The hallway erupted in its usual way, filling with students rushing to get to their lockers and get to their classes. Because of the inherent chaos, there was some amount of uncertainty to this next step in Kyla's plan, but she'd calculated a 70% chance that Sarah McMillan would turn left just before the school library and cross paths with Jon Gibson just in front of the science labs.
For you see, Kyla's true target was not Jon, but Sarah. Untouchable Sarah McMillan, with her coven of cheerleaders to support her. No single girl, on her own, could challenge Sarah head-on, but if Kyla could weaken Sarah's support network while staying under the radar, shift Sarah's focus onto another target, then give her a long enough lever and a fulcrum on which to place it, and she would move Sarah's world.
So as Kyla hung behind Jon in the hallway just far enough to be inconspicuous, and as she saw a characteristic blonde head of hair approaching the science labs, she tightened her grip on her #2 pencil and let out half of the energy that she had stored in Jon's stone. One small tug at the lever.
Jon's left foot pushed out at a wide angle and placed itself firmly on the ground in a way that pulled the rest of Jon's body along with it. It almost threw him off balance. Was this some kind of muscle spasm? But he didn't have time to think about that as something, someone, collided with his shin.
"Excuse you?" a scandalized Sarah McMillan didn't even wait to fully collect herself after tripping over Jon Gibson's outstretched shin. "What the hell was that, Jon?"
He didn't know how to respond. Jon didn't know what the hell that was, either. A stammered apology began building in his throat, but his hesitation was just long enough that Kyla, smoothly passing by the altercation and moving towards her next class, released the rest of the energy from Jon's stone. And what came out of Jon's mouth instead was not of his own design.
"You're so uncoordinated, Sarah. Is that what it takes to be a cheerleader? I could probably make the squad if I wanted to."
For a moment, for the briefest of moments, Sarah seethed at the insult. But no. Cool, collected Sarah wouldn't let her temper show like this, unfiltered in a hallway. She immediately regained control.
"Alright, bet," she said as she re-positioned a lock of hair behind her ear where it belonged. "This afternoon. Right after school. In the gym by the tumbling mats. I'll put you through your paces, and we'll see just how easy it is to be a cheerleader."
Kyla was just far away enough at this point that she couldn't make out the words being said, but she suppressed a grin at the affirmative tone of Jon's voice. Kyla would be making a detour to the school gym on her way home today.
