Chapter Seven Part 2 - My Prince in Muddy School Unifor m

My eyelids were heavy, and I was worn out. There had been far too much action in one day for me to take in. As soon as I lay down, despite the fact it was a stranger's bed, I went out like a light.

RING! RING! RING! RING! What I assumed was Ace's phone rang like an anti-theft alarm. I was tired, really tired, and yet, I had to pull myself up and open my eyes. "Hello?" Ace answered, holding the phone up to his ear. "Uh huh," he said, glancing over at me. "Yeah. Okay. You are so dead." Then his face went a funny shade of pink. "No I did not! I really will kill you. I'm giving the phone to her now."

Ace handed the phone to me. "Hello?" I answered.
"Cathy, how was the accommodation?" Hunter asked enthusiastically.
"Wonderful, absolutely delightful," I replied sarcastically.
"Did he try anything funny?"
"Try anything funny what?"
"You know what I mean."
"Actually, I don't."
"Trust me, I tried several times!" Ace teased, making sure Hunter could hear through the phone.
"Oh right. That." I finally realised what Hunter had been alluding too.

"No, he didn't do anything," I answered plainly.
"You sure?" Hunter asked.
"Positive."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Certain?"
"Yup."
"Super duper sure?"
"Yeah."
"Super super super super..." I hung up the phone and passed it back to Ace.

"Does he always do this?" I asked.
"Nope. In fact, he never calls me. Now that I think about it, no one really calls me. I'm surprised my phone hasn't died from lack of use." Ace tossed it into his bag. "Oh crap," he suddenly said.
"What?"
"I have track and field training."
"Oh crap. So do I."

I was still in my uniform that consisted of a sport and uncomfortable laced up black shoes. Ace quickly rushed to go and get changed as I stepped onto the floor. I winced in pain as my ankle throbbed. I had totally forgotten about that. Now that I looked, it was about twice the size of a normal ankle. Not good.

Was I supposed to hobble to training and then hobble to school? How was I even going to make it to school? "You look concerned," Ace said as he left the bathroom, now wearing his track and field uniform.
"I don't have a uniform, and my ankle looks like this." I put my leg up onto the bed for him to see. His eyes went as wide as frisbees when he saw the puffed up looking thing.
"Can you walk?"
"No."

"Okay, just change into this." He threw a smaller sized track and field uniform of his at me. It was probably one from his junior years. Yes, I was that small, and yes, he was that tall. He helped me hobble into the bathroom and I shut the door, doing my best to change while hopping around on one leg. Surprisingly, I managed to change rather quickly. I shoved my old clothes into a plastic bag Ace had given me and hobbled back out.

"Um, um, right. I'll get out the window first, and you try to get out." He thought for a moment. "If you somehow manage to topple over and fall, I'll make sure I catch you...or something." I nodded and waited as he pulled himself out of the window. I looked out and saw him land safely.

"I'm getting out now," I said, sticking my legs out first through the window. I landed on one leg, but lost my balance, falling backwards. Luckily, he semi-caught me so I didn't smash my head open on the bricks.

"Er, okay, get on my back." He crouched down with his arms by his sides. I wasn't into this piggybacking gig much. It was always really awkward, and while being carried, it felt like I was going to topple over at any minute.

I finally managed to get on and he hooked his arms around my legs. "I'm going to run...so hold on," he warned. Just after he had said that, he took off at an insane speed, especially considering the fact that I was adding extra weight onto him.

We pounded down the driveway - well he did. He took a sharp left and continued running. The cold wind rushed against my face, making my skin tingle. Early morning walkers gasped as we flew past them. Ace pulled out his phone to check the time. "It's six thirty, we're definitely going to miss majority of training!"

He began running even faster, and subconsciously, I had to hold on tighter, possibly unintentionally strangling him with my arms.

"Hey, stop choking me!" he gasped, grabbing my hands and pulling them away momentarily before allowing me to grab his neck again.
"I feel like I'm going to fall off!" I exclaimed, watching as the ground beneath flew past.
"I'm going to be late."
"So? It's not like you're on time for anything else."
"I'm the captain of the squad!"
"Oh. Right. Onwards," I said, using the best of my balance to stop myself from killing him before he got there.

We arrived on the school oval about fifteen minutes late, and we happened to be yelling at that time while everyone was stretching in silence, so yes, we got a few weird looks. Actually, the whole team gave us weird looks.

"Join in with the stretching," the coach said, not looking pleased that we'd turned up so late and caused a ruckus. I got off his back quickly and hobbled to the back of the group.

There were whispers of all sorts around the group. Typical when the squad was one third cheerleader, on third jock, and one third girls and guys who had nothing better to do than come along and gossip.

