Just Another High School Story!

The bell had rung and break was over, forgetting her phone and Ethan altogether, she ran out for P.E. She quickly changed into sweats and a jersey, they were gonna to play volleyball, her favourite, she was the team captain, the coach knew her well enough to fist bump her every time she walked by, the coach was a young guy, he decided it was time the girls were motivated because an important competition was coming up and so he made them play against boys.

She was really happy when she played volleyball, in the court she could forget all about who she was and focus on one objective: winning. "Come on gals, we gotta beat the boys." She yelled loudly to her team, everyone was equally enthusiastic but her grin turned into a frown as soon as she saw the centre of the opposite team, it was Ethan which meant that he was the captain of the boys team. "Already", she thought to herself, but even Ethan could not ruin this, she would beat him... them, she corrected herself as she chuckled. After the first set was over, the coach had another great idea, "Let's mix up the teams;" he said happily, "whoever misses the ball goes to the opposite team." Then he began throwing the ball to people and some girls missed accidentally while Ethan as everyone was looking could tell, did not even look at the coming ball properly. Basically, they selected players alternately, you miss, you go to the Team Boys, then the next person who misses goes to the opposite team, and you alternate and finish finalising teams by this back and forth passing in a circle. When it was his turn, he intentionally missed at such a turn that he would get into her team. In the end, four girls ended up going to the boys team and four boys replaced the girls in Leah's team. Ethan decided to become the smasher, while Leah was the centre, that meant the game depended on their coordination. "Chuta!" (Great, in Korean) She thought and puled Ethan aside. "Call every time, you want a pass." That being said, they rolled up their selves and had the time of their lives, it was the game point for Leah's team, and after the service, they were waiting for an opportunity, after a rally of 21 hits from each team, the ball landed in Leah's arms so swiftly that she had the chance to set it up perfectly for Ethan to smash; during the game, she had felt closer to him than she ever did, they were laughing at their fails and cheering at every good shot like a team, Leah, for the first time in her life, felt accepted, but she soon shook off this feeling, as she remembered the time when he had bullied her mercilessly; she yelled, "E, all you!", as she made way for Ethan to smash the ball, unfortunately, the ball shot up closer to her head than his, he knew how much the game meant to her and so he rushed over smashing it but fell down, colliding with her. She was too busy to notice him, laying on top of her, as he tried to protect her head with his hand, because he didn't want her head to hit the ground. She yelled, "Hell yeah!" And then finally took notice of his hand beneath her head, she would have gotten hurt, his hand must have been hurting, she thought about so many things, millions of thoughts mushing up together, but she could not even say thank you, her past haunted her so much that she missed the present, it slipped through her fingers even when she wanted to carefully enjoy a moment, she was in a prison of her past... there is a reason, after all, as to why your past should be dug into a grave as soon as it becomes itself. After an intense stare competition that passed between them, she squirmed a little, and Ethan realised that he must be heavy, she would obviously be tired with his weight on her like that, so reluctantly he let her go and got up.

"Sweet win!" She said to him, fixing herself, and then looked at the back of his hand, surely, he had scratched it, blood oozed out of the scratch little by little, and Leah grew horrified, her initial reaction had been to remove herself from a radius even 10 metres near Ethan, but now she wanted to help him, therefore, after saying, "We'll be back, coach!", and pointing towards E's injury, she ran with him to the nurses office.

He looked at her with loving eyes, as she held his hand in hers and ran with him, he did not want this moment to end, he felt full, her warmth was nice. She was like the first ray of sunshine after a stormy night, you always long for it, and when it appears, a smile beautifies your face. To Ethan, Leah was just that.

When they got to the nurses office, she quickly grabbed the first aid kit, and dressed his wounds, while softly blowing on the wound, she had gotten scratched on the court so many times that the nurse kept a separate box of bandaids, and ointments for her. The nurse smiled as she looked at Leah, dressing Ethan's wound, she chuckled and said, "Is he your boyfriend?" Leah blushed to herself and then looked at the nurses, "Nope. Not at all. Why'd you think so?" she asked, trying to compose her face, but cutely failing. "Nothing, just because, it looks like you're the one who got hurt. You've never accompanied your team members before." The nurse gave Ethan a meaningful look and he seemed to understand what the nurse was hinting at. He smiled, and made an okay sign to her with his fingers when Leah was not looking, she put the kit back into a cupboard and rebutted the nurses' assumption, which was, of course harmless, "What nonsense! They don't get hurt much, besides he's new, and he was on my team, a professional courtesy." The nurse didn't say anything, she just smiled at Leah's remarks, that smile, you know, the of-course smile! How annoying, Leah thought, this guy, my boyfriend, not gonna happen in this lifetime. Then they left and everyone was hyped up about today's game. Leah went to wash her face when she heard a few girls in the stalls talking to each other. "That bitch doesn't stop hanging out with guys, like first the soccer guys, then Shawn, Matt, Tyler, and now Ethan, on top of that she's so fat and ugly." I know right, another voice affirmed, Leah wondered whether she was just thinking too much, but it sounded like they were talking about her, and wanted to say something when the other girl said, "Did you see how she threw herself at Ethan during the game. I mean he's hot but come on, with that body, she'll never get to taste him. Let's hope Leah chokes on the L that she'll for sure have to swallow when Mindy's through with her." When she herd what the girl said, she stopped and turned around and ran out of the stalls to the rooftop, their school had a beautiful rooftop which was secured by railings, ensuring students' safety, it was mostly used by students who came to read and draw, it was like a resting area, she sat in a corner, she was crying and she started binging on junk food that she had taken from the vending machine, she told herself to stop, to not do it, but that voice, it told her that she would feel better if she ate it, she had promised that she would not let words get to her, to ruin her, she had told herself that she wouldn't let this 'boy' nonsense get into her head, but she collapsed in the face of a crisis, she hated doing this, but here she was, pigging out, she would eat until she was full and not even realise it, then her stomach would start hurting and she would puke it all out, surely enough after eating so fast and so much, she grabbed her stomach in pain, "I hate myself," She muttered through sobs and started putting her knuckles into her mouth to make herself puke, she had become a master at this. Then she started puking in a bag she always had in her pocket for situations like these. No one knew about her 'bad habit', she had never told anyone, but someone saw her that day, they were standing on the other side of the rooftop, obscured by the plants in the middle, they saw her, crying and in pain, and they promised that they would help her through this mess. Take a guess, who was it?