Chapter 18: The Last Straw

"Today, we're going to be doing something very interesting, and when I say interesting, I mean it~"

The students looked all confused and some of them were weary as they stared at their physical education teacher. She had long hair tied to a ponytail, and had a figure for someone of her age. She was also wearing a jersey jacket with a white shirt under it and jogging pants plus sneakers. She was also the interest of some male students, even though she was older than them. The students on the other hand, were wearing white shirts, in which the sleeves had a dark maroon color, dark maroon shorts and sneakers. Only Nicole May was wearing a long sleeved shirt underneath her shirt. Currently, all of them were outside, at the volleyball court, which was next to the basketball court. Metal grid fences separated the basketball court from the volleyball court, to avoid balls going to the other side.

"Stewart! Rustford! Both of you get the balls in the equipment shed!" the teacher exclaimed and blew her whistle.

"Yes, Miss Summers," Nicole May muttered and sighed while she turned to Avegaille. She noticed that Avegaille was too quiet while listening to Emily talk and quickly grabbed her arm before Emily could notice. After that, she quickly dragged her until the two of them got to the equipment shed.

As the two of them got inside to get the volleyballs, Nicole May looked at Avegaille's face and realized how different she was from before. Avegaille started to put some balls in the empty basket and Nicole May put in the rest until there were enough balls for them to use.

"Hey, Avegaille…" Nicole May muttered while she tugged Avegaille's sleeve.

"What is it?" Avegaille asked apathetically as she turned to her.

"You know, you don't have to be with Emily all the time if you don't want to…" Nicole May muttered while she slowly turned away from her.

"It's okay, I'll be fine… I guess…" Avegaille said and laughed a bit. Then, she sighed. "For some reason, I do feel a bit… not so happy… I guess that's the effect of not taking my medication…"

"Well, we still have detention after school, so… I hope you'll still be all right…" Nicole May muttered. She looked really worried while she stared at Avegaille's face. Then, she heard a whistling sound coming from outside. She quickly picked up one side of the basket handle and Avegaille took the other. After that, both of them got outside and approached their teacher.

"You two are slow… geez. Anyway class, let's get started," Miss Summers said while she let go of the whistle she was holding, with its strap still hung on her neck. Avegaille and Nicole May placed down the basket full of volleyballs on the ground and went back to the area where the students were. "First, pick a partner. Then, take one ball here. We're going to do some basic volleyball passing!"

"Avegaille, let's be partners!" Emily exclaimed as she quickly took Avegaille's arm and pulled her away from Nicole May.

Nicole May watched the other students search for their partners until she was the only one left without a partner. Then, someone tapped her shoulder and she quickly turned around. She looked a bit startled as she saw Phil holding a ball in his hand and then stared at him exasperatedly.

"It's really hard that neither of us could be Avegaille's partner, you know what I'm saying?" Phil remarked and chucked. "Are you sure you can do stuff like volleyball? I mean, you were in that wheelchair and all yesterday…"

"I'll be fine… so don't worry about it," Nicole May muttered while she placed her hands on her hips. "Whatever, let's start doing this, even though we've been always doing this in Midway Academy…"

All the students started doing volleyball passes to one another while Miss Summers observed them. Nicole May and Phil continued to make passes, and both of them were doing quite well. Emily and Avegaille were doing passes as well, with Avegaille catching the ball with her hands when it was too high for her to hit.

Emily was observing how well Nicole May had been doing passes with Phil and thought of doing something to distract her. As Avegaille passed the ball to her, Emily quickly hit the ball more towards her left. This changed the ball's trajectory, now going towards Nicole May. On the other hand, Nicole May noticed that the ball from Emily's side was fast approaching towards her and quickly reacted to it by kicking the ball. The ball bounced onto the metal grid fence and rolled slowly on the ground. Everyone was surprised at what they saw, even Miss Summers. Some of them stopped doing passes while Miss Summers approached Nicole May.

"Rustford! Those balls are not soccer balls! Why did you do that?" Miss Summers asked furiously as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Sorry, it was just a reflex action… I mean, don't you think it's unnatural for a ball to come flying towards you unless someone did it on purpose?" Nicole May asked while she glared at Emily, who pretended to look innocent.

"Whatever, anyway, class, we're going to have a volleyball match next!" Miss Summers announced as she walked away from Nicole May and the other students quickly moved and followed her.

"Wow, you're as good as Avegaille back when her leg wasn't injured yet," Phil remarked and chuckled while he held on Nicole May's shoulder.

"Avegaille plays soccer?" Nicole May asked and looked at Phil curiously.

"That was years ago… around third grade… she was really good at it. Her P.E. teacher thought she had potential and they started training her along with some other students," Phil explained as he folded his arms across his chest. "Of course… family problems occurred, in which Avegaille got somehow involved… and her leg got badly injured after that. Promise me you won't tell her that I told you this, okay?"

