Set Free

Set Free Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The first game of the day was arm wrestling. Nick and I cheered and screamed as both of the competitors for our grade tore through our opponents. They ended up both being the winners for that competition and the whole junior class went wild. I was even happy about it, and I got some great pictures for Facebook.

The next event was dodgeball.

"First, the girls will compete. This is an open competition, so all the girls who want to play are welcome. Everyone who wants to play please come down now." Our principal said from his stand.

I was content with just watching, but Nick apparently had other ideas for me. Before I realized it, he was dragging me down to the gym floor, and my sad attempts at resisting him were futile.

"Nick, STOP! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY!!" I yanked my arm in his grasp, but he stil wouldn't let go.

Right before we reached the floor, he pulled me to the side of the stairs and said, "Amber, you've got to do this. If not for yourself, than please do it for me. You need to start participating in your life again, and stop just watching it pass by like an idiot. And besides, if I remember correctly," He took a moment to grin widely at me. "I saved your life. So you owe me."

I sighed, and glanced at the assembling girls on the gym floor. A girl beckoned to me from the group of girls, as if telling me with her actions that it was okay for me to play.

So, for once, I gave in.

I walked over to the girl, and she smiled at me and high-fived me before the game began.

The game was awesome, but we lost. Heck, I loved it anyway. When it ended, a bright smile covered my face, and I was sad it was over. The whole thing was just so.......exhilarating.

As I began to walk back to Nick in the bleachers, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and found it to be the girl who had high-fived me earlier. I smiled at her widely.

"Hi! My name is Justice." She said to me, holding her hand out for me to shake.

I shook it, still smiling. "I'm Amber."

"So....aren't you glad your boyfriend convinced you to play....even though we lost? You looked like you were having more fun out there than all the rest of us put together!" She grinned at me. Somehow...it seemed kind of superficial....but I figured I was just seeing things. Then I realized what she'd just said. Did she really think Nick was my boyfriend?

"Yeah, it was a total blast,---wait, he-he's not my boyfriend! We're just friends." I said, worried she had gotten the wrong impression.

"Oh! Okay, sorry. I just assumed since you two just seemed like you were, you know,  together....but of course you aren't, I mean, duh, right? Anyway, I'm gonna go back to my friends. OH! Hey, great idea, do you want to come hang out with us? We'd be thrilled!" She said.

Somehow, I was getting a really bad feeling about Justice. I wasn't sure why, since she wasn't showing anything strange on the outside, but I felt like she wasn't really being sincere. Something was telling me that she was fake. And what the heck did she mean by 'of course you aren't'? Was I not good enough for Nick in her eyes? Not that I even wanted to be with Nick in the first place....*cough*.

"Um, I kinda wanna go back and sit with Nick. Maybe some other time, okay?" I replied.

"Oh, yeah I gotcha. But don't forget you're welcome whenever! We're all really nice! Oh! And I heard about Nick's surprise party. So I'll see you there too!"

"Okay, see ya. And, thanks for the offer." I said to her.

"No problem, girl."

I smiled hesitantly at her one last time before heading back to Nick and taking my seat beside him.

"Was that Justice you were talking to?" He asked me casually.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"What did you think of her?"

"She seems nice." I told him, fake-smiling about it.

"That's great, I hope you too will be friends." He said sincerely.

"Maybe...." I trailed off, but he didn't seem to notice.

I'd decided not to tell him about either the boyfriend mistake thing or about her wanting me to hang out with them. I knew the boyfriend thing might make him overly....I don't know...but I really didn't want things to change between us right now. And I knew if I'd said she invited me to hang out with them, he wouldn't have taken my  'No' for an answer. Even if he wasn't the only reason I didn't want to hang out with them.

Because the truth was, I had a bad feeling about Justice. And even more importantly than that, I really wanted to experience Homecoming with him, and only him.

But there was no way in heck I would ever let him know that.