Chapter 11: Spiral
Three against three. Dodgeball should have never been this serious for Stephanie, but she couldn't help but wish there was a reward involved . . . A reward like knocking Nate unconcious without consequence. If only he knew how bad he hurt her. If only . . .
Robin seems to know how to play rough, and he knocked Nate out the first time. How the hell can we win this thing now? Jessica and I can think of all the formations known to man, and there will always be something here preventing me from beating Nate's ass.
"Now what?" Jess asked, titlting her head from another ball. She was shaking with nerves.
Steph knew Jess was as serious in sports as she was. Now if only they had time to talk about what to do.
"I don't know." Steph said, "I guess we have to wing it now. There's only so much flipping around I can do."
Jess frowned and stomped her foot. "C'mon Steph! You always have this oomph when we play. Get your head out of the clouds."
Robin picked up another ball from the ground. Without anyone paying attention, he threw it straight at Nate's stomach.
"Shit man!" Nate yelled, "Do you have a robot arm or something?" He walked off in a fit and sat down.
"What just happened?" Jessica looked at Robin. "You play really well. Let's just leave the rest to him."
"That's smart, Jess. How 'bout we stop talking and kick this team off the court!?"
Jess kept quiet.
"I don't mind," Robin said, "but get out of my way even if you are playing."
Stephanie knew this attitude from somewhere. She recognized the angry tone, but couldn't put a finger on who it was.
Jess and Stephanie began to bombard the other team. Robin took a few more attempts to knock out members, but had enough of playtime. He wanted to sit down and eat cake.
"Woohoo!" Jess screamed at the top of her lungs. The trio had just won the game.
Stephanie high fived Jess and began to sway from side to side happily. Robin yawned.
"What's the matter, Stephanie?" Nate approached her. "You know deep down you wish you could have hit me, don't you? New kid steal your thunder? Wait until tomorrow. . ." With that, he walked away.
Nausea returned, bringing along fits of shaking in the hands and a very red coloring for Stephanie's face.
"We're not afraid of you," Jess taunted. "Nate's just mad because he didn't get laid Sunday. The whole school knows Amelia said she wasn't ready."
An electric shock of torment filled Stephanie's body.
"You shouldn't say things like that," Robin suddenly scolded. "I don't think we need to hear about people's nasty lives."
Stephanie said nothing, and walked away. She walked, ran to the bathroom.
Her feet hit the floor hard. Her hands covered her mouth, but nothing came up. Instead, Stephanie sat in the corner of the girl's locker room bathroom crying. Class would soon be over, so she quickly forced herself to change. Luckily, no one was in the lcoker room so that she could run back to the bathroom and hide.
Why does it have to be this way? I liked Nate so much. I wish someting would take the pain away. My best friend . . . What a jerk, too. I'm better off without him, I guess. I need the pain to leave. Need it to leave my body and never come back.
A shaking hand touched the glass of the mirror. Steph's forefinger gently drew a spiral to the middle of the mirror. She pulled back her hand and formed a tight fist. Without any second thought, she punched the mirror. Stepping back, Stephanie peered into the broken and cracked reflection of herself.
This is me. I am broken.
Stephanie washed her hands and watched the blood trickle from her knuckles. She washed her hands again, again, and again until her crying turned into sobs. She collapsed to the floor, crying in a ball. Her ears perked when she heard the bell ring. Her sneakers hit the floor harder than ever. She did not want to claim responsibility for breaking the mirror.
A voice spoke in Stephanie's head, Seven years bad luck. Seven years bad luck. But you washed your hands of the responsibility. Or did you? Seven years of bad luck.
When Stephanie opened the locker room door, she ran away from where students would appear. She ran through the gym and out another door, straight into the hall near the cafeteria. Stephanie hated the feeling of her heavy backpack slamming onto her while she ran. She finally calmed down and leaned against the wall.
"Don't be late for your next class," Robin appeared from the gym doors. "Or you will make me late too."
Steph hid her bloody wrist in her pocket. "What do you have next?"
"Uhh . . ." Robin didn't expect to be asked that. He rummaged his mind for something that sounded convincing. he knew he couldn't follow Stephanie all day.
"O . . .K . . ." Steph started backing away. "Well, you have fun finding your class. I have to go."
Robin simply gave up and said, "Yeah, I'll see you later."
On Stephanie's way to Science, the harsh voice in her head returned. You should have stayed with Robin. He would help you kill Nate. Kill him at sports, anyways. Just remember what you did. You broke the mirror. You are the one with bad luck.
"Stephanie!" Tiffany shouted merrily. "We still eating lunch together today?"
Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, I might be a little late though. We have a lab in science today. Not sure what we're doing, but I heard it's going to be messy."
Tiffany's hazel eyes fell upon a red hand. "What happened?"
"Oh," A spark of nerves rose in Steph's stomach. She answered, "I fell against the wall in gym trying to dodge a ball and my hand scraped against a part that wasn't painted. It hurt."
"Ah. Well, you should cover that up. I have to get to Math before I'm late. I'll see you in an hour!"
The two friends parted. Stephanie felt bad for lying, but wanted to deny the truth. Her mind was now corrupted by dishonesty, a disease Stephanie always avoided. Her toes were in the water now, and it felt warm. The water was a tricky fiend pulling her in with no sign of a life guard. Her breath could only be held for so long. All things in her mind blurred as her body slipped into a spiraling pool of doubt, guilt, and pessimism.
Stephanie shut the bathroom stall and sat on the toilet. She put her face in the palms of her hands and sobbed.
Her mind floated to various subjects. Skipping class was one of them. She didn't want to stay in the bathroom for too long, so her sobbing ended after a deep breath. After she washed her hands several times, Stephanie looked at her reflection. There was no reason for her to be this sad, she felt. Yet, Stephanie's anxiety got the best of her.
"You're late," Mr. Thompson announced. "Please join a group for our lab. You may talk to catch up after I repeat the next step."
The balding teacher didn't scare Steph. She stood around a high-seated table and watched her new group working.
The class passed by without strain as Steph followed along to the directions silently. Each minute brought Stephanie closer to a lunch that would hopefully be calm and relaxing.
"Hey, Stephanie." Robin ran up to his new friend in the hall. "How was your class?"
"Should I be totally weirded out that you're following me?" She questioned.
Robin shot back, "No. You're just the only friend I have here so far. Is that alright?"
"Sure."
The two silently walked amongst a loud croud of teens to the cafeteria. Stephanie found her way to a metal table in the center of the room. Tiffany, Lily, and a few other girls sat together. On the other half of the table a handful of boys sat bragging about football.
"You don't have to sit with me if you'd rather be somewhere else, Robin." Said Steph.
She sat in between a girl named Kiera and Tiffany. Lily, across from Stephanie, shot a weird glance at her. Robin sat diagonally from Stephanie in between a girl and the first of the jock boys.
"What's up, guys?" Robin blurted.
Stephanie thought he sounded comical.
"So," Lily began. "Are you feeling better, Steph?"
"Huh?" Tiffany wondered what was going on.
Without notice, Stephanie spewed back, "I'm fine! I don't want to talk about it."
"Alright, chill out."
Tiffany dared to ask, "What was wrong with you?"
"I got sick. I had a bad reaction to breakfast this morning, so I'm not going to be eating lunch today." Lies. Stephanie lied without stuttering.
Her legs felt the water rise. Its confusing warmth trapped her from running. The whirlpool stirred up again.