Pieces of Love

Chapter 23

I wasn't really a big fan of gym class. First of all, I sweat. Second, I was inconsistent when it comes to physical activity. There were sports in which I was pretty decent at, and there were sports which I just truly sucked at. Lastly, looking at other more athletic girls made me feel small and jealous of their strong frame.

Luckily, we were doing floorball today, something that I was okay with. Mr Henry, a teacher whom I absolutely detested due to his dearest ambition to scream and shout at every student in his class, grouped us into groups of five and let two teams play against each other.

Near to the end of our class, Mr Henry chose us, or to be precise, screamed at us to get our lazy selves off the floor and start playing. With a blow of his whistle, the game commenced. All my eyes could train on was on the ball as I manoeuvred my way through the players, bending my knees as I swerved my body from left to right. Floorball sticks were flailing everywhere and I tripped on one more than once. Sweat slowly gathered itself on my forehead and strands of hair were beginning to fall out of my ponytail, obstructing my view.

I looked up at the timer which Mr Henry had set up, displaying the time we had left: thirty seconds. I huffed and pushed the annoying strands of hair out of my face once again, only to have a heavy body slam into mine. The world around me seemed to shake as I was knocked onto the ground, my right ankle buckling under my combined body weight.

This happened in a split second, but the pain in my ankle slowly built up to an unbearable throbbing. I heard the high pitched sound of a whistle, before sports shoes came into my view.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" a fairly nice boy named Tyler frantically asked as he knelt in front of me. I slowly lifted my head up to meet the anxious stares of my fellow classmates and a very pissed off Mr Henry.

"I'll be seeing you later, boy! Bring her to the nurse's office before coming straight back to me, do you hear?" Mr Henry barked in Tyler's face before stomping off, shaking his head. Right now, I couldn't care less of Mr Henry's hot temper and instead tried to stand. Tyler immediately burst into a fit of protests as he lent a hand out, helping me to my feet, well, my left foot. I gingerly pressed my right foot down on the ground and winced when a sharp pain shot through my ankle. Looking down at my ankle, I saw it already swelling to twice its original size and I gulped, feeling the tears burn in my eyes as another twinge of pain.

"Can you walk?" Tyler asked gently and offered his arm as support. I grabbed onto his arm tightly and tried to walk, but ended with my ankle rolling to one side.

"I can't," I said softly, hearing my voice crack at the end. Somebody suggested that Tyler should carry me, and despite myself, a faint blush appeared on my cheeks. Tyler simply shrugged and crouched down, clearly wanting me to get on his back. I hesitated for a moment, but even though I wasn't a medical expert, I knew that my ankle needed treatment immediately.

With the help of two other girls, I managed to somehow clamber onto Tyler's back. I was in an awkward position as the right side of my body was constantly sliding down but Tyler didn't waste any time in wrapping his arm around my bare thighs to keep me in place.

Without another word, he walked out of the gym just as the bell rang. My stomach plummeted at the thought of being under the scrutinising stares of people and I wasn't wrong. I felt I was under a spotlight as crowds of people exited the classroom. Tyler gripped my thighs tighter as if he was self-conscious too and I couldn't blame him. It wasn't every day in which you see a boy piggybacking a girl especially when the girl looked perfectly fine.

As we were nearing the nurse's office, an all too familiar voice sounded out into the slowly emptying corridor. My already low spirits lowered even more when Jacob came into view, confirming my thoughts. "What are you doing here?" his voice was more menacing than surprising as he stared at Tyler. His eyes travelled to his hands who were still gripping my thighs and his face darkened. I gulped as his eyes searched my face.