NEXT DAY Nicole drudged to gym, the worst class of the day, and by far her least favorite. She walked into the locker room and opened her locker, grabbed her shorts and went to the bathroom. She changed as slowly as possible, so as to get out of as much of the class as possible.
"Evans! Must we go through this everyday?! Get out here!" the coach yelled into her echoing prison.
Nicole came out on her crutches, and proceeded to sit next to a group of girls on the bleachers. The boys were playing basketball on the other half of the gym, and a few other girls were playing volleyball on the southern half. A girl dove for the volleyball and slid across the court, Nicole winced. Since she wasn't paying much attention to anything else, she didn't notice Justin come in, a yellow slip of paper in his hand.
He looked at her and waved. She saw him, but what she didn't see was Greg bounce a basketball her way.
And just as it hit her, Greg yelled "heads up!" The entire class erupted in laughter but Justin ran over to Nicole, who was pushed back into the bleachers. She looked like she was about to start crying.
”Are you alright?" he asked, helping her sit upright again. She just looked at him, speechless. He turned and looked at Greg. "What'd you do that for?" he asked, making his way over to him.
"What does it matter, she's just a wimp anyway," he said and shot the ball.
"No-" he was cut off by the coach, who just walked back in.
"Hey, Justin, you here for something? Or do I need to make you run some laps?" he called across the gym to him.
"Yes sir, I was here with a pass," he said digging into his pocket. "But when I walked in, Greg here was giving Nicole an up-close view of a Basketball," Justin answered, handing the coach the pass. "He hit her with it, and knocked her into the bleachers.”
"Is that so?” the coach asked, pondering, and taking Nicole's previous complaints into consideration.
"Yes, sir," he replied.
"GREG!"
"Sir?" he asked.
"You hit Nicole with a ball?" he questioned.
"No, sir, she told us to pass it to her, and it hit her, when we did and she fell down," he tried to say.
"Right, because Mr. Timberlake here, says you hit her with it," he said. Greg just stood there, anger surfacing on his face. "I want laps, til class ends, then the same thing tomorrow and the next day.” Coach smiled at Nicole, then turned to Justin."Would you mind helping her to the Nurse's Office?" he asked.
"No, sir, I wouldn't mind at all," he grinned and made his way to Nicole and helped her out of the Gymnasium.
---
Justin first took Nicole to the locker room, waiting outside while she changed. When she came out he noticed she was back in her chair. “Here, let me push you. You need to rest.”
She smiled, & though she was ready to protest not being used to the help, she didn’t know how to refuse him.
When the nurse saw them, she only noticed Justin at first. “Oh, Justin dear, are you sick?” she asked going to feel his forehead.
“Actually, no. my friend Nicole got hit with a basketball really hard,” he answered stepping aside.
The nurse looked down & in a somewhat annoyed voice asked, “you again?” Justin looked confused when Nicole looked at her lap. “Here, back room.”
Nicole took the ice & Justin wheeled her back to the semi-private, dark room used for resting. He helped her move to the bed, ever so gently moving her. She was amazed by his kindness. “Lay down, I’ll hold this.”
She nodded, regretting it when she felt the pain flair through her face. He winced, not liking seeing her in pain, & gently put the cold pack to her nose & cheek. “So, sweetie, how many times has this happened?”
Nicole looked surprised at his nickname & smiled that she liked it yet hesitated to answer. He waited patiently. “Enough that I know the nurse on a first name basis,” she answered ashamed.
“Wow...and you haven’t had them report it?” When she shook her head no, his heart went to her. How come he jut seeing this now? He’d noticed her for weeks now. She was quiet, mostly alone except for Saberly, & a good student.
He noticed some comments from other kids but couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to think that’s all they were. How could someone do that? She was sweet, helpful & didn’t bother anyone. The kids thought her an easy target. “It’s ok,” she said softly, seeing the wheels turn in his head. “I’m used to it, they get bored every few weeks.”
“Weeks?! I’m sorry, you shouldn’t go through this. I promise you won’t anymore.”
“No, Justin!” she said, trying to sit up. She settled back again from pain. “I’ll be fine, no need to get involved.” Truth is, she wanted him to rescue her, to be the one to stop the cruel jokes kids played. But she couldn’t let him. Why would someone like him want to like someone like her?
“Hey, you're my princess now. I’m not letting you be hurt anymore. That is, if you accept my invitation to the dance,” he ended shyly.
He had been wanting to ask her out for awhile now, just didn’t know when or how. She looked at him & blushed. “I’d love-”
In the middle of her answer, the nurse came through the curtain & interrupted them. “Timberlake, get back to class. The office called when you dropped off a pass & never came back.”
Justin gave Nicole a sympathetic look> "Okay, I'm going," he said to the Nurse. "I'll see you at Lunch?" he asked Nicole.
She nodded her head and smiled, "See you then," she said.
"Be careful," he said over his shoulder and disappeared out of the doorway.
Chapter End Notes:
AN: we'll probably take a break for christmas since we've hit a dead end. hope you're enjoying this. let us know if you are or if you'd like us to stop.
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