I practically skipped out of the changeroom, dressed in my blue shorts and white t-shirt. I’d gotten through the entire day without any inference from Henry, so I was in a pretty good mood for gym class. Not many of my classmates could say the same, but why would they? After all, this was just a normal day for them, and one that was nearing its end. Me, though? I was on cloud nine.
    Scanning the gym, I quickly spotted Emily standing alone, looking good as usual in the athletic uniform. A simple outfit like that really allowed her natural beauty to shine through. That and the fact that it showed a bit more skin than her usual attire. I jogged over to greet her.
    “Hey Em! How’s it hanging?”
    She smiled warmly at me. “By a thread, but you seem to be in a better mood than usual today!”
    “Sure am!” I answered. She wasn’t wrong, a normal day of school for me was like winning the lottery, and we were already in the last period. Maybe Henry was out sick or something? Was that even possible? Hell, maybe he finally got bored of us and left to terrorize some other unfortunate school. Wishful thinking, but a man can dream.
    “Emily!” I heard a pair of voices call out from behind me in unison. I barely had time to register what was happening as I was flanked on either side by two people, cutting me off from the conversation. Before I could react, the Duong twins positioned themselves between me and Emily.
    “Oh, hey guys!” Emily said, greeting the intruders. Well, they were intruders to me at least. Emily was perfectly happy to see her friends, but I knew just how often the “group” conversation would turn into an unbearable competition between the two. Mai Duong, the sister, was a petite woman with dark hair cut in bangs and short twintails. Her brother, Lan, had the same hair color, but styled it in short, spiky locks that complemented his tall, athletic build. They both excelled in every class, were involved in multiple leadership roles and extracurriculars, and were popular among the student body. The only real difference between them was that Lan tended to focus more on athletics, while Mai’s real passion lay in music.
    All that success, however, made the pair quite competitive with one another. I’m sure their parents were also egging them on, if your kids are constantly competing with each other then neither one is at risk of falling behind. Their school life was a constant back-and-forth of grades and competitions where each twin was determined to prove themselves superior to the other. Like most sibling rivalries, it was friendly but fierce. 
    Unfortunately for me, the latest target of their competitive nature was none other than Emily. They had met on the yearbook committee where both Lan and Mai had developed a crush on her at the same time. I couldn’t fault them for having good taste, but the competitions for Emily’s attention had quickly grown tiresome. It was now a normal occurrence for one or both of them to swoop in on our conversations and act like I wasn’t even there. Emily was polite about it of course, perhaps even a bit too polite. A part of me wished she’d just tell them outright she wasn’t interested, but that wasn’t my choice to make. For all I knew, she was.
    “Em, are you gonna be doing the photography for the track team? You should come watch us on Saturday! We can go out to dinner afterwards.” Lan offered, no doubt trying to find an excuse to show off at the event.
    “Oh, but Saturday is my piano recital! I’d be so inspired if I saw you in the crowd, Em!” Mai counteroffered, subtly batting her eyelashes.
    “Sorry guys, I’ve got plans on Saturday! Maybe we can all go for lunch or something instead?” Emily proposed, visibly deflating the competing twins, both of whom had failed to secure private time with the object of their affection.
    I awkwardly tried to reinsert myself into the conversation, but I quickly realized I was much more of an observer than a participant. Lan and Mai continued to one-up each other while Emily tried her best to diplomatically navigate the increasingly energetic conversation. Thankfully, Coach Dugan came out a few minutes later, towing a large plastic container of bright red rubber balls, signalling the beginning of class.
    “Alright everyone, line up!” the coach yelled out with an accompanying blast from his whistle. Emily shot me an exasperated smile from a gap between the twins’ heads as we lined up per the coach’s orders. 
    Fourth period was fourth period, everyone was tired from a long day of school, so there was a palpable apathy for the upcoming game. I was the outlier, my energy was sourced from something nobody in this room had any hope of understanding - temporary freedom from Henry’s reality-warping antics. The coach split us off into two teams on either side of the gymnasium, and luckily Emily and I ended up on the same team. It really was turning out to be my day! Lan and Mai ended up as teammates on the other side, much to their chagrin. No doubt they were hoping to be on opposing teams.
