Ga-Ga Ball

"I'm going to bang you."

"What?"

"Tomorrow. I'm going to bang you."

Jimmy Jr. sputtered a bit, his brain unable to form a response. The final bell had just wrung a minute ago. He was just minding his own business at his locker, trying to pack up and go home. He was not prepared for this. A part of him was still convinced that he must have heard Tina wrong, she couldn't have actually said that. But she did, loud and clear. And she was already walking away, effectively closing his window of opportunity for further questions.

He walked home from school deep in thought after that, her words playing endlessly in his head. It wasn't that he didn't like Tina, or even that he'd never thought about it. It was just all so sudden. He didn't feel ready, and it terrified him that she apparently was. How was he going to explain that to her?

That question was still haunting him when he got up the next morning. He picked absently at his breakfast, lingered nearly twice as long as normal in the shower, put his shirt on backwards twice, and then realized there was no way he was going to make it to school in time for the morning announcements.

Late as he was, he was spared from having to confront her until recess, when she appeared beside him on the way to the gaga pit, and he didn't work up the nerve to say anything to her until the game was beginning.

"Tina, I-"

She slapped the ball at him so hard it drove his breath out. Over the sound of his own gasping, he could just make out her yelling, "You just got banged!"