Now It's My Time to Strike Back

Once I reached the gym, I was eternally grateful to see Mel sitting cross-legged on the bleachers. I rushed over to Mel, her head popping up at my sudden appearance.

“Oh, hey, Rose. You look out of breath. Is everything alright?” she asked in a concerned tone.

“Actually, no,” I began before explaining to her what happened in my previous class.

“That sucks. So he’s going to treat you as though you don’t even exist?” she asked in shock. My mind wandered to Jake. Where was he?

I looked down in sadness, not wanting to answer her, but I knew she already knew the answer to her own question.

“Sorry,” she mumbled just as more of the students started entering the gym.

Soon enough, Nick was amongst them, but to my surprise, he sat with us only saying a quiet “hey” before diverting his attention across the room to our left. Vic sat with her flunkies around her, a smile on her lips before her eyes landed on Nick and then me.

“Don’t pay attention to her,” Mel whispered, but I couldn’t help but feel angry.

All of this was her fault. She was the one who messed things up between Nick and I. I turned my head away from her, my attention snapping back up at our male gym teacher.

“My name is Coach Strong and I’ll be your fitness instructor. This class is simple. You’ll dress out in the appropriate work-out attire. Girls are allowed to wear sweat pants and/or shorts as well as at least a tank top, but when the weather starts getting cooler, you’re allowed to wear just sweat suits. The same goes for the guys. This isn’t Health 101, so I won’t go into further detail as though any of you need further explanation.”

Everyone stared at him while some kids nodded in response to his words.

“OK, so, your names are on your lockers for today, but after the first week, you should know where your locker is as well as the combination lock to it. Today since it’s a short day, you’ll just write down your locker numbers and combinations, then you can head to the student uniform store and buy gym clothes. With that said, that doesn’t mean we’ll be working out everyday. Do I make myself clear?” he asked in a firm tone.

“Yes, sir!” the class responded in unison.

We headed to our separate locker rooms seeing our names on index cards which were taped to the locker. Attached to the index card was the combination number as well as the locker number. I took mine off of my locker seeing Mel doing the same.

“So, where should we go?” she asked, causing me to think of an answer to her question.

Where should we go? I thought of Nick and I’s dorm, but that thought was depleted as I thought of Nick wanting to get over me. I brushed the thoughts away deciding to stay out of the dorm since the chances of Nick being there were extremely high.

Mel’s waving hand brought me out of my thoughts as I shook my head.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” I asked, my attention getting brought to our surroundings.

We were outside of the Student Store already which was slightly packed. We walked over to the fitness section and picked out our gym clothes. Mel got a couple of pairs of shorts while I got a couple as well as the standard work-out gear for winter time.

Satisfied, we paid for everything, then exited the store only to run into-.

“Jake, hi!” Mel said in an obvious tone.

“Hey, Mel. Rose,” Jake said with a smile before his eyes landed on me causing me to get a little nervous.

I said a quiet hello in return before something came to me in my mind.

“Hey! Why weren’t you in class today?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest the best I could without dropping my bags of clothes.

A light laugh escaped him before he spoke, catching me off guard.

“Miss me that much already?” he teased with a wink.

My heart fluttered a little at the gesture. It was cute to say the least.

“Well, Rose was worried about you,” Mel joined in.

“Guys!” I whined pouting a little before I huffed dramatically knowing they’d follow me as I began my “walk”.

“Rose, come on! We’re sorry!” Mel said in an actual concerned tone.

“Yeah, just stop whining, you big baby!” Jake called, following as well.

I fake gasped before turning to face them both.

“I’m a big baby now?” I asked in a fake upset tone.

“Yes, now do you want me to kiss your boo-boo and make it feel better?” Jake teased again before I finally got hurt.

I really huffed this time before turning to the staircase only to walk into Nick. An “umph” escaped me before my breath got caught in my throat as we stared at one another for a few seconds before his eyes landed on Mel and Jake, then finally back to me.

