The Jerk and a Half c.h

Chapter 15

NOT EDITED WELL PLS BE NICE LOVE YAS

**Calum's POV**

The whistle blew signalling another foul on Ellie's behalf. The ref was persistent on slamming Ellie with incorrect calls, he was so, so biased, but hey, I'm just someone who's played all their life, what do I know? I was becoming steadily more and more infuriated by this refs, audacity to blow that whistle over and over. I was almost ready to slap it out of his mouth. I looked up at the scoreboard, the home team was winning by ten, credit to Ellie's performance. Watching her play was mesmerizing, the way she dribbled so smoothly, like the ball was magnetized to her hand. Once again Ellie had possession of the ball, after rebounding it and taking it up the court she passed it off to one of her fellow team mates. That was another thing I really liked about the way Ellie played, she was never cocky and was never selfish with the ball, always handing it off to someone else to score some glory. Glancing back up at the score board I watched the points raise to now 70 - 58. I smiled to myself as I watched Ellie's face light up with delight at her team's outstanding effort. It was then that the coach on the opposing team called a time out, and the team crowded him. Sure, it was a usual time to call time when it was quickly was running out and you were getting shredded, but I just couldn't help the foreboding feeling in my stomach that told me something was wrong. My eyes flickered back to Ellie who was also talking with her coach, taking long gulps from her water bottle. Sweat was shinning down her face and shins, the roots of her hair damp. A whistle blew and the teams flowed back onto the court. Ellie jogged down past halfway readying herself to sprint up the court to receive the ball from her teammate. One of the opposition jogged up beside her also readying herself to defend. She was taller and broader than Ellie, casting her into shadow. On cue, Ellie ran up receiving the ball and began taking it down court, dodging the double team, heading towards the hoop but also bringing her closer to her original defender. It only took a second, but as soon as Ellie looked down to take her first step into her layup, the girl slammed into Ellie with such force it knocked her out of the air and fully onto her back. My stomach dropped instantly, Ellie was lying on the ground, she had slid about 2 meters across the court and was heaving hard, her left arm clutching tight to her right shoulder. She didn't make a sound but even from where I was sitting I could see her biting down hard on her lip and her eyes growing glassy. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest and my throat felt tight. The whistle blew, and finally I thought the ref would come to Ellie's aid but my hopes deceived me.

"Foul, charge, on number 24, 2 shots!" He yelled towards the bench.

"THAT WAS A FUCKING FOUL!!" I screamed towards the ref. I couldn't believe my ears. At least I wasn't the only one in uproar. Ellie's coach, teammates and the supporters in the crowd were all eating him alive. Ellie had just been called for a foul she didn't do for what felt like the 50th time and this time she looked seriously injured. The opposition smiled to herself as if she was proud of the illegal moving screen she just performed. I almost flipped her off but my concern for Ellie was starting to overwhelm all my other emotions at the moment. Shakily Ellie raised her hands to signal time out. Another whistle blew and finally, Ellie got off the ground and still clutching her shoulder, and headed over to her coach. It was when she stood up, that I noticed the rip in her jersey. It had torn from her shoulder blade down to her mid back, and revealed an angry and inflamed burn like sores up her back from where she had slid so quickly across the floor. the sweat must have caused intense friction between her skin and the floor, resulting in her almost loosing all the skin off her back.

"Fuck.." I muttered to myself. Her coach had clearly not noticed and had just sent her to the change rooms for some space to recover. I hurdled the back of my chair and pretty much sprinted after Ellie, desperate to check on her. I flung myself around the entrance to the change rooms to see Ellie in the corner, standing shirtless and attempting to inspect her back in the mirror.

"Oh my god, are you ok?" I said heavy hard and striding over to her. Ellie turned her tear stained cheeks towards me and exhaled shakily.

"No, not really." She squeaked out. I had never seen her so distressed before. "Um, I can't see but can you please inspect my back, I don't know whats wrong with it but it feels like it's on fire." She was now clutching underneath her elbow holding her shoulder stationery and keeping all her joints aligned. She was barely moving her neck which made my concern for her jump to another level, something was really wrong with her shoulder as well but I needed to attend to one thing at a time.

"Ok, just turn around for me." She obeyed immediately, giving me a full view of how damaged her back really was. I bit back the gasp that was threatening to escape my lips. Ellie's back was red raw and bleeding in places where the top layer of her skin had been completely ripped off her back. In multiple places there were shiny, purple coloured sores underneath flakes of skin where the it had not been fully ripped off.

"Ellie, can you please pass me your jersey." I said quickly, my stress levels rising rapidly. She kicked it to me being unable to use her arms. I picked it up and fetched a random water bottle from one of the benches and drenched the jersey in water.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked and I could hear the fear in her voice. All I wanted to do was comfort her and wrap my arms around her and hold her tight, but I couldn't. If I even touched her I was almost certain she'd scream in agony. I furrowed my brows, feeling tense as I responded.

"This is gonna sting ok? I just need you to trust me. Do you trust me?" I asked her back. She nodded so I proceeded. I lightly and carefully as i could, I pressed down on her back with the damp jersey. Ellie's whole body went rigid, and I could see every muscle in her body tense with pain.

"Shit." She swore loudly, and gasped.

"I'm really sorry," I bit my lip hard, i hated hearing how much pain she was in and to know that I was adding to it. "I need to clean up your back, when you slid on the floor you gave yourself a really nasty burn all up it."

She exhaled, her voice shaking. "Ok..Just please be gentle."

"Of course."

About 5 minutes passed, of me slowly but surely cleaning her back, and Ellie silently crying in pain. I was almost crying myself, I hated the way I was inflicting pain on her, it killed me.

"Ok, that's the best I can do." I let the now bloody and wet jersey fall limp by my side. For some reason, I felt exhausted, emotionally drained but then I remembered how Ellie must be feeling. I grabbed her waist, the only part of her that i was sure wouldn't hurt if I touched it, and span her around slowly to face me. Her eyes were red and swollen, and a single tear was trickling down her cheek. Instinctively, I reached up and swiped it away with my thumb, leaving my hand on her cheek. She nuzzled her face into it pressing her lips against the palm of my hand and kissing it gently.

"Thank you." Ellie whispered. She leant into my chest and I embraced her softly, my arms wrapped around her waist as not to touch her burning back. Her head rested in the crook of my neck and I could feel her breathing slowing. When she pulled back, her face was red and wet with tears again, but this time she was smiling.

"I guess you got to see me in my bra then." Ellie said softly, smirking sheepishly up at me.
"I was planning on showing later on, but life happens I guess."

"Wait, why do you mean later on, like tonight or..." I could feel my heart beating hard at the thought. I attempted to calm myself to stop anything else going hard. Stupid boy brain.

"I guess you'll never know." She trailed off leaving me in awe of how much she could affect me even when she was in so much pain.

"Tease.." I growled leaning in and placing a peck on her cheek. "C'mon, let's go get that shoulder checked out. I threw my jacket around Ellie in attempt to cover her up, and we left the change rooms, hypothetically hand in hand.

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A/N

Hey guys, so longer chapter this time, get ready for some real shit to go down.. just saying. Anyway don't forget to vote and comment :))))))
Love you guys so much

E x