Ticket Outta Loserville (Trames au)

Chapter 4- James' POV

I walk into the changing rooms, for once excited about a lesson- PE is pretty much the only thing I'm good at, apart from music. I notice Tristan and his friends look up as I open the door, and I instantly feel bad as I rembember the way my friends treated them earlier. Tristan annoys the hell out of me (seriously, please stop talking to me, I don't like you), but they were being unnecessarily rude. 

As I'm getting changed, I stretch to show of my muscles as much as I can. My best friend Alex wolf whistles at me, and I smirk- I've always been confident about my body. I swear Tristan is looking at me, but I choose to ignore him, instead listening to the teacher as he says that we'll be playing football. I smile smugly, as this lesson was pretty much made for me- I'm captain of the football team, I'll definitely enjoy myself.

As we head onto the field, Alex says to me "What was all that about earlier?"

"What?" I ask, confused.

"You know," says Alex, "When you got all stroppy with us earlier."

"Oh." I say awkwardly. "I didn't mean to be. I guess I'm just thinking too much."

"I didn't know that was possible for you." Alex teases me, and he yelps as I playfully elbow him. 

On the field, the teacher announces that he'll be putting us in groups to practise skills. I start praying for decent people, but my pleas go unanswered as I'm told that I have to have Tristan in my group, as well as a bunch of kids that I don't know the names of. I huff. "Oh my god, you again? It's like you're stalking me or something." A look of hurt flashes across Tristan's face, and he turns away.

"That's not fair." some random kid points out. "It's not his fault that he got put in this group."

"Yeah." I say, rolling my eyes. "And it's not my fault that I'm stuck with you all either." For once, the lesson drags on, and I'm glad when we can finally go back inside. "Seriously," I complain to Alex as we head back across the field to the changing rooms, "I swear the most annoying people got picked for my group. There was this one kid who kept answering back to me, and you know who else? Tristan."

"That's rough." agrees Alex. "But didn't you say that you felt sorry for him earlier?"

"Yes." I sigh. "But that doesn't mean I have to like him." Truth be told, I don't like Tristan. I'm not a bad person, so I feel that hate is too strong a word, but he has the kind of face that you just want to slap. Unfortunately, this is combined with an annoying personality, which makes for a person that I really don't want to spend time with. And I'm stuck with him for so many lessons. If this was a movie, I'd end up falling hopelessly in love with him, but I somehow doubt that. 

I keep quiet as I get changed, and the thought that maybe I was too rude earlier slips into my mind. After all, that kid was right- it's not Tristan's fault, I shouldn't have taken it out on him. It's just, I've got way too much going on in my head at the moment, and he's pretty much the perfect target for all my rage. 

I slip out of the lesson early, claiming to be going to the toilet, but really I just need some space. However, I brush past Tristan on my way out. "I'm sorry for being rude earlier, it wasn't your fault." He gives me a small smile, but doesn't actually respond. If I'm being honest, I could really do with a hug- coincidently, the last person I hugged properly was Tristan, but only because the form teacher made us. It was nice though- everyone thinks I'm really tough and hardcore, but if you really knew me, you'd know that that's not the case.

When the bell rings, I pull myself together and head off to meet my friends. I'm kind of the ring leader of the pack, but I'm feeling more and more pushed out lately. I manage to laugh and join in with them, but it feels painfully fake. Eventually, Alex pulls me over to one side. "Are you sure you're alright? You seem a bit off."

"I'm fine." I lie. "I'm just tired."

Alex laughs. "We're only a few days into the year."

I laugh properly this time. "Yeah, but..." I feel a bit better after that, and I go back and join in. I'm still slightly distant though, and I'm looking around the room desperately. Suddenly, I spot Tristan sitting with Brad and Connor, but like me, he's not really paying attention either. He looks over to me and we make eye contact for a second before I glare and turn away. That kid is driving me crazy, and not in a good way. But sadly I'm stuck with him. This is going to be a long year.

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James' POV is new, *fancy* I feel like I write better as Tristan though, I don't know what that says about me.

I'm currently creeped out as my parents are having a clear out so at the moment there's loads of weird stuff in my room, and I don't have a wardrobe right now so there's strange empty space 😭