Julia Lelieveld and the fifth element

~14~

Monday it was time for math again. It wasn't until we walked to geography that I could ask Eva and Bas how their friends were doing.

They were all in the hospital, but luckily they would be fine.

She immediately apologized for not letting me know in the haste and for letting me come to them for nothing. I wondered why she said that. Wouldn't Daan have said anything about our evening? I decided I would ask later.

The rest of the day passed normally. I could have enjoyed working on my paper for history.

I hadn't heard anything more from Eva and Bas about Daan. Wouldn't they know or shouldn't they tell?

I figured I'd bring it up if he was really gone, at least they wouldn't be able to ask him about it.

The days went by quickly, before I knew it it was Wednesday afternoon and time for a block hour gym. I had already heard it was for a grade. I walked with Eva to the changing rooms. She told me that she had joined the school's volleyball team and that she was allowed to play a practice game that night so the coach could determine if she would be on the team. She seemed nervous, she'd told me she'd always wanted to be on the volleyball team. We walked into the locker room and we were one of the last. Everyone was already getting changed and some were ready. I watched some of them touch up their makeup and push their breasts up in their bras. Of course they wanted to impress the gym teacher. It was therefore absolutely not annoying to look at him, but was he waiting for this? A couple of teenage girls who thought they had a chance with him? I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head and laughed to myself.

Sandra was there too, of course, she gave me a dirty look when I entered. What a bitch. It's unbelievable that she judged someone so quickly. When we walked to our spot I saw that there was water on the ground in front of us, but I was too late, I felt my foot slip on the ground and off I went. I fell to the ground with a hard thud. I felt my left leg hit the hard floor hard and my left arm tried to break the fall but also shot through.

"Goddamn it."

It was out before I knew it. I tried to get up but also swung my right arm on the water. Eva took my hand and helped me up.

"Come on, are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Yes," I said with a big sigh. I got up and rubbed my left hip. That was really going to be a bruise, my left wrist also hurt, but I couldn't see anything. I sat down on the bench in the middle of the dressing room. I heard someone slamming his locker shut and walking towards me. I looked up and Sandra was standing in front of me with her arms folded and a hypocritical smile on her face.

"Gosh, you know how to make an entrance, don't you," she said in a very sarcastic way. "I don't feel like this, Sandra," I said in a weary voice.

"Oh, so I'm not good enough for Madame Popular?" she said mockingly. I looked at her questioningly. "What does that mean?" I asked her. "Well,"

she began in an irritated tone, "you've only been in school for a few

weeks and you're already fully integrated into the popular group, I just wonder

how you managed that," she said accusingly. I didn't think I was popular

at all. I was just incredibly lucky to be able to call Eva and Bas my friends,

and I couldn't help it if they happened to be popular, but I would never show

Sandra that. "How about just being nice?" I retorted. She was

speechless for a moment. But soon she got that hypocritical smile on her face

again. "I'll find out what you did for it," she told me. No, now she