Perfect For Me

CHAPTER 8 (Ryan Lander)

"What?!", both Liam and I exclaimed at the same time. "You can't be serious!" "Oh, I very much am. You sure you want to argue about that?" Liam spoke up again: "But why our whole teams? They won't talk to us for the rest of the year!" For once I agreed with him. The boys would be more than furious to hear what punishment they had to live through because we were too stupid to hold it together. "You're right. This way you will learn your lesson. You have been here far too often and if you do not really have to suffer you will be here again in two weeks.", the principal reasoned. Angrily I stormed out of the room. How should I tell this my teammates?

Turns out I didn't have to tell them at all. Liam told his team at lunch loud enough for us to hear too. "You can thank Ryan for that. If he hadn't been so stupid to start a fight at school we wouldn't be in this situation!", Liam's voice could be heard in the whole hall and caused other students to look at him as well. Oh, I wasn't going to let him ruin my reputation! "Wait a second! I started the fight? I am pretty sure YOU were the one to throw the first fist!" "But only because you couldn't mind your own business for at least once! If you had kept your mouth shut I wouldn't even had felt the need to hit your head so maybe a few brain cells would rise from the dead!" "Excuse me? How is it my fault that you are weak enough to let a silly comment get close to you? Maybe you should start seeing a doctor because I think you are the one with a problem here!" As if to prove my point I could see in his eyes that he was incredibly close to jump on me again. But before he had the chance to do so, Benn stepped in: "Come on boys. Are we back at kindergarten? Putting the blame on somebody else really isn't very mature for two 18-year-olds." That poor boy got the job to act as a puffer because both of us liked him. When Liam turned away, Benn's gaze shifted to me: "So, how about you tell us about your punishment?" His icy tone definitely reflected the feelings of the whole team. "Well, here goes nothing" I thought and opened my mouth.

The principal had been right. The team hadn't even spared me one look after I explained the situation I had gotten them into. That had been two hours ago. Now everyone except the two soccer teams had already left school. After all the last lesson of the day ended fifteen minutes ago and we had to meet in the gym for the instructions on what to do. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Liam. He seemed on edge somehow. Not like he just didn't like the punishment, more like he absolutely hated it and it would be the death of him. Well, maybe I was exaggerating but he seemed really anxious about it. Interesting.

"Soooo.... I will be the one who has the honourable job to look after you. If you don't do what I tell you, I will make sure the incident lands in your school record. You hear me?" Mr. James, our maths teacher especially looked at me and Liam at his last words. Hey! Just because we couldn't hold our temper didn't mean we were stupid. Especially not Liam, that nerd. "Great. If this is clear you will get assigned with your partner. All tasks are done in a team of two, based on your position on the field. That means Potter and Gray, Greenwill and Arman..." I tuned out. I already knew I would be with Williams. At least Andy got paired with Nate. He didn't seem like a total douche. Something that couldn't be said about my partner. God, why me?!

A deep voice pulled me out of my world of self-pity. "Are you coming or what?" I just rolled my eyes and followed wherever Liam went. I had no clue what our task was, but I hoped I wouldn't have to ask. That would be embarrassing.
Turns out I didn't. Liam just started talking: "As the totally incompetent human I know you as, I am pretty sure you didn't listen to Mr. James when he told us what to do. Right?" Without waiting for my answer, he continued talking as soon as he found the light switch for the room we were in. "We have to control if all of these tables are good enough to be used again this year." Without sparing me another glance he started to look over the first table. Just now I noticed the mass of old tables that were stored in this room. With a quiet sigh I started working. Quality time with Laim, whoooooo. Ugh. Might as well get over with it.