Crushed

Chapter 10

Nobody saw Alex for the rest of the day, but there was a rumor that he went to the hospital to get checked for a concussion. When I got home, I texted him,

Hey are you alright?

He responded half an hour later,

I just got home from the hospital, I have a minor concussion, and can't remember what happened during the day before that, but besides that I'm alright.

Wow, When do you think you'll be back at school?

Hopefully by the end of the week, it is only monday, anything could happen.

Yeah, hopefully.

We continued texting for almost two hours, and when I finally put down my phone, I was in the mood for writing. I stood up, walked over to my desk, and started searching for a pen and my note book. I finally found a working pen, after throwing out four others, and my notebook was on my bookshelf with all the books I had read, and really liked. Divergent, Perfect, Schooled, Loser, Murder Most Unladylike, The Sky Is Falling, and many, many more that I loved. I slouched back down into my beanbag, turned to a new page and started writing a new story titled, 'The First'. It was a short story about a 17 year old girl talking about her first love. I would tell you more, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. I continued writing until my mom called me down for dinner, tonight we were having pasta with meat sauce.

I had a hard time falling asleep that night, my mind was racing with everything that had happened that day. Wrestling, Alex, the gym office, Alex, kissing... Alex. That was when I realised, Julie.

The next day, none of my friends were at school. Julie wasn't there, and she was mad at me, and Alex was out with a concussion. It was then when I realised that I only had two friends in my class, one of them was my unofficial boyfriend, and the other was the same best friend I've had since kindergarten. I guess I could deal until I got home and explained everything to Julie. That day seemed to last forever. It felt like french took three hours, when we only had two periods of it, math was even more boring than usual, and art and gym were no better. Gym was especially terrible, because since the wrestling they decided it was too dangerous, so we started doing fitness instead. I almost collapsed afterwards, I was that tired. I somehow managed to change without anyone holding me up, and I dragged myself to homeroom. I dropped into my desk, and started writing down the homework.

Math test friday
French reading due wednesday
Art sketch due may 16th

No worries about the math test, I haven't even started my french reading, nor have I started the sketch, which is due next monday. Ugh. I'm actually fairly good at math, even if I don't really look like the mathy-type, you'd be surprised. I have a very logical mind, and fast comprehension skills, so even though I'm only in grade seven, I still have a fairly advanced vocabulary and a good understanding of formulas. I guess you could call me a closet nerd, if you're not busy accusing me of liking every guy I talk to. It's difficult to explain, but whenever I talk to any guy, in any context, Anne, her friends Lola and Courtney, Sean, and his friend Oliver, all accuse me of liking whoever it is I'm talking to. I guess they do this in order to figure out how to blackmail me, after all, none of them really know much about me, and I guess this is to my advantage. At one point they even accused me of being lesbian, but I still didn't flinch, better to let them keep nagging me, than have them be able to blackmail me into doing things against my will. I've seen them do it to other people, and I'd rather not be added to the list of people they can control.

As soon as I got home from school, I dropped my bag, and ran up stairs. I went into my room, and settled into my beanbag. Today's tuesday, I have volleyball practice tonight. I thought to myself. There was something I wanted to do, text someone? Oh yeah, Julie. I pulled out my phone and texted Alex,

Hey, me and Julie had a fight, can I please tell her we're dating?
He responded a minute later,
If you really need to, just make sure she doesn't tell anyone. Also, don't text her about it, call her, this sort of thing shouldn't be recorded.

Alright, I'll do that now.

I called Julie, she picked up. "Hello?" she said. "Hey Jules, I think I owe you an explanation." "You sure do!" She said raising her voice slightly. "Just listen. You know that I like Alex..." "Is that what this is about? I knew I was something, but not anything like this!" "Can you let me finish?" I interrupted her, "Do you remember the basketball incident?" "Um, yeah?" She said inquisitively. "Well, I never told you what happened in the gym office afterwards." "SPILL, NOW." she demanded. I retold the entire story, and her reaction was priceless. I went through everything from the climbing tree to staring in math, and notes in English. She understood why I didn't want to tell her then, but wished that I had told her sooner, so we wouldn't have had the conflict in the first place. Julie is very smart when it comes to people, however, she's not so good when it comes to book-smarts. That's where I'm useful, as I'm kind of the opposite. I'm a blazing introvert, who doesn't like to socialize, and would rather go to math class than a party. Yet, somehow, we mesh so easily, so seamlessly. It's like we should be one person, one super dorky person.

I put down my phone after talking for an hour with Julie. I was very relieved that she took the news so well, but still felt like I was forgetting someone. Oh well, it probably doesn't matter. "BELLLLLLLAAAAAAAA!" My mom called, "COME DOWN FOR DINNER!" She hollered at me. I ran downstairs, eager to see what we going to have. Tonight, it was bacon and pepperoni pizza, the best kind of corse. "We have to eat quickly if we're going to make it to your volleyball practice, Bella," my mom said. "Alright, mom." I responded. I snarfed down two pieces, and ran back upstairs to change into my practice uniform. I grabbed my uniform which was folded neatly, waiting on my bed for me. I quickly slipped on the little spandex shorts and jersey, grabbed the bag with my water bottle, knee pads, and court shoes, and dashed downstairs and out the door. I hopped in the car, with my mom already there waiting for me, and we drove off. We arrived at the high school five minutes before practice started. I ran up to the door, and tugged it open. I strode inside towards the other girls on my team who were sitting on a bench tying their shoes. I sat in the space between Hannah and Lucy, and pulled off my navy sneakers. I slid on my knee pads, and started lacing up my shoes. Once I had finished, Kaylee came over to me and asked if I wanted to pass with her. We had a really hard practice that night, our coach was evidently not in a good mood. She made us do suicides (running back and forth aimlessly), laps, passing, and lots more running. My legs were shaking by the end, and I could barely walk. My mom picked me up outside the front door of the school, and we drove home in silence. I knew that she knew I was tired, so she knew to just leave me. When we got home I slowly climbed the stairs, and collapsed onto my bed. Goodnight.