sHE'S brOKen

Logan Draper

VOTE SHARE AND COMMENT YOUR PREDICTIONS
_____________________________

After talking to Ace in the bathroom, I realized I've never seen him like this. Sure, after we lose a game he's pressed, but he was fuming with anger, it was honestly kind of scary. In art after lunch, I take the time to express all the stress I'm under. I sketched a man holding a mask of his own face and thought about all the different components I wanted to include.

Ms. Garcia walks in and sets her sketchbooks down, "Alright students, today I want you all to pick 5 objects and focus on the light and dark shading you will need to do. Please do this with accuracy. This project will count as a small grade but soon everything will begin to pile up. I stared at the blank sheet in front of me having no idea how to start this assignment. Normally these things come easy to me but I had no inspiration. I want this to look professional and not like a five year olds drawing. By the end of the period my page was still blank and everyone started to pack up.

I finally gathered my belongings and approach Ms. Garcia. Her note from last week was very concerning to me, Please see me after class one day. I've seen the bruises, talk to me. Trust me I don't want to talk to her, but I need to get her off my case. "So you wanted to see me?" She takes her glasses off. Today she was wearing a tank top with dress pants and her blazer laid across the desk. "Um, I did. Is everything going alright at home?" I roll my eyes, "I'm sorry, are you my personal counselor?" She sighs, clearly getting frustrated.

Garcia gets closer to me tugging at the hem of my shirt, signaling for me to take it off. I pull the cotton fabric over my head and her hands start to roam my torso. Stopping occasionally to graze her acrylic nails over a few faded bruises, she looks up at me with worried eyes. "Logan, please tell me the truth. Everything at home clearly isn't alright. I won't talk to the counselor, but at least tell me you'll get some form of help. I want you to succeed in my class and the trauma from home is heavily shown in your artwork." Who says pain can't make me an artist? I needed to distract her.

I don't know what came over me but I pinned her against her desk and started to kiss her. To my surprise, she kissed back. I immediately stop her, "Um, where did you think this was going? You tried to force yourself onto a student. Unless you want me going around telling someone about this, I suggest you forget about the bruises. It's really none of your business your playing with fire."

I put my shirt on and begin to make my way towards the door. I crack the door opens and heard her nails tap on the desk, "Wait," I turned around to face her.
"Is this going to be a regular thing or...". I hear a motorcycle rev up and park in the lot. I look back at the door, "I have a game, I gotta go." She pouts and lets me go. What have I done.

I walk into the locker room and can feel the undeniable tension. I walk over to Ace and get my stuff out of my locker. I get dressed and put my helmet on. Ace goes over a few plays and we all get out on the field. We practice and Ace threw a few fast balls way out of Caleb's reach. They argued about it for a little then the coach got involved and the stands were starting to fill up.

We were 26-14 by halftime. We were losing. The locker room was dead silence. I was about to speak up but Caleb beat me to it, "Ace I get that you're mad or whatever but we have a game to WIN. I'm not about to get my ass handed to me at a home game." Ace let out a chuckle, "Stop being a pussy and actually catch the balls I throw maybe then we'd have a shot at winning," I can't take it anymore. "If y'all are both about to be absolute idiots and ruin our chances of winning because of a bitch fight in the halls, sit on the sidelines," Ace cuts me off, "Are you trying to tell me how to run my team," I roll my eyes, "If you were running it right, I wouldn't have to." He scoffs.

"Put this issue aside for tonight, fight later. If we lose your both to blame." I put my helmet on and made my way towards the water fountains. As I fill up my water bottle I see Ava and another girl wandering around. I make eye contact with the girl and wink at her. She blushes and looks away. Ava punches my arm, "You realize y'all are losing right? Tell my brother to get his shit together, there's scouts out there." I roll my eyes and turn to Ava. "Why does your brother have to be such a stubborn hot head." She laughs, "I don't know bro. I heard he fought her brother today." Caleb has a sister, interesting. We say our goodbyes and the team returns to the field.

Surprisingly enough we got our act together. Touchdowns left and right. 48 - 39, we won. I literally couldn't believe it. The crowd went crazy and we returned to the school. The cheerleaders were congratulating us and were convinced that their cheers helped us win. Cylyss and Ace were talking and Caleb would glance occasionally. However, he was very focused on Angelina he seemed to genuinely like her. She was inclined to rub it in everyone's face that her 'man' made the last touchdown.

Everyone makes their way to the schools favorite pizza place, our principal wanted to treat us. Caleb and I waited for Angelina and her friends. We made conversation and saw the other team head out. A few 'good games' here and there. Their cheer team left shortly after and the last girl to leave was putting on a purple motorcycle helmet. I didn't get a good look at her face, so when she bumped into me I helped her up, and she lifted her helmet just enough so I could see her lips. She said thank you and walked away. Mysterious much.
///////////////////////////////////////////
1261 words
A little longer. Hope you liked it. Be sure to tell us what you think about any of the characters. Interact with us! Vote, Comment, Share, and Follow. 🥀