    “Listen up, the game is dodgeball!” Coach Dugan shouted, holding a red ball in his hand with the cart full of them off to his side. “The rules are simple: No hits on the head, if you get hit you’re out, and if your opponent catches your ball before it hits the ground, you’re out! Anyone who goes out stays in jail for 2 minutes, then they can return to the game. Any questions?” 
    There was a brief chorus of murmurs before one voice cut through the rest like a hot knife through butter. One I knew all too well.
    “Actually Coach, I was wondering - what about the special balls?” Henry asked, having entered the gym without me noticing. My heart dropped. I was so close to completing a school day without his interference.
    “Special balls? What are you-” the coach began before Henry snapped his fingers. Immediately, the previously all-red dodgeballs transformed into an assortment of colors - about half were still red, but now there were pink, green, and purple balls in the mix.
    Coach Dugan blinked, his earlier confusion vanishing from his face. “Right, of course!” he said, his enthusiasm renewed. He held up a pink ball with his right hand. “If you get hit by a pink ball, you need to strip off a piece of clothing!” he announced, his tone identical to the one he had used for his normal instructions moments earlier.
    “If you get hit with a green ball,” he said, picking one up for demonstration, ”you have to perform oral sex on the person that hit you for a full minute!” It took everything in my power to avoid recoiling in front of Henry. This wouldn’t be one of his games where I could just blend into the background. If I fucked up, it would have real consequences. I glanced over at Emily, who was completely unfazed by the new rules along with the rest of the class. I knew there was only so much I could do to protect her from Henry, but could I really just sit back and watch her blow some guy on the court if she got hit?
    “If you get hit by a purple ball,” the coach began. I steadied myself. “You must masturbate with one hand until you reach climax!” I clenched my jaw, just barely suppressing my reaction while the rest of my classmates accepted these new rules with ease.
    “Lastly,” the coach shouted. There was more?! “is the golden ball!” Seemingly from nowhere, he materialized a golden dodgeball that shimmered with some sort of mystical energy. 
    “This ball will be given to the player with the most outs by the 40 minute mark. Whoever is struck by this ball must accompany the person who hits them in the locker rooms and satisfy their every desire for one hour! It’s the ultimate reward!” the coach announced proudly. “Whoever hits an opponent with the golden ball wins the game for their team!”
    My breath caught in my lungs. This game would go on for at least 45 minutes. How could I possibly protect Emily for that long without blowing my cover!? I glanced over at her again, her gentle face totally calm in the face of the game’s absurdity. On another day, for another person, I might have given up. For her though, I would give it my all. I had to.
    I looked across the line to the opposing team. Lan and Mai were both looking squarely at Emily, their brows furrowed and eyes calculating. It seemed they’d just realized they had the perfect target for their little contest. 
    I carefully glanced around the room while trying to remain inconspicuous, eventually spotting Henry behind me at the back. He was leaning against the wall, clearly satisfied to watch the game as a bystander this time. Fine, the less involved he was, the better.
    “Take your position…” Coach Dugan began. Emily bent her knees next to me, preparing for a healthy round of dodgeball like everything was normal. I squared up, ready for the fight of my life. Lan bent his knee, clearly preparing to sprint for the ball while Mai adopted a wide stance, no doubt preparing to get people out on catches. I really, really wished they weren’t our opponents. 
    “Game on!” the coach shouted with an accompanying blow of his whistle. A stampede of feet collided with the linoleum floor as a dozen students sprinted towards the line of multicolored balls.
    “Fall back!” I shouted to Emily, preparing for the incoming flurry of projectiles from people who were faster and stronger than either of us. 
