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Jimmy looked out at the astroturf. He wasn’t really in the mood for exercise today, but PE was annoyingly mandatory, so he kind of had to do it.
He looked around. A lot of his friends were in the other group, so it was just him, Joel, and Sausage. He knew that if it was pairs then they would want to go together- they’d apologise as profusely as they ever did, but still. It was fine, he got it.
If it was a trio thing, he’d have to third wheel their unbearable sex jokes directed at each other. Yikes. If it was a four person thing… they’d try finding someone else to join them.
Either way, he went to stand by Sausage and Joel- Sausage was just a nickname Sausage went by- there was a story behind it, but now was not the time to tell it.
Either way, he stood by the two of them, as the teacher stood in front of all the kids, “Today, you will be getting into pairs-“ Joel and Sausage practically pounced at each other, and then sent apologetic looks at Jimmy, “Make sure it’s someone you’ll work well against, as we’re playing football(soccer).” Jimmy cringed- football??
He was never good at football, always losing track of the ball and who was on what team. It was fun to watch, or to play if it was a slow game, but with his peers he always sent a sense of pressure to do well, which was something he never really could do.
He glanced around- who didn’t have a partner? He glanced over a few pairs, looking for a person on their own- then he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Want to pair?” Jimmy turned around as a guy asked him- Scott. Scott was pretty popular, Jimmy wasn’t. He wasn’t unpopular, just.. normal.
“Hellooo?” Ah shoot. He didn’t respond, “Oh, um, yeah! It’s not like I was planning to pair with anyone else..” Jimmy muttered, leaning to the side slightly, to see a good few popular kids just behind Scott, who were clearly about to ask to pair with him.
Did he just anger popular kids? Oh god.
“Great.!” Scott slipped his arm around Jimmy’s own, quickly covering Jimmy’s view of the other kids, demanding his attention.
Jimmy looked up at Scott’s blue hair- which was very much against the school rules. Jimmy wasn’t particularly a stickler to the rules, but he wouldn’t have the confidence to pull such a bold move as that.
Scott then lead him over to a corner of the astroturf, “Why are we going here, there won’t be enough space to play foot-“ Jimmy asked, but he was interrupted by Scott’s answer.
“We’re not gonna. We can just chill here.” He sat down, patting the ground next to him, “Is it not wet?” Jimmy asked, and Scott gave him a look, “Has it rained recently?”
“Isn’t it dirty?” “What the hell is going over here to get it dirty?” Scott responded, and Jimmy shrugged, sitting down where Scott instructed him to.
“Why’d you pick me as your partner?” Jimmy asked- Scott could’ve picked almost anyone, yet he picked him. “You were alone.” Scott responded. Well.. that made sense. “But there was plenty others?”
“They already had their friends to partner up to.” Scott responded, and Jimmy winced- he made it sound like he had no friends- “I do have friends, y’know?”
“They weren’t partnering with you.” Scott responded, tilting his head slightly, as if not understanding, despite the fact his eyes seemed to observe everything. Ever.
“No.. they- I only have two friends in this class.” Jimmy explained, feeling awkward, “They never pair with you when it’s pairs.” Scott replied- wait- how did Scott know that?
“I just- observed, I didn’t mean to be creepy.” Scott pushed his bottom lip out in a childish pout, “Oh- no- it’s okay.. yeah..”
Jimmy felt embarrassed for panicking- for some reason he expected everyone to just.. not know who he was? Other than his friends. He forgets people other than them perceive him sometimes. Oops.
“Wanna play truth or dare?” Scott asked, and Jimmy blinked, “Wait- you were being serious about us not doing football?” “I mean.. do you want to?”
“…not really…” Jimmy muttered, and Scott smiled, brightening up again, “Then let’s play Truth or Dare!” Jimmy was unsure, but went along with it.
The worst thing to happen would be that he got a detention.. and his parents and sister found out.. and then they never let him go to school again because they got too concerned.
Ok so maybe that was bad. No thank you.
“So, Truth or Dare, Jimmy?” Oh, right. They were playing a game. “Errr.. truth?” Jimmy shrugged, and Scott smiled.
“What’s your favourite colour?” Scott asked, and Jimmy thought about it- green? Blue? Yellow? “I’m… not sure, actually.” Scott smiled, “Well, mines teal.” Jim thought for a moment, “Like your hair?” Scott nodded, “Yeah.”
“Well.. Truth or Dare?” Jimmy asked, and Scott grinned, “Dare!” He declared, and Jimmy thought for a moment, “Uh.. I dare you to.. spin around?” Scott frowned at that, and Jimmy specified, “Until you’re really dizzy. Yeah.”
Scott nodded at that, and stood up. Jimmy shuffled away a little, and Scott started spinning, “nnnnnrowww- like this?” Scott asked, running around in a tight circle whilst also spinning. “Yeah, like that..”
Jimmy watched as Scott just… spunned. That idea seemed bizarre enough to Jimmy that he had to hold back a laugh. Probably because Scott had a reputation but here he was spinning around like an idiot because Jimmy dared him to.
