Zoe ran off. She moved in quick, unpredictable zigzags down the hallway, just like on the handball court. The vending machine reacted immediately. With a loud *click-click* it shot off a can of diet cola. Zoe smoothly ducked under the projectile. The can crashed against a bulletin board and left a lasting impression in the minutes of the last teachers' meeting.
“Is that all?!” Zoe shouted provocatively as she took cover behind a mobile trash bin. “My little brother throws harder than you!”
The machine seemed to have understood the insult. Its digital display changed from “Please select a drink” to a series of red exclamation marks. It fired a whole volley – three cans of apple spritzer in perfect formation. Zoe jumped to the side with a diving leap, rolled over her shoulder, and immediately got back on her feet.
“Leo! Now! He’s reloading!”, she shouted.
That was Leo’s cue. He stormed out from behind his concrete pillar, holding the Q-fluctuator firmly in both hands. The machine made a rattling, hollow noise as the internal mechanism tried to push the next cans into the ejection chute. One… two… three seconds!
Leo was almost there when suddenly the living teacher’s desk blocked his way. The large wooden panel flipped up like a shield. “Access denied!”, the desk’s posture seemed to say. From one of the drawers, two packs of colorful chalk and an old, dusty eraser flew straight at Leo’s face.
“No, not now!”, Leo shouted. He ducked while running, lost his balance, and slipped on a puddle of spilled lemonade. He slid on his back across the smooth floor – right under the teacher’s desk.
When he came to a stop on the other side of the desk, he lay directly in front of the large plastic feet of the vending machine. The machine had finished reloading. The huge ejection flap slowly opened, and Leo looked straight into the dark maw of the machine, where an ice-cold can of energy drink was already waiting.
“Good night, Leo,” he thought and blindly pressed the trigger of his quantum machine at the very last moment.
A bright, neon green flash illuminated the entire hallway. The sound was deafening – a mixture of thunder and the hissing of a huge coffee machine. For a brief moment, time seemed to stand completely still.