    “Got it!” Emily shouted back, no doubt also recognizing the circumstances. Not a moment later the sounds of rubber colliding with objects and people reverberated through the building as the first wave of balls sailed through the air. I watched as students trudged off to the sidelines, heading to the jail after being struck by a red ball. In addition to them, a series of shirts came flying off as the initial volley died down, exposing the upper bodies of male and female students alike. If I wasn’t so focused on the game, seeing all the girls in their bras might have been a dream come true. Not today, though, not while I had to protect Emily. 
    A scan of the opposing team showed me that neither Lan nor Mai had a ball, allowing me to drop my guard for a moment and survey the scene. I watched as a girl I’d seen in passing was struck by a green ball, sprinting from the opposing side and dropping to her knees at the feet of the boy who’d hit her. Without an ounce of hesitation she pulled the front of his gym shorts down and enveloped his cock in her mouth. At the same time, a boy from our team ran across to the opposing side and dropped to the ground in front of his opponent. He quickly exposed the blonde girl’s pussy and buried his face in it, drawing excited gasps from his opponent. Looking closer, I realized that the girl he was eating out was Natalie. Henry must have undone her petrification at some point since the last time I’d seen her, back when he turned her and our biology teacher into a sapphic marble statue. I found myself feeling surprisingly relieved, though I doubted she had any memory of her time as a piece of erotic art.
    A sharp thwack to my left brought me out of my thoughts in an instant. Emily had been struck in the arm by a red ball, I watched as it bounced across the floor, having hit its mark dead on. Shit! Had I really failed to protect her already?!
    “Damn it, stay in this Derek!” she shouted to me as she ran off to the jail. Wait a minute… If she was in jail, she was safe from the effects of the colored balls! It was actually GOOD if Emily got hit by the normal red balls. I breathed a sigh of relief. For at least two minutes, my friend would be safe.
    I scurried and picked up the red ball that had struck Emily. I could use it to deflect incoming balls to keep her and myself safe. My reflexes were tested as soon as the thought left my head, jolting the ball in front of my chest just in time to deflect an incoming projectile moving at ludicrous speed. I looked up to see Lan rushing to grab another ball, having just barely missed getting me out, before grabbing a pink ball and whipping it into my teammate, forcing her to remove her t-shirt.
    I remained focused on the game, dodging or blocking as needed while trying to ignore the absurdity around me. One girl on the opposite team was already down to her panties, somehow having been struck by three pink balls. Her tits were completely exposed, though she didn’t demonstrate any embarrassment or even discouragement. To her, it was a completely normal game. The same was true of a guy on the opposing team, still playing dodgeball despite being down a shirt and a hand, frantically masturbating while trying to catch incoming balls in his remaining arm. Evidently he’d been struck by a purple ball.
    “I’m back!” Emily said breathlessly as she jogged up to my side. Damn, time to focus up again.
    “Great, now stay back. Lan and Mai are going wild.” I directed. I wasn’t exaggerating, Lan was whipping every ball that came his way back at double the speed it came in, while Mai was dashing across the court and catching any ball in her vicinity. She was playing a defensive role with offensive gusto, and it was working. I saw a guy lock eyes with Emily and whip a purple ball in her direction. Rushing to her aid, I quickly used the ball in my hands to deflect the incoming attack. 
    “Nice save!” Emily shouted to me. I momentarily turned to look at her only to glance a pink flash whiz past my face and into Emily’s shoulder. My attention returned to our opponents, where I saw Lan smirking, having landed a direct hit on his target. 
    “Damn it! He’s good,” Emily exclaimed, grasping the bottom of her gym shirt and lifting it over her head before tossing it haphazardly to the side as so many before her did. It was rare to see any exposed skin on Emily given how modest she usually dressed, so watching her remove her whole shirt was something else. Her skin was creamy in tone and looked beautifully soft. I wanted to run my hand over her belly, or caress her back. Her large, soft tits were wonderfully hammocked by a simple white bra that offered a tantalizing view of a part of her I’d always longed to see.