“Ah-“ Scott made a noise, as he tripped over his own feet, falling to the floor. “Woah- are you okay?” Jimmy asked, shuffling over to Scott.
“I’m fine!” Scott grinned, looking up to face Jimmy.
…
There was blood running down his face, that he clearly hadn’t noticed. “Scott..” Jimmy mumbled, and Scott looked at him confused, “What? Oh-“ he put a hand to his face frowning as his hand made contact with the blood, “Why’s my face wet-“
“Uhhhh..” Jimmy didn’t know what to say, as Scott pulled the hand away from his face, staring at his hand. Red.
He was speechless for a few moments, just staring at it, “I.. that’s not.. good?”
…
Time almost seemed to pause, as the two of them just kind of processed- Jimmy processing the fact he accidentally caused Scott to get hurt in a way that could probably scar, and Scott at the fact he was bleeding- seemingly a lot.
“I should probably-“ Scott put his hands up to his face, attempting to wipe away the blood. He looked at his hands, “Oh that’s a lot- what-“
“I think we should.. um. Probably.. tell the teacher?” Jimmy suggested, and Scott nodded, “Yeah- yeah.! That’s- yeah. Do that.”
“Tell him I… fell. Whilst playing.” Scott nodded, and Jimmy stood up and lent out his hand, which Scott took, getting up from the floor.
Jimmy grimaced as his own hand became red. “Are you okay otherwise?” Jimmy asked, and Scott nodded, “Yeah, I think so- honestly, it doesn’t even.. it doesn’t even hurt, it’s just.. wet.”
“I mean, maybe it hurts a little now, but that’s because I’m thinking about it.” Scott winced, and Jimmy nodded, “Yeah, maybe don’t- do that. Uhh. I’m sorry for- accidentally hurting you, I guess.”
Scott shook his head, “It’s fine, it was an accident, and it wasn’t like you pushed me.” Jimmy shrugged, leading Scott to the teacher, some of the other kids were stopping where they were playing, seeing Scott.
The teacher noticed them and came up, “Right, Scott, you need to go to the Nurse’s office- I’ll lead you there- uhhh.. you. Good job at bringing him here.” Jimmy nodded, not upset the teacher didn’t know his name.
As the teacher took Scott, Jimmy felt guilt well up inside him, the teacher yelled, “Everyone continue working!” but the teacher probably knew they logically wouldn’t.
Kids started walking towards Jimmy, wanting to ask questions, but Jimmy darted off to Joel and Sausage, and considering he was a ‘nobody’ kid nobody knew where he went when he disappeared in the crowd.
“What did you do!?” Joel hissed, and Jimmy winced, “I- he fell!” Sausage sighed, “How would he start bleeding from falling on fake grass?” Jimmy shook his head, “We weren’t on the grass- we were playing Truth or Dare in the corner!”
Jimmy pointed to a bit that was pavement- small sharp pointy rocks. Not a great design choice.
“Why were you doing that!?” Joel asked, and Jimmy shrugged, “It’s not- he thought it would be a good idea!”
“Jimmy-“ Sausage went in front of Joel in his vision, getting his attention, “Scott is popular, people are gonna blame you, also, he hurt his face- y’know how many people are gonna hate you if you ruin that face!?”
Jimmy winced, “Yes, I know, it was an accident-“ “Popular kids don’t care if it’s an accident, Jimmy! They’re gonna ruin your face for ruining Scott’s!” He hissed.
“Scott’s face isn’t ruined! And the popular kids don’t do things like that!” Jimmy protested, and Joel cut in, pulling Sausage back a little, “Jimmy’s actually right, that’s not how they do things- they’re just going to ruin your life socially!”
“They’re not going to do anything- it’s fine- Scott will tell them all it’s not my fault!” Jimmy protested again, and Joel scoffed, “Popular kids don’t do that, Jimmy, Scott won’t admit he messed up doing anything if he can pin it on someone like you.”
“No- he-“ Sausage sighed, “Jimmy.. he chose to be your partner, right?”
“…yeah.” “He obviously wanted to bring you down some way, you just gave him an opportunity! I don’t know what you did to make him notice you-“
“I, uh, actually asked him why he chose me. He said it was because everybody else already had people who would be willing to go with me.. but I didn’t..” Jimmy mumbled.
“Oh- this better not be Heathers in real life.” Joel piped up. Sausage looked at him, “Which Heather would Scott be, then, and who would the other two be?”
“He’d be all three, he’s popular enough for that and nobody’s on equal level to him.” Joel responded- which actually amused Jimmy, who let himself laugh a little. Maybe he was out of the woods.
“Don’t laugh, Jimmy, next thing you know you’re gonna be.. er.. wearing blue!” Joel nodded, and Jimmy gave him a look, “I’m already wearing blue- our uniforms are blue!”
“Oh no, we’re already too late!” Sausage cried out, and then Joel said something that made Jimmy decide he was gonna tune off the two so he didn’t have to listen to their weird flirty-sexual-jokes they shared.
At this point he was wondering if they were gay.
Either way, he hoped Scott was doing okay.. that really wasn’t meant to happen. Hopefully he’d be back to school soon, so Jimmy could apologise.