"o faster!" Coach Taylor yells at us as we run. That's what she has been doing for the last fifteen minutes.

"That's what she said," Luke snorts and I roll my eyes. He's such a dork.

"Carter, shut the hell up or get out of my class!" She shouts.

"You wouldn't survive without me," he smirks.

"Just move it," Coach orders him.

"I...can't...do...this," Colette pants beside me, as we run.

"Come...on, Colette," I encourage her. "Only a few more."

They really shouldn't put gym class after lunch.

"I...can't," she wheezes, coming to a stop and resting her hands on her knees, taking large gasps of air.

I trudge to her and push her to move, only for her to fall right on the floor and I fall on top of her.

"Ow," she groans.

"Falls! Evrémonde! What are you doing!" Coach Taylor yells.

"Um...running?" I answer.

"Get the hell up right now!"

I get off of Colette and jump back up. Colette turns on her back and holds up both of her arms for me, I grasp them and pull her up.

"Alright. Enough running for today!" She says. "Today we'll be playing dodgeball."

No, you will be playing dodgeball. I will be sleeping on that bench.

"No," Colette whines.

"It will be fun. We'll be fine," I assure her. "We'll be totally fine. Just don't get your bum smacked."

"Easy for you to say. You're like a freaking pole," Colette mumbles.

"That's not going to help me with anything," I tell her.

"Just try hiding me, if our plan doesn't work."

"Got it."

"I want two teams. Team one: Stevens, Robertson, Davis, Pérez, Clark, Walker, Brooks, Kimathi, Olatunji, Adams," she says and I sigh in relief when she doesn't call me or Colette. "Team two: Laghari, Harris, Montes, Carter, Thompson, Wells, Evans, Falls, Evrémonde, Sasaki."

Everybody moves to their teams and Colette and I walk to Coach Taylor, like we're used to. Colette and I always go to the coach and tell her that we need to go to the bathroom. It never worked, but that doesn't stop us from trying.

"Coach Taylor?" I say.

"What?" She answers.

"May I go to the bathroom?" I ask, smiling.

"No," she snaps. "And neither can you, Evrémonde."

"I didn't even ask yet," Colette exclaims.

"Get to your teams," she points at the team standing on the right side of the room.

We sigh and drag ourselves to where the rest of the team is standing, then we stand in the far back of the room and by far back, I mean, far far far back. The whistle goes off and every person rushes to get one of the rubber balls, while we desperately try to camouflage. Colette is right behind me the entire time, following my actions and movements.

"Duck!" I shout. Colette and I duck down as a purple ball flies over our heads.

"Hi there," Zach's voice chirps.

"Hey, Zach," I greet him.

"What's up with Colette?" He points at my best friend.

"It's our protection mode," I explain.

"Ball!" Colette screams and we stand side by side, the ball passing by us, then I face forward again and Colette stands behind me.

"Did you ever try actually playing?" He chuckles.

"And get ball-ed? No, thanks," Colette snorts.

"Come on," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me and Colette along with him. He pulls us to the front of the team and my stomach drops. It looks like World War III.

People from the other team are throwing and slinging balls everywhere and I have to duck and crouch down a few times to avoid them. Colette squeals when she sees a ball heading for her, but Zach catches it before it reaches her and throws it at one of the guys from the other team.

"Stevens! You're out!" Coach Taylor yells, throwing her thumb over shoulder gesturing to the bench.

"I was about to die," Colette says slowly.

Due to Colette reading a lot of Shakespeare, she's probably the most dramatic out of us but, that's what I love most about her.

"Calm down, Ginger. You're fine," Zach tell her calmly.

"I'm not fine! I was about to get a concussion, you clodpole!" She screams.

"Clodpole?" Zach raises an eyebrow in question.

"It means, you're an idiot," I elaborate.

"Ahh. Well, you're lucky I was there to save you," he says smugly.

"Does that run in your group or...?" I ask.

"It runs in our group," he says, picking up two balls and handing them to us.

"Try playing. It's a huge stress relief, trust me."

I look down at the blue ball in my hand, then I sling it forward and it hits one of the guys from the other team.

"Kimathi! You're out!" Coach Taylor blows her whistle.

"Nice job, Leni," Zach holds up his palm and I high five it excitedly. I'm such a kid sometimes.

Colette throws the ball and it manages to hit a girl in the back.

"Brooks! Out!"

"You're right. This is stress relieving," Colette grins.

"Told you," he grins back.

"Um...where's Luke?" I ask him, suddenly remembering the other idiot.

"In the bathroom. Not a fan of sports," he replies.