    I was swiftly snapped out of my daze by the sharp sensation of a ball colliding with my chest. A jolt of panic shot through me before seeing a flash of red bouncing away from me. Thank goodness, only a red ball. I was out in the normal way, not the weird sex way. 
    “Don’t worry, Derek, I’ll hold the line!” Emily reassured with cheerful bravado. Clearly it was all a game to her, even as her shirt lay on the floor. I hurried off to the jail alongside several other students, left to ponder my mistake. How could I have been so careless? The rules of the game made getting undressed normal, but it didn’t make ogling her tits normal! If Emily had been looking at me she practically would have been able to see her tits reflected in my eyes. Henry’s powers made exceptions to common sense, but it didn’t completely invert it. If I wasn’t careful, Emily might take my actions as unwelcome advances, even in spite of the bizarre circumstance.
    All that was without even mentioning Henry himself. He was still watching the game from behind me. If he noticed me acting even slightly out of place I’d be fucked beyond measure. As far as he knew nobody was capable of resisting his powers, and I didn’t want him having any suspicions otherwise. There was no telling how he’d respond to a threat like that. For all those reasons and more, I needed to focus up and start taking this game seriously. No more staring at Emily, no matter how much my horny lizard brain wanted me to!
    I watched Emily anxiously from the sidelines, tapping my foot as the clock ticked down until I could rejoin the game. I momentarily locked eyes with Lan on the opposing team. Realizing I was out, I saw a smirk creep over his face knowing Emily would be undefended. Soon enough he was dashing for a green ball. I still had a minute left before I could rejoin. Shit!
    Lan clutched the ball tightly as he lined up a shot on Emily, who was distracted trying to pick up a ball from the other side of the court. I wanted to call out and warn her, but that kind of momentary distraction would be more than enough for Lan to land his shot. 
    All I could do was watch as Lan whipped the green ball in Emily’s direction, hoping for his minute of oral. I winced, preparing for the worst, only to be surprised in the best possible way. Emily, having clocked his throw, gracefully curved around its trajectory and used the momentum to launch a ball of her own in his direction. Lan, caught completely off guard, was struck in the leg by the purple ball. Cursing under his breath, he slid his right hand into his gym shorts and began stroking. I looked away, not particularly drawn to the scene but nonetheless grateful that he’d be limited to one hand for a while. 
    Even better, my time was up! I ran out to the court to rejoin Emily.
    “I’m back!” I shouted to Emily as I rejoined her side.
    “Derek-” she began, turning her head just long enough to get clocked in the shoulder by a pink ball. My joy at returning to my protective role shattered as I unwittingly caused the distraction that caused her to be hit again.
    “Ugh, damn!” Emily said as she reached her arms back to unclasp her bra.
    “Wait, you’re-” I began, but before I knew it Emily had tossed the bra aside, exposing her breasts for all to see.
    My eyes lingered on the full, unobstructed view of her unbound tits. Her pert, pink nipples were beautifully framed by the fair skin surrounding them, the centerpoints of her soft breasts that swayed with every motion. 
    “Focus, Derek, we can win this!” Emily declared, her focus completely uninterrupted by her sudden disrobing. 
    “R-right,” I stammered, dragging my eyes away from her body. I tried to focus on the game, I really did, but every jolt or dash Emily made sent her boobs into a pendulous motion I couldn’t hope to pull my eyes from. She was so immeasurably perfect, every part of her.
    I didn’t dare act surprised when I got hit again. In fact, I barely even registered it. That is, until I saw the flash of green from the ball that had collided with me. Shit, that was the one I really didn’t want to get hit by. I looked up, expecting and dreading the possibility of seeing Lan or Mai, only to find an entirely different person greeting my line of sight. In front of me was Natalie, the shy blonde seemed even more shocked that she had landed the hit than I was.
Natalie raised an eyebrow at me, causing me to remember that I needed to fulfill the rules of the game. Panicking, I rushed forward across the dividing line, sliding to my knees in front of Natalie. If I’d waited a moment longer it may have drawn suspicion. After all, Henry was still watching the game from behind me. I’d made it though, now all I had to do was eat out Natalie.
