"This is short," I mutter to myself.

"Because it's shorts," Kamille says patiently.

"It's a short shorts," I complain.

She shrugs. "There's nothing we can do about that."

"I know," I mumble.

Today's Thursday so we have PE as the last period. We take it once a week and this is the first meeting for this school year. I hope we won't do anything. I hope it's just an orientation.

Before, we used to wear jogging pants. I don't know what's gotten to the principal's mind to change it to shorts. I tug mine down a bit because I'm not comfortable wearing shorts. Anything, as long as it's short. I feel exposed. I feel naked without things covering my legs. Weird, I know.

Some girls make their shorts shorter by pulling them high above their waist. You can almost see their underwear. What kind of girls will do that? I guess they want to get the attention of boys.

Yeah, boys. This school is insane. They now mixed the girls with the boys in PE class. How can they be so ignorant?

"Annalise? Earth to Annalise?"

"Ow," I say, snapping out of my reverie.

"You did not hear anything I said in the past couple of minutes, did you?" Kamille says, studying my face.

My mouth forms into a sheepish smile. "Sorry," I mumble, ducking my head in embarrassment.

"Is something wrong?" she asks in a concern voice.

"Nothing," I say.

She sighs. "I know I should be used to having your thoughts in the cloud," she says wearily, "I guess not."

"I can't help it," I admit, frowning slightly.

"I know," she says, patting my hand, "and I understand. I'm just wondering what's inside that head of yours."

"A lot of things," I say with a shrug.

Kamille is about to ask what kind of things when our coach in PE blows his whistle.

I stand up from the bleachers reluctantly. Kamille nudges me on the elbow when I walk slowly towards where the class is.

"If you continue to be like this," she says in a teasing voice, "I'll think that you're just cheerful in the presence of Caleb."

At that, I walk quickly, dragging my feet beneath me. Kamille chuckles behind me, which I pretend not to, hear.

The class forms a big circle. The coach, which is Mr. Asher, sits in the center.

"How can I talk to you if you're standing like that?" he asks in a booming voice. "Sit down!"

We all sit quickly, afraid to do something that might get coach angry. From what I hear about him, he can be strict if he wants. I wonder why he's still teaching PE, he's already the coach of the basketball team.

"It's so hot," Kamille whispers.

"Tell me about it," I mutter. It's crowded too!

I'm sitting Indian style, so my left leg touches with some guy. Trying not to be obvious, I pull my legs towards me and wrap my arms around them.

The guy's mouth turns downward. He's cute, but—

A tap in my shoulder breaks me from my line of thoughts. Turning my head, a startle gasp escapes from my lips when I see Alex behind me, smiling amusedly.

"What are you doing here?" I ask when I find my voice.

"What do you think?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

I have a feeling that he likes teasing me. "I can't believe we have the same class in PE," I say.

"Me too," he says thoughtfully.

"Class," coach says a little loudly.

I look at Alex one more time and face Mr. Asher.

"On the first three months," he starts, "You're going to play Volleyball, and then Swimming. Last but not least is Dancing."

There are silent conversations about the three we will have to study.

"Dancing?" Someone repeats.

Everyone turns to the direction of the voice. The owner is Maegan. Figures.

"You have to learn how to dance," coach explains, "Because you need it for Prom."

Excited chatters fill the air at the mention of prom. This is our senior year, so we'll get to decide this year's theme.

"Sorry sir, I'm late."

We search for the owner of the voice, and then Caleb appears in our line of vision. He's running towards— Wait! I have PE with Caleb too?

"Do you know what time this class starts?" Coach asks, standing up.

"Uh oh," I murmur. Caleb's in big trouble.

"Sorry sir," he says, scratching the back of his head. He looks away from coach, and that's when he sees me. His whole face brightens suddenly, and he smiles at my direction.

His smile is so contagious; I can't help but smile with him.

Unfortunately, coach catches our little exchange. He looks at me and makes a gesture for me to stand up.

"What will I do?" I wonder quietly.

"Do what he wants," Kamille urges.

Taking a deep breath, I stand up slowly. I don't have much of a choice. I might get in trouble if I don't take this class seriously.

Caleb stares at me with a worried look on his face. I want to strangle him for putting the spotlight on me. But I know I can't blame him because he just smiles at me. Which I return.

"What's your name?" Coach asks me.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I say, "Annalise. "

I'm proud of myself because my voice didn't quiver. I try not to glance at my classmates though, because they are looking up at me.