"His loss," I shrug. "This is pretty fun."

"Yup," Zach nods. "Now let's get playing."

During the whole hour, Colette and I have lots of fun hitting people with balls and ducking them. We last until the very end of the game. There are only four people on the other team which are, Jennie, Katie (her friend), her other friend and this guy who I have no idea who he is, while there are four people on our team which are, me, Colette, Zach and this guy who–once again–I have no idea who he is.

That's when Luke chooses the right time to walk inside the gym room.

"Carter, get to your team now!" Coach Taylor commands.

"I just came back," he interjects.

"Get to your team!" She orders.

Luke rolls his eyes and walks to where we are standing, then he speaks up, "Hey, guys."

"Hi," I say.

"I can't believe you left me alone," Zach tells him, giving him a look of disbelief.

"Doesn't seem like you were alone," he gestures to us.

"Traitor," Zach mumbles, but either Luke ignores him or doesn't hear him.

Coach Taylor blows her whistle, indicating for us to start playing. I grab one of the rubber balls and I throw it at Jennie's friend, who doesn't notice the ball and it hits her shoulder.

"Clark! You're out!" Coach Taylor announces.

The guy on our team then gets kicked out, then the guy on the other team does too. Suddenly, Jennie swings a ball at me. I don't even have time to comprehend what is happening, until the ball makes contact with my face and I drop on the floor.

"Anna!" I hear someone yell.

My eyesight fills with black spots everywhere and there's a loud ringing sound in my ears. Three heads appear in my sight and my vision starts blurring.

"Cherries," someone else calls out and I recognize the person talking by the nickname, before my vision drowns in black.

| | | |

"Is she dead?" I hear a feminine voice asking.

Whoever asked that question, is an idiot.

"Stop being so extra, Trinity," another feminine voice says.

Thank you.

"She just passed out, people," I recognize the voice as Jennie's.

"Shut up, Jennie. This is all your fault," Colette's Scottish accent pipes up.

"I was playing dodgeball. Isn't that what everybody was doing?"

"Dodgeball, not smashball," A muscline voice says this time. Zach.

"I wasn't talking to you, idiot," Jennie seethes.

"Everybody, just shut up," Luke snaps.

That's actually nice of him.

"Wait, I think she's waking up," a guy says.

I open my eyes and blink a few times, until faces start appearing in my vision.

"What happened?" I croak out.

"You passed out," a girl with blonde curls says.

Really? I thought I went to Wonderland.

"Give her some space, so she could breathe," Coach Taylor instructs and everyone steps back away from me.

"My head hurts," I place my hand on my forehead.

"You should go to the nurse," Coach advises. "Carter, help her up and take her to the nurse."

"Why me?" Luke asks and I glare at him as I sit up.

Son of a billfish.

"Because I said so, now get going!" Coach commands. "Miss Olatunji, we'll be having a small chat after class."

"I didn't do anything," Jennie defends.

"You did quite enough."

"Come on, Cherries," he reaches his hand out to me.

"I'm fine on my own," I push his hand away and stand up.

The whole gym room starts spinning around and I wobble, but Luke steadies me.

"Are you really?" He smirks.

"Yes," I step away from him.

Colette attacks me in a hug. "Oh, my God. Thank goodness, you're alright."

I hug my best friend back tightly and I feel another pair of arms around me.

"I'm glad you're fine, Leni," Zach says and I chuckle.

"Cute moment and all, but can we get going please?" Luke interrupts.

I pull away from them, giving them a smile and I follow Luke out of the gym room.

"Are you okay?" Luke asks in concern.

"Well except for the fact that I just bruised my dignity and the huge urge to throw up, I'm fine," I reply. "Is there a bruise or something?"

"There's a huge purple splotch on your forehead," Luke responds, pointing at my forehead as we make our way to the nurse's office.

"Awesome," I sigh in sarcasm. "Does it look bad?"

"Do you want me to lie or do you want me to be honest?" He requests.

"Be honest," I answer, nervously.

"It looks horrible," he admits.

"You didn't have to be so mean."

"You said to be honest."

"Not that honest," I tell him and he rolls his eyes.

Finally, we make it to the nurse's office and after the nurse makes sure that I don't have a concussion, he hands me pack of ice and I press it against my forehead, hissing at the pain of the brain freeze that I'm slowly getting. I have to spend the two remaining school hours in the nurse's office, so Luke leaves after he makes sure, again, that I'm okay.

