The Story of Us

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

We walked into the gym, and everyone was standing around in groups, talking, waiting for the bell to ring. I turned to Malarie, and we started talking about whether or not we get our own gym lockers, time for showers, etc. All of a sudden her sentences started slowing down, then to a stop. I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Phoebe…” Josh sang. I turned around, as gracefully as I could.

“Hey!” I said, smiling as bright as I could.

“Did you hear about my Dad subbing in Garner? It was awful.” I said, sadly.

“No! Your Dad was the sub in history?” He asked. I nodded. He continued, “That sucks. How bad was it?”

“He didn't do anything overly embarassing, but everyone knew he was my  dad." I replied.

“Oh well, you're here now!” He said, smiling. I laughed and smiled trying to forget about what happened in History. The tardy bell rang, and I saw a tall, thin man, with a whistle around his neck, and a clipboard. He blew his whistle, and we all lined up across the gym.

“Let me make this clear, since I will not repeat it. You will not 'get by' in this class. You will earn your way through it. I do not tolerate slackers. When we do an activity, you do it your best, and give it 110 percent. Capeesh?”

“Capeesh…” The class grumbled.

“Good. Now when I call your last name come up and get your gym locker number, your P.E uniform, and the syllabus.”

He called out a few names, while Josh and I stood side by side.

“Williams…” The coach called.

“Thank you, Sir.” I replied politely as I took my gym locker number, uniform and syllabus.

“’Sir?’ What are you, a nun?” Malarie whispered, mocking me. I rolled my eyes.

 He handed me some dark blue gym shorts, a white T-shirt, and the syllabus. I looked back at Josh. He already had the shorts on.  He pulled his shirt over his head, to put on his light blue T-shirt. I couldn’t help but stare as he gingerly slipped his shirt off. He had abs. Major abs.

"Do you see that?!" Malarie said to me.

"I sure do, hands off he's mine!" I joked. Only... I wasn't really joking.

His back, shoulder, and arm muscles rippled as he reached over to put on the other T-shirt. He looked up, and caught me staring at him. He smirked at me, and then winked. I laughed at that. I looked all over for Malarie, and she was standing and laughing with Stephen. I started to walk towards her. I tapped her shoulder, and she turned around.

“Hey, you wanna go to the locker rooms and get changed?” I asked.

“Sure,” She replied, “See you later, Stephen!” She called back to him.

“Later,” He said casually, as if he always had another girl waiting for him so it didn’t matter if this one was leaving. I rolled my eyes once again. As if… I scoffed. We walked out the doors to the girls locker room. We found two lockers next to each other and began to change. I changed into some fairly new white vans I got this summer. I flipped my hair to put it in a high ponytail. I was wearing my new white T- shirt, and started to put on the dark blue gym shorts. The shorts were about 6” above my knee. Malarie knew that what I was thinking. I haven't worn shorts above my knee since 6th grade... after the accident. I waited for Aunt Carrie as I stood on the sidewalk outside the Movie Theatre. She zoomed up and sharply pulled over and the door swung open. My Aunt Carrie was 25, and the farthest thing from responsible. I shrugged, and got in the front seat. The car reeked of booze. As usual. She ran a red light, and I didn't notice her boyfriend was in the backseat until I heard the thud of him falling on the floor of the car. She was making a U-turn when I saw a semi truck coming our way. I figured she would change lanes soon. She didn't. The truck was getting closer and closer.

"MOVE!" Was the only thing I can recall yelling before I heard the windshield shatter and then I blacked out.

I woke up in a hospital bed with a white cloth wrapped around my forehead, and oxegyn tube in my nose, and my whole left leg in a cast. The rest of the night (or day, I have no idea) was a blur until the nurse came in with my results. I had suffered a mild concussion and completely demolished my knee. Thankfully I had already had the surgery after I woke up. The nurse turned on the x-rays, revelaing my 6-inch long scar running down the center of my knee. I have covered it up ever since.

I shook my head to return from my flashback. Malarie had ordered the dark blue skort instead of the shorts. Everyone wore the same white T- shirt. We walked back to the gym and noticed the girls were on the left, and the boys were on the right. We went the left side and waited for the coach to say something. But all he said was-

“Dodge ball!” And with that, every girl and guy in the class started to cheer, and ran wild. He continued.

“Everyone settle down. Malarie, Phoebe, Chris, Erik, Samantha, Zach, and Bonnie put red pennies on. Josh, Stephen, Jenny, Grace, Marcos, Lisa, and Sam will wear yellow pennies. Everyone else, sit on the benches until the second round.” Could it be the same Jenny that I ran into earlier? I turned to look, and sure enough, it was. She was wearing gym shorts too, but they were barley covering her butt. She was wearing a white tank top (I have no idea how she ordered one), and her blonde hair was braided down her back. She looked at me, and shot me a dirty look. I turned to Malarie, but she was clueless. Not only was she not paying attention, but she was staring at Stephen. I took a deep breath, and got ready to be pummeled by flying dodge balls. We all walked to our sides of the gym. The kids on the sidelines were cheering for us. I started to daydream, when the loud sound of Coach’s whistle. I ran as fast as I could, and snatched a ball. Dodge balls flew every which way. I ran back and before I could get a chance to let it escape the palm of my hands, I heard the whiz of a dodge ball coming straight in the direction of my face. I felt a pungent sting smack on my nose, and the world went black.