"Are you ok?" Jemma asked Fitz. They were sitting on his bed in his room. It was the first time in quite a while that Jemma had been with Fitz when Skye wasn't present. Skye was in detention while they were studying, it was probably the only reason neither of them was with her. Jemma just tried not to think about Skye stuck in the same crowded classroom with Ward for the next hour.
"Somehow I was expecting it. I could tell she didn't really like me." Fitz sighed. "She doesn't care about me the way she cares about you."
"What?" Jemma asked, shifting uncomfortably on the bed.
"You're her best friend, you know that. When we're together, she spends more time talking about you than actually doing anything with me." Fitz explains. If Jemma had been a cartoon, a huge sigh of relief would have escaped her mouth as a puff of air and one of those stupid teardrop things would have run down the side of her head. It wasn't likely that she would ever act on her feelings or even dare telling Fitz about them, but if he did find out, she didn't want it to be right after he broke up with Skye.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Jemma placed her hand delicately on his knee.
"I'm disappointed that she's not actually romantically interested in me, but I'm not too upset with her. I can see where she's coming from." He said. Today seemed to be Jemma's day for sighs of relief, because she let out another one. She was hoping Fitz and Skye would still be able to get along. "I'm a little upset that you didn't tell me, though." This took Jemma by surprise.
"I saw the way you two were looking at each other and I know she tells you everything." He says. Jemma expected him to be angry, but there was a small smile on his lips. Not everything, Jemma thinks. She still hadn't invited Jemma over to her house, even though she'd dropped her off on more than one occasion. She wondered why.
"I wanted you to find out from her." Jemma said. She was tense, ready for him to start yelling at her like she expected. Instead, he just nodded in understanding.
"You're not mad?" She asked tentatively. She knew she shouldn't look in the mouth of a gift horse, but she had to be sure he wasn't pretending to be okay just so she wouldn't worry.
"I can be friends with her. It's not worth starting a fight about." Fitz said. He was taking it very maturely and Jemma wondered when they'd grown up so much. A huge weight was lifted off her chest at that moment, the whole Fitz-Skye conflict was finally through.
It appeared as if it was going to be another miserable P.E. period for Jemma, but Skye just wore a small smile on her face when coach May announced that they would be playing soccer. Her smile turned into a frown, however, when it was discovered that Ward and Bobbi were team captains, and Bobbi won the coin flip. Skye scowled at Ward, which unfortunately only made it more satisfying for him to choose her after Bobbi chose Hunter. Bobbi gave Jemma an apologetic look and a slight shrug. Skye trudged over to Ward's side and stood over an arm's length away from him. Ward made a point of smirking at Jemma, like he had been informing her that he'd won some kind of battle of dominance.
Of course, Jemma was picked last and ended up on Bobbi's team, she hadn't expected any different, but it was still disappointing to watch Skye walk to the other end of the field.
Coach May left everything up to the captains, including player positioning. Bobbi chose to put Jemma in one of the defense positions, where she could do the least damage. She made a strong offense and left a good defender next to her to play for the both of them. She didn't care, though.
Skye was jogging towards the middle of the field, Ward had made the obvious choice and placed Skye in her best position where she would be able to score the most goals. Jemma and Skye made eye contact with each other and smiled, not without catching Ward's attention.
"Skye!" Ward called out. Skye stopped and rolled her eyes before turning around.
"I'm switching you and Trip, you're on defense now." Skye groaned and marched back to the outer white line near the goal. Now the only contact Jemma and Skye would have throughout the period would be making strange faces at each other from opposite ends of the field. It was annoying that Ward would got to such lengths to keep Jemma and Skye from interacting for two seconds when they passed each other and Skye scored a goal. It was like he was marking his territory on Skye and Jemma didn't like it. He might as well pee on her the way he was acting.
Jemma wasn't paying attention to the game, and neither was Skye, because the ball was currently in the middle of a power struggle in the center of the field. Skye and Jemma were entertaining themselves by crossing eyes, sticking out tongues, and making other stupid facial expressions that were somehow amusing. Suddenly, Skye's eyes widened and she pointed insistently. Jemma thought this was just another face, so by the time she saw Trip coming, it was too late. The other defender hadn't gotten to them in time, so she was all alone.
Her brain briefly registered that Trip was kicking the ball before a white hot pain flashed across her face and she fell backwards. Ward had definitely made a mistake putting Skye somewhere where she'd do a lot of standing around, because she was fast. Jemma had never seen Skye running as fast as when she ran to her.
"You're not supposed to block the ball with your face, girl." Trip said sympathetically. Jemma smiled lamely at his joke from her position on her ass on the fake turf, but Skye was not amused.
"That isn't funny!" Skye complained, slapping Trip's arm and kneeling beside Jemma. In one fluid motion, Skye pulled her tee shirt over her head, leaving her in a grey tank top, and pressed it against Jemma's face. Instantly Skye's smell overwhelmed Jemma's senses, and she wasn't sure why Skye's shirt was balled up on her face until she pulled it away momentarily and spotted blood. Skye pressed it back against her face with a hand over Jemma's.
"Are you alright?" Skye asked in concern. The students had now gathered around them and Jemma could see Ward smirking smugly in the back.
"I didn't mean to hit you, I promise." Trip apologized.
"Skye, I trust you can take Ms. Simmons to the nurse?" Coach May sighed. Skye nodded furiously and the smile on Ward's face finally disappeared. Jemma gave him the same smirk he gave her earlier as Skye helped her up.
"Really, Skye, I can assure you I'm quite alright." Jemma tried to convince her while they walked down the hallway, though her voice was muffled because Skye's hand still held the shirt against her face.
"The blood running down your face tells me otherwise." Skye says. They look ridiculous, walking through the normal hallways of the school in their P.E. clothes for the second time that week.
"Hall Pass?" the nurses asks when they step through the doorway. Coach May hadn't given them one and Jemma is about to mumble some excuse, but Skye just pulls the shirt away from Jemma's face and points at her nose incredulously like no other pass was needed. The nurse shooed Skye out of the room and Jemma watched her hesitantly step back into the hall. Jemma offered her a reassuring smile as she went back to class.