Goal:

It was lunchtime. I was starving and had just finished my only class of the week. There had been no games or training for the academy boys and so, I continued with my work and went to my class as I had nothing better to do. I hadn't seen heard or spoken to them since training, but I won't lie and tell you I hadn't thought about them. About him.

"Chicken or beef?" The lady serving food asked, snapping me out of my trance.

"Oh, chicken please." I said and she slopped it onto my plate, passing it onto the next lady who asked if I wanted peas or carrots or both. The restaurant was a funny place in our college. I didn't hang out here often. It was a beautiful place, decorated in bright reds, yellows and blues with white tables lined up smartly. I tended to grab cold food whenever I was hungry and take it back to my room. But I was starving today and the BBQ chicken they were serving looked too good to pass up. Despite this beautiful hall, however, laid the base of all things bitchy. This is where groups hung out. This wasn't a place for singular people. If you wanted a table you would have to have a bigger group than the people sitting there – and so, if you were alone there was no way you were able to sit there.

People like Honey ran this place. Despite the fact our college was known as prestigious – it simply showed that no matter how much money you had, cliques were always going to be a thing. And instead of the prettiest running the place, it was the girl with the most money.

I hadn't seen her since Coach shut her out of the changing rooms and I would be lying if I said I wasn't avoiding her. I never knew what it was about me that people here hated, but it was something. And try as I might, I never made friends here. Perhaps it was the fact I was an outsider. People knew I was only here because of money that wasn't mine and for some reason that hacked people off. I was a state-school kid, born and bred. They didn't believe I could ever be like them. I hated it here. I had from the minute I stepped foot in the college but there was nothing I could do about it. And so, I sucked it up. I stopped complaining and just tried to please everyone. It was much easier than standing up for myself and getting ridiculed for it.

I got in line to pay for my food and as I did someone pushed in front of me to stand with their friend. I sighed but let it go. None of it was worth it. If you argued here, you would gain nothing. Besides, if I had a friend in a line, I would probably do the same thing. Once I had my food, I went to put my tray down so that I could sneak it back to my room when my name was called. I turned around to spot Jack Hodgeson and his girlfriend. They waved at me and I realised it must have been them that called my name. I smiled back but continued what I was doing.

"Isla, what are you doing? Come over here you weirdo." Jack shouted across the tables and everyone turned to look at him. I shrugged and left my food on my tray, going over to the table that he was on. I felt people staring at me but I just ignored them. Once I reached the table, I realised there was more than just Jack and his girlfriend. Most of the team were here. Elliot included.

"We didn't know you sat in here." Jack said.

"I don't normally." I muttered and he laughed like I was joking.

"There's a seat down by Elliot you can have." Jack's girlfriend, Bridget, said and I smiled at her.

"Thanks." I mumbled and headed down to the seat next to Elliot at the end of the table. At the time, I didn't notice Honey and her group had walked in and were watching me. Elliot was on the phone and so I sat down quietly. I gently touched his shoulder to warn him that I was there, and he waved at me as he spoke. He sounded quite angry but was talking in hushed whispers. I began to eat, trying my best not to ear wig but it was hard. I hadn't spoken to him since we were both in the stands and I was nervous for what he would say. I was confused about what he had said, and I didn't want him to torture me again with false signals.

"Yeah I get that but what am I supposed to do Mum? I don't have any more time." He muttered angrily and paused as his mother answered. "Mum. Mum listen-" He took the phone from his ear and sighed before chucking it carelessly on the table and putting his head in his hands. He didn't have any food in front of him and I had never seen him look so worried.

"Are you ok?" I asked him and he turned to look at me.

"What?" He asked, like I snapped him from a trance.

"I said, are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah. Nothing you would understand." He spat and I flinched back. Had I done something wrong? I turned back around to face my food and sighed. Someone was moody. I began to eat, and Elliot sighed, his eyes shutting as he turned back to face me.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I didn't mean it like that." He groaned and I sighed.

"What did you mean it like then? Because you keep saying things like that." I snapped and jumped back at the tone in my voice. I was in a bad mood, I had been all day. Not for any reason other than that I was due on, but I kept taking it out on everyone. I had snapped at someone in my class also. Elliot also seemed shocked by my outburst, but it seemed to snap him out of his mood.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." He joked and I ignored him. "Hey." He said and bumped his shoulder against mine, causing the food that was on my fork on the way to my mouth to fall down my cropped white roll neck jumper and belted checked skirt.

"Are you joking?" I asked out loud looking down at my now stained jumper in shock. Elliot had frozen and didn't say anything. "This jumper cost £70." I muttered, trying to keep calm about the situation but failing as my voice went high.

