Chapter Text
Tobin’s Pov
I was trying to get a break from this shitty day. One of the only places I could escape to on school property to be alone was under the bleachers. What a cliché. But after the last class this is where I always find myself waiting for my idiot brother who lingers talking with his skater friends before eventually joining me so we can figure out where we want to go to avoid going home for as long as possible. Today being under the bleachers wasn’t as relaxing as it normally was. Today was Thursday, and there was a rescheduled football game tonight. The sounds of the cheerleaders practicing above me on the metal bleachers was almost taking all the fun out of the upskirt views I had from down here. Their stomping was making me hear a ringing in my ears. Out of frustration I reached for the cigarettes in my backpack pocket. I took one out and jammed my hand into my jeans front pocket grabbing my worn zippo lighter. I took me three tries at flicking the lighter with my thumb before I got a steady enough flame to light the cigarette.
“Hey…” a quiet voice said at a distance from me.
I glanced in the direction of the voice while taking a drag on the cigarette. It was a cheerleader. What the hell was she doing here.
“I don’t mean to bother you,” she continued grasping onto one of those shiny things that they use when they do their routines.
“Then why are you here?” I countered trying not to express my true annoyance.
“I dropped one of my pom poms during practice. It fell from the bleachers and I think it might have fallen right around here,” the dark haired girl said pointing to the area behind me.
“You don’t know where it went?” I asked giving her a once over with my eyes.
“Well I didn’t see it fall. My friend Ali kicked it by accident and this is where she thought it might have landed,” she answered
“This is a serious problem. How will the boys ever win tonight if you don’t have your second….um…”
“Pom pom,” she said smiling.
“Yeah you can’t very well call yourself a cheerleader without those I guess,” I said before taking another drag on the cigarette.
“Would you mind helping me look for it? I don’t have a lot of time before we have to go set up for the players banner run through.”
There were a lot of weeds growing under these bleachers so I could see why finding it might be difficult. I glanced down at my watch suddenly wondering why my brother Jeff was taking longer than usual.
“If you have to be somewhere, don’t let me keep you,” she said pulling the hem of her cheerleading skirt down some.
This is such a trope. Why are uniforms so sexy? Stop staring at her legs!
“I don’t have to be anywhere,” I spat out.
“I’m Christen by the way. I don’t think we’ve met,” she said staring at me with inquisitive eyes.
“It’s a pretty big school,” I answered nervously tapping my cigarette to get rid of the ash that was accumulating.
“Are you a freshman?”
“God no!”
“Sorry I just am really surprised that I haven’t seen you around before.”
“I’m not. Does it really look like our paths might have crossed for some reason?” I asked flicking my cigarette on the ground, because I was becoming too nervous with her watching me smoke.
“Did you transfer in this year?”
“No, why are you asking me so many questions? Didn’t you come down here to find that stupid thing? Why are you grilling me?” I asked feeling my wall of stability break at her inquiry.
In my life it never meant anything good when someone was trying to learn more about me.
“I…I didn’t mean anything by it…I’m sorry,” she whispered getting emotional.
What the hell did this barbie have to be emotional about? I bet she has never had to deal with any kind of hardship her entire life.
“Can we get out of here?” My brother asked skating up next to me along the sidewalk.
Christen turned away from me quickly and started to walk with a purpose directly towards the gym.
“Wow, what did I just interrupt?” Jeff asked picking his board up off the ground. “Fuck she is hot,” he said watching her walk away.
“Didn’t you say that you were ready to go?”
“Tobin are you not seeing what I’m seeing? Look at her ass,” he continued never taking his eyes off of her retreating form.
“Yeah I see her, let’s go,” I insisted tightening my grip on my backpack.
“What I would do to her…” he said lustfully. “If you had been with a girl you would understand where I’m coming from right now.”
“Sure Jeff you are all knowing because you have had sex like three times all in the back of a car.”
“Shut up,” he said with a laugh pushing my shoulder.
“Will you please go and sit your ass in the car, I gotta go back in the gym to piss?” I asked holding out my car keys to him.
“Fine,” he sighed taking the keys from me.
