Some of this chapter was co-written with one of my amazing friends at Luce-and-Lish. The character Maddie is played by Lish and does not belong to me at all!

The girls continued running for their lives, trying to avoid the boys the best they can. Not wanting to be caught by them.

"We really can't win can we?" Maddie sighed as the two girls ran. Just as they were about to slow down, Maddie looked behind her to see Jay, Kai and now Ben hot on their tails. "Nope keep running, Di. Keep running." Maddie sped up. Perdita not being the most healthy person was just struggling to breathe as she ran at the speed they were at. The fact she had to speed up, she was sure she was going to collapse before getting away from them. Honestly, the only reason the boys were after them was because of Maddie and her bottle throwing shenanigans.

"Why did I start throwing the bottle?" Maddie shook her head and noticed that Perdita had fallen behind a bit. Maddie slowed down. "We can stop. I don't want you fainting again." She said seriously. "Maybe we should just face them…" she suggested uncertainly.

"Thank god. I need to stop." Perdita muttered completely disregarding everything else. Stopping, she collapsed onto her knees and then fell onto her stomach, pressing her cheek against the cool grass. Panting heavily. "I need to be healthier." She muttered between pants. Maddie sat down on the floor beside Perdita.

"To be fair, that was a lot of running…" Maddie admitted, panting. "But I think we lost…" she trailed off and looked around. "Nevermind." She noticed Jay, Kai and Ben jogging towards them. "Please just don't faint again," Maddie muttered as the boys slowed to a stop in front of them.

"Jesus, I forgot how quick you two could run when you wanted to. Is Perdita okay?" Ben asked glancing down at the girl with her face pressed against the dirt. Kai had furrowed eyebrows as he looked at her. She had her eyes closed so he was honestly unsure if she had fainted or not.

"Did she faint?" Kai asked looking down at Maddie. Maddie wished to avoid all contact with Jay so glued her eyes to Kai instead.

"We just fucking sprinted for like five minutes straight, I wouldn't be surprised if she fainted." Maddie poked Perdita's arm. "You alive?" Maddie asked. She let out a groan in response and just rolled over. "She's alive." Maddie shrugged. It didn't take much longer after that to notice Jay looking at her.

"What do you want?" She sighed, trying to fight back the weird nerves and butterflies.

"Am I not allowed to look at you?" Jay questioned, to which Maddie rolled her eyes.

"I didn't say that I just… shut up." She looked at the grass and picked at it.

"Are you okay?" Jay asked, still looking at her.

"Fine," Maddie said bluntly. "I'm used to the running. Didn't train like crazy just to be turned down from every sports team because I'm a girl…" she trailed off. "At least that put it into use." She finished quickly. Perdita groaned and turned over again. She opened her eyes to be met with the bright sun so instantly closed them again.

"I feel like I'm dying. I was not built for this," She muttered her arms collapsing to the ground again after she brought them up a minute previously.

"You should train with Maddie then." Ben came up with an answer. Kai staying oddly quiet, looking at the girl.

"Maddie would kill me," Perdita responded, shrugging.

"The only people I want to kill are Chad and Muscles over there," Maddie muttered, still picking at the grass.

"Muscles?" Jay raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, starting to smirk. It just hit Maddie what she had said and she could feel her face quickly starting to match the colour of her hair once again.

"Di, I think training you is a great idea." Maddie jumped up. "In fact why don't we start now?" She said quickly, the embarrassment almost making her stutter.

"Oh god please no." Perdita pleaded as Maddie began to pull her to her feet. "No. I'd rather die than train and we've got class. I've got English and I need to get my stuff and…" Perdita rambled on wanting to do anything but train. She was too exhausted now. Maddie looked at Perdita with an expression that read 'help me'.

"Well, I'm dying right now so…" Maddie glanced back at Jay and then looked at Perdita. "How about I go with you while you get your stuff? Sounds good? Yeah." Maddie nodded and started to pull Perdita away from the boys.

"Actually, Maddie." Jay interrupted, stepping forward. "You're in my class next." He said and Maddie scrunched up her face in annoyance, wanting to just die at this point. "We should walk there together." He suggested with a slight smirk. Maddie looked at Perdita pleadingly. Perdita opened her mouth to speak but Kai spoke before she had a chance.

"Well, Dita and I have English together next. So, I thought her and I could walk together," Kai said hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck. Now, both of the girls wanted to find some sort of escape.

"Well, actually boys, we are all still sweaty and wearing our tourney uniform. So, let's go get changed first. We can bug the girls later." Ben said with a smile. Perdita sighed in relief and flopped back onto the grass. Maddie also let out a sigh of relief.
"Sounds great. Never been a fan of… sweatiness." She muttered.
"I'll make sure I'm not sweaty around you then " Jay commented, making Maddie shake her head and look down at the grass.
"Then just don't be around me." Maddie shrugged. Jay furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes remaining on the redhead.
"Impossible." He crossed his arms.
"Oh, it's very possible. I can avoid someone when I want to." Maddie looked up and crossed her arms as well, though deep down the last thing she wanted to do was avoid him.

"Well, Jay we need to go. Come on." Ben said, grabbing the boy's arm dragging him away. Perdita turned to Maddie with a small smile trying not to think about what just happened.

"Mads, this is why you don't chuck bottles at people's heads." Perdita smiled glancing towards the boys who were turning around a corner, heading to the changing rooms, "It lands us in situations like that where you are scared to admit your feelings." She added moving her gaze back to the redhead.

"Whose idea was it for me to throw the bottle in the first place, Di?" Maddie raised her eyebrows. Perdita looked at Maddie, innocently.

"I didn't suggest it. Why are you implying that?" She asked tilting her head slightly. Maddie rolled her eyes.
"The innocence game." She shook her head. "You instigated it both times. I only made the decision to throw it at Kai instead of Jay." Perdita rolled her eyes and looked down at the floor.

"And look where that got me." She muttered, stuffing her hands in her jean pockets. She shook her head slightly and looked up again. "Well, are we gonna go get my stuff or not?" She asked looking towards the school building.

"Yeah, we better go do that." Maddie nodded, standing up and adjusting her tartan jacket. She reached out her hand to help Perdita up. Perdita grabbed the redhead's hand and she was pulled to her feet.

"English is gonna be fun," She muttered beginning to walk towards the building. Maddie sighed, walking alongside Perdita.

"Well I have Maths with Muscl-" She cut herself off. "Uh, Jay. So… yeah." She blew a strand of her red hair away from her face. Perdita frowned slightly and the pair walked on.

"We'll be fine. We can survive these classes with them. It'll be fine. You can punch Jay in the face if he's annoying you that much. I am not opposed to that." Perdita shrugged, looking down at the grass.

"I might just have to." Maddie smiled a bit. "Hopefully. But I don't like Maths so the distraction might be appreciated." She shrugged.

"Well, Kai is my distraction… So this'll be fun." Perdita muttered as the pair walked towards the school. Neither of the girls particularly wanted to go to their next class but they had.