First Choice (Sam Wilkinson/Nash Grier)

Chapter 36

Gym class.

The most mentally torturous part of my day. The idea of preforming physical activity in front of people when I was the equivalent of a fat toad completely ruined any chance of having an anxiety free day. Every day, I just about cried in the locker room as I cowered in the corner and hurriedly changed into my gym uniform, eyes darting back and forth to make sure none of the other girls were staring at me and my disgusting body.

The uniform didn't help either. The tight black shorts weren't as long on me as they were on other girls because I had gotten mine late and they didn't have any more larges left so I had to take a medium. My T-shirt on the other hand was huge, white with the school logo and it reached almost mid-thigh. I hated when I'd walk out of the locker room and have to face Nash. I didn't even know if we'd talk after our little fight yesterday.

There were so many other girls in our gym class, and all of them looked so much better than me. I put my hair up into a high ponytail as I walked out into the gymnasium. This week was soccer so we'd be inside until the teacher took role and then we'd go out to the field. Luckily, boy's teams and girl's teams were separated so if it was awkward between Nash and I, we wouldn't be forced to be around each other.

I walked past the group of loud cheerleaders and jocks that were crowding around the water fountain outside the locker rooms. I kept my eyes low and continued walking even after I thought I heard them say my name before erupting in laughter. I took a seat on the bleachers at the far side of the gym and looked around. I didn't really have that many friends in this class, besides Nash. I wasn't popular like the rest of my friends were, and people didn't even know why they hung out with me.

I knew they cared about me and wanted me there, but that didn't stop others from picking on me while I was vulnerable and alone. I remembered last year when a group of guys had cornered me in the art hall until Gilinsky ran up and punched one of them in the nose. I hugged my arms in front of my stomach, becoming self-conscious when I noticed Nash walk out, too far away for him to notice me. I looked down at my shoes, old, faded, grey vans.

When I looked back up, he was standing with the popular crowd. No matter how hard I tried to be like them, I couldn't deny that I was different and that if it wasn't for Sam and the rest of my friends introducing me to everyone, no one would know who I was or care for me. People only kept their mouths shut because they were afraid of what the guys would do. Nonetheless, I still could never shake the feeling that I didn't belong with Sam, Aaliyah, Matt, the Jacks, or any of them.

He seemed to perfectly fit in there with them. I had always felt like I held my friends back because of the fact that I hung out with them, as if their reputations were hurt by my lack of one. I usually ignored it, but on some days, like this one, it was hard to deny it. Nash's eyes scanned over the class until he met my gaze from all the way across the gym. I looked away from him and back down at my shoes.

Everyone had days when they felt beautiful, and days when they felt ugly; everyone had days when they felt like they meant something to the people around them, and days when they felt worthless. Today was just one of those terrible ones where I wanted to crawl into a ball, eat ice cream, and cry.

The teacher called my name and I raised my hand, he nodded and checked me off on his clip board so I stood and walked towards the door along with the other kids whose names had been called. Nash grabbed my arm as I walked past and when I looked up, the kids around him were staring at with extremely intimidating grins and glares.

"Hey, you're Sam's friend, huh?" a kid with dark skin and piercing black eyes asked me. "Y-yeah." I stuttered, ripping my arm away out of Nash's grip and walking out. I heard their loud laughter following me, the usual when Sam wasn't around.

The bossy cheerleaders split us into teams and I just went where I was told, fading into the background as I just stood and watched the other girls run around and kick the ball. I looked over to the other field to see Nash being the star of the show. All the guys were loud in proclaiming "The new kid is good as fuck at soccer!"

He scored a goal and his team started yelling that the other team didn't have shit on them. Nash grinned and received a couple high-fives.

"Jasmine! Stop standing there and do something!" The teacher yelled. Nash's head snapped to me and he had caught me staring. "Fuck," I muttered, jogging over to the other side of the field and standing a little closer to my other teammates. Before I had time to react, I felt something slam into me, hard.

The wind was knocked out of me as I fell onto the ground, my back slamming down. I gasped, desperately trying to get air in my lungs as my body heaved and refused to let me. Everyone was staring at me, a few of them laughing, and I would have been completely humiliated if I had the ability to focus on anything else rather than the fact that I couldn't breathe. When I was finally able to take measly half-breaths I began coughing horrendously.

"She's fine. She's just had the breath knocked out of her." The rude cheerleader that had came in like a wrecking ball, Amber, sighed as everyone began gathering around me.

"Let's get her to the nurse just in case." I heard the teacher mutter. Great, I get fucking assaulted and I'm to blame.

"I'll take her." Nash broke through and leaned down beside me. I barely had time to protest as he wrapped his arms around me and scooped me up. "She can't walk herself there alone?" Amber scoffed, obviously jealous if you ask me.

"She doesn't have to." Nash huffed as the other students cleared a path for him to walk through. "Good, she was making us lose anyways." She hissed behind us.

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing normally as Nash walked back into the school, through the hallways to the nurse's clinic.

"Y'all will have to wait." The lady at the desk said as we walked in, nodding to the waiting chairs along the opposite wall.

"It'll give us time to talk." Nash smiled as he walked over to them and set me down, before taking a seat beside me.