Rebecca, a cheerleader, looked at me strangely but then smiled when she realised that I had noticed. I smiled back. These people were okay to me, they weren't too bad, but then again, I wasn't exactly the person who got bullied serially.

"Now, the calf stretch!" the coach yelled, overpowering the increased volume of the murmuring. We all quietened down and did as we were told until a very familiar figure came walking through the thick morning smog.

As Hunter came to stand beside the coach, he noticed me at the back and gave me a weird 'what are you doing here' look. "Training," I mouthed.
"Oh good, you're here Hunter. Half an hour late. You'll come here next training to make up for this one," the coach said, looking at his watch.
"But I'm here coach!" Hunter exclaimed.
"Alright everyone, we're going to start our long distance runs. Find a partner and compete with each other while running."

Everyone grinned and laughed as they partnered up with their friends. Firstly, I couldn't even run today, and secondly, I had no friends here. "What are you doing just standing there?" the coach asked.
"Um...I sprained my ankle yesterday and I was just coming to training for the stretching component and to make sure I didn't miss anything important..."
"Alright. Hunter, come over here," the coach instructed to a distracted Hunter.

Hunter was busy eagerly talking and laughing with cheerleaders but hesitantly made his way over. "You two do pair stretches until they finish their first lap. Next training, if your ankle hasn't healed, there's no need to come." After saying that, the coach left to watch the rest of the team jog.

"Why are you here?" Hunter asked as we both stretched our arms.
"Training."
"This is for the track and field team, not the mathematics competition."
"I'm in the track and field team," I sighed, rolling my eyes. Why did people have to assume that because you could do maths, you couldn't run? "And why are you here?"
"Being 'disciplined,'" he said, making quotation marks with his fingers as he said the word 'disciplined'.

We began the pair calf stretch. Standing in front of each other, we held hands palm to palm with fingers intertwined before moving one leg backwards.

We pushed against each other to stretch our calves and I kept my head down. Holding hands with a guy was bad enough; any closer and I'd probably die. Hunter leaned down, trying to catch my line of sight. I looked side to side and he followed. Annoying punk. I stayed still and looked at my feet, and looked up briefly. He leaned in closer, smirking as he stretched and I panicked.

I pulled away and he stumbled forwards. "What the hell was that!?" he exclaimed after flapping his arms around to regain balance.
"Uh, arm spasm," I poorly lied.
"Right."
"Hah. Yeah," I said with a forced laugh.

We finished training off with individual stretches. I couldn't run even if I had a good ankle. Ace's shirt went mid-thigh while his shorts covered my knees. His shoes were worse. There was at least an extra five centimetres, and my feet were already big.

"Come on Hunter!" the coach exclaimed, throwing a bag of gear at him. As Hunter turned to leave, he looked back at me, smirking.
"Nice clothes," he winked.

It is highly likely that my face completely spasmed because when Ace looked at me, he nearly fainted. "I can see they're a wonderful fit," he joked, wiping the sweat from his face with a towel.
"Splendid," I agreed sarcastically.
"What's your best time for one kilometre?"
"Five minutes," I replied. "It's not fast, I know, no need to rub it in," I scowled.
"Heh. When that ankle's healed, let's race."
"I'll lose."
"I'll give you a head start."
"Punk," I murmured, hobbling off.

The overnight rain had made the grass rather muddy, making it quite the task to trek back to main school grounds, especially when my ankle was all swollen and sore. I struggled to keep up with the rest of the team as they hurried ahead.

"No way! You hooked up with Spencer?" Abbey gushed, punching her friend Melanie in the arm. Rebecca was especially perky today as she detailed her so called 'romantic date' with her boyfriend. It was like a volcano of cheesiness oozing out of her mouth.

They must have noticed my disgusted looks because they somewhat sneered at me before turning around in a huff and walking off.

"Hurry up!" Ace yelled, turning back.
"I'm doing my best!" I screeched. He jogged down to where I was and crouched down in front of me.
"At this rate, I'll get busted if you die on the side of the road."
"I won't die!" I protested however ended up getting on his back anyway.

Getting piggybacks was becoming far too normal for comfort. People driving past in their cars stared as we - well Ace - trekked along the grass back to school. A Jeep drove past and honked the horn loudly. Between the second that Ace looked, and the second after, we had both ended up on the ground in the mud.

Ace groaned and managed to get up, lending me a hand. The uniform was almost completely covered in mud. "What was that?" I asked, irritated.
"You don't want to know."
"Seriously?"
"Let's just say Dean and Dylan have a strange sense of humour." He walked off, brushing the mud off of him, and I was left to hobble slowly back to school.

Unsurprisingly, as I walked into chemistry, all eyes were glued onto me. I had ended up hobbling back late, and so, I couldn't get changed and walked straight to class.

