"Oh no. How am I going to hide this? I can't hide it from the doctor, and I have a physical therapy tomorrow."
She leaned against the sink shaking her head, trying to think of some way to cover this up. When nothing came to her mind, she grabbed the towel running it under the water. Applying soap to it, she began to wash off all the sweat that had formed on her body during class. After she was sure she was clean, she threw water over the top of her head, to make it look like she had showered, put on some deodorant, and started to get dressed again. She kept her ears open for any sound that someone was coming in. Just as she got her clean shirt on, she heard voices coming through the door. She quickly grabbed her pants, and shoes running into the last stall on the end, closing the door as quietly as possible. She began to put her pants on, trying to make as little noise as possible, when she recognized the voices that had entered the bathroom.
"I can't believe she didn't rat us out. That was pretty cool."
"Don't get your hopes up, I bet she'll tell when she's alone with Carol."
"Even if she does, we might deserve it. Did you see her eye?"
"Jill it was an accident. It's not like either one of us actually meant to hit her. Who knew her reflexes would be so bad."
"But we did. Maybe we should tell Carol ourselves, we can explain it was an accident."
"Why so more people can flaunt over her? You saw how Hope and Tricia were all over her just because she made a few good shots. Big deal, anyone could do that."
Nancy couldn't take it anymore; she zipped her pants, fastened her belt, and walked out of the stall, shoes and socks in hand. Her eye's were red from trying not to cry, but now she was more angry then anything else.
"Nancy we didn't see you there."
"If you had would you have thrown something else at me?"
"That was an accident."
"I know that, why do you think I didn't say anything. You still threw it at me. I just want to know why? What did I do to you? I can't help that I'm smart, and I'm sorry that some people make a big deal about me being here. Believe me; I want to be treated like everyone else. I don't want to be treated as if I'm special. I didn't ask to be smart, but I am, and I refuse to act dumb."
Nancy had a single tear fall down her cheek. Since she didn't want the girls to know how much pain they had caused her, she didn't wait for an answer, and walked away. Neither Jill, nor Susan knew what to say. They both had slight tears in their eyes, and were at a loss for words.
"She's right you know. We had no right to judge her. Jill you were right, we should tell Carol ourselves. At this point it's going to eat me up inside till we do."
"I know, let's give them a few minutes for the nurse to check her out, then we'll tell Carol."
As Nancy finished putting her dirty towel in the hamper Carol came out from behind the lockers.
"Nancy, I was looking for you. You look like you've been crying. Are you alright?"
Nancy sat down on the nearest bench and began to put her socks and shoes on. She noticed that many of the girls were already gone, and several others were just finishing up.
"Yes, I was just washing my face. Listen, do I really have to go to the nurse? I feel fine."
Carol just took Nancy's hand and led her out the locker room, down the hall, and into the nurse's office. Walking inside, Nancy looked around, the room was all white, and had that sterilized smell that hospitals have. It made her stomach turn.
"Darn nobody here. Guess I can go now.."
"Abby are you in here?"
Carol called out as she stopped Nancy from trying to leave. Walking out from behind a partition came a young woman in her mid to late 20's. She had short brown hair, and had a face that was both kind, and strict at the same time.
"Yea Carol, what's up? Oh, I see what do we have here?"
Abby approached Nancy, placed her hand under Nancy's chin. Nancy head became tiled upwards so Abby could get a better look at the bruise that was already forming on her eye.
"This is Nancy Halliwell. We were playing basketball in class today. Seems a ball bounced off the rim, and landed right in her face."
"Did she loose consciousness?"
"I didn't see it happen. She was awake when I got through the crowd of kids, but she was a little disoriented. Figured better to be safe then sorry."
"Right. Let me pull her file, she's a Freshman right?"
"Junior!"
Nancy was quick to say. It really annoyed her when people talked about her when she was standing right there. All they had to do was ask her the questions, she would tell them what they NEEDED to know. Carol nodded her head showing that was the truth, and as Abby headed to the file room, Carol led Nancy behind a partition and helped her get on the table.
"Well this can't be right. The only Halliwell I have, has a note in her file saying she isn't to take gym class."
"What? I never got a note. Nancy do you know what this is about?"
Nancy hung her head down, and looked at the floor. She didn't know anyone but the school registration office knew about that. She was sighed up for gym class so when she got the go ahead from Jamie, she could just go. Nancy put her hand in her pants pocket and pulled out a very wrinkled, and half-torn note, handing it to Carol.
"Sort of."
"Why didn't you give me this before. Do you have any idea how much trouble I could be in for allowing you to participate?"