I waited until he was far enough away from me that I wasn’t in his line of sight anymore, before I immediately went looking to find the pom pom. I moved my hands through the weeds and looked for a minute or two before a sparkle caught my eye. I picked up the blue and gold pom pom that had brought Christen down here in the first place. It felt so small and light in my hands. I gave it a squeeze and heard crinkling noise before I decided to shove it in my backpack. I walked with my head down straight towards the gym without glancing back at the direction of my beat up Jeep Grand Cherokee. I was too mean to her. I mean she looked so hurt, she had no idea what she was walking into, just trying to get this stupid pom pom back. Once I made it to the entrance of the gym I walked in slowly. There was a crowd of people. Football players waiting for the game, coaches, random parents, and the group of cheerleaders. There were about twenty of them in the corner of the building on the edge of the basketball court. This was a mistake, there were so many people. Why did I think it would be just her in here? I backed up out of the way of three massive football players that were trying to put on their pads and I felt myself stumble into something. It was the first row of the collapsible bleachers. I managed to steady myself but the next second I felt a blow to the back of my head. The force of it threw my momentum forward and my left hand hit the floor first taking all of my body weight. It bent at a harsh angle and I grimaced in pain as the rest of my body collided with the ground.
“Oh shit Josh what did you do?” I heard a voice say amongst many others.
I tried to get up to avoid the embarrassment that I knew was coming. But I moved my left hand and the shooting pain made me yell.
“Don’t try to get up,” a voice said sweetly. “The trainer is coming I sent someone to his office.”
“No, I don’t need help,” I said trying to find my voice.
I rolled over in defiance of whoever was trying to help me. Every movement of my left arm amplified the pain immensely. I groaned as I got my first look at the person who was trying to help me. It was her.
“Fuck,” I sighed seeing spots in my vision while trying to look away from her.
I was now laying on top of my backpack and it was digging into my back.
“I don’t want you to be in more pain than you have to. Don’t fight me,” she continued placing her hand on the strap of my backpack. “Let me help you get this off,” she stated lifting my shoulder off the ground on my right side and removing the strap from my right arm.
“Ok, this one is going to be tricker. I’ll go as fast as I can,” she promised putting reassuring pressure on my left shoulder. “Ready?”
I just looked away from her, so defeated at these turn of events. She lifted up my left side and it was over in a second. But the strap caught on my thumb of my injured hand and pulled it suddenly.
“Shit!”
“Sorry, try to relax,” she pleaded.
I closed my eyes and I felt her hand lightly on my head smoothing out my hair.
“Tom is here. He’s going to look at your hand.”
“Christen can you tell me what happened?” He asked.
“Well Josh was swinging his helmet around and he didn’t see her behind him. His helmet hit her in the back of the head pretty hard from what my friend said, and then I saw her try and brace her fall with her left hand. I think that is what is causing her the most pain,” Christen answered with concern in her tone.
“Ok so the left wrist and a possible concussion.”
“I don’t have a fucking concussion,” I said angry.
“Can you tell me your name?” Tom asked as I looked up at him.
“This is stupid, I know my name, I know where I am, I don’t have a concussion. He didn’t hit me that hard.”
“I’m sorry we have to take any injury to the head seriously. Please answer my questions. If you can answer them then we can get through this process faster. Tell me your name,” he said in a less friendly manner.
“Heath,” I whispered.
“Heath? That’s your name?” Tom questioned.
“Yes, my name is Tobin Heath,” I said losing what little fight I had left in my voice.
“Ok Tobin. Can you tell me the name of our school and what grade you’re in?”
“Torrance High, and I’m a Senior. Lucky me.”
“Good, now I need you to follow my finger with your eyes ok?”
He proceeded to do a few more ridiculous tests. Surprisingly Christen never left. I thought that she would probably leave after he arrived, but she continued to try to comfort me with a touch to my arm or head every now and then.
“The good news is you don’t have a concussion, but it looks like you might have broken your wrist. It might be a really bad strain, but I can’t be sure without x-rays. There is an urgent care facility that is ten minutes from here, we can get someone to take you there for an x-ray and treatment.”
