Reliving Yesterday ✔

Chapter 5.

"Let's go, let's go, people," Coach shouted, right as I passed by him. I flinched and Hanna was laughing at me. "This isn't a retirement home."

Finishing three laps, we stopped near coach, waiting for him to shout something ridiculous at us, as usual. "In case I forgot to mention," he said, consulting his notes, "The two teams will be tested. Every activity we do, you will be given points. And at the end of the year, we'll have a winning team."

I bit my lip.

You're competing with, Parker.

Michael's voice rang in my head and I tried to push him out. We nodded at coach. "First one," Coach said, picking up a ball from the bin, "Dodgeball."

I could hear complete and utter protests from Parker's team, mostly from the cheerleaders, afraid of breaking a nail or getting bruised. I looked down at my own knees, which boasted of wonderful scars, which gave me a memory each. Scars remind me of just how far that I've come.

"I need someone from either team to come up here," Coach said, "Who's the best at dodgeball from your teams?"

There was a resounding mumble when people decided who was the best to send out; in other words, who had the best luck to pick heads or tails. I stood back, knowing that my luck with anything was as good as Kim Kardashian's luck with good publicity.

"Alex!" someone said, and the whole team turned to look at me. My eyes widened.

"Oh, no," I said, but Jackson pulled me in towards the team.

"Just go up there and tell him whether you want heads or tails," he said.

"Fine," I said.

"Are you people going to give me a volunteer from your team?!" coach snapped. Looking back at him, I realized that it was directed towards us.

"Yes, Coach. I am right here," I said, raising my hand and stepping forward.

"Right, Hale, Wesley, take your pick," he said.

I raised my head, and sure enough, Parker stood in front of me, his face and eyes showing no emotion whatsoever. Damn it.

"Ladies first," Parker said, something clearly amusing him to the point of having to look away in order to stop himself.

"Heads," I told coach. Parker shrugged.

He nodded and tossed the coin in the air, perfectly landing in his palm again. He opened his palm out to us. Tails.

Damn it.

A sly smirk crossed Parker's face as he said, "Outside."

"Right," Coach agreed, "Now, where are those balls?"

A statement which earned a few sniggers.

"I always win," Parker stated, gruffly, before he walked off to his team. I turned to find the petty ones of mine, clearly annoyed with me. I shrugged at Jackson and he just smiled and shook his head at me. "It's fine," he told me, quietly, as we moved into the ring, "They have to have something to complain about everyday."

I smiled and braced myself for the hits that were about to come.

"Listen up, people," Coach blew his whistle, even though we were in the gym and there was no one else, but us, "You're out only if you're hit below the waist and if you step out of the circle. And everyone has to stand a foot away from the circle to throw the ball. Let's see how fast you can get these people to leave the circle."

I stood, my knees slightly bent, shoulder length apart and I realized that I was the only one facing the enemy. Everyone else - well, almost everyone - was cowering the back. I looked forward and saw the most of the basketball team, headed by Parker, were staring us down. Parker lazily tossed the ball around in his hands, looking as indifferent as usual. I rolled my eyes and turned to my team.

"Come on," I said, "Just because you stand there, doesn't mean you won't get hit. There are people on that side, too."

The cheerleaders and whatnot looked behind them and seeing people from the other on that side, too, took a hasty step away from the corner. I rolled my eyes again, returning to my position. The first person to approach me, unfortunately, was Eric.

Placing his hands on my hips, he whispered to me, "You're hot when you're aggressive."

I elbowed him earning a grunt and looked over at Coach. "Play ball," he yelled, as if he was only now noticing the people in front of him. Without warning, Parker launched the ball in my direction, but I'd played this game with him too many times to be taken by surprise, so I jumped over the ball and it ended up hitting two of the cheerleaders in it's course. They shrieked and ran out of the circle as I expected them to.

The ball came from the other side and pretty soon, I was left in the ring with four guys. Jackson, Eric, Blake and Jason. With the glint in his eye, I knew Parker wanted to get me out, and none of the people on his precious basketball team. The best part about having the guys were that they were taller and broader than me, so I could easily dodge behind them and avoid the ball. Our time was pretty good since it had already been fifteen minutes.

Pretty soon, I was the last man standing because in hopes of getting me, Parker, who had been the one mostly throwing the ball, he had hit the guys. Sure, my team was cheering for me, but I hardly heard them, trying to dodge the ball Parker threw at me. It made me want to laugh because that's what I'd been doing for the past four years; dodging Parker's bullets.

Stopping for a second, I realized what was going on in Parker's eyes. A maniacal gleam crossed the lovely, bright green in them and he threw the ball my way. I dodged and turned around, seeing Dylan holding the ball and he aimed at the same place that Parker did. I dodged and turned. Parker took the ball and aimed for me, and this went on like a routine.

Something in my mind was telling me to stop and I wondered what. Soon enough, I was turning back and forth fast enough to give me whiplash. The corners of my sight were blurring and there were black spots appearing everywhere, from on the ball to Dylan's shirt to Parker's face. A cold feeling crept up my back.

Parker knew.

Parker knew I had low blood pressure and I couldn't handle things like this. He knew more than anyone how much I struggled during my first few years of running track because he was right there next to me, telling me to hold on, feeding me bananas for potassium and telling me that I could do it. He knew what turning and twisting so much so fast did to me, but he didn't care. Not anymore.

The last thing I saw as I fell to the floor, right before my vision blacked out completely, was Parker's cold, cold face.

One thing I knew: The ball hadn't hit me.