Surviving The Parkston Boys [Re-write]

Chapter 23

The next day at school I was sitting in the court yard thinking about the date that Nathan and I went on. It was so much fun and I couldn't stop smiling at how excited I was to see him today.

"Why are you so happy?" Madie asked as she sat next to me.

"I bet it has something to do with my boy, Nate," Jeremy said and I nodded.

"He took me ice skating to help me conquer my fear yesterday and I learned how to somewhat skate. Then we went to Chick-fil-A and sat in the car just talking and it was nice," I said still grinning ear to ear.

"I'm glad you had fun, you deserve it. Are you going to go home after school today or are you staying to do community service?" Madie asked.

"I'm staying behind, I'm so excited actually!"

"What are you doing after school?" I heard a smooth voice ask behind me. I turned around and it was Nathan and he sat on the other side of me then planted a little kiss on my cheek.

"I'm working with a group of kids that have special needs and we're going to be doing a bunch of activities and playing in the cafeteria. It's just something nice to do that will boost my resume but at the same time bring some fun and laughter. I love working with them too so it doesn't even feel like community service," I explained.

"Is it too late to sign up?" Nathan asked.

"Don't you have practice?" Jeremy asked.

"Since we won our game last night, Coach is letting us have a rest day."

"If you want to you can go sign up with Mr. York, he's the sponsor of the service. His son has special needs and is actually part of the group we work with so I bet he would love to have an athlete work with us," I said with excitement.

"I'll go talk to him and then I'll text you if there's any updates," Nathan said as he stood up and grabbed his backpack then swung it over his shoulder. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek then walked off into the building.

"Why are we sitting outside? It's fucking freezing," Jeremy said and I laughed.

"It's nice to get some fresh air in the morning and it also puts me in a good mood," I said and Madie grabbed my hand.

"Come on, we're all gonna get sick at this rate," she said then began dragging us inside the building.

"You're a bunch of babies," I said as I was being taken away.

-=+=-

I walked into the cafeteria and sat at my usual spot next to my friend, Kenzie. We began talking about which station we wanted to work at together and we just made some small talk.

I heard a little plop next to me and I looked over to see Nathan. "Did you forget about me?"

"No, never!" I said trying to cover up my mistake.

"I'm going to have to steal her from you today, Kenzie. I'm sorry," Nathan said.

"It's okay, I'll go work with Jessica because I don't think she has a partner. Have fun, love birds," Kenzie chirped then grabbed her stuff and walked away.

"I was working with Kenzie, Nathaniel," I huffed.

"Now you're stuck with me, Bug!" Nathan said and I rolled my eyes.

"Alright kids!" Mr. York announced as he stood up from his table, "our kiddos will be coming in here very shortly! We have a new volunteer who is joining us today, Nate, will you introduce yourself?"

Nathan stood up and smiled at everyone with a little wave, "hey everyone, I'm Nate Parkston and I'm a senior. I play soccer and plan on attending Stanford next year to continue my soccer career while also pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering. I found out about this cause of my girlfriend, Shelby, and I'm so excited to be here."

"Great introduction, Nate! I am so happy we have our soccer captain joining us and I'll put you two in charge of the soccer station. Is that okay?" Mr. York asked.

"It would be a pleasure," Nate said without asking my input and I gave him a tight smile with a nod.

"Great! Everyone else, choose a station and we will get started here very shortly!" Mr. York said then clapped his hands to go.

We walked over to the little mat with a miniature goal and I sighed. "What's wrong?" Nathan asked as he picked up the fake soccer ball.

"I just didn't really want to work this station, Nate. You kind of just decided on your own without talking to me. I know you love soccer but do you have to do everything that associates with it?" I asked keeping my voice down.

"What do you mean? You even said that Mr. York would like for there to be an athlete volunteer," he hissed back keeping his voice down too.

"Maybe I should've just stayed partners with Kenzie, I would have actually done something I enjoyed," I mumbled to myself.

"What?" Nathan asked and I shook my head and I saw the kids come in. I put on my best fake smile and two of them walked over to us with their parents and I explained to them what we are working on.

"You see that big guy over there?" I asked as I pointed and they nodded. "You have to kick the ball into the goal behind him as he tries to block the balls from going in. So stand right here and kick the ball in," I said and pointed the orange cone.

"Okay!" Connor yelled with a big smile and walked up to the ball and gave it the best kick he could. It started rolling and Nathan faked trying to get it and it went into the goal.

"Good job, Connor!" I said and everyone began congratulating him and Nathan ran up to him and handed him the ball.

"Good job, bud!" Nathan said and Connor was so excited and began jumping up and down.

"This is why I wanted to do this," Nathan whispered to me as he stood next to me.

Connor's dad stood at the goal and Connor began trying to kick it in. Nathan walked up to him and gave him so tips and pointers. Connor gave it a good kick and it went faster and harder than the first ball. Everyone cheered as he made it in and Connor's dad acted like he was upset at him.

It was nice to see Nathan work with the kids and interact with them. I've seen him with Ben but this was different, he was doing something he loved with them and you could see how much joy he brought to the kids. Connor and Lucy, the other student, worked with Nathan and they couldn't stop laughing. Lucy even got up on Nate's shoulders and she could not stop giggling.

"Thank you for inviting, Nate," Maya, Connor's mom said.

"Of course, but he also volunteered to do this too so it wasn't just all me," I responded.

"It's good to see Connor be given a chance to participate in sports and have a normal time."

"He's getting a lot more opportunities to grow through this program and that's why it's here. We want them to have normal experiences that society does give them and they're able to grow while having fun," I explained.

Maybe it was a good thing to work this station after all...