Lab Partners

Concussion

"Oh come on, Mr. Mason," Cole complained with his arms crossed over his chest. "Can't I have a different partner?"

"No, Mr. Decker. You will be Elliot's teammate and you will like it."

Cole sent me a murderous glare as the teacher walked off to pair up more people. I felt myself paling a bit and was grateful for the fact that at least we were playing on the field today, where there was some nice green grass to break my fall.

"If you make me look like an idiot out there, I will personally kill you," he scowled at me.

You already look like an idiot.

At least this time, I had the common sense to keep my mouth shut.

"Alright everyone," Mr. Mason called out once everyone was situated. "Today we are going to face off tournament style. First team to three points wins."

I sighed at the notion that I had to stay out there until three points were scored.

"First up, I want Decker and Goldman against Anderson and Hughes!"

Cole and Nate? Now I was definitely going to die.

Cole and Jordan stepped up to fight for the ball, while I stayed back and tried to ignore the smirk on Nate's face as he glanced at me.

I had a bad feeling about this.

I cursed myself as the game began. I wasn't watching, so I found myself a couple steps behind as Cole did his best to dribble past both of the opposing teammates on his own.

Not that he'd actually pass me the ball or anything.

As it turned out, Jordan was a pretty aggressive and skilled soccer player as well. His fancy footwork allowed for him to steal the ball from Cole a couple times, only for Cole to steal it right back.

I decided to run towards the goal in case Cole decided to shoot for it and missed, but unfortunately, Nate saw what I was doing and ran forward to trip me.

The class snickered as I fell to the ground, but apparently my fall was able to distract Jordan and Cole was able to get a clear shot to the goal.

Since we'd gotten the point, Nate started off with the ball with Cole attempting to block him. I took it upon myself to stand near Jordan, in case Nate tried to pass, and wasn't at all surprised when the ball came flying towards us.

Jordan caught the ball easily and immediately started dribbling towards our goal, but I rushed forward and was able to snag it from him when he accidentally bumped it out of his reach.

I turned around and started towards the other end of the field. Jordan was on my heels, but as I saw both Cole and Nate running towards the goal, I saw a clear shot and took it.

I used the inside of my foot, like my father had taught me, and thankfully, the ball soared straight into the goal without any resistance.

Cole scowled at me, probably for taking away some of his glory, and Nate looked positively murderous.

"Nice shot," I heard Jordan praise me as he jogged to start with the ball. I hung back as Cole moved to guard him, but at the last minute, he glared at me and went back to guard Nate. Frowning, I stepped forward.

Jordan smirked as he bounced the ball between his feet. He passed it quickly to his teammate. There wasn't enough time for me to block it, but I did my best to keep up with him as he ran down the field.

It didn't take long for Cole to steal the ball from Nate, and as soon as he did, I was following Jordan back to the other end of the field where he was running to take up the position of goalie.

However, on the way there, something hard hit me in the back of the head and caused me to lurch forward. In a panic, I reached out to grab ahold of something, which happened to be Jordan who was only a few steps in front of me.

I only got a fistful of his sleeve as I went down, but it was enough for him to turn around in surprise to try to help me.

Cole, of course, caught his rebound cockily and easily made the point while Jordan was distracted.

I hit the ground hard and the wind was knocked out of me, which of course left me sputtering like a fish in front of the entire class.

It took a couple of seconds for my lungs to release, and once they did, I sucked in air greedily and ended up coughing a bunch.

"Hey. You're okay," Jordan tried to comfort me as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Just breathe."

"What do you think I'm doing?" I snapped in an irritated tone, though it didn't seem to have much effect on him. I ended up clutching my head and groaning as a sudden pain engulfed it. "Oh, my head."

I think I might've hit it on the way down as well.

Mr. Mason knelt in front of me and asked me a few questions. He also made me follow his finger with my eyes before frowning and telling me, "You should go to the nurse. You might have a concussion."

Wouldn't that just be the cherry on top of this amazing day?

"I'll help him there," Jordan said before I could object.

"Thank you, Jordan," Mr. Mason said before he stood and tried to settle down the class again.

"Come on," Jordan held out his hand for me.

Still holding my thundering head with one hand, I took his and slowly stood to my feet.

If nothing else, at least I scored a point.