Chapter 10

We reached an empty hall and I let go of Chase's wrist. He was panting loudly while I exhaled small huffs through my nose. He bent over, putting his hands on his knees as I stared at him.

He was clearly starting to panic, given how his wide eyes started darting across the floor. "I'm going to be in big trouble," he said, eyes still on the floor. He slowly straightened up while fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "What have I done? He will kill me..."

"Calm down, Chase." I chuckled. "No one is going to kill you."

"My clean record will be ruined...I'm going to be suspended. If that happens, I'll fail my classes and—"

"God, shut up already." I rolled my eyes and slapped his cheeks, not too harsh to actually hurt him. "Stop your rambling, you will be fine. Heck! You stopped a fight. Everyone else would just stare and record it."

"But—"

"You don't have to be a goody-two-shoes with perfect grades all the time, you know?" I sighed. "You didn't do anything wrong. If anyone is to blame, it's Gregory. He's the one that started all this mess."

We stayed quiet after I said that, Chase looking deep in thought. I leaned my back against the walls, smoothing the wrinkles on the front of my crop top. Chase looked hesitant, as if he didn't know if to ask something or not. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, watching him scratch the back of his neck. He noticed me looking at him and smiled guiltily, finally deciding. "What happened between you both in the past?"

After hearing that question, I frowned a little. I should have expected him to ask that question sooner or later. Sighing, I spared him a glance and he grimaced. "Same typical story. He cheated on me."

His eyes widened at my confession, and I let out a dry chuckle. I continued explaining, nonetheless, "We were having a date at a restaurant. It was our one-year-anniversary. Everything was going alright until he started drinking. He got so drunk that he had to excuse himself to go and throw up. I waited patiently for him for five minutes, then ten, then fifteen. I was getting worried, so I went to look for him. Turned out he was making out in the parking lot with some other girl."

"Oh..." he trailed off. "I see."

"Yeah." I chuckled. The warning bell rang, signaling the end of lunchtime. His panicked state came back, making me laugh. "Go ahead, rush off to your history class. We don't want you to 'ruin your clean record.'"

He flushed a little and seemed like he wanted to say something, but decided not to, then nodded. I watched him scurry off into the sea of people with an amused lopsided grin on my face.

That boy surely brightened up my day.

I waited until the halls became empty before heading over to the soccer field. Once I stepped foot on the grass, I looked around to see if I found a stray ball somewhere. To my luck, there was.

I strutted over to the very center of the field, somehow feeling as if I was walking straight into a bait. Why else would there be a soccer ball exactly in the middle of the field?

Shrugging the feeling off, I picked the ball from the ground. I played with it in my hands for a bit and glanced at the nearest net. Placing the ball on the ground about twenty feet away from the net, I backed away until I reached a certain distance. I dashed forward and kicked the ball, watching it shoot forward and land against the net. I smirked and jogged towards it, grabbing the ball and going to the center of the field once again.

I calculated the distance to get to the net before putting the ball back on the ground. I kicked it forward as I jogged behind it. I smiled then turned around, kicking it upward and doing a perfect bicycle kick. I landed on the ground a little awkwardly, obviously needing more practice on the landing. When I looked back at the net, I noticed that my aiming was a little off since the ball landed on the very corner.

"Impressive." Somebody clapped.

I turned my head to look at a smirking Raymond, who was with the other two Musketeers.

"Let's see how you play with real competition."

"Raymond Douglas, I thought we settled for tomorrow." I raised an eyebrow as I straightened up.

"Yeah, well, I grew impatient. My teacher didn't come today, so I'm free. Let's see what you're actually made of, Clark," he said and grabbed the ball from the net.

I chuckled and raised my arms up in mock surrender. Soon enough, the other boys joined us.

Oscar held a whistle in his mouth, causing me to smirk. "Three against one? Playing dirty, aren't you?" I teased.

Raymond just rolled his eyes and gave the ball to Oscar, who positioned it between us both. "Oscar will be the referee, you will be up against Ethan and me." He grinned innocently. "If you're going to replace Greg, you've got to earn your place. First to score five points will be the winner."

"Alright." I smiled challengingly and pointed to the net I just scored into. "That net will be mine, the other one will be yours."

"Deal," they both said, and my smile grew wider.

"Bring it on, boys." I laughed and prepared myself.

Was it going to be hard? Definitely. Biker boots weren't made for playing soccer. Yet, I was still looking forward to beating these guys.

The sound of the whistle had me charging forward, my feet kicking the ball before they could reach it. It was exhilarating, to say the least. It had been a while since I last played soccer with other people, let alone on a team. I adored the way they would grunt or curse whenever I stole the ball away from them. Though I had to admit that they were putting up a very good fight.