"And you?" Coach asks, nodding at Caleb.

"I'm Caleb Vandom, sir," he says politely.

"Mr. Sir," Coach says amusedly.

The class erupts in laughter. Who would have thought Mr. Asher can crack a joke?

Caleb locks gazes at me and smiles sheepishly.

I bite my lip to stop the smile threatening to form in my mouth.

He clears his throat to get the attention of our classmates who are laughing uncontrollably. "I meant, Caleb Vandom," he says warily.

Coach grins. "I know kid," he says. "I just want your classmates to let out the breath they're holding." He rolls his eyes and then continues, "I'm not a man eater. I wonder why students are afraid of me."

My classmates laugh again, more loudly than before. I guess the rumors they are spreading about coach aren't true. I have no doubt that the higher level students just want to scare us. They did a pretty good job.

When they stop laughing, coach looks at me. "Annalise," he says, "Would you mind telling Caleb what I said earlier?"

I nod. Clearing my throat quietly, I say, "On the first three months, we will play Volleyball, and then Swimming. Last but not least is Dancing."

I look at coach to see if I can sit now, but he shakes his head.

"What about the explanation of the dance?" he probes.

"What about the dance?" Caleb asks, tilting his head to the side.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. "We have to know how to dance," I say, "For the prom."

"Oh," he murmurs.

"Speaking of dance," coach says, "You two are going to be partner."

"What?" Caleb and I say simultaneously.

"For my class, you are," coach explains, "In the prom, you can choose your own partner."

"Why?" I ask, not that I don't want Caleb to be my partner. I'm just curious.

"Because you two have chemistry together," he says obviously.

My classmates laugh again. I'm sure they're comfortable now. At my expense. I can feel my cheeks reddening, flooding my whole face.

"Oohh," a girl gushes, "She's lucky to be partnered with Caleb!"

"Look," a boy says this time, "She's blushing!"

Ugh! Why don't they shut up?

"Annalise is blushing," someone sings.

Thank you for rubbing it to my face, I want to yell.

Coach waves his hands in a stop gesture, but my classmates aren't stopping.

Suddenly, he blows his whistle more loudly than before. "Get up," he orders. "It's time to play Volleyball."

Play Volleyball? As in, now?

They all get up reluctantly, brushing off their shorts, as if they get dirty by sitting on the floor.

"Form a group of six," coach instructs, "three boys and three girls. Let's see what you know about Volleyball."

They start to group themselves by six while I just stand, watching them from the sideline.

"Annalise," Kamille calls me.

Whipping around, I find her with Caleb and Alex. My lips tug at the corner as I make my way towards them.

"We still need two members," Alex says in a bored tone.

Looking around, I spot Leanna standing all by herself awkwardly. I call her, and when she sees me, she gives me a warm smile, and then walks towards us gratefully.

At the same time, Maegan makes her way to us. "Caleb, Alex," she says, "Let's go to our group."

"Our group?" Caleb asks incredulously.

"We already have a group," Alex says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"With them?" Maegan says mockingly, eyeing me up and down.

Again, that looks. Trying to control my anger, I close my eyes.

"Yes," Caleb says firmly.

I peek under my eyelashes to see him staring at me.

"Why?!" Maegan exclaims.

"Because they're my friends," Caleb says indignantly.

"We are his friends," Kamille says, narrowing her eyes at Maegan.

Maegan puffs her breath, and then she walks away while glaring at me.

In the end, the guy whom I sit beside earlier completes our group. There are six teams all in all, and three students aren't going to play because of a certain reason. Coach is the one who chooses whose teams will fight. There will be three games. Unfortunately, we're the first one. I'm not really good at sports, which is why I don't want to play yet. I want to watch my classmates first so I that I'll know what will I have to do when it's our turn.

And yes, you guess it right; Maegan's team is our opponent.

We go to the court, on the left side of the field. My classmates sit on the bleachers to watch the game, while waiting for their chance to play.

We position ourselves, and get ready.

I don't know who decided it, but the other team will start the game.

The ball is on Maegan's hands, and she's throwing daggers at me. There's no doubt she'll make this game miserable for me.

Coach blows his whistle, signaling to start the game.

*****

Sorry for the late update! I'm supposed to upload this last night but I hang out with one of my best friends ;)

The song is Beautiful by Christina Aguilera ^.^

I hope you like it, and thank you so much <3