"If this is supposed to be a secret, why did you tell it to me?" Nicole May asked as she looked at Phil skeptically. "Won't Avegaille be upset if she found out you've been telling this to people?"

"I know, but Avegaille's quite attached to you ever since school started, so you're bound to ask things about her eventually," Phil replied and shrugged. "Besides, I never just tell anyone about this… only to people who I know Avegaille trusts quite a lot…"

.-.-.-.-.-

"Hmm, you two seem so quiet today…" Mrs. Stewart muttered while she flipped through the pages of the magazine, which was on her desk.

Nicole May was silently reading a book while Avegaille was randomly doodling on the back of her notebook. Mrs. Stewart was a bit bothered by how quiet they were as compared to yesterday. She stood up and went outside of the office so she could chat with Vivian instead. As Mrs. Stewart closed the door, Nicole May quickly closed her book and turned to Avegaille.

"Hey… Avegaille… there's something I need to tell you," Nicole May muttered, in which Avegaille stopped scribbling on her notebook and quickly turned at her. "I think… I may have remembered why… Emily is like that to me…"

"Really?" Avegaille looked at Nicole May curiously. "Well, why is she like that?"

"I could barely remember much, but there was this student who approached me back when I was in third grade…" Nicole May said as she folded her arms across her chest. "She looked somehow similar to Emily, but I'm not sure if it was really her. Anyway, when I was looking at the scores on that huge board, the girl approached me. Of course, I didn't know what to do back then, and then, those people who I used to be with came along. They told me that I shouldn't be friendly towards people like her… and I did what they said. The girl looked really disappointed after that… and I never saw her around since…"

"I see… I understand now… I think it's time…" Avegaille muttered while she slowly turned away from Nicole May and started to think.

"Time for what?" Nicole May asked as she looked at Avegaille nervously and scratched her head.

"Give me a bit of time to sort out the details… it should be ready by tomorrow," Avegaille replied. She closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Your story matched exactly with what Emily told me… it's no doubt she was the one in your story. I don't know when I'll say what I have in mind in front of Emily… it could be anytime tomorrow…"

"Well, if you need any help or more information, you know you can always ask me…" Nicole May said and turned back to the book she was reading.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll ask you if there's more I need to know…" Avegaille muttered as she opened her eyes and stared at the doodles in her notebook.

.-.-.-.-.-

The next day, everything seemed usual and ordinary during Mr. Collins class. Mr. Collins assumed that Avegaille was going to be late again and decided to start class right away. As he was about to write on the board, he noticed the door opening and thought it would be Avegaille running inside and colliding with something. But he sensed something different as soon as Avegaille entered the classroom. He noticed that Avegaille looked very serious and annoyed at something and she quietly sat down at an empty seat by the back of the classroom.

"Ahem… Avegaille, you're late again!" Mr. Collins called as he approached Avegaille while Avegaille lifted up her head and stared at him. He felt nervous after seeing Avegaille's glare and kept quiet.

"Oh… yeah… I guess I was," Avegaille muttered as she slowly turned away from Mr. Collins and looked outside the window. "I'm not usually like this, am I? I can tell by your expression…"

"Well… did something happen?" Mr. Collins asked, confused at what was happening.

"Ah, Nicole May told me to stop taking my medications for a week… I don't know why… and she wouldn't tell me why either," Avegaille replied as she folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes.

"I really don't know what is more unusual, you always colliding into something when you're late for class or you being serious like that…" Mr. Collins remarked and sighed. He went back to the front of the classroom where the board was and started writing the lesson of the day.

While the class started copying the notes on the board, Phil tapped Nicole May's shoulder and he handed over a note to her. Nicole May immediately took the note and read it. Afterwards, she took out a pen and wrote on it. She crumpled the paper and threw it back at Phil's face. Phil was quite startled and flattened the crumpled paper until he could read what Nicole May wrote.

"Go away… I don't date men…?" Phil read to himself and stared at it dumbfoundedly. Then, he lifted up his head and looked at Nicole May's back. "Come on now, be serious and answer my question…"

Then, another crumpled ball of paper smacked into his head, which surprised him. He quickly flattened out the paper and noticed it was Nicole May's handwriting as he read through the note. Emily, who had been sitting on the other side, noticed what Nicole May had been doing and quickly raised her hand.

"What is it, Miss Hayward?" Mr. Collins asked after he noticed Emily raising her hand.

"Mr. Collins, Nicole May's been throwing paper at that guy!" Emily exclaimed while everyone turned to Nicole May, who looked really exasperated.

"Why? Are you jealous that Nicole May doesn't give you the same attention as she does to Phil?" Avegaille asked loudly, in which everyone quickly turned their attention to her and sweat-dropped.

"What?! You're acting weird today… but… of course not!" Emily protested. She quickly stood up and turned to her. Then, she clenched her fists, trying to control her temper. "What makes you think I would want her to give me any attention?"

