second, Parker pictured the ball collapsing.

BANG!

The ball popped and fell limply to the floor. The gym went silent. Everyone turned to look at Parker—everyone but Kevin, who was still bracing for impact. Paul turned to look at Parker in confusion.

Parker stayed silent and tried to look as surprised as everyone else.

The teacher came from the sidelines and picked up the flat ball, looking it over. He shrugged, then ran off the court and shouted, “Play ball!”

Another student picked up a different ball, and Parker was actually relieved when he was hit by it.