    Yes, all I had to do was eat out Natalie.
    “Damn it, Henry,” I muttered as I pulled Natalie’s gym shorts and underwear down, allowing me just enough space to nestle my mouth onto the girl’s waiting pussy. Leaning my head into her waist was surprisingly taxing, Natalie was short enough that I had to hold her hips for support as I bent forward to compensate for the height difference. Unexpectedly, Natalie had taken this as license to grab the sides of my head, guiding me towards her waiting clit.
    Burying my hesitation, I began running my tongue up and down the top of her pussy, increasing in speed as Natalie began applying more force to my head, burying my face in her hips as she took me in. I’d seen a few other students get hit by a green ball, with many of them being rather clinical about the process. After all, the rules called for a minute of oral, not passionate oral.
    Natalie, however, was keen on getting her way. Between the incident with Ms. Shae and the current encounter, I was beginning to think her quiet demeanor was hiding some seriously intense desire. I’d been so thoroughly immersed in Natalie’s body that I nearly missed when my minute was up. Eventually Natalie loosened her grip on my head, allowing me to withdraw and get back on my feet, knees sore from kneeling on the hard wooden floor. With little more than an awkward glance, I returned to my team’s side. Mercifully, it seemed Emily hadn’t been hit while I was attending to Natalie
    “Jeez, the way she was acting almost made me wish you and I were on opposite teams,” Emily remarked as I returned to her side.
    “Haha yeah, I - Wait, what?” I interrupted.
    “What?” Emily responded frantically.
    “What did - look out!” I exclaimed, dashing in front of her and catching an incoming green ball without a moment to spare. I sighed, relieved that I actually managed to save her this time. But if I caught the ball, then who…?
    “Ugh!” I heard a female voice cry out from opposite our team. To my shock, Mai began jogging over to our side of the court.
    “Just so you know, that wasn’t meant for you,” Mai growled as she got down on her knees in front of me.
    “Yeah, well, try again next ti-” I began before being interrupted by Mai. In an instant, the girl had pulled my cock free from my pants and enveloped it in the warmth of her mouth. She then began bobbing her head up and down with vigor, her competitive spirit not allowing her to give the task anything but her best. I tried to play the blowjob off, not wanting to give Mai the satisfaction, but I could feel my breath quickening and my face growing flush. She was giving it everything she had and it was working.
    “Well, someone’s lucky today,” Emily remarked. She said it in a joking tone, but it lacked the normal warmth of her commentary. Even through my throngs of pleasure, I was able to clock echoes of discontentment in her voice. Was she upset about something? She’d accepted everything else as normal. Hell, she made that comment while thinking it was completely normal to have her tits out. So why was me getting blown by Mai suddenly having an effect on her mood?
    I turned to face her, only to find my eyes once again drawn to her exposed breasts. The combination of Mai’s excellent tonguework and seeing a topless Emily proved too much for me to handle. I exploded into Mai’s mouth, my cock twitching as I pumped cum onto the girl’s waiting tongue. Without a word, Mai quietly swallowed my load, returned my dick to my pants and ran back to her side of the gym. 
    “I… Holy hell…” I muttered.
    “What? It’s only a blowjob. Get your head back in the game,” Emily snipped. She was right, whether she knew it or not. I had no time to bask in the afterglow of getting my cock sucked, it was making me stand out like a sore thumb. Even knowing that, I was still in an endorphin-fueled fog. I could practically still feel Mai’s tongue sliding up the underside of my penis, the way her breath felt on its head.
    “Look out!” Emily shouted. Before I came close to reacting she had stretched her arm out in front of my head, narrowly blocking an incoming pink ball. I regained my focus in time to see Mai, having taken an offensive play, looking pissed off that the ball meant for me had hit Emily 
    “Derek, dude, you have to focus! That could’ve clocked you right in the head! Mai throws like a machine, you know!” she explained as she slid her shorts down to the floor.
