Chapter 11

After class, John walked close behind Kim in the crowded halls. Students seemed to naturally steer clear of him so Kim had a clear path to walk. It was a little strange. Usually, she had to push her way through the crowds and now the student's parted like the red sea.

John hardly spoke a word the entire day, and the words he did speak weren't to Kim.

When Randy tried to partner up with Kim during stats, John once again stood between the boy and Kim, telling him Kim already had a partner in the girl two seats over. Neither Kim nor the girl was aware of the arrangement, but neither the girls nor Randy felt inclined to disobey John's words.

Really, it wasn't a bad day. Things were going smoothly and John mostly stayed unnoticed at the back of the classrooms.

Then Kim went to gym.

They were playing another variation of kickball like they did nearly every Friday. It was one of those games nearly everyone genuinely enjoyed. The competitive guys could be as competitive as they wanted, and the less competitive students still had a chance at making it to one of the bases.

Still, everyone knew who the kickball stars were. Brody had a great arm, Noah and Sophie had the best pitches. Kim was known for her kicks. With the best in mind, each team tried to recruit a good kicker, a good thrower, a good pitcher, and some runners. It was expected when everyone started heckling Kim to join their team.

The moment Kim stepped out of the locker room, Nate was there.

"Hey, Kim," he smiled sweetly, clearly wanting something.

Kim nearly rolled her eyes. "Hi."

"So," he began, walking close enough to rub shoulders with Kim. Kim tried to subtly step away, but Nate just followed her movement and Kim just walked down the hall faster. "I heard you won that karate thing last weekend. That's amazing."

It was clear Nate was just buttering her up, nobody ever cared about her karate and besides, that was old news and it wasn't even a win Kim was very proud of.

"Nate-"

"Step away from her," John commanded lowly, eyeing Nate harshly.

Nate shot away from Kim, raising his hands in surrender as he warily looked from John to the ground.

"S-sorry."

Kim sighed, looking up at John. He could have been a little gentler on the boy. He was only 16 for goodness sake.

Kim walked through the doors of the gym, seeing most of the guys already dressed and ready. When they saw it was Kim who walked in, a whooping three guys made to talk to her. Then, suddenly, they all froze, looked away, and turned around, never looking at Kim again.

Kim thought it was strange until she felt a big shadow behind her. John.

For the first time in the history of Friday kickball, not a single person bothered Kim to be on their team. Most of the guys didn't even look at her. It was nice not to be constantly heckled, but if Kim were honest, it was too weird.

When the teacher entered, John took a seat on the benches at the side of the gym, keeping his eyes trained on Kim.

Kim ended up on Nate's team, which made things ten times worse when he wouldn't talk to or look at her. How was she expected to play with mute teammates?

The first inning was rough. Kim was positioned at third base, but nobody ever passed her the ball. She could have gotten at least two outs and she was frustrated that they couldn't even play properly.

When it was time to kick, most of the guys had forgotten to be wary of Kim and things began to run normally. Kim was the fifth one to kick on her team. They only had one out and the bases were full. There was potential for multiple points that would put their team in the lead. As Kim walked up to home base, she could hear a few encouraging shouts from her teammates.

Noah rolled the ball perfectly, much to Kim's delight, and she delivered spectacularly. Kim kicked the ball between second and third base and it flew low and fast, rolling to the far end of the unused three-quarters of the gymnasium. It was an amazing kick and everyone on the team cheered and ran.

Unfortunately, Kim didn't make it back home and got stuck on third base but when the next girl kicked, Kim got the point.

By the end of the inning, Kim's team was well into the lead.

During the next inning, the other team racked up an impressive amount of points, but Kim was confident they could get even more.

She was correct, they had gone through the entire line-up of their team with only two outs. When it was Kim's turn to kick again, she knew the pressure was high.

