Chapter 13 and 14

Chapter 13

One of the sports I hated the most had to be volleyball. Then again, I hate basically every single sport. But out of all of them, volleyball was definitely the worse, especially if Belle is in my gym class and was on the opposing team.

I wasn't that skilled in volleyball. I could do the simple underhand serve and volley, but other than that, I was not good at all.

When my gym teacher, Miss North, told us we were going to play volleyball, I silently groaned. Why did we have to play the sport I hated the most?

When Miss North started dividing up the teams, I honestly hoped Belle would be on my team. As much as I hated her, it would be better to have her on my team as opposed to the opposing team.

That didn't happen. On the bright side, Grayson was on my team. Well, if you considered your only friend ignoring you and is one your team a 'bright side'. But then it was ruined when one of Belle's friends, Loni, was put on my team.

There were four teams and two different courts. And the team I just had to be against first was Belle. And Devon was on her team. Why did it always feel like the world was out to get me?

"Poppy," Belle said before the game started. "Just a heads up that the game is going to get ugly."

"And just a reminder that I don't care," I told her.

I went to back-left position of the court, hoping that the ball didn't come to me. Belle was serving first on the other team, so starting in the back might have been a bad idea, especially since Belle was a skilled volleyball player. She served it with an overhand serve directly at me. I tried bumping it, but I panicked at the last minute and missed.

Loni scoffed and retrieved the ball. "Here's a hint," she said. "Try hitting the ball."

"No, really?" I asked sarcastically. "I thought the object of the game is to completely avoid the ball."

Loni glared at me before throwing the ball to Belle. Belle served it again, directly at me. That time, I was actually able to bump it. Kind of. The ball hit the net.

"Are you serious?" Loni asked.

"This isn't competitive," I said. "And at least I hit the ball."

"Try hitting it over the net," Loni said.

"And try shutting up," I shot back. I could have sworn I heard Grayson snort, but when I looked at him, he was just staring at the ground. Something was definitely up with him.

"I'm about to serve!" Belle warned. She threw the ball over her head and hit it hard, sending it once again in my direction. Unfortunately, the ball was too high for me to bump and I didn't react fast enough to volley. It hit me right in the head, and I immediately blacked out.

~*~

My eyes slowly opened, trying to recognize the dull color of the room I was in. Bland, grey colors. It took me a while for me to figure out that I was in the nurse's office.

"Good, you're awake," the school nurse, Carol, said as she walked in. "You already missed two periods." Carol was a very kind woman. I had been in the nurses office once or twice and I knew how helpful she was to any situation, even emotional pains rather than physical.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing away the throbbing pain in my head.

"You took a ball to your head," Carol explained. "Passed out instantly. You have no signs of a concussion, luckily. You seem worn out, so getting hit on the head was probably icing on the cake." Slowly, I remembered what happened. Belle served the ball right at my head. Jerk.

"Yeah," I said. "I've been pretty tired lately."

"Well, you can stay here to rest until fourth period," Carol said.

"Thanks," I said. "Um, quick question. How exactly did I get here? Did anyone bring me here?"

Carol shook her head. "Technically, no. I was called down to the gym because your teacher told me you passed out. She helped me bring you her."

"Oh," I said, looking down at my hands. So Grayson didn't do anything about it?

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You seem disappointed by my answer."

I sighed. "It's just... .My friend has been ignoring me for some reason and hearing that he did nothing when I passed out kind of makes me feel even more sad."

"Some students did help out," Carol said. "Who's your friend? Maybe he did help."

"Grayson," I said.

"Oh, then no, he didn't," Carol said. "He just stood off to the side and stared at the ground. I thought something was a bit off about him seeing as I know him really well considering he's been in here more than enough times. You two are friends?"

"Yeah," I said. "Or I thought we were. He suddenly started ignoring me since yesterday. I tried talking to him and calling him, but nothing's working."

"Just give him his space," Carol suggested. "I know Grayson and the best thing to do is to let him be while he figures out what's going on."

"I know," I said. "But the thing is that he's the only one in the school that's willing to be my friend."

"I'm sure that's not true," she said.

I shook my head. "It is. It's a long story why, but let's just say that Belle knows exactly what to say to have people turn against someone."

Someone knocked on the door before opening the door. Grayson walked in, immediately stopping when he saw me sitting on the bed. I noticed a cut on his bottom lip and his right ear was bleeding a bit.

"Grayson," Carol said. "Another fight?"

"You could say that," Grayson muttered. "If you're busy, I could always come back."

Grayson turned to leave, but Carol gently grabbed his arm. "Oh, don't be silly. I am fully capable of treating more than one student."

I slowly got of the bed. "I feel better anyway. So, I'll just be going."

"Okay," Carol said. "If you feel lightheaded, feel free to stop by."