“Hey, um, I’m sorry,” he said in a low tone before moving aside for me to walk and then headed towards the same place we’d come from.

My eyes watched him leave for a second before I continued my march to my dorm. The only person who followed me was Mel. I guess Jake finally got the hint that I didn’t want to talk about Nick to him and vice versa.

We reached my dorm in less than a few minutes with the end result of me shedding a few tears to Mel and spending the rest of the day with her.

…

“Why does my life suck?” I asked, now the following Friday of Nick’s game about 20 minutes before the game was to start.

“Well, you’re trying to date Jake when you possibly still have feelings for Nick,” Mel said as though it were obvious.

A sigh escaped me before I spoke.

“Jake and I aren’t officially dating yet,” I said, ignoring the other half of her statement.

“Oh, please. Everyone can tell that you guys are practically a couple. Are you going to the Lounge tonight after the game?” she asked surfing the internet on my laptop.

“I don’t know yet. It’s up to Jake, I guess,” I admitted.

I was always weary whenever I wanted to do things with the high possibility of Nick being in the same place, but I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever.

“You need to put your foot down and take charge. Why do you keep doing that to yourself?” she asked.

I knew Mel was referring to avoiding Nick and not getting over being around him or Vic.

“I don’t know,” I answered with a shrug.

“Well, let’s go,” Mel said after a few moments once her phone rung as a small smile graced her lips.

“Joe?” I asked in a knowing tone. She nodded feverishly in response.

…

We walked to the gym going through it to get to the baseball field seeing it packed with students from another school as well as our own. Mel spotted Joe before I did and I soon saw Danielle, Kevin, and Jake with them.

Joe approached us, leading us through the crowded bleachers to the gang and I noticed the row behind them was filled with Nick’s gang from his previous school.

I took a sharp intake of breath before speaking, plastering a fake smile on my lips.

“Rose!” they all said in unison.

“Hey, guys!” I said in a slightly nervous tone.

Smiles were plastered on their faces before Alyson spoke first.

“We heard about what happened and we haven’t exactly hung out with Nick because of it,” she said, catching me off guard.

“Not that he hung out with us, anyway,” Jason added.

The people around us began to cheer, diverting our attention to the players and teams below. Vic was in her cheerleading outfit which the only difference between her practice outfit was her shirt. She had a ribbon in her hair which was in a high, curly ponytail.

My eyes watched her as she and the cheerleaders faced the field, doing their little cheer routine, annoying me a little. The players’ names were soon called over the intercom system and soon Nick’s name was called. Everyone from New Preston cheered and clapped for him the loudest next to a couple of other guys on the team.

I felt conflicted with my feelings as I thought about how things would have been if Nick and I wouldn’t have broken up. Shaking the thoughts away, my attention was diverted by the nudging of Mel in my side.

“Rose,” she called in slight awe.

My eyes whipped to her direction before I followed her gaze leading to the baseball team. Nick stood in his uniform, his eyes whipping up at me as he scanned the crowd giving up only when his name was called to go up next.

“Is he looking for someone?” Maya asked with a brow raised.

“I think so,” Joe said trailing off.

I began to grow self-conscious. There was no way Nick was trying to find me, was it?

The lengthy game continued with Nick’s eyes scanning the crowd until he was at third base for the seventh time in the night. The player at home hit the ball, it going out of the park causing the crowd to cheer in triumph.

However, Nick stayed in his spot, scanning the crowd in determination before until finally his eyes locked with mine. He opened his mouth slightly before running to home as a slight smirk formed on his lips.

I knew then what I had to do.

“Mel, I think I know what I want to do now. I’m not confused anymore,” I said with certainty as my heart pounded in my chest.

“W-what do you mean you’re not confused? You chose?” she asked in shock.

“Yeah!” I replied with a smile as my eyes stayed on Nick’s figure.

I couldn’t be with Jake. I had to be with Nick again. Now all I had to do was wait.