"I am so-"

"Shut up." I snapped, cutting off Elliot's apology. I couldn't take my eyes from the brown stain where the chicken that was now on my lap had once been. "I think I'm going to go before I murder someone." I said as calmly as I could. I stood up from my chair and the chicken rolled off my lap and onto the floor.

"No, Isla, wait." Elliot pleaded and grabbed my wrist to stop me from leaving. I looked over at him and when I saw the guilty look on his face my resolve crumbled.

"I...I'll try and pay for it." He stuttered. "I will. It might take me a while but I-"

"It's fine Elliot." I said and tried my best to smile at him. You could see in his face that he felt terrible and was stressing about paying for it. "It's only £70. At least it wasn't my designer one." I joked and he sent an awkward smile back.

"Yeah. Only £70." He muttered and dropped my hand. His head dropped and I tilted my head at him in confusion. Before I could say anything the tap of heels sounded in my ear and my jaw clenched.

"Oh look, it's the slag." The tapping of stilettoes got louder before they stopped, and I could feel the crowd of beady eyes behind me. I turned around and crossed my arms over my chest. I didn't feel so beneath her today – I had a nice outfit on with some black stilettoes so she couldn't joke that I was underdressed like last time.

"Honey." I greeted sarcastically. She eyed my outfit and just when I thought I had gotten away with it she laughed.

"Oh, guys look. She can't even have lunch without spilling it down herself." She giggled along with her group and as hard as I tried to prevent it, I blushed.

"Funny." I said sarcastically and she immediately narrowed her eyes at me.

"It was. You should laugh when I laugh. I've told you this before you-" Her eyes flickered to the left of me as Elliot stood up besides me and her demeanour suddenly changed. A smile grew on her face and she tapped my arm with her long nails and giggled. "-silly thing!" She exclaimed and I glared at her. I hated when she did this. She would act nice but as soon as people weren't looking, she would stab you in the back for a diet pill. "And who's your friend?" She asked sweetly as she fluttered her eyelashes at Elliot. A new feeling filled my stomach, one of jealousy and protection, and it caught me off guard. I almost felt sick with it, and the more Honey looked at him the more I wanted to puke.

"I think we were just going, weren't we Isla?" Elliot asked. He looked down at me, but I felt like I was swaying. I was dizzy and I wanted to puke on Honey's red bottomed shoes. "Isla?" He asked again and I shut my eyes to try and gain my head. It was only when Elliot suddenly wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side that I realised I really was swaying.

"Ew, why are you touching her? I wouldn't touch her with a 10-foot pole if I was you. No one knows what's been on there." Honey laughed but I felt too sick to acknowledge her. Elliot glared at her and stood taller so that he towered over her despite her heels.

"I think it's time you left and didn't come back." He said sternly but I wasn't taking any notice. The feeling in my stomach was overpowering. I had never felt it before, and I hated it. As soon as she looked at him my stomach filled with it and the longer she stood there the worse it got.

Honey giggled at Elliot.

"You're funny, I like you. Come sit with us tomorrow." She smiled sweetly at him before she turned around. "Someone drop my number through his door later. We all know he wants it." She ordered to the people standing behind her. As she spoke, I felt full of rage but the feeling in my stomach made me want to cry. Perhaps it was the chicken?

"Keep your number to yourself. Anyone that wants that must be desperate." Elliot said sternly. He hadn't let go of me the whole time, if anything he pulled me closer to his side. I couldn't look at him. He was the first person that had ever spoken back to Honey other than Coach, but I didn't even have it in me to look at her shocked face. Honey giggled once more before she began to walk away.

"He's joking guys, Martin! Drop it in later."

Before Elliot could think of a reply, she was out of the restaurant along with her groupies, but it didn't help the sick, rage feeling in my stomach.

"Are you ok?" Elliot asked me and I nodded. I pulled out of his grasp and sat back on my chair.

"Yeah I'm fine." I lied. I wasn't. I still felt woozy with shock of the whole situation. I was embarrassed, I was mad, I was offended, and I was jealous. I was jealous.

I was jealous.

That feeling. The one that overwhelmed me; it was jealousy. I was jealous that she had looked at him, spoken to him and tried it on with him.

He wasn't mine. What was wrong with me? I had no right to be jealous.

"Are you sure?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah I'm just gonna-" I paused at a lump in my throat that nearly made me cry. "-Go. I'm gonna go." I said and gathered my bag. I went to leave but Elliot grabbed my hand.

"Wait, I'm coming." He said and I looked over at him in confusion, along with everyone else on the table. "In case you faint, or she comes back." He explained himself looking around at everyone before grabbing his jacket and following me out of the restaurant.

I wanted to cry but I couldn't with Elliot there. It would be too embarrassing. I couldn't let him know that she got to me. I didn't want to seem weak – no matter how true it was.