    Holy fuck. Emily was now standing before me in nothing but a pair of pale purple panties, granting me a nigh-full view of her body. I could see everything, the smoothness of her thighs, the roundness of her ass. I could even make out a small birthmark on her left buttock! It was everything I ever could have fantasized about. It was…
    Dangerous.
    Not only had I let myself get distracted, I’d let Emily get stripped down to next to nothing. Was I really so pathetic that I’d let her get humiliated in this game just to ogle her body along with everybody else? Forget being in love with her, that’d make me a bad friend. I resolved myself: No more games, no more distractions. She wasn’t getting hit again, and neither was I if I could help it.
    “Thanks for the save, Em, let’s get these guys,” I declared, my body pumping with a bizarre mix of hormones, adrenaline, and endorphins.
    “That’s the spirit! Think we have time to go for the golden ball?” Emily asked. 
    The golden ball. I’d completely forgotten! If Lan or Mai got Emily with the golden ball, there would be no telling what they’d make her do. She’d effectively be their slave! The coach said it would go to the player with the most eliminations, right? At this rate it would have to be Lan, maybe Mai. If I managed to get it, I could keep her safe from both of them at once. I felt an unnatural focus fall over me. This was it, all or nothing.
    Without waiting, I dashed forward, grabbing a red ball and whipping into a girl on the opposing team. Then I ran for another, launching it into a distracted guy’s leg before he could even see it coming. Soon enough I was in a functional flow state. Any ball that came my way was caught or deflected without exception. Emily was decent at avoiding most incoming projectiles, but I kept one eye on the twins at all times and made sure to do blocks and saves as needed. Emily’s earlier hints of annoyance with me were gone, replaced by exhilaration at every elimination I landed.
    For a fleeting moment, I locked eyes with Lan. At that moment, I could see him identify my strategy in real time. Without missing a beat, he shifted his focus away from Emily and began whittling down easy targets on our team with the precision and efficiency of a sniper. Soon enough we were locked in a dead heat, rushing to up our scores before the final minutes of the game where the golden ball would enter play.
    If I wanted to stand any chance of beating Lan, I would need to play smart. I tossed the green balls aside whenever I saw them - a minute getting blown was a minute I wasn’t getting eliminations. Purple and pink balls similarly lacked usefulness for my goals. I was sticking entirely to the classic red, as was Lan. The flurry of eliminations he was earning had whittled our team down to less than half, even with outs only lasting two minutes. He really wanted that golden ball, and I really didn’t want him to have it.
    “One minute left until the golden ball enters play!” the coach bellowed from the sidelines. Hearing that, I hurried back to Emily’s side. There were no more red balls available on our side, so from here on out I had to play defensively. 
    “Holy cow Derek, you were on fire out there!” Emily praised, clapping me on the shoulder. It took every ounce of my willpower to keep my eyes on her face when the rest of her body was so available to look at, but I managed to avoid blowing my cover. Henry was still watching the match from behind us, after all, no doubt amused by the unfolding game he’d concocted.
    I returned my attention to the opposing side. In an unusual sight, Lan and Mai seemed to be whispering something to one another. Mai had been glaring daggers at me ever since I caught her green ball, and I could practically feel the malice from the other side of the dividing line. Henry's manipulation had made everything seem normal, so her rage wasn’t coming from the fact that she’d been made to blow me. No, she must have been so determined to get eaten out by Emily that simply blocking her efforts had made me the target of her ire. 
    Lan and Mai finished their huddle, exchanging a short, silent nod. Before I could even blink, the two of them simultaneously whipped a pair of red balls in my direction. They each curved in opposite directions, intersecting on my location like a pincer. Even if I had the reflexes to dodge one of them, the other one would have cut off my dodge like it was nothing. Colliding with my chest so hard that it actually hurt, the two balls bounced onto the ground, leaving me defeated and Emily both literally and metaphorically exposed.