I kept avoiding their attempts to steal the ball while kicking it from side to side. Ethan managed to steal it and quickly passed it on to Raymond, who successfully scored another point on their behalf.

I was already panting, sweat trickled down my forehead and adrenaline coursed through my veins. I was only a point away from winning. They still had two left. My crop top stuck to my chest as I wiped some sweat away from my forehead.

The two boys stared me down, panting as well as we waited for Oscar to blow the whistle.

I was determined to win this game, and it wasn't for a place in the team. I simply enjoyed hurting their ego and deflating their pride a bit. Cruel, wasn't it?

The next few minutes passed by fairly quickly. A grin etched on my face the moment my feet made contact with the ball. It flew right into the net, making a string of curses leave Raymond's mouth. I laughed in victory, enjoying how Raymond glared daggers at me and Oscar watched him in amusement.

"I can't believe a girl just beat your two stupid asses with three scissor kicks. You guys really suck," Oscar commented while laughing his ass off on the side of the field.

I was surprised by his choice of words, since I thought he was the most innocent of the three. Looks could surely be deceiving.

Raymond was plain upset and angry while Ethan looked at me admiringly. The 'big baby' turned to glare at Oscar, clearly not liking the comment. "You better shut up before I get over there and shut you up myself."

"Leave the guy alone, he was just telling the painful truth," I mused, and Oscar grinned.

"I like her already," he said, and I grinned at him. "I don't see why she can't join us."

Ethan opened his mouth to speak, but the ringing bell cut him off instantly.

Raymond huffed and left without sparing me another glance, while the other two Musketeers waved at me and followed him. It looked like the only donkey of the Three Musketeers was only Raymond.

I stretched my arms over my head and wiped the sweat off my forehead as my throat begged for some water. I started walking back into the school, heading once again to the cafeteria.

When I entered the building, someone started speaking from my right, "You were super amazing."

My head snapped to the side, and by reflex, my fist shot up and landed a few centimeters away from Chase's nose. His eyes widened and he stared nervously, making me let out a breath.

I relaxed my muscles and put my fist back down to my side as he grinned at me. I raised an eyebrow at him, eyeing the empty hallway. Apparently, this guy was everywhere I stepped foot on.

"Don't you have class?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

"My last two teachers were absent today, so I was kind of free..." he explained.

"So why didn't you leave after lunchtime?" I asked. "I mean, you could've just gone to your house early today and do whatever nerds like you do."

"I don't really have a car and I wanted to see you play," he said, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

I furrowed my brows and tilted my head to the side, curious. "And how did you know I was going to play?" I questioned.

"Well, the locker of one of the guys was next to mine, and I sort of overheard them saying they were going to challenge you in a soccer game. I didn't know you could play so well. Those kicks were amazing!" he exclaimed.

I chuckled and shook my head, leaning against the wall behind me. "I'm going to join the soccer team as a replacement for Gregory. That guy can't even keep up with his team. Shame on him," I said, shaking my head again. The bandage on his forehead caught my attention, and I chuckled a little. "You know, if you really were a nerd, you would've known that you don't need that bandage anymore."

"Huh?" he asked and furrowed his brows together, tilting his head like a lost puppy.

I shook my head and walked towards him, lifting up my hand. He closed his eyes and winced, making me raise an eyebrow. I ignored his reaction then ripped the bandage off his forehead. He opened his eyes and rubbed the spot, wincing slightly when his fingers came in contact with his scratch. It was kind of sore and the skin around it was a bit purple, but other than that, it looked fine.

I crumpled the used bandage on my fingers and threw it away, taking a step back to create some distance between us. "That's what I was talking about," I said. My throat didn't feel as dry anymore, so I decided to head over to the gym for a while. "Well, I better be on my way. I've got some stuff to do."

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you later then?" he asked.

"You will see me tomorrow, unless you want to go and train now instead of Friday," I said.

He seemed to consider it for a bit before he scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I guess. I don't have to study for anything at the moment, plus the library is being cleaned out..." he trailed off with a shrug of his shoulders, making me grin widely.

Seemed like the nerd was up for some action today.

"Let's get going, then." I chuckled and didn't wait for an answer as I started walking toward the school's parking lot. I could easily admit that I was very excited, even though my legs were hurting.

Who would have thought that a nerd would make everything much more interesting?

____________

[Edited: August 23rd, 2020 by michh_44]

So, what did you think about the soccer game? Do you agree of Amelia's decision about joining?  She's always coming up with new things every day. Leave a comment and vote if you wish and I wish you a great day! xx