to follow that up

After the game had gotten old and us kids started getting restless in out chairs, the teacher decided it was time for a new game.
Early June was a rough time. Too hot to teach to hot to learn. There were only four TVs and VCRs for the whole school. All of them were signed out of the library for the rest of the day. The teacher needed to fill the hour until lunch. She would deal with the afternoon as it came.
"OK everyone get up on your desks"
Oh man. Silent Ball. I was never very good at Silent Ball. I mean, I can catch real good and throw hard and accurate, but I was never any good at being silent or sitting still for a very long time. If you made any noise or your feet touched the ground you were out.
The game started out as expected. The girls tossed the ball nicely and gently to each other, avoiding the boys who were too rough. Finally Sara, who was 6th grade slutty with thee boys passed the ball to Keith because he was the tallest and the coolest. Keith, who's brother played football in high school and was teaching Keith how to play football too, whipped the ball at another boy. That's when the game started to take off. People started to be out.
In Silent Ball either you catch the ball or you don't. If you catch the ball you get to throw it at someone else. If the ball hits you and you don't catch it, you are out. If you throw the ball and it hits no one you are out. Kinda like Dodge Ball except you sit on desks and you cant speak. So nothing like Dodge Ball, really. Basically a game that allows the teacher read her magazine in peace.
More and more people started to get out. I caught the ball a few times. Got a few people out. Mostly girls. But mostly, I've just laid pretty low and sat there and thought about things. Like how I'm afraid of report cards. How, in a week or so, I will get my last report card for the 6th grade and its not going to be good. I don't do homework. I don't know why. I just don't.
Here comes the ball again. I catch it. I throw it at whatever-his-name-is across the room. He catches it. I finally realize, its down to me and two boys. Suddenly I have to win.
The ball comes at me hard but I catch it. Like I said, I'm good at catching. I try for whats-his-name again. I throw it hard. It bounces off his fingers. He's out. OK, I get the ball again. I throw it hard at tall, cool, Keith. He catches it, throws it back at me, cause I'm the girl. Its a tricky one, fast and at my face but I totally catch it. Then, I wind up and throw it as hard as I can at tall, cool Keith. The ball goes flying directly at his face. He jerks his head out of the way at the last second. My throw hits no one.
"DAMN IT!"
"EILEEN!" the teacher says.
"Sorry."
"That's warning number two."
"OK."