We're Still Human

Chapter 12: Jolly Good Show

You're a good athlete. Good athlete. Good athl—

"Fuck sake!" I yell, jolting up and smacking the nearest person.

"Fucking hell bro," Nadia holds her chest. "I was just trying to wake you up, goddammit."

"Yeah, you did manage to get her up," Kendall says, her arms crossed while she looks at me. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

I blink rapidly, looking around me. The nurse's office. "How long have I been out?"

"About two hours, we almost called your mom," the nurse answers.

"Oh God please do not call that woman, I have had a hell of a week," I groan.

"Tell me about it," the nurse sits down. "What happened?"

"Maybe we should take a break from questioning the girl, she just got up," Nadia answers for me. "Can you give us some space?"

"This is my office."

"We're probably your best bet at getting any information out of the girl, so maybe just step out for a moment, please Nurse Claire?" Kendall interjects softly.

The nurse sighs, before heading out. Kendall helps me sit up, with Nadia rolling her eyes at her.

"Are you okay?"

"As I can be," I answer honestly. "I don't know what happened. I was just running, then Nadia took the baton, and I ignored her–"

"So Nadia started it?" Kendall asks me.

"I don't know. I was already in a state before she took it. I was just running. That was my sole focus. Run. Just run. And when she took the baton I—"

"Oh for Christ sake, I'm not going to have you make me a villain, Yasmina," Nadia groans. "Your run, it was riddled with mistakes. You don't position yourself like that when you're running normally. Your heel was on the farther side of the track, meaning your jog was going to be imperfect before you even started sprinting," Nadia explains, taking a step closer to us. "I ran after you because you were going to injure yourself. I took the baton because I wanted to see if you were doing it on purpose. You weren't."

Silence filled the room.

Nadia sighs. "You were going to hurt yourself. And I wasn't going to let you, so I stopped you. You're welcome," she says. "You're welcome."

Before Nadia can run off, Kendall grabs her arm. "And what would you know about protecting her?"

Nadia scoffs. "A lot more than you, clearly. She was out running herself to death on that field with no one but me figuring it out. She dissociated, Kendall, and I pulled her out of it. Now if you weren't so focused on your damn work girlfriend you would've known your real girlfriend is suffering from something I'd like to call perfectionist syndrome, and by the looks of it, you're no help to it either."

Kendall's eyes widen, and Nadia yanks her arm away from Kendall. She gives me a nod, and leaves the room.

"Kendall—"

"Perfectionist? What is she on about?"

I close my eyes. "I'm so sorry, I can't do this right now." I get off the bed, almost falling to my knees. "I have to talk to her."

"Yasmina—"

"Please, just let me do this." I plead with her, getting out of the office and going after Nadia.

Lucky for me, Nadia isn't always a runner off the tracks.

"Nadia, wait," I call out for her. "Wait."

"Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend right now? I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate you chasing after your ex bestie," she mocks me as she turns around.

"For one second can you stop? Please," I say. "You didn't have to tell her that."

"You're here to give me a lecture after I saved you from a sprained ankle?" Nadia laughs dryly. "You're hilarious."

"I don't want her to worry, Nadia," I say.

"You know Kendall is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and so are you," Nadia shoots back. "The more you try and shield each other from your truths, the more you destroy your damn relationship. Let her know before I fucking do, Yasmina. Let her know."

"Why can't you stop playing savior in my story? I don't need you." I scream at her. "I don't need you to play godmother, I have never needed you, and I swear to God I don't need you right now."

Nadia takes a step back, as if hurt by my words.

"You know you're so fucking hard to be nice to. I wanted to thank you for helping me out, but you just have to make everything so fucking hard, don't you?" I continue to scream at her. "I would've thought you got better at managing your temper or at least being a nicer person, but you haven't changed, not one bit. You're still a lying, manipulating, closeted asshole. The same you've always been."

"And you think you're any better? You like to walk on some moral high ground because of who your family is, that you forget that you're a damn nobody in this school—"

"No you're the fucking nobody, Nadia. I earned my spot here, I earned this title, and I'm not going to let someone who got banished from Sydney for God knows what reason, feel bad for making a name for myself."

"And how about the scholarship mom wants you to get? What about that, huh? I bet your girl doesn't know about that."

"And how do you know about that?"

Nadia gets in my face again, her expression sour. "Because I'm gunning for the exact same scholarship, Nothando."

My jaw drops.

"Good luck with your attempt at the scholarship, Nothando. You'll need it," Nadia sneers, pushing past me. I turn around, seeing her stand in between Kendall, who was watching silently, and I. "I told you she didn't need any protection," Nadia says to me, shaking her head as she walks away.

I stand in the middle of the hallway, my hands shaking with unbelievable rage and fear. Kendall stands across from me, expressionless.

"You promised," she mutters. "You promised no more secrets."

"Kendall—"

She shakes her head. "Don't. Just...don't."

She turns around, walking away from me, leaving me as the sole survivor of this shit show of a day.