"That's not what your expression tells me…" Avegaille remarked, staring at Emily seriously. "You keep saying that you wanted to be a top student and yet you could never achieve that because there was someone else who was better than you. You used to admire Nicole May the first time you saw her become a top student, but you started hating her because of her personality. Did you know? Nicole May was also lying about her obnoxious and arrogant personality so she could just fit in with those people. Of course, you didn't try to know the truth and held a grudge against her. You thought that by studying here in Centralville Middle School, you would finally be able to get away from all of that. But when you met Nicole May again, you felt everything was happening all over again, and the only solution you can come up with is to make everyone think that she's obnoxious and annoying."

"Ah… how… did you…" Emily muttered nervously and everyone kept quiet. Even Mr. Collins couldn't say anything even though it was disrupting the class.

"Oh, Nicole May told me something… something she apparently forgot, until she remembered it again," Avegaille said while she stood up and folded her arms across her chest. "Here's something interesting you should know though… it's impossible for Nicole May now to be a top student."

"Huh… why?" Phil asked and Nicole May turned to him to answer his question.

"It's because I was cutting classes without permission like Avegaille last week," Nicole May replied and shrugged. "Basically, that ruins my perfect school record, but I don't really care anymore."

"Well, I hope you children won't mind and continue this later, since we still have a lot to catch up on," Mr. Collins interrupted while the other students turned to him. He turned to Avegaille, who was still standing. "Avegaille… why don't you just stay at the principal's office for now… before you say anything else…"

"Yeah, fine with me…" Avegaille muttered and shrugged. She took her bag and walked out of the classroom.

"Well then, take your seat Miss Hayward, we'll now discuss some complex math equations," Mr. Collins said while Emily slowly sat down on her chair, speechless and her face was blank.

.-.-.-.-.-

After Mr. Collin's class finished and everyone got out of the room, only three people were left inside. Nicole May was sitting on her desk, observing Emily, who was on the other side of the room, while Phil was standing next to her. Emily was very quiet and barely moved from her seat. Phil was getting worried and about to approach Emily but Nicole May quickly grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Huh, are you sure it's fine to leave her like that?" Phil asked and looked even more worried.

"We'll make it worse if we talk to her right now," Nicole May whispered as she stood up from her seat and placed the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "We should go now before Miss Harrington gives us another endless lecture for being late…"

While Nicole May and Phil were about to get out of the room, Emily stood up from her seat, which made them turn back to her. The two of them noticed how upset Emily was, and Phil came closer to her. Nicole May followed him until the two of them were in front of Emily.

"Is there something you want to say?" Nicole May asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Not… really… but was Avegaille also the reason why you changed? I mean, you being a better person?" Emily asked while she lowered her head and looked away from them.

"Yeah… she was…" Nicole May replied and sighed. "Took me days to think about it though… I doubt you could just go back to your usual self after hearing all that… As for Avegaille, don't be intimidated by her… she's just not her usual self, and that's how she is when not on medication."

"Oh yeah, I don't think Nicole May's that bad… even though she gets pissed at me over simple details…" Phil added and chucked. "You just have to get to know her better, that's all…"

"Shut up, Anderson!" Nicole May exclaimed as she stared at him exasperatedly. "By the way, the stupid note you gave to me earlier, I am serious when I said I don't date men…"

"Eh? What were you asking her anyway?" Emily asked while she lifted up her head and looked at Phil curiously. "Not that I mean to pry or anything… it's just that… you know…"

"Ah, that… I thought perhaps Nicole May would be interested in me showing her around town after school, but seeing as she's not quite interested in me or any guy… don't think that's going to happen…" Phil replied and laughed nervously while he placed his hand behind his head.

"Whatever, we're going to be late if we all don't get out of here and get moving to Miss Harrington's class," Nicole May interrupted.

"Hey… Rustford… there's something I want to say to you…" Emily muttered, in which Nicole May turned to her and looked at her skeptically. "While it's true that I won't be telling everyone else nasty things about you from back then anymore… it doesn't mean that we can be friends just like that. I've… always wanted someone I can compete with. You know, it's the reason why I strive to be better, since there's someone better than me and I want to surpass them…"

"Just… don't overdo it," Nicole May muttered and sighed. "You should know… Avegaille once got a grade higher than mine in a certain individual science project. I'm pretty sure you'll find something that you're better at doing than I can. Besides, I'm not as perfect as you think."

"Yeah, I'll figure out what that is… until then, I hope you don't mind if I take Avegaille along with me once she's back to her usual self~" Emily exclaimed giddily and she giggled. After that, she quickly grabbed her bag and ran out of the classroom.

"Whoa, I didn't know she was interested in Avegaille… in that way…" Phil remarked as he sweat-dropped.

"Looks like this isn't over yet…" Nicole May muttered and sighed exasperatedly.