    Pushing through my shock, I hurried to the side of the court to wait out my two minutes. I briefly locked eyes with Emily on the way out. She gave me a playful wince and returned her focus to the game. Being so close to her, I could sometimes forget that she was just as oblivious as everyone else to Henry’s manipulations. She had no idea what was at stake for her. I, however, knew how serious this was. It felt like I had barely set foot off the court when the coach’s whistle cut through the squeaking of rubber shoes on wood. 
    “Alright folks, it’s time for the golden ball!” Coach Dugan shouted, the shimmering orb materializing in his hand once again, “and my sources tell me that…”
    From the back, Henry casually lifted his hand, snapping his fingers. In an instant, a floating number appeared above every player’s head, including my own. I looked up at the otherworldly floating digits above me, seeing the number 13 rotating in place. I saw a 9 above Emily, 3 above Natalie, 12 above Mai, and above Lan…
    15.
    “Lan! You had the highest elimination count, so the golden ball is yours!” the coach declared. Lan smirked, a mixture of confidence and relief, as the coach tossed the otherworldly ball to him. Without missing a beat, he hurled it in Emily’s direction. I could barely bring myself to look, but both me and Lan were caught off guard. Emily, who had been holding a purple ball, had deflected the incoming attack. The ball bounced unceremoniously back onto the opposing side. 
    Lan dashed to pick it up again, but Emily was ready. She reached her arm back and whipped the purple ball in Lan’s direction as hard as she could, causing her tits to ripple from the force. A sharp thud echoed throughout the room. Mai, standing in front of her brother, had caught Emily’s purple ball.
    “Shit!” Emily shouted, reaching her hand into her panties to start masturbating.
    “Language!” the coach shouted back, eliciting an immature giggle from Henry in the back.
    Lan sprang back up, golden ball in hand. “Thanks for the save, Mai!”
    Mai smiled. “No, thank you for suggesting we cooperate! Just remember, you land that shot and we each get thirty minutes with her!”
    My jaw hit the floor. Really?! NOW was the moment that the turbo twins decided to work together?! Countless years of fierce sibling rivalry put to rest JUST for the chance to have Emily serving them for less than an hour. Jesus Christ, they were even more down bad than I was!
    Emily, for her part, barely reacted to the revelation. She was too busy with a hand down her panties massaging her clit, her fingers practically vibrating with intensity. In her remaining hand she had a red ball, her last defense against Lan’s attacks. I could tell she was trying her best to stay focused, but the intensity of her masturbation was causing her knees to buckle and her eyes to flutter. She was building to a crescendo that, while unbelievably hot, would leave her completely defenseless. Lan saw this as well, deliberately holding off on his next throw until he was certain she’d have no chance of blocking.
    I felt the sweat dripping down my brow. My eyes were fixed on the clock. 20 more seconds until I was back in the game. 
    Emily bent forward, her tits dangling as she doubled over with pleasure. Her gasps and moans grew in both frequency and intensity as she accelerated the motion in her fingers. 15 seconds. 
    Lan steadied his feet, cold, steely focus falling over his face as he lined up his shot. 10 seconds.
    Emily lifted her head up one last time, looking first to Lan then to me. The signal in her eyes was clear, this was the last willpower she could spare before her body was too weak to resist. 5 seconds!
    “AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” A cry of ecstasy filled the gymnasium as Emily reached her crescendo. Her legs wobbled and gave out, causing her to drop to her knees right there on the floor without ceasing the circular motions on her clit. The ball she had been holding to defend herself rolled listlessly away as she released her grip on it to steady her hand on the floor. Lan made his move, launching the golden ball in a direct shot on Emily’s prone, near-naked body. 
    At the same time, my two minutes were up, but I wouldn’t be able to reach Emily in time. Was this really it? Did it have to end this way? What if…
    I burst forward, my body moving before my brain. I wouldn’t be able to reach Emily, but maybe I didn’t need to. I dove for a red ball lying on the ground. With no time to line up a shot, I used the momentum of my dive to put as much force as I could into launching the ball in Emily’s direction. The rubber stung my forearm as it collided with my skin, sending the ball sailing into the air.
