Four Years

Chapter 14

"You dudezoned him?!"

I slapped my hand over her mouth. "Shut up!"

Looking around me to make sure no one had heard her, I continued to jog. Savannah and I were currently in our gym class. Our gym teacher had ordered all of us to do four laps around the field simply because she loved to watch her students succumbing to a near death experience under the blazing heat of the sun.

We were truly lucky to have her.

Savannah was huffing and puffing beside me and my condition wasn't any different from hers. I had been telling her about what went down yesterday when I went to the park near my house. Her rather loud commentaries were definitely not appreciated though.

"Sav," I wheezed out, "if I die, please make sure to sue the gym teacher."

In response, she wheezed as well. "If I die before than you, make sure to sue the entire school."

"You guys are such losers."

We both looked over our shoulders to glare at Kevin, who was jogging effortlessly without breaking a sweat. Beside him, Jace elbowed him in the stomach. Ha, served him right. How dare he make fun of us?

"If I die, I will come haunt you forever, Kevin." I told him.

Kevin made a mock scared face. "Ooh, I'm so scared!"

"What a jerk!" Savannah and Kevin started laughing at each other.

"I won't let you die." The voice was so low, I barely heard it. Eyes wide, I half-turned my torso to glance at Jace when suddenly, my ankle twisted and I went toppling down. This was the second-time I had fallen on Jace Crewe's feet, and I was not thrilled about it.

From my position on the ground, I groaned lightly. My leg hurt and so did my self-respect. Savannah, Kevin and Jace leaned over me with concern on their faces.

"Alyssa," Jace crouched down, "are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Uh," my mind went blank as he lightly prodded my ankle with his fingers.

He frowned, placing his hand on my cheek. "What are you trying to say?"

Oh, lord why is he acting like my boyfriend?

"I – I don't know. But it hurts!"

*  *  *

"It's not a sprain, don't worry." Our school nurse announced causing to me sigh in relief.

I nodded. "Okay, okay. So, why does my ankle hurt?"

"Well, it's just because of how you awkwardly twisted it. Other than that, it's alright. Put on some ointment on it, it'll get better by tomorrow morning."

"Oh, okay."

Savannah and Jace — well, it was Jace who was doing the maximum, she just put her hand on my shoulder — helped me down from the bed I was sitting on. I thanked him for helping me, a little flustered, and expected him to leave on his way. But apparently, he had some other plans. Going towards where my bag haphazardly sitting, he grabbed the strap in his hand and came to me.

"Let me walk you to your class." He said.

I gaped at him. "Uh, it's—"

"Oh, sure! I would really appreciate it!" Savannah exclaimed as if it was her he had asked.

We both peered at her with weird looks. "Okay."

I was still in my gym clothes and needed to change. We started on our way towards the gym, Jace patiently waited outside as Savannah helped me stuff myself back into my clothes. While changing, I found myself thinking about the boy standing outside.

"Sav, why is he so nice?" I wondered out loud as I slipped on my light blue tee.

"That's a characteristic trait." Savannah replied.

I buttoned up my light blue jeans and tucked my shirt in. "But still. He shouldn't be. I might as well develop a crush on him."

"What?!" She gasped.

I raised my hands in defense. "I'm kidding!"

I limped and Savannah walked back to where Jace was leaning against the wall. He straightened up when he saw us approach.

"Alyssa," Savannah spoke up, "I don't think it would be a bad thing if you do."

I immediately turned bright red, focusing on my shoes and letting my hair fall around my face.

"Do what?" Jace asked confused.

I choked on air. "Nothing!"

Jace and Savannah looked at each other for a moment before she snatched my bag from his hands and nudged me lightly into him causing me to wobble. Jace took that moment to wrap his arm around me.

"I'll carry the bag, you carry her—uh, I meant help her walk."

This sneaky little—

"Give me your hand." Jace said to me.

I stared at him, dumbly.

He tried again. "Your hand, Alyssa."

"Oh, for god sake!" Savannah thrusted my hand onto him. He clasped onto it.

Some of the students paused to do double takes at the sight of Jace Crewe practically walking around holding a girl's hand was nothing short of miracle. Jace, however, didn't seem to pay any heed of the amount of stares we were getting. God, I just hoped that no one took the wrong idea. I didn't need to be "love rivals" with Shelley. Everyone knew Shelley was much better than me in appearance.

We stopped in front of my class. Savannah gave me back my bag.

"Thank you, guys." I said quickly and hobbled inside my class as fast as I could.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Jace offered to walk me to the rest of my classes, but seeing Shelley's hawkish glances, I denied politely every time claiming that I was now much better. The pain in my ankle had now dulled into a slow throb. It didn't hurt much to walk on it lightly so I was all good.

A dilemma, though, occurred at the time of the end of the school hours. Despite the fact that my ankle didn't hurt too much, I still couldn't drive on my own. Savannah offered to drive my car back to my house but I could not and would not risk my car like that. We all knew she was the worst driver ever.

Then Jace came like a knight in shining armor.

"Shall I give you a ride?" Rolling down the window, he glanced at us.

Savannah explained to him our conversation. "We are trying to decide the fate of Alyssa's car here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The way she put it made me fear for the safety of my car.

"Well, I meant that since Alyssa is injured, she can't possibly drive it and she won't let me drive it either. She also doesn't want to leave the car here. It's a whole thing with her."

Jace leaned back on his seat, looking ahead. "No problem. I'll give you both a ride and drop your car later."

Was thing guy for real? He would do all this just because he was nice?

"Oh, thankyou!" My best friend said, getting into his car. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back out.

"You really don't need to." I said.

"It's fine, Alyssa. I thought friends helped each other, don't they?" Way to go and put me on a spot.

I gave in. "Okay, fine. But I must do something for you as well."

"You don't need to." He laughed.

He had a nice laugh, though.