Surf's Up?

Coverups and Confusion

Steele’s POV

I knew that was going to happen. It was my fault, I deserved it, but it was still a shock when Hill punched

me square in the jaw. I looked in the bathroom mirror at the blue, green, and black bruise that had

formed. My lip was split and bleeding profusely. My chest and stomach didn’t really hurt, but Hill

managed to hit me hard in the face. When I finally realized my lip wouldn’t stop bleeding, I headed to

the nurse.

Unfortunately, the nurse, Ms. Gambles, was a wee bit creepy. She was a large ginger, who smiled a lot

(in a scary way) and had a bit of a moustache. She grinned at me as I walked in and I tried not to look at

her huge chest as it pushed against me, as she closed the door behind me. Disgusted, I walked all the

way in and sat down. She pulled on some latex gloves and grabbed my face, (ignoring my wince).

Looking at my lip, she nodded and walked into the other room to get a bandage. She came back with

some weird-smelling liquid and a butterfly Band-Aid. No, not a Band-Aid with butterflies on it; it was a

small Band-Aid that held together the sides of the cut. It was about half the size of my pinky and white.

She placed it gently right below my lip and put some weird-smelling liquid on the bruise. She told me it

was to help the swelling go down. She kept smiling at me and I coughed. “So… um, can I have a slip for

class?” She signed a pink slip and handed it to me, not taking her eyes off me. I gave her a weird look

(as nicely as possible of course) and walked out.

I walked into class, ignoring the looks of my classmates, and handed the pink slip to my teacher. I sat

down and glared at anyone who stared at my face for too long. I didn’t even realize I was in

Government until I looked a couple seats over and saw Ellis staring at me. I ignored her gaze and

fiddled with my pen. I felt her eyes on me for another minute before she turned around. “Mr. Peters? Mr.

Peters?!” I looked up as I realized Mr. Sanders was talking to me. “Has your bruised face affected your

hearing? I asked you a question.” I sighed. “Sorry. What was the question?” He crossed his arms. “Tell

you what. I’ll forget your intelligence lapse if you tell the class what happened to your face.” He smirked,

thinking I wouldn’t say anything. So, of course, I said, “You should see the other guy.” Mr. Sanders

smiled at my response and nodded approvingly. He turned back to the board and continued to teach.

I packed up extra slow after class so that I didn’t have to talk to Ellis. She walked over nonetheless. I

glanced at her and noticed her hands were fiddling with the other nervously. But before she could say

anything, I grabbed my backpack and walked out. I heard her sigh, as I walked out the door. After all the

crap that just happened, she wasn’t going to ruin her relationship with Hill by telling him that she kissed

me back. So, if she was going to be perfectly happy with my brother, then I needed to move on from her.

I headed to my locker and grabbed several books. I needed a distraction. I looked around and saw a

girl; Lindsay I think her name was, was staring at me and twisting a lock of hair around her finger.

Perfect. She walked over, as if pulled by my gaze, and stopped in front of me. “Hi Steele.” I smiled at

her. “Hey Linds.” She stepped extremely close to me. Gosh, she’s desperate. We continued to talk,

since we had a break between classes, and before I knew it, her lips were on mine. Don’t exactly know

how that happened but I was surprisingly okay with it. She walked away a minute or two later, telling

me to call her, and sending me a flirty wink. Yikes. She was pretty, but extremely desperate. I looked

down the hall to see Ellis standing with her mouth slightly parted, looking hurt. I tried to ignore her

expression and go to my next class without feeling bad, but it was impossible. Her expression was

burned into my brain. Why should she care? She has her perfect boyfriend.

Ellis’ POV

Okay, I’m just going to admit it: I don’t like Steele with other girls. I know that’s selfish, since I have Hill,

but I can’t help it. Plus, he kissed me. Sure, I kissed him back, but he initiated it and eternally confused

my feelings. Gosh, up is down and right is wrong. What is going on? I watched the desperate girl clutch

his shirt and I tried not to gag. I knew my expression betrayed the hurt I felt when Steele looked at me.

The girl walked past me and threw me a smirk, which I ignored. Steele glanced me over, a bit of

concern flashing across his face, before he walked away.

Steele and Lindsay (I found out her name from Reese) sat together at lunch and pretty much made out

after every class, for a week. I tried to avoid them but they seemed to be everywhere. After government,

they would be in the hallway kissing; when I went towards the bathroom, they’d be in an empty

classroom. They probably skipped at least 5 classes that week.

Friday at noon, I grabbed a sandwich and sat down. A couple people said hi to me as they walked past

and I smiled. I was in pretty good spirits. The weekend was here and I could spend it with my boyfriend,

who, I had not seen all week because he was in extra classes or team lunches. I glanced across the

lunchroom and saw Brian making his way towards me. He smiled at me as he sat down and I noticed

Steele’s lingering stare on his back. I smiled at Brian, grateful for the company. We began to talk about

our weekend plans when Hill sat down across from me. He nodded at Brian who nodded back.

Surprisingly, they were getting along pretty well. Since Steele told Hill he kissed me, Hill seemed to

think that Brian was the good guy. Well, better than Steele anyway. They weren’t exactly friends but

they weren’t ripping each other’s throats out either. Baby steps.

We were almost done eating when Brian asked, “So Hill, why’d you punch Steele?” I mentally face

palmed. We were 'this' close to a normal lunch. Hill glared across the lunchroom at Steele, who was

now leaning against the wall, with Lindsay pulled into him. They were ferociously making out. A tug in

my stomach made me look back to Hill. “Steele kissed Ellis.” I looked at Hill, surprised at his honesty.

Brian looked at me and a strange expression flickered across his face. I could’ve sworn he looked hurt.

But Hill never said that I kissed him back, just that he kissed me. Brian nodded slowly. “I can see why

you’d punch him.” He laughed, like he found it funny but something in his tone sounded like part of him

agreed with Hill for punching Steele. I must’ve imagined it.