Contraindication

Twenty-Eight | We Meet Again...

"Betrayal is the only truth that sticks."
― Arthur Miller

An ear-piercing shriek from Mrs. Zip's whistle caused my already sick stomach to turn. That was her classic way of saying 'stop everything you're doing and come to me. What I say may or may apply to your gym credit.'

The class gathered around her in a semicircle after doing a record of 23 laps around the gym. I immediately came to a choking stop behind Darren. I didn't do 23 laps like everyone else; at most I did 6, and that was a personal record.

I huffed as I used his shoulder as an armrest. With what little energy I had left, I searched around the gym—Tracy was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she went home? Or maybe her breakup wasn't too bad that she skipped the gym again to get ice cream with her new friends?

Only she knows.

Mrs. Zip peered down at her clipboard and marked down the people's absence with her sparkling blue pen. That office supply matched her tracksuit today like it always does. However, this time her sparkling outside matched her cold dead insides. "Ok class!" She smiled and held her blue clipboard against her chest. "I know it's only the first day back from March break..."

Oh, no... for the love of god please don't say fitness testing..

"But we have a new student joining us today," Mrs. Zip said in the most mono-tonal voice possible. It was almost like she didn't want to announce it.

On cue, a boy with his head down walked out of the equipment room and joined Mrs. Zip in the centre of the semicircle.

"Everyone, this is Issac Van Rensselaer," Mrs. Zip read off the paper, "He recently transferred from St. Cajetan's Academy for boys, for financial reasons?" Zip looked just as confused as the boy when he pulled up his shaking head.

My heart dropped when his perplexing blue eyes met mine. They soon darkened as he recognized me.

Darren elbowed me as I continued to stare back at Issac. I was right; I was going to need more pills today. "Wait, isn't that him?" Darren whispered to me with a hint of panic. "The boy who tried to kill you?"

All I could do was nod my head.

Issac looked slightly better than when I saw him last. He still had his black eye, but the cuts and bruises from his face looked faded. His arms still had some red scars, and he was standing awkwardly beside the hulking gym teacher. The grey and black gym uniform was baggy on him like they ran out of his size. They probably did, considering this was the middle of the school year.

"Do you want to introduce yourself?" She placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"No." He stated bluntly, "but I feel as though you're going to make me, anyway."

The class laughed, but I could tell Mrs. Zip didn't like that. "You're a snaky one, aren't you?" She huffed, "You'll get along with this pain of a class." She let go of his shoulder and focused her attention on her clipboard. "Ok, we're going to start the week off easy, so get into your coloured groups and get ready to play some basketball." She smiled and blew her whistle again.

Darren, and I sauntered to the back of the gym to meet up with Evan, Conner, and Kim, and another a politics girl  to group as a team. Conner, the boy who shot me, kept giving me weird looks, but I didn't care. He also stayed far away from the group, as if he was ashamed of something...

"Hey, how come Mrs. Zip didn't introduce me to the class?" Darren sighed while handing out the yellow pennies.

Kim laughed as she crossed her arms, "Maybe because you aren't that cute!" She slipped her penny over her uniform, "That kid is giving me kicked out of private school for starting a fight vibes," She licked her lips.