I nodded and walked by Grayson who made no effort to try to talk to me. I still wondered what I did for him to ignore me. The last thing he ever said to me was "I'm going to make sure Ben and Belle don't bug you again. I promise." But now, he wasn't doing anything at all to stop Belle. She knocked me out in gym class and Grayson did nothing. I thought he was my friend and he would always be there for me.

The rest of the school day went by painfully slow. Grayson didn't even show up to biology class. I wondered if it was because he was still in the nurse's office or if he was just skipping.

When school ended, I left immediately and waited outside for Tony. When he finally showed up, I got in the car with a dramatic sigh.

"You okay?" Tony asked as he drove off.

"Not really, no," I said. "I passed out in gym today because Belle decided to serve the ball at my head."

"Did she get in trouble?" Tony asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt it though. She probably told the teacher that it was an accident or that I wasn't paying attention. And knowing everyone else, they'd probably back her up."

"Does she really have that much power over everyone?" Tony asked.

"Yup," I said. "If she doesn't like someone, she'll turn the whole school against them."

"That's stupid," Tony muttered. "Oh, and the Princes are coming over for dinner tonight."

"Again?" I asked. Normally, I would be happy that they were coming over for dinner, but since Grayson was ignoring me, I had nothing to be happy about.

"Yeah," Tony said. "Dad and Gary have been getting along very well at work and they want our families to become good friends."

Tony pulled into the driveway of our house. I went inside, trying to think of an excuse to get out of the dinner. In the end, I decided to use my 'injury' in gym today as an excuse.

I walked into the kitchen and found Dad. Luckily, he was off work today or else I would have had to convince Mom, which would probably not happen. "Hey Poppy," Dad said. "How was school?"

"Not good," I replied. "I passed out in gym today."

"Really?" Dad asked in a sympathetic tone. "Are you okay?"

"Kind of," I replied. "Um, I know the Princes are coming over for dinner today, but can I take a rain check? I just want to rest after what happened."

"Yeah, of course," Dad said. "I'll bring up some dinner for you later."

"Thanks Dad," I said, giving him a hug before going upstairs. I really didn't want to avoid Grayson, but I had no choice. He was ignoring me and I really wanted to know why. If only I knew...

~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 14

~Grayson~

"Grayson!" Dad called from the kitchen. "Your sister will be here soon!"

I didn't reply as I continued slaughtering zombies in the video game. I had to get my anger out somehow because beating the crap out of Devon yesterday didn't do the trick. And quite frankly, killing graphical zombies wasn't making me feel any better as well. Shocker.

"Grayson!" Dad called again. "Did you hear me?!"

When I still didn't reply, Dad stormed into the gaming room and turned off the TV. "Hey!" I exclaimed. "I was in the middle of a game!"

"You didn't reply," Dad said.

"I didn't know that I had to," I told him, dropping my controller on the table beside the couch and crossing my arms.

Dad sighed and shook his head. "Gale called and said she'll be here in less than ten minutes. Graeme and I are going to head out now to get a few things from the store. Don't make a mess."

"Sure thing," I muttered as Dad left the room. Seeing how I lost the game since Dad turned it off, I decided to take a short nap.

Apparently, a 'short nap' was ten minutes because I woke up by Gale literally screaming my name. "Grayson!" she yelled. "Where are you?!"

"Find that out yourself!" I yelled back, even though I knew yelling at her would give away my location.

Gale walked into the gaming room and sat down on one of the chairs. "So little brother. How's it going?"

I glared at Gale. "Things have been better."

"Wow," Gale said. "What crawled up your pants and died?"

"A bad idea my sister gave me," I snapped at her.

Gale raised an eyebrow. "A bad idea? What are you talking about?"

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Is this about your friend?" Gale asked. "Grayson, you don't want her getting hurt, do you?"

I scoffed and left the gaming room, only to have Gale follow me. "I don't know why you're so upset over it. You agreed to it."

I stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to her. "Well, I can't do it anymore. Having me ignore her is hurting her."

"I doubt it hurts her that much," Gale objected.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "Gale, you don't understand. Everyone at school hates her. Devon's girlfriend picks on her and even knocked her out in gym class yesterday. But because of the stupid plan, I can't do anything about it."

Gale looked at me as if she was scanning me before she smiled. "Grayson Prince! Does my little brother have a crush?"

I scoffed then glared at her. "Crush? Are you seriously using that word? It's so childish."

"Sure, sure. Avoid my question," Gale said. "Grayson, I know how you feel about your friend. You were never worried about any of your other friends getting hurt before."

"Gale, I just don't want her getting hurt," I said. "It may be because I feel something more, but ignoring her is hurting her."

Gale sighed. "But if Dedrick and Devon find out that she's your weakness, she can get killed."

"Dedrick just got out of prison," I reminded. "There's no way he would ever kill anybody. I just can't do this anymore." I walked passed her and walked up the stairs.

"You're only going to make things worse!" Gale called.

"Deal with it!" I called back. Nothing she said would change my mind. I needed my Flower back.