SWAPPED

Unsteady Steps

Im free falling, literally.

I was thrown into the air by the cheerleaders below me. I shut my eyes as I wait for them to catch me, to afraid to look down on the ground.

Then, I feel them brush right past me. Where I was supposed to stop, I instead, sink further down through the air, slipping past their grips.

I flinch as I know I'm about to make contact with the floor. Hard contact.

I try to land upright but my body doesn't react fast enough, instead, I land on an unstable foot, immediately twisting. I stumble back and fall on the floor.

"Oh my god Alora!" One of the cheerleaders yell. "Someone get an ice pack!"

I internally scream as I reach for the pain in my ankle. It hurts far too much for me to even try to move it.

Two cheerleaders kneel down on either side of me and I wrap my arm around their shoulders and they lift me up to my feet.

I only stand on one foot but as we begin to move, I accidently step on my bad foot and a wave of soreness hits me.

I hop on one foot until we leave the gym building, which took about a whole 7 minutes.

We go around the fields to reach the main school building where people are practicing their afterschool sports.

From afar, Lucas is practicing with his soccer mates and even with a big distance, he manages to spot our limping hike to the nurses office.

Lucas makes his way to our direction. While he's at it, I take a seat on a nearby bench.

"Hey what's up, is everything alright?" He asks as he approaches our little group.

"We're trying to get to the nurses office." One of the cheerleaders inform him.

He notices me massaging my ankle, "Are you hurt?" He looks down at me from where he's standing.

"It's not that bad..." I lie, this is one of my most painful experiences yet.

"Yes it is girl. We tossed you pretty high up and with that landing, there's no doubt your ankle is pretty messed up." The other cheerleader exposes.

Lucas turns his back to me and squats down. "Cmon."

"It's fine I can walk-"

"Alora I saw how slow you were moving when you guys left the gym." He points out. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to drop you." A chuckle escapes through his breath.

"Fine." I say as I begin wrapping my arms and legs around him.

When he begins to get up, he places his hands on the back of my thighs to hold me up.

Now look, I know when I say this I may sound like a major loser but as a teenage girl who has never been touched anywhere by a guy before, this felt a bit weird.

God I'm so touch deprived.

We finally reach the nurses office and he places me down on the bed.

"You sure it's just a sprain?" Lucas asks while we wait for the nurse.

I look down at my ankle, "To be honest, I don't know."

The nurse finally walks in and tells me that I sprained it and that I should probably get it checked out in the hospital.

I reach to get my phone to call my parents but remember that they are away on some sort of trip.

I sigh. "My parents can't take me." I tell Lucas.

Lucas also doesn't have a car so we just sit there a bit thinking of how to get me to the hospital.

"Are you sure you have no one else to take you?" the nurse asks.

But before I can respond someone from behind the curtains surrounding the bed next to us appears, it's Enzo.