Somehow, Elaine had convinced me it would be a good idea to volunteer as part of the first aid team. That was how I ended up filing into the school gym with Logan and Elaine by my side on a Friday night.

Surprisingly, over the course of the week, Elaine was yet to murder Logan. He'd made it to eight stamps over the week, and I wasn't quite convinced that he was ever going to finish it.

"So how many stamps are in that thing?" I asked Elaine. She slurped the last of her coke.

"A hundred," she grinned.

"Doing well," I said sarcastically, turning to Logan. He rolled his eyes.

"I can give stamps, and I can take them away," Elaine threatened playfully.

"Oh. What was that? I think the team's calling for me," Logan said, jogging off.

"They absolutely weren't!" Elaine yelled as he disappeared through the double doors that led to the locker rooms.

Ms Markowicz, the school nurse, had already set up the little first aid tent, hidden next to the towering bleachers. She gave us a friendly smile as we set our things down. "Thanks for helping out tonight girls," she said.

"No problem. Thank you for having us," Elaine replied.

"We're not expecting many injuries. Touch wood," Mrs Markowicz said, playfully tapping against the wooden frame of the bleachers.

It was the first game of the season against our biggest rivals. The two cheerleading teams were on the court, each singing their respective chants, waving around pom poms and doing flips. Clarissa caught my eye and I quickly looked away.

The teams made their way onto the court and Holden stood in the centre waiting for the jump ball. Along the wall was the banner that me and Parker had spent the afternoon making. The random specks of paint looked like they were intentional, but I knew better than that. Looking back, maybe that was when it started. The paint had not washed out from my blazer.

The sound of Elaine dropping the first aid kit shook me from my thoughts. That was when I saw Parker jogging onto the court. The back of his jersey read 'Lennox' with the number 7 on it. Last I knew, he wasn't even on the team. Logan was not too far from Holden. He spotted me and Elaine, giving us a small wave. Just as I waved back, I could've sworn Parker had been looking at us. It was either that, or he was working out where to go if he got injured.

The whistle sounded and Holden leapt up just as his opponent did. Holden hit the ball and it flew towards our goal side.

"Didn't think he'd make the jump," Elaine remarked.

By the first half, we were leading by one. The guys went back to the bench to get water.

"Hey there," Holden said, stopping by our tent, chugging from his bottle.

"Hey," I replied.

Elaine was giving him the stink eye, but he kept talking anyway. "Loving your banner. The abstract art is...inspiring."

"Thanks." The thing was, we hadn't spoken since their families had taken off on the business trip and their inner circle had uploaded that video.

"I'm sorry I didn't do anything earlier. I didn't think anything would happen after Clarissa took down the video," Holden said. "I think you'll notice that Danny is no longer on either the basketball or football team." I glanced back out at the guys and indeed, he wasn't there. He was the guy who'd played the video of me at Clarissa's party. "No one messes with my girl, well my ex-girl, and gets away with it. We're not the top four for nothing," he winked.

Parker looked over at us, possibly slightly confused that Holden was talking to us. "Ok. I'll see you around. We're back on," Holden said before leaving.

So that was why Parker was playing. "Scary, isn't it? If you cross them, you're in trouble," Elaine said, re-ordering the various bandages in the kit.

"I feel kind of bad that I'm glad Danny got kicked off the teams."

"He definitely deserved that. No guilt necessary."

"I cannot believe you tackled him at the party. Thanks," I grinned.

"He's lucky I have an awful right hook."

The game had started up again. Logan was dribbling the ball down the court and passed it over to Parker who continued. Suddenly, a cold torrent of fluid fell over my head. There were brown stains across my white shirt. I let out a loud gasp, looking up just in time to see the cup fall and land beside me.

"What the fuck?" Elaine yelled.

Back out on the court, Parker had turned around to look at me, just in time for him to get elbowed in the face and the ball snatched from him.

"I'm going to go get you a new shirt," Elaine said quickly.

"There are some towels in my office. Here are the keys," Mrs Markowicz said to Elaine.

That was how Parker and I ended up sitting awkwardly next to each other in the first aid bay. He held a bunch of tissues against his nose which didn't seem to be letting up at all.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." He lifted the tissue for a second, and sure enough, there was still blood coming from his nose.

"Let me get you some more tissues," I said, noticing the tissue box we'd given him originally was almost empty. He stopped me as I was about to get up.

"This is plenty."

I sat there silently, jiggling my legs, pretending to be captivated by the game.

"I'm really sorry about what happened at Clarissa's the other night. She told me about everything," he said.

"Oh?" Interesting that she would incriminate herself.

"Clarissa mentioned she was involved, but she had no idea about what was going to happen at the party. I really didn't think she was like this," he said. I was struggling to take him seriously with a wad of tissue in front of his face, but I tried not to show it. "No idea why she'd do that."

"I think it's pretty obvious," I said.

Before he had a chance to respond, Elaine was back with the towels and a clean t-shirt. "Go get changed. I'll make sure our patient doesn't die," she said.

"Thanks," I grinned. "Let's hope I can wash most of the soft drink out from my hair."

I was not able to do such a thing, but at least the rest of my body was mostly non-sticky. I got back just as our team went wild for winning the game. Parker had even returned to the centre to celebrate, still clutching his nose.

Elaine was leaning against the bleachers, watching the team and cheerleaders gathered in the centre. Parker left the circle first, looking around before settling on me. He started walking towards me.

"I'm gonna leave you two alone," Elaine said, heading off to help Mrs Markowicz pack up.

"So doc, how does my nose look?" He asked, taking the tissues away. It was starting to look bruised, and red remnants of the blood remained, but at least it wasn't streaming anymore.

"In my professional opinion, you'll be 'right. Bye." Just as I turned, he reached out and took my arm.

"Can we talk?"

"We are talking," I said.

"Properly. Let me get you dinner or something."

"I'm soaked in soft drink. Maybe some other time."

"How about we talk while I drive you home?"

I felt someone come up behind me. Logan put a hand on my shoulder. "I saw what happened. You okay?"

"Sticky, but fine," I smiled.

"Good," he grinned. He looked at Parker, still standing there with a hand on my forearm. "Do you need a lift home?"

I looked at him, then back at Parker. I barely wanted to talk to Parker.

Against my brain's best warnings, I replied, "Thanks Logan, but I should be okay."

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Sorry again for the delayed update my friends!!! Not sure this is how I wanted this chapter to go but oh well :~) If I feel the need, will change this chapter later.

ANYWAY, thank you as always for reading! Pls vote if you enjoyed the chapter!!

PS. THOUGHTS ? ? ?