After missing me with the water balloon and hitting Jenny instead, Maggie tried apologizing to Jenny with a baby voice.

“I’m so sorry, Jenny…” 

“Ugh!” 

Jenny looked fed up and glared at Maggie with eyes similar to a tiger's. 

“Eek!” Maggie yelped.  

I knew Jenny was about to go off on her, but before she could, I could hear Dean’s voice from the left side of the field. 

“They’ve got Dean!” He yelled, pointing at us. 

A couple of boys looked in our direction and aimed their bottles. 

“Blast them!” yelled a boy in the back. 

And the next thing I knew, about four boys were sprinting towards the three of us. 

Maggie started flailing her arms and was panic breathing. 

“Oh my god, Jenny! What are we going to do?” 

Jenny, who was still wet and in anger, looked like she wanted to hold her ground and fight, but then a group of girls launched themselves toward Lawrence’s group and sprayed them all with a nasty amount of water. 

“““AHHH!”””

The boys started shooting back. They didn’t seem to even care about going after us anymore. 

Then Jenny looked right at me and got a hold of my wrist. 

“Take him as a hostage,” she said. 

““What?!”” Maggie and I said. 

What did Jenny want to do with me? Or better yet, what would the girls do to me if I was sent to their resupply station back at the field hose and fountain? 

“Why are you doing this?!” I asked as Jenny got behind me and pushed me to run to their side of the field. 

“Because…” Jenny said, “I thought it’d be funny. Plus, I need to get away from Lawrence. There’s no way I’m gonna allow him to get me.” 

“But what does that have to do with taking me as a hostage?! Couldn’t you just blast me and get it over with?!” 

“Ah…well…” 

As we ran, Jenny got quiet as she thought about my question. 

Then she chuckled. 

“I never thought about that,” she said. “I was just doing all of this in the heat of the moment.” 

Wow. 

I didn’t even say a word. I just looked back and gave Jenny this blank stare after what she just said. 

“Pfft! Why are you making that face?” She asked with a dazzling smile. 

I was going to say something, but when I looked back, I saw Jenny’s happy expression turn to hate. 

And it was because of Lawrence. He must have just gotten away from the battle that had just happened because he was soaked. 

But he also raised his bottle and took aim. 

“Hah!” He yelled as he shot water towards Jenny. 

At least, he tried shooting water at Jenny. 

I guess the way the hole in his bottle cap worked was that instead of shooting water in a straight line; it shot water out to both sides, so… 

“AHHH!!! NOOOO!!!” 

The water hit me in the chest instead of hitting Jenny in the face. 

Jenny, Lawrence, and Maggie stopped in their tracks, looked at me, then slowly started laughing. 

“Dean, why are you screaming like that?” Maggie asked in between laughs. 

“I know. I only got your uniform wet. I didn’t even hit you in the face.” Lawrence added. 

“You’re such a drama queen,” Jenny said. 

And that was the last straw, because I looked at Jenny dead in the eyes. 

“What is it?” She asked, slightly flustered. 

After hearing Jenny speak to me in such a sweet tone, I didn’t want to go through with it, but then I really thought about it. 

This was the girl who wanted to balloon bomb me AND take me as a hostage…

I didn’t even need a second to consider my next move. 

I uncapped my bottle and…

“Blergh!” 

I threw a whole bunch of water towards Jenny’s face, then brought the bottle over her head so that her hair could get drenched. 

“Ah…” 

“Ah…” 

“AUGH!” 

Lawrence and Maggie stood there in shock as Jenny wiped a wave of water off her face. 

She then growled. Like a tiger. 

Literally. 

I tried to make a mad dash towards the academy doors, pushing past plenty of boys and girls. 

I heard Jenny running after me. If I had to guess, she was probably running on all fours like a real feline who was chasing their prey. 

“Dean, you are dead when I get you! You hear me! Dead!” 

I looked back and saw Jenny closing the distance between us. 

Uh oh. 

I tried to make my legs go faster, but my lungs told me that if I did, I was going to regret it. 

Why am I so out of shape? I asked myself. 

I kept running, getting sprayed by both boys and girls on the field without a care, and was almost in arm's reach for the doors. 

Almost there! I told myself. 

But then I felt a heavy weight on my back. 

“You’re not gonna get away with this, Dean!” Jenny yelled in my ear. 

Then I saw her arms wrap around my neck. 

BAM! 

Me and Jenny collapsed onto the ground. 

And there was no way she was ever letting go of me.