Arctic Meadows

Six

Mia was sitting in the cafeteria with Sophie - Liselle, William, Seth, Bradley and Anna had decided to join them. William felt his mouth drop as he saw the size comparison in their food, Mia only had an apple, a fruit cup and banana while Sophie had a sandwich, a chocolate bar, a muffin, a fruit box and a few grapes and sultanas. William wanted to growl out but kept himself contained.

"How are you feeling Mia?" William asked.

Mia looked up from her food, "Sore still. I have another headache but I'm sure it'll go away" she smiled.

Sophie chuckled, "Isn't Mia a klutz falling down the stairs" she spoke.

William frowned, those wounds on her face and what Liselle had described to him weren't from the stairs, they were from fists, from someone beating her up. William shook his head.

"Why are you laughing Sophie? Falling down the stairs isn't something to laugh at. She could have died" he growled feeling Axel begin to expose them.

William jumped up from his seat making everyone look at him but he didn't say anything before heading out of the lunchroom, Mia gasped and slowly stood up wincing slightly but ignored the pain.

"William!" she called out.

She chased after him as fast as she could shouting his name, she noticed he was halted in the school hallway. He turned around to face Mia only for her to see tears forming in his eyes.

"Who is doing this to you?" He asked as he walked over towards Mia. "Who is making your body so bruised? And why are you so afraid of telling Sophie or anyone. These bruises aren't from falling down the stairs."

Mia gulped, what can she say. She hated this, she knew she had to tell someone and that someone couldn't be Sophie, Mia had to protect Sophie at all times, she can't have Sophie feel the same pain she does.

"Promise not to tell Sophie?" Mia asked William hoping he would keep his word.

William nodded not saying anything.

"Our father Michael does this to me. I don't know why he attacks me and not her. He always says that I'm not good enough to be a Smith and that he wished he never had me."

Mia was about to wipe her tear away when William did it himself, inside William was buzzing with anger.

'How the hell? Does this go on? With Sophie in the house?' William thought.

William pulled Mia gently in towards his body and hugged her closely but not too tightly so he wouldn't hurt her. William wanted to cry as well knowing that his soon to be mate is being abused at home.

"I won't tell anyone, not until you are ready for them to know. You have my word" he whispered.

"Thank you" Mia spoke feeling the both of them pull away. "Sophie looks up to Michael and I couldn't take that away from her."

William nodded before the two of them headed back into the cafeteria - heading towards their table and sat down once again to finish their food.

"So Physical Education next, who's excited?" Sophie asked.

"We are, we love Physical Education" Seth replied. "I bet you Mr Prince will make us run laps again to get us ready for our athletics day."

Sophie perked up hearing that. "You have an athletics day?" She asked. "When is it?"

"It's in a few weeks, he normally asks us a week before what we want to do. He mostly knows what we like but with new students and when a few change their minds, he asks" Seth replied, liking that feeling of Sophie wanting to be apart of it.

Mia didn't mind athletics day but she wasn't good at things, especially if Michael beats her the night before she'll be in no shape to do anything. The bell rung making every student in the cafeteria stand up and head towards there class. William walked with Mia as everyone had gone ahead.

"Mr Prince is really nice and he won't mind if you sat out from doing sport" William explained to Mia.

"Oh, good" Mia sighed in relief. "So what do I say to him?"

"Anything you want" William explained. "Or I can for you. Don't worry I won't tell him what happened."

Mia bit her lip, "No, no I can try but will you be there in the room when I ask?" She asked. William smiled and nodded before directing Mia to Mr Prince's office once they arrived in the gymnasium.

William knocked on the office door seeing Mr Prince walk out with red sport shorts, a white t-shirt, a whistle tied around his neck and white sneakers. Me Prince looked to be in his mid-30s with black short hair.

"William what can I do for you?" He asked.

William didn't reply but pointed towards Mia which made him nod.

"Mr Prince, I'm afraid I won't be able to do any sport today. You see I tripped down the stairs and fell this morning and I've bruised myself. Nurse Lovegood gave me a form" Mia explained as she placed her backpack on the ground and unzipped the first pocket handing Mr Prince the note.