    Time seemed to move in slow motion. As the sparkling golden ball soared towards Emily, so too did my red ball, my last desperate attempt to save my friend as she knelt exposed in a puddle on the floor. 
    Then, miraculously the balls collided in midair. My red ball carried just enough force to knock the golden ball off its initial trajectory. It whizzed just over Emily’s shoulder, narrowly missing its intended target by the smallest possible margins. Before I could process what had happened, another sound echoed throughout the gym. The sound of the golden ball colliding squarely with Henry’s chest. He’d been observing his handiwork from pretty much directly behind Emily, so when I hit the golden ball off course it was just enough to get it away from her and into him.
    Oh. Oh god…
    The whole gymnasium fell silent as everyone watched the golden ball bounce softly at Henry’s feet. He looked at the ball, then at Lan, then straight at me. His face was completely indecipherable. Henry, for the first time since the game began, stood up from the wall he was leaning on. I gritted my teeth, preparing for whatever hell he was ready to unleash upon us for turning his game against him. 
    “Welp, no complaining when I made the rules. Come on dude, looks like I’m yours for the next hour,” Henry said nonchalantly.”
    Lan blinked “Um… I… Okay? I guess? Mai, do you wanna…?”
    Mai seemed equally shell-shocked. “I mean, we did agree that I’d get half the time if you hit with the golden ball so… I guess so?” she muttered, actively working through her thought process. 
    The three paused for a moment, taking in the unexpected outcome. Then, without another word, Henry, Lan, and Mai walked off to the locker room for their hour of god-knows-what. For my part, I was still on the ground, struggling to process what the fuck had just happened.
    “Need a hand?” I heard a friendly voice say. I looked up to see Emily reaching her around out for me to grab. She was still dressed in only her panties, now with a noticeable damp spot around her crotch.
    “Please,” I said, latching onto her arm as she helped lift me off the ground. As soon as I was standing, the sound of the school bell echoed throughout the gymnasium, signalling the end to a long, hard-fought day.
    “Ugh, finally, today went on forever,” Emily complained as she picked up her stray clothing scattered across the floor. Somehow, even knowing it was due to Henry’s influence, I was still flabbergasted by Emily’s ability to brush off the day’s events as though they were nothing out of the ordinary. I took one final chance to ogle her incredible tits before she once again secured them in her bra.
    “I gotta say though Derek,” she said as she pulled her shorts back on, “you can be kinda cool when you take things seriously.”
    “Cool? Me? Who are you and what have you done with Emily?” I retorted, trying to mask my genuine elation at the compliment.
    Emily rolled her eyes as she pulled her shirt over her head. “I mean it. Lately you’ve been kinda distant, seeing you actually take stuff seriously again was nice.”
    The comment hit me like a truck. Of course I’d been detached, how could I not be? If I had a breakdown every time Henry pulled some crazy shit my brain would have been leaking out of my eyeballs by now.
    For her though, everything was normal. My detachment wasn’t coming as a response to extreme destabilization, it was coming from ordinary day after ordinary day. Worst of all, I couldn’t tell her any of this. I wanted so badly to explain what was really going on, why I had been distant, but I just…
    “Well, maybe I can start taking stuff a little more seriously. Just for you,” I said as honestly as I could. Emily’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit, a real smile creeping over her face.
    “Just for me? Wow, I feel so special,” she half-joked. “I was gonna hang out with Lan and Mai after class, but…” she mused, glancing in the direction of the locker rooms, “it seems like they might be busy for the next little while. Wanna grab pizza?”
    I didn’t. After that whole ordeal I was completely drained. At the same time, I’d earned a hard-fought victory in keeping Henry and the twins at bay. Now there was no chance of any of them interrupting us, at least for the next hour. Who would I be to turn down the quality time I’d worked so hard for?
    “You know what Em? That sounds fantastic.”