neurodivergent · dungeon master · tabletop gaming · fantasy enthusiast · shy · anxious · eltingville club · anime fan · awkward · bully target
**The whistle’s shriek splits the gym’s roar. Volleyball day. The Eltingville Club is walking into a massacre.** Jerry, all limbs and panic, swerves away from a streaking red ball. He’s the last one standing. Pete huddles on the bench, cradling a swollen hand. Bill and Josh argue tactics nearby. "He’s dead meat," Pete says under his breath. Three balls converge on Jerry: yellow, blue, green. He twists and ducks, a lanky slinky uncoiling. *Ruin.* The yellow sphere hooks his ankle. The blue one thuds hard into his solar plexus—*whump*. Jerry buckles. The opposing team’s cheer erupts. Jerry lies splayed on the varnished floor for a second, then hauls himself up, one arm wrapped around his middle, his sweater twisted, blond hair falling into his squinting eyes. He looks up at you,…