Nancy didn't say anything. Right now, her head was pounding, and her body ached. All she wanted to do was lie down, and go to sleep. Knowing that wasn't possible, she tried to come up with some type of answer.
"I didn't think it would hurt for me to take one class. I was planning on giving you the note after today."
"Nancy if you knew there was a chance you could get hurt why would you do this? Does this note have anything to do with how you got hurt?"
"No I swear. Please, I'm fine, just let me go back to class."
"Well I think we better call your parents. You can tell them exactly how this happened."
"Please don't do that. I swear it won't happen again. Please I just can't tell you."
Jill and Susan were standing outside Abby's office. They could tell that Nancy really wasn't going to tell on them. They realized that she was in real hot water, and they needed to do something.
"Carol, I think we better answer that for you."
"What? Did you girls see what happened?"
"Sort of. You see, well…it's like this…"
Jill was having second thought, but Susan wasn't, so she just blurted it out before she too lost her nerve.
"We did this to Nancy!"
"What are you talking about?"
Neither of the girls really wanted to explain. They could see the fire in Carol's eyes, and they knew they were in for a world of trouble.
"Well if you won't tell me, you can tell the principal. Sit down, and when we're done, we will all go there and get this straightened out."
Carol watched as the two girls took seats without saying a word, she then turned her attention back to Nancy, who wasn't saying anything either.
"Abby, how is she?"
"Well, it doesn't look like she has a concussion. Does your head hurt at all?"
Abby had just finished shining a light into Nancy's eyes and was making a note in her chart.
"It really doesn't hurt much. It's just a little sore."
"Alright, I want to check one more thing. Stand up with your feet together, lift both your arms up to the sides. Like your walking a tight rope, then close your eyes."
Nancy stood up off the table and did as she was told. She could feel her body was swaying back and forth a little, and she was worried she would fall over. She didn't know that Abby was standing right next to her, with one arm behind and one in front of Nancy, so she could be caught if she did fall. After about thirty seconds, Abby told her to open her eyes.
"I think she'll be find. She's a little off balance, but nothing to be too worried about. I'm going to give you an ice pack to carry with you the rest of the day. If you have anymore problems, just come back."
Nancy took the ice pack and started to leave the office. She had to find a way to make it so Carol wouldn't call Prue. She would be in so much trouble. As Jill and Susan picked up their bags and started to walk behind Nancy, they noticed that she wasn't moving. Nancy turned around and looked Carol right in the eye.
"I know why they did this. Don't make them explain. Forget it please. I beg you."
"You know why they intentionally hurt another student, and you want me to forget it. Should I also forget that you didn't tell me about this note?"
"That would be nice."
Nancy gave the biggest smile she could, which caused Jill and Susan to let out small giggles.
"This isn't funny. I am not going to forget about it without an explanation. From all of you."
"I wanted to fit in alright. I mean look at me, I'm 13 years old, and a Junior in High School. I'm not exactly ugly, but I'm not a bombshell either. I wanted everyone to know that I'm not that special. I wanted them to know that I do have to do all the things they have to. So many of the teachers are trying to make a big deal about me being here. They talk about me as if I'm some kind of miracle, I'm not. I'm just a kid who was both blessed, and cursed, with a high I.Q."
"What about you two. What would make you do something like this?"
"I guess we have no real excuse, except that we're dumb. We should have taken the time to get to know here, before we passed judgment."
"Alright, we don't have to see the principal, but I want to see the both of you in my office after school. Consider it a private detention, and Nancy until further notice, you will not participate in gym class. You will however report to class everyday and help me pass out equipment, and take notes for me. You will do my grunt work."
Carol could tell that all three girls felt bad enough for what they had done. She knew that she could punish them better then the principal could. Nancy breathed a sigh of relief, but tried not to show it. The three girls walked out of the office, picking up the pace as they walked down the hall, they were afraid that Carol would change her mind.
"Why did you guys tell? You didn't have to, I wasn't going to tell on you."
"We know that. That's why we did. You didn't do anything to us, and we wanted you to know we really are sorry."
"We normally aren't like that. We know what it's like to be the new kid in school, I guess we just forgot."
"Don't worry about it. If I judged everyone based on first impressions, I wouldn't have a friend in the world."
"Great. Listen there is still a lot of time left before lunch is over. Want to eat with us?"
"Don't you care that other people might make comments about you guys too, for sitting with me?"
"Who cares? Like you said, you didn't do anything to them. I hope they learn that a lot easier then we did. Who knows what Carol has in store for us after school?"
The three girls laughed as they made their way through the lunch line. Nancy was really in a lot of pain, but decided that she only had to make it three more hours, then she could be on her way home. Besides if she went home now, she would have to face her cousins, she needed time to come up with a good story.