Shane
•
I walked off the football field after practice satisfied with myself, my plan had worked, Colin looked like a little leaguer out there and Ryder looked like a pro. even though I knew Colin was the better player, he was taller, faster, and saw the ball better it still felt good to see our coach yell at him and pull his start, the team we were playing this week was really bad, our JV team could probably beat them, it's not like we needed Colin to win anyways.
So I entered the locker room with a smirk on my face chatting with Ryder the guy who was gonna be my receiver this Friday night. I threw my helmet in my locker then turned to put my foot on the bench to start taking off my cleats. That's when I was pushed back into the lockers behind me.
"You just think your so fucking smart." I looked up to see Colin standing in front of me fuming. I regained my composure and formed a smirk on my face, enjoying the fact I made him so angry. " I know I'm smart," I told him leaning against the metal lockers behind me.
"Go in there and tell the coach you fucked me over in practice today," he demanded, I cocked my head to the side faking contemplating Colin's demands. "Sorry, I don't do favors for people who refuse to believe victims of sexual assault." my smart comment was enough to send Colin over the edge he threw a punch at me and hit me in the jaw, it hurt but I knew I had to fight back.
I jabbed him in the gut and then pinned him against the lockers opposite mine he pushed me off of him and we continued to fight until our fearless captain Matthew Sanchez stood on a bench next to us and yelled: "hey break it up, we're a team." Colin and I separated both of us breathing heavily. I looked into Colin's green eyes they were filled with just as much fury as mine were. It was then I also noticed the crowd of our teammates surrounding us, I felt a small tinge of embarrassment creep into my chest.
"What the fuck are you guys fighting about." Colin and i's eyes locked both of us silently fighting over who would tell Matt what was going on, in the end, it would be Ryder Daniels who would speak up. "They're fighting about Ellianna Wesbrook and all the dumb shit that happened to her in eighth grade."
Matt Stepped off the bench and got closer to Colin and me, waving off the rest of our teammates who had gathered around us. "Why are you guys fighting about Ellianna?"Matt asked quietly. No doubt knowing exactly what specific incident we were arguing over after all Matt was Miranda's brother and from my understanding, Elli's whole scandal was common knowledge at north view.
"She wasn't lying, she told me what happened to her, there is no way she's lying. "Colin looked at matt and then at me. "So what if she isn't lying?" He said hypothetically, not yet admitting that he was wrong.
"Colin, I just want you to admit you're wrong. Apologize to her, you guys used to be friends." I took a deep breath Colin glared at me silently trying to calculate his next move. That's when Matt spoke up. "Miranda told me what happened to Eliana too, I always thought she was telling the truth how could anyone lie about that? So Colin my question to you is now do you seriously still believe she made it all up?" Colin slumped down onto the locker room bench defeated. How could you not side with the guy running this team?
"No, you're right Matt, if she still upholds her story she probably isn't lying about anything that happened. I glared at Colin mad that he couldn't come to this conclusion yesterday night when I confronted him that it took Matthew Sanchez's input for him to admit his fault.
"I don't care if you never apologize to me but please just tell Elli you're sorry," I asked him no trace of aggression left in my voice from our physical fight that happened just moments ago. "Fine" Collin agreed with me, only a little bit against his will. "So we're good then? "Matt asked us, Colin and I bro hugged it out officially laying to rest our argument. "yeah We're good," I confirmed then it was back to business as usual.
I took off the rest of my football gear and took a quick shower put my school clothes back on and then headed for the library so I could tutor Ellianna. She was sitting at a table in the library by herself her blonde waves falling gently on her shoulders as she consulted our chemistry textbook for the answers to the homework that we were assigned. "Hey, sorry I'm late, practice ran long," I told her as I sat in the seat next to her. She kept working and didn't look up at me right away. " that's okay I've started on the homework I'm sure most of it is wrong but you can"
She stopped mid-sentence when she looked at me. She cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes at me. "What's wrong?" I asked her. "Is your jaw swollen?" She asked I tried to turn my face away from her completely forgetting Colin punched me about 20 minutes ago. "It's fine Elli," I told her, trying to brush it off.
"Wait turn your head towards me, I wanna see it." Reluctantly I complied. She looked at it and then brought her hand up to my jawline, she gently pressed upon the spot Colin punched me with her fingers. "Does that hurt?" She asked. It didn't feel great but I wasn't going to tell her that.
"No I'm fine, I promise." I restated. She removed her hand from my cheek. "So what happened?" She asked inquisitively. "Nothing, just football practice," I said, she raised her eyebrows. "Really? Because it looks like someone punched you." I didn't know how to respond, she may be bad at chemistry but Elli wasn't dumb.
"Okay, fine I got in a fight." I could tell she was going to ask me who, and that I wouldn't tell her, she didn't need to know Colin and I were fighting because of what she told me yesterday.
"Don't ask me who though, you don't need to know." She scoffed. "I know it was with Colin, Miranda told me you were fighting at lunch, and I know it's over me." I looked at her a little stunned that she was able to figure all that out. "Don't be so surprised you're forgetting my best friend is your friend's sister."
"I'm not surprised, I just didn't want you to know I talked to Colin about you know everything." I hung my head a little ashamed and a little embarrassed. "It's okay, I figured you would say something to him, I think that's just who you are." I looked into her blue eyes, they were so beautiful I could drown in them, I took a deep breath grounding myself in reality.
"I thought I could change things for you," I told her, wishing I could. And maybe I did, maybe Colin would apologize, or maybe he wouldn't and nothing would change. "I appreciate you trying, but things have been this way for two years, Colin and I will never be friends again. It's okay, I've accepted it, and I've moved on. It's no use bringing up the past, you know?"
I thought about my past, I thought about how I would feel if someone tried to bring me and Brianna back together, it would never happen, the same way Colin and Elli would never be friends again. I suddenly understood I had overstepped and this issue ran way deeper than I probably understood. I just wanted to help her and make things easier for her, I have no idea why, but it felt like my job to fix things.
"Trust me I get it, and I'm sorry if I made things worse." She shook her head. "You didn't, really Shane it's fine, now I believe we have a bunch of chemistry homework in front of us." She smiled, things were okay, well except for Elliannas chemistry grade, but that was something I could definitely fix.