I kept my head down as I walked straight to my desk. Ace's clothes were still almost completely covered in mud stains. "Well, people," Mrs Smith began, "you certainly look rather...interesting today," she said slowly, looking in my direction.

I smiled sheepishly and opened up the textbook. "What the heck happened to your clothes?" Hunter asked in a hushed whisper.
"Fell in the mud," I mumbled, still scrawling down notes from the board.
"Mud on clothes must be the trend today, huh?" he joked.
"You should probably take down the notes," I suggested, hoping it would stop him from talking. It didn't, because he continued
annoying me for the rest of class.

"Not answering is rude," Hunter said, poking me in the shoulder each time he said a word.
"Poking is rude," I replied, poking him each time I said a word.
"Hunter...Cathy, quiet down please," Mrs Smith said, looking up from her computer before continuing to type afterwards. We both shut up and continued completing the questions.

"I'm stuck," Hunter whispered.
"Good," I answered, continuing to write down answers. Hunter flicked my pen halfway across the room and it clattered against the ground loudly. The teacher looked up again. I quickly looked down, pretending to be carefully studying a question.

"Answer the question and I'll lend you a pen," Hunter said, pointing at question seven.
"I'll answer it, and you go and grab my pen."
"Okay."

In twenty seconds I was done and pushed his book back towards him. "Go pick it up," I scowled.
"Okay." Hunter pushed his chair backwards, creating an ear grating screeching noise which caused everyone to look up and stare.
"Hunter, what are you doing?" Mrs Smith asked, glaring.
"I'm picking up Cathy's pen," he replied honestly. I looked down, but I could feel my face burning up.
"Alright then, quickly, and then back to your seat."

Hunter dropped the pen on the desk as he got back and sat down again, with a second screeching noise as he pulled his chair in. The bell rang and I just managed to stop myself from yelling 'Alleluia' out loudly. I walked quickly out of class as soon as she dismissed us and headed straight towards English.

Hunter and the rest of the punks were only in one of my classes, so that was fairly pleasant. I could take my time walking to and from my other classes. It was strange how we'd gone from never talking, to now annoying each other. It was funny how the world worked.

I took a seat in the middle row as usual, but noticed an unfamiliar face coming in through the door. "Jenny, wait by my desk please," the teacher, Mrs Weller, instructed. The girl nodded and stood by her desk as everyone else entered the room and sat down.

"Okay everyone," Mrs Meller began, standing up. "This is Jenny. She is a new transfer student from St Margaret College nearby, please make her feel welcome and help her out." The whispers spread around the room like wildfire. "Okay, any spare desks?" she asked. Next to me, there was a spare desk, and next to that desk was a guy named Luke. Luke raised his hand.

"Okay then, Jenny, please take a seat next to Cathy and Luke." Jenny made her way through the rows of tables and took a seat. I gave her a crooked smile as she sat down; it really was my best attempt. I never really was one for making friends.

"Hi," she smiled, flashing her pearly whites.
"Hi," I replied, opening my textbook as the teacher began teaching.

Jenny flipped open her textbook with her slim white fingers that had perfectly manicured nails, and pulled out two pens that matched with her pencil case. Everything about her was floral and delicate and well...posh. We all knew kids from St Maragaret's were rich, but I didn't really think they'd be that rich. I too, turned to grab my pencils and my exercise book.

The thing is, they weren't there. I'd forgotten them in chemistry.

I panicked, looking through my pile of books, hoping that they were somehow really well hidden between the things I did have. My english essay was in my book, and I didn't have my book, and the essay was due today. In that moment of desperation, I actually sincerely hoped it was all a dream. Just as I was about to risk getting yelled at by putting my hand up and asking to go get my book, the door burst open.

"Young man, what are you doing here?" Mrs Meller asked, looking at Ace inquisitively.
"I have Cathy's books," he said, holding them up and waving them in my direction.
"Ah, right," I mumbled.
"Quickly," the teacher said as I walked up to get them.

The embarrassment was too much. My face was burning up and I kept my head down the whole walk. "You owe me," Ace whispered as I grabbed the books.
"Whatever." I grabbed them and went back to my seat.

I flipped the book open, and there it was, my beautiful essay that had been freshly printed the day before. It looked like heaven, but I doubted that I would feel this way when I got my mark back.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Jenny asked, leaning over.
"Um, no?" I answered questioningly.
"Ah, I can see it, you're blushing! Daydreaming are we?"
Man, this girl was quite bold for a newbie. The teacher came through the aisle and Jenny sat up straight once again. I handed up the essay and I felt as though a million tonnes had come off of my shoulders.

Ace, for only today, you are my prince in muddy uniform.

~*~*~*

Weird spacing again, sorry!

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