Safe?

Chapter 30

“Earth to Lily…” Jax and I had double P.E. together on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Today was Thursday.

Giant, Luke and Ben were there too, along with half of the Junior class, but Jax and I usually paired up together.

“Sorry, Jax…” I mumbled.

Mr. Higgins had announced we’d be playing football until further notice, which meant that the few girls who attended this class, didn’t even bother to get changed and chose to sit and chat in the bleachers instead.

Dressed in a uniform that was at least three sizes too big for me and smelt like dirty socks, and a helmet that made me look like I was nodding all the time, I realized I should perhaps have done the same. I pushed the helmet up so that I could actually see him.

He laughed.

“Come here.” I walked to him, and he unbuckled the strap, before tightening it so that it was no longer loose on my head. “Better?”

I nodded.

“So we’re supposed to throw the ball at one another and to take a couple of steps back each time, to see how far we can throw…”

I nodded confidently. I had been playing that game forever with Ben.

“Ok.” I muttered and went to stand a few feet away from him.

“Hmm, Lily?” He looked puzzled, so I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

I nodded and motioned for him to throw the ball. I almost didn’t catch it, that’s how slow it was.

I narrowed my eyes at him and threw him a perfect spiral.

“Holy shit, lily!” His eyes were wide.

“Whatever, Jax.” I mumbled unwilling to attract people’s attention on us. “Just throw the ball, already.” I said after taking a couple steps back.

After a while, we were the only pair left beside Ben and Luke. We were about 27 yards away from each other and I knew I could go on for a while but hated the attention we were getting.

“Shall we stop, Sir?” I asked him as he came to stand next to me.

“By all means, don’t, Ms. Sterling.” He answered. “I got your records from your old school so I’ve always known that the two of you were accomplished athletes, but your throwing skills weren’t mentioned anywhere…”

“Shouldn’t you focus all your attention on the real experts?” I joked, hoping he would fall for it.

It didn’t work.

“Come on, Lily.” Jax was smiling knowingly so I stuck out my tongue at him.

Some boys started laughing behind me.

Jax missed me when we were almost forty yards apart so I sat down in the grass.

“What are you doing, Lil?” He shouted. “I’ll catch yours…”

I sighed but complied and went on until I failed my forty nine yard throw.

I was actually bummed. I would have liked to manage a fifty…

When many boys started hooting and applauding, I thought it was because of Ben and Luke, but when I glanced their way, I noticed that they had been watching me along with the other students.

I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

Giant noticed my discomfort and walked to me before throwing his arm around my shoulders in a reassuring way.