All the guys started jogging on the field, the coach walking sluggishly behind them, blowing his whistle. "Alright boys you are going to do the usual warm-up, got it?" He yelled as they begun running laps in a large group, Andy somewhere in the middle, Jullian in the front.

Stop being so athletic Jullian.

I watch as they continue their warm-up, some not even seeming to break a sweat and as for the others... they died 2 laps ago.

・・・

By the time they're done with warm-ups they've become shirtless and sweaty as hell. But who's complaining?

I watch as the coach starts to separate them into 2 groups, one with helmets, one without.

This is not safe.

But I'm watching anyways- where's the popcorn?

By the end of them separating Andy is on the helmet team and Jullian is on the one without. They begin getting set-up, helmets starting the ball. The scrimmage starts with the ball in who I assume is Andy's hands, passing it to another helmet until someone pushes them over, catching it instead. I sigh as I watch the runner pass everyone that's coming after him, resulting in a score. When he scores he turns around, showing his face.

Jullian, what're the odds.

What is this? A Wattpad book?

oh wait-

He looks my way, seeming unable to turn away, I continue to stare at him until a helmet slams into his abdomen, knocking him into the ground.

Even I could feel that hit from here.

The coach blows his whistle, telling the helmet player to bench, which he obliges, sluggishly making his way to the seat. Jullian on the other hand, remains on the ground, almost motionless. The coach walks over to him as he clutches his stomach, groaning in pain. He blows his whistle again, calling a few boys to go over to Jullian, then points to me. I remain quiet and wide-eyed as one of the boys starts trotting up the bleacher, stopping mid-way.

"So, you're Eleanor, right?" He says, practically sweating buckets.

"Uh yeah, who's asking?" I ask, watching him breath heavily, then watching the others pull Jullian inside the school.

"Coach, he wanted me to ask if you were one of the nursing assistants, are you?"

I contemplate lying, he did ask if I was one which means he doesn't really know.

The angel side of me says yes, the devil side of me says let Jullian die a painful death.

He remains quiet, watching me carefully as I come up with an answer. I let out an annoyed huff of air and nod my head "mhm, for 3rd period," I say, my voice audibly dull, distracted by what's going on behind him.

"Okay good because if you couldn't tell, Jullian might need a little help since we don't have the sports medicine people here today," he says and I sigh, rubbing the side of my face.

"How does your coach even know me?"

"You're at practices often with Andy, coach asks who you are, Andy tells him, coach tells him you need to leave, Andy tells you that you're a nursing assistant and that if anybody got hurt you could help, coach let you stay... boom," He says and I chuckle.

"Boom?"

"Boom," he says, confident as ever, "Now go help a team out," he smiles and I nod.

"Will do" I smile, it immediately dropping the second he turns his back to go down to the field.

I slowly make my way down the bleachers, first stopping by the bench to see that Andy sitting on it, head in hands. "You've got to be kidding me Andy," I sigh, making him look up at me.

"I don't know what happened Elle I just got so mad," he mutters, running a hand through his hair.

"Just- don't do anything else stupid, please?" I ask and he nods. I turn back towards the school, sluggishly walking in as I see the boys that took him in starting to walk in.

"He's in the nurses' office," one of them says, pointing in that direction. No way, I thought you'd put him in the ballet room.

・・・

I walk in to see Jullian sitting on the nurse bed, head facing the ground. "This would have to happen to you wouldn't it." 

"I guess so," he mutters. The air gets tenser the closer we are as I feel my chest begin to tighten.

"I need to see what happened," I say quietly as I go into the drawers to grab some supplies. Once I turn around Jullian has lost his shirt and is messing with the wounds. "That wasn't really necessary, you could've just lifted your shirt up and- nevermind." I prevent myself from going on a ramble. I look at his stomach closely, a large red area and small cuts showing where the helmet had hit him. "How did it even cut you?" I ask more to myself than to him, but he answers regardless.

"They're old and busted up, they aren't the ones we usually play with," he says and I nod, touching the impacted area. "Mother-fucker," he winces, his abs tensing as I touch it. "Do you have to touch it that much?" He asks and I nod, touching it again.

"You don't clean these do you?" I ask and he shrugs, answering my question. "This is going to hurt, maybe a lot, who knows," I say before taking a disinfectant and applying it to his cuts, making him take a quick intake of breath before calmly breathing out.

"Why does it sting so much?" he asks, making me scoff at the stupid question.

"It's a disinfectant, I don't know what you expected," I reply, "Plus, maybe if you weren't so distracted you would've been able to go through the game without getting hurt."

"It's not like I can force your friend from being an asshole when he knew what he was doing," he counters, "It's not like I was even looking at you-"

"Not looking at me? Jullian you made direct eye contact with me, I'm not stupid." I scoff, applying a bandage over his stomach, "and don't call Andy an asshole when you can't even compare with what you did." I say, going quiet.

"Look I know what I did was wrong and I tried saying sorry but you won't listen to me. Can you just listen?" He asks and I step away from him, turning towards the door.

"Alright, I'm done fixing up your wound, have a nice day Jullian-"

"Is this going to be a habit of yours? Walking out on me?" he cuts me off, a tinge of anger set in his voice.

"I guess, it's basically what you did to me right?" I mutter before opening the door.

"Norie," he says and I pause, looking back, "thank you for helping me, really."

"Sure thing," I mutter, leaving him in the room, again.

・author's note・

I'm keeping these from 2017 because they're cute and I love you all :')

Team Anthony or Team Jullian?

Any ship names?

Why would Andy hit Jullian purposely- why is he all of a sudden now angry?

I tried not to edit a lot because the comments on some of the bits I wrote were hilarious. I was literally laughing out loud inside my room... my parents probably think I'm insane. That's all for now, cheerio!

・originally published June 20, 2017・updated on June 24, 2019・