Mr Prince smiled warmly at Mia and placed the note on his desk, "Oh that's fine Mia, you can help me set up if you'd like."

Mia beamed with excitement and nodded her head a little before she followed William towards everyone else, William rubbed Mia's back smoothly as most of the students in the class were staring at her again. Most of them were the girls as they were jealous that Mia had gotten William's attention when they've tried too many times.

"Alright class, today we will be doing basketball" Mr Prince spoke as he walked towards the class. "Also here is the sheet for athletics day that is happening in a few weeks. Mark what you want to do."

The class nodded and Mia stood to the side when Mr Prince asked her too making the girls gape again. Envy filled their bodies, they so wanted to be Mia right now.

"Alright split up into two teams," Mr Prince said as he tapped his chin to decide the captains. "William and Sophie you will both be the team captains. Pick who you want and please mix it up."

William nodded and called over Seth, Liselle, Bethany, Bianca, Thomas, Jason, Toby, Sandra, Lilly, Samantha, George, Peter and Zackary. While Sophie had Bradley, Henry, Zoe, Sasha, Yasmin, Riley, Quran, Sebastian, Dale, Dylan, Whitney, Katherine and Violet.

"Alright now that the teams are sorted, William here are the team colours you are blues and Sophie your team colours are purple. It's a friendly competition so please don't make such a fuss about it. I'm talking to you Seth" Mr Prince made it very clear to whom he was talking about, Mr Prince let them get settled before blowing the whistle and letting them know to begin.

William had gotten the ball first and bounced it onto the ground dodging a few of Sophie's team making Mia's mouth drop as he moved so effortlessly. He moved it around his body before throwing it landing in the hoop. Holy cow. Mia set the scoreboard 3-0. The match seemed to be neck and neck as Sophie was the one doing the work but whenever she got close to her hoop, Seth or William would get the ball because her team were slacking.

Sophie groaned and stomped her foot as William through the ball towards his hoop landing them another three points the scores were now 16-13 only a three-point difference and there were only 3 minutes left on the scoreboard.

Mia couldn't take her eyes off the match well William to be exact. Mr Prince was smiling as he seemed to be writing on his clipboard, he was writing down everyone on each team seeing what they needed to work on. Sophie lacked communication while William made sure to keep using his fingers to communicate to his team while Sophie didn't which was why they weren't winning.

Seth tripped over losing the basketball only for Liselle to grab it and bounce it before seeing herself get surrounded Zoe, Sasha, Dylan and Bradley. Liselle kept bouncing the ball before seeing an opened. She went one way tricking them before spinning around and getting out of the circle and threw the ball.

It flew into the air, Sophie jumped up but only skimmed the ball with her fingernail not hard enough to stop it. Just as the buzzer rang the ball well into the hoop. Mia put another 3 scores up 19-13.

Sophie groaned and kicked the ground while William smiled, Mr Prince walked towards them.

"That was one impression game. I can't believe you kept up with them Sophie. I have a few things I want to discuss with you all. Even if it wasn't a match or not a competition but I was seeing what you were good at and weren't good at" Mr Prince explained.

Mia walked up and joined the conversation, she still couldn't believe some of the shots that were made.

"Sophie you have really good core strength and physical strength but you lack communication. Not once did you talk to your team, you jumped right into it without even thinking of your team" Mr Prince explained.

Sophie's mouth dropped, she didn't like this. She didn't like being second best to anyone. "What about William? I didn't see him communicate." Sophie fought back.

Mia felt her eyes widen at what she had just done not to mention the feeling she was getting from her. Sophie was angry and Mia could feel the heat radiating off her body.

"Well, Sophie you see William was communicating with his hands. He signalled each player on where to be, where to stand and when to move. He knew each of his teammate's strengths and their weaknesses as he watched them. But like I said before, I am pleased you kept up with them. You scored almost every shot into your hoop which was good but you've got to learn to communicate with your team" Mr Prince spoke.

Mr Prince wasn't one to get angry at a remark especially since they were new plus most of his students had a short fuse. The lesson contuined with a few more rounds of basketball before the bell rung signalling school was finished for the day.