She could feel the energy in the gym. Her team was hopeful but kept quiet so as not to distract Kim. The other team was getting impatient, upset that they were losing even after trying so hard already. Kim couldn't help herself as she grinned. Dodgeball could be so fun sometimes.

Kim took a breath as she prepared to kick the ball. When her foot made contact she knew it wasn't her best but she ran anyway.

Rhea almost caught the ball, but it slipped through her hands and Kim was safe on second base. She heard Brody curse and wanted to laugh. It was just a game but sometimes guys like Brody took it too seriously.

The next kick was okay, but it was directly to third base so Kim played it safe and stayed where she was.

As the next kicker lined up, Kim scooted close to the edge to make a run for it. She was going to go home if she could, they needed the point before they got their third out.

Nate kicked the ball right between second and third, but it hit the ground and then bounced high and fast. Kim kept her eyes trained on the ball as she sprinted forward, trying to get ahead of it.

When Kim looked toward third base, she saw Brody standing just a few feet in front of her, blocking her path as he waited for the ball.

Kim didn't have time to stop and could only try to run a few steps to the right to avoid hitting him. Then Brody stepped back with arms up to catch the ball.

One second Kim was running and the next second she was splayed on the gym floor. Brody had rolled around Kim's body, landing on his feet, while Kim landed on her side. She groaned, rolling onto her back and trying to catch her breath.

Brody looked down at Kim and with the ball in his hands, he quickly and almost automatically dropped it on her.

"You're out-"

Brody was cut off when he was knocked out of the way. John picked Kim's body up off the ground, swinging around just enough that Kim's flailing legs struck Brody.

Brody sputtered and fell back while John glared at him and set Kim on her feet.

Kim's head spun as she tried to process what had happened all within about five seconds.

The entire class had frozen the moment they realized Kim would collide with Brody and now they watched with held breaths as Kim recovered.

Kim coughed, choking on a too-big gulp of air. When she raised her arm to cover the cough, she realized there was something on her face.

She gingerly touched her upper lip and realized her nose was bleeding.

The teacher, who usually wasn't even in the room to supervise the game, just so happened to come out just in time to see Kim bleeding.

"Oh, dear. Why don't you head over to the nurse? I'm sure she can give you some ice."

Kim nodded, keeping a hand under her nose so she didn't drip her blood everywhere. Gross.

"Come on," John commanded lowly, placing a hand on Kim's back and escorting her out to the hall.

The moment they were out the doors and away from prying eyes, John stopped and pulled Kim to the side.

"Let me see."

Kim hesitantly lowered her hand, sure she looked much worse than she felt. She didn't get nosebleeds often, in fact, this was only her second ever. Still, it didn't hurt as much as she was bleeding.

John reached into his pocket and swiftly handed Kim a white cloth. "Use this. Keep your nose forward."

Kim took the handkerchief gratefully and tilted her nose forward just as John had instructed.

"Good," John nodded. "Let's go."

As quickly as Kim could walk, John took her to the nurse's office.

There wasn't much to be done besides changing out tissue for tissue until the bleeding stopped.

It seemed to stop and Kim was finally able to wash her hands, but then it started bleeding all over again. Kim groaned as both the nurse and John fussed over her, sitting her down on the cot with plenty of tissues.

Eventually, the bleeding did stop. Kim's nose was still a little sore but John demanded that she stay sitting where she was for the remainder of the class period. Kim reminded him that she would need her normal clothes but John ignored her.

Eventually, Kim resorted to texting the guys, telling them she was held hostage in the nurse's office and that somebody needed to ask a girl to get her things and bring them to her.

Jack showed up at the end of the day with Kim's bag and clothes in hand and a worried expression crossing his face.

"You okay?"

Kim rolled her eyes as she hopped off the cot and grabbed her things. "I'm fine. Just a bloody nose."


Hey.

I'm a little sorry i didn't post for a while, but also nobody complained soooo

anyways merry christmas i'm so happy its officially the christmas season now.