These class-meeting games were always so stupid.  The people selected were usually popular—spoiler alert, she wasn't—but she still held her hand up each time anyway.  Because why not?  They could also be fun.  Especially when they were these scavenger hunts.  And goodness knows she liked the adrenaline.  She was pretty sure people underestimated her when it came to how competitive she was.  She was particularly warlike, really.

In a complicated plot twist, she was chosen.  She took her seat on the stage with about eight other people.  She smiled like an idiot, because she felt like it—also because she was excited.  Why the hell not?  Besides, she had a cell of friends, and they'd help.

The rules were simple: an ASB student representative would call out an item, and the competitors had to leave the stage, get the item, wear it/put it in a pocket, and then sit back down on a chair.  Easy.

The first item was called—she doesn't remember what it was anymore, but it was something like an ID card, or a chapstick.

GO!

She tore from her chair, leaping off the stage.  She scrabbled to her friends, who quickly fumbled and handed her the item.  She tore back to the stage.  There were only 8 chairs now—she sat down.  She doesn't know who was last, but they didn't make it.

And it kept going.

Some were closer than others, some she was pretty safe.

Until she was the last of two.

It was her, and some big football player.  Oh man.

"A tennis ball!"

She looked around in confusion—and suddenly the ASB representative/announcer lady chucked a tennis ball to the other end of the auditorium.  Both she and the footballer raced for it—she literally leapt off the stage, losing one of her shoes.  She made several feet, then tore off in a dead sprint.

But he was ahead of her, and he was bigger.

It had rolled out an open door into a tile hallway.  The auditorium was carpet, the hallway was not.  With one shoe lost, her traction was compromised.  But she ran, she ran as hard as she could.

She and the footballer made it to the door at about the same time.  They both went for the ball—but he grabbed it.  He ran back inside, she started to chase—but what use was it?

He walked up to the stage, she walked up to the stage.  The fervor had calmed, because he had the ball, the game was over.  She was defeated, but oh well.  He was standing around, talking to the ASB members, just chatting.

And then… she realized.

She only had once chance.  Try to bat it away?  Too risky.

"Um… Could I see that?" she asked him, acting very embarrassed.  "I'd just like to see it."  He glanced at her strangely, then handed her the tennis ball.

She threw herself into the seat, clutching the front with one hand, the other one, holding the tennis ball, thrust into the air.

It was quiet for a moment.  And then people started laughing, and clapping.

Because he didn't sit down.  That was a rule.  The first to get the item AND SIT DOWN was the winner.

Brain over brawn.

She had won.