The action itself is so sweet that it sends butterflies erupting in my stomach. I try to ignore them and push all these feelings away in a dumpster, but that's kind of hard when it makes you all giddy and stuff. If I simply don't care, all these cheesy and awkward things wouldn't exist in my life, but I care; and all these cheesy and awkward events exist in my life.

Unfortunately.

| | | |

"What happened to you?" Sophie asks with wide eyes as soon as I walk out of the exit of the school.

"Got hit by a ball," I grin.

"How?" Riley questions, her gaze fixed on my forehead.

"We were playing dodgeball and Jennie hit her with a ball," Colette explains.

"I guess we're beating the hell out of someone," Sophie smiles cheekily.

"Don't worry about it. Detention is going to serve her right," Colette grins devilishly.

"She got detention?" I ask.

"Yup," Colette snickers.

"I don't think she actually meant to hit me that hard," I say.

"Are you kidding, Anna?" Colette looks at me with disbelief. "She didn't even apologize. If it was an accident, she would have said sorry."

"I may not have been there to witness the whole thing, but it's Jennie we're talking about here. The same person that hates your guts," Sophie reminds me.

"I don't even know what I did to her that made her hate me so much."

"Forget Jennie now. Let's just go home," Riley says. "I'm too tired to waste my time talking about her."

"Let's go then," Colette nods.

The four of us start our trek back home and while we're walking back, we discuss the details of tonight's gig. It has been awhile since we last performed and Tina said that she wants to us perform tonight because it will be packed with adults. Riley decided that we should play one of those 90's songs because it will definitely attract lots of people. Colette, Sophie and I liked that idea and we settled on it.

"See you guys at eight," Sophie waves at us as we part our ways to head to our houses.

"See you!" I wave back.

| | | |

"Shadows grow so long before my eyes

And they're moving across the page

Suddenly the day turns into night

Far away from the city

But don't, hesitate

'Cause your love just won't wait."

The music plays in the background as I sing the words. Big Mountain and Elvis Presley's music is the only 90's songs I listen to. And AC/DC and Queen too. Those four are mostly what I'm obsessed with. My mum listens to them all the time and another band called Third Eye Blind and I started listening to them too. That still doesn't stop me from listening to rap songs and pop songs. I never really understood my music taste.

The girls play another couple of songs from Queen and Big Mountain, before Tina tells us that we're done for the day and all the adults start leaving. Sophie turns off her electric guitar and places it in it's case, while Riley takes her piano off of it's stand and Colette puts her drums aside. I put the microphone aside too and hop off of the stage.

"I'm hungry," I announce.

"Me too," Riley adds.

"What's the time now?" Colette asks.

"It's ten thirty," Sophie answers, looking at her phone.

"We could order something quick, then head home," Colette says.

We nod in agreement and head to one of the velvet

booths to take a seat. Roxianne, one of the waitresses, approaches us and smiles.

"Hey, guys," she greets us.

"Hey, Roxie," we greet her back.

"What are you going to order?"

Riley orders fries. Colette orders a strawberry milkshake and Sophie gets a Sprite. I'm the one who always orders a lot among the four of us. And I end up gaining weight, but mum drags me to the gym with her, so I'm not really that worried about eating too much. Not that I was ever worried. Most of the clothes I wear are jumpers, hoodies and baggy trousers and they cover up pretty good.

"Burger and fries, please," I tell her.

She jots the order down in her notepad. "Anything to drink?"

"A cherry smoothie is fine."

"You and Tina's boy sure have the same taste," she comments as she writes down in the notepad.

I knit my eyebrows in confusion, "Tina has a child?"

"Oh no. I'm talking about her nephew," she slips the notepad in her pocket and she searches around the diner.

Roxie leans in, "There he is," she points somewhere and I lean forward to peek from the side of the booth.

"Luke Carter?" I ask in shock, turning my head to look at her.

"You know him?" Her eyebrows shoot up, hiding under her pink bangs.

I nod, turning my head to look back at him. "He's my friend."

"Her friend," Sophie and Riley mock me as they peek from the top of the booth. I roll my eyes and Roxie laughs.

"You are so going to get busted," Colette says, tapping against her phone.

Luke turns his head as if he felt someone watching him. I quickly turn my head the other way and Sophie and Riley scramble to sit properly. Roxie stands back up and shoots us a smile.

"Is that everything?" She questions.

"Yes, thank you," I smile at her.

She gives me a wink and walks away.

"Did Roxie just wink at me?" I arch an eyebrow in question.

"He's my friend," Sophie and Riley mock me again and Colette snorts.

Feeling fed up, I stand up and smile, "I'm going to the bathroom."

| | | |

❀