“No, I really don’t think it’s broken. Can’t you just wrap it?” I asked in disbelief.
“Your wrist is swelling rapidly right now, I strongly advise that you get an x-ray. In the meantime I can go get some of the numbing spray from my office that I use for on field injuries to help manage your pain. I’ll be right back,” he said standing up and jogging back to wherever his office was.
“I can’t go to an urgent care. I can’t,” I said the worry pouring out of me.
“Tobin it’s going to alright. It might not be broken but they have to make sure, so that you can heal faster.”
“You’re not listening. I said I can’t go there,” I said sitting up suddenly.
I felt a rush to my head, but the pain was really isolated to my wrist at this point.
“You don’t have to be scared.”
“I’m not fucking scared. You don’t understand.”
She shrank back at my outburst. She leaned over to hand me my backpack, but just as she was about to let it go something caught her eye. The edge of her pom pom was caught in the zipper of my backpack.
“You found it?” She said surprised, unzipping the bag enough to take it out.
“I just wanted to leave it for you.”
“Thank you Tobin.”
“I’m really not trying to be an asshole, but I can’t go to that urgent care,” I said looking into her eyes.
“Ok, ok….” She looked behind her trying to see if Tom was on the way back yet. “When he comes back we can tell him that I’m going to take you there, and once we get outside you can go your own way. Will you be able to drive with your wrist?”
“My brother can. He is supposed to be waiting in the car. He’s probably confused why I’m not back yet,” I answered as she re-zipped my backpack and placed it next to me.
She smiled down at the pom pom she was holding in her hand. I began to really look at her. Her dark hair which was pulled back tight into that uniform bun that all the girls had. Her shiny fingernails that must have had a clear coat of polish on them. Her long arms and legs, and her surprisingly light colored eyes. Tom returned and immediately started to treat my wrist with the spray. He also gave me a wrist brace that he said I could wear it only after the urgent care confirmed that nothing was broken. I thanked him, and Christen informed him of our story that she would be accompanying me to the care facility. Both of them took an arm and helped me to stand up very slowly. Christen walked me outside and she kept one hand hovering behind my back to be ready at any moment in case I faltered in my movement. Once I got within sight of my car I turned to her.
“Thank you Christen. Really,” I said looking from her to my feet.
“I hope that your wrist will be okay. You should probably put the brace on if you aren’t going to see a doctor,” Christen said taking the brace from my right hand. “Can I help you with it?”
“Uh yeah…I guess…” I answered holding my injured wrist closer to her.
“I’m not sure if it will hurt less if I put it on fast or slow,” she wondered.
“I would like to just get it over with.”
Her thin fingers ghosted across my wrist guiding it into the position she wanted. She un-velcroed the cloth brace and placed it around my thumb first, before grasping onto me tighter and pulling the fabric around the wrist firmly. I winced trying to be stoic in front of her. I heard her take a deep breath.
“Does it feel too tight? I’ve had a couple of sprains in my life from falls and roundoffs. It has to be tight to be effective, but it shouldn’t be causing you more pain than before I put it on.”
“It’s not too bad,” I answered doing some test movements.
As soon as I moved it to the right I felt the pain increase.
“Ow…damn.”
“You should ice it on and off, and make sure to keep it elevated.”
“I’m also left handed so this day couldn’t get any better.”
“I was just thinking at least it’s her left hand.”
“I do everything with my left and even if my handwriting is shi-…isn’t so great to look at,” I said trying to see how long I could look at her before I felt the need to glance in another direction.
“Maybe I could help you…”
“You shouldn’t feel bad about this, it’s Josh I want to pummel,” I said completely serious.
“It might be safer for you to avoid the gym for awhile,” she suggested chuckling.
“I usually try to. Let’s just say that I hope tonight is your best cheering performance….uh routine….”
“Having two pom poms is always a step in the right direction.”
“I should get back to my brother,” I said backing away.
“I’m going to check in on you, for your health’s sake.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah bye Tobin.”
She turned on the ball of her foot, the grace of her athleticism on full display, to walk back towards the gym. Christen, Christen….