CHAPTER FIVE

It turned out that he guy from the hallway and I had another class together last period; PE.

Natalie was also there and she's being suspiciously nice, for some unknown reason.

I wait until all the girls leave the locker room to change because there's no way I'm undressing in front of all of these strangers. Natalie actually offered to stay with me, but I politely declined.

I change into shorts and wear a sweatshirt over my tank top, which makes me stand out from the rest of the students who're all only wearing tank tops but its not like I was gonna take it off. Not in a million years.

Since a couple of girls were gossiping in the locker room for an annoying amount of time, it takes longer than it should for me to get ready, and when I finally do, the teacher makes me run laps for being late.

Great.

Today, we we're playing Dodge ball, which is a game I never understood. Why encourage kids to beat each other up?

The students choose their team mates and I notice that no one is picking Hallway Guy to be on their team. I wonder why.

By the time the coach calls me over, I have a stitch in my side, I am sweating like crazy and I'm practically drooling from anticipating the hot shower that awaits me in my bathroom. Or was I expected to wash here?

When Natalie sees me walking over, her eyes widen and she looks over at her teammates, looking panicked.

"Andrew!" She waves at a tall guy that's standing to the side, talking to his friend.

He raises his eyebrows in question and she says,"Can you go play with the other team, please? I want my friend to be in this team."

My own eyebrows climb toward my hairline. Her friend? Huh.

Andrew looks at Natalie for a moment, confusion written all over his face then he blinks a few times and without a word, goes back to his conversation, shaking his head slightly.

Natalie starts asking other people to switch, but no one is listening.

What was going on with her? What's it to her, if I'm on her team or not?

Finally, looking frustrated, she walks toward me and says, "Guess I'll be on the other team then."

"Nope!" The coach yells (Why does she yell? Her voice is loud enough as is).

"Both teams are full. You!" She points at Hallway Guy. "You're on that team." She points at the team nobody wanted to be in- and with good reason. The team was filled with skinny people and misfits. There was literally a guy picking his nose.

She points at me and says, "You too." I frown.

Natalie looks like she's about to protest, but one looks from the coach silences her. She scowls and struts back to her own team.

I walk over to my team sighing, just as the coach blows her whistle. Chaos erupts.

People start throwing balls at each other and I panic. Just as I'm about to run off or hide, a ball catches me at the chest, knocking the breath right out of me. I don't get to see who throws it.

"Oomph!"

The whistle blows again and the coach yells,"You two, you're out. Move!"

I stumble away, massaging my chest. I was actually very relieved that I was out this quickly but that didn't stop y eyes from watering from the pain. Its probably going to leave a bruise, I think as I walk over to the bleachers.

I sit heavily and turn to see Hallway Guy coming to sit a couple of feet away.

He is massaging his arm as well, his face scrunched up comically in pain.

He catches me looking and scoots toward me. I suck in a breath as he leans in to say in a conspirational whisper,"I stink at dodgeball."

I suppose he doesn't want to mention what happened earlier. That was completely fine by me.

"Yeah, I figured," I whisper back, and he grins at me.

"I'm Dorian." He holds his hand out for me to shake.

I try to subtly wipe my hand on my shorts, but it's pointless. He notices.

"Sweaty palms?" he asks, as I finally shake his hand.

My face flushes. "Yeah."

He shrugs. "I'm used to it."

"You have sweaty palms?" I ask.

"No. My sister does. And I don't mean just the palms. She's sweaty, period."

He cringes and have to bite my lip to stop from myself from smiling. His eyes follow the movement. He looks back up at my eyes and his smile disappears.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he says, looking away. Uh-oh.

"No," I say quickly. "I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have snapped at you. Especially after you saved me."

His smile returns, it was as if he was a completely different person from who he was earlier in the hallway.

"Well, I wouldn't call it saving but, I mean....if you thought it was, then...." He pauses, as if considering, then after a moment, he nods decisively. "Yup. You'd probably be right. I did save you. I'm practically a hero." He looks at me, trying to look serious but the glint in his eyes give him away.

"Mmmm, humble too," I say with my eyes narrowed slightly and he chuckles. He has a nice laugh. And a nice smile.

After a few moments of silence, his eyes flick down to my arm and he asks what I knew he would. "What happened?"

I clench my fist and turn away. How did he know so quickly what it was?

I look toward the game. Only two people left. "Fire accident."

I'm sure he can tell I don't want to talk about it. He nods slowly. "I'm sorry," he says and let's it go.

I take a deep breath. Then two. Then i just keep on breathing.

I really wish I could let it go that easily.