Not Your Average High School Experience

Worth the trade.

Elizabeth was currently making her way to her final class of the day, her gym class, an unusual smile on her face as she walked outside of the main school building so that she could make her way over to the building that held the auditorium as well as the gym. Why exactly was she smiling today? Well, Allison had decided that she wasn't going to be at school and that meant that Elizabeth didn't have to endure a hellish Friday. She actually got to enjoy it.

Smiling to herself, Elizabeth soon entered the building that the gym was in, making her way to the locker rooms so that she could change and get ready for class. Taking her gym clothes out of her locker, she headed off to one of the changing stalls and started changing into the black basketball shorts and a grey tank top that had 'Demon Soccer' on the front in black letters. Elizabeth had also slipped off her Vans and replaced them with some more comfortable black and grey Nikes.

Once she was done changing, she walked back out into the locker room area pulling her hair back as she went, putting her clothes into her gym locker before locking it and then heading out to the gym. It took the rest of the class about 10 minutes to get out of the locker room once the bell rang, due to the fact that almost all of them were focused on looking attractive while they were working out so that they could impress the boys, who would soon join their class. Elizabeth didn't have to worry about this because everyone in the school pretty much hated her and would never take an interest in her.

After everyone was finally in the gym, surrounding the tall, redheaded woman that was the girls P.E. teacher, they all soon found out that today was going to be a free period and that if they wanted to take a seat on the bleachers, that would be fine as well because it was the last day of school before the Thanksgiving break. The teacher also said that it would be okay with her if the students had their phones out, which meant that most of the students would spend the whole class period on them. Elizabeth however, would be one of the few people that didn't have their noses in their phones.

This news caused Elizabeth to smile happily and she soon reached in her pocket, pulling out her phone as well as her earbuds. Putting her earbuds in her ears, she unlocked her phone and started looking for an album that she wanted to listen to, soon coming across the album 'Going to Hell' by The Pretty Reckless. Once the album was on repeat as well as shuffle she headed over to the equipment room that was in one of the far corners of the gym.

When she got there she started looking for a soccer ball, wanting to get ahold of the one that was actually pumped up. Soon, she spotted the soccer ball and quickly claimed it as hers so that no one else was able to get ahold of it and take it from her simply to piss her off.

With soccer ball in hand Elizabeth walked to the far corner diagonal of the equipment room and started to dribble the ball. She used her head, chest, knees and feet to make sure that the ball didn't hit the ground, wanting to play the game she usually did when there were free days. It would keep her from fighting with the other students and it would keep her entertained the whole class period so she was happy with it. Plus, it kept her on Coach Perry's good side, which was always a great thing.

On the occasion that Elizabeth did somehow drop the ball, she took a moment to look around the room and noticed that many of the girls were taking selfies, texting someone or flirting with the boys and chuckled slightly to herself. There were only a handful of people actually doing something, most of the little handful were in groups playing a game of catch with the football that was in the equipment room or playing a game of basketball. Neither of which Elizabeth was interested in, which is why she was playing soccer by herself.

Elizabeth soon went back to dribbling, happily listening to her music as she was content in her little corner, sometimes humming to herself the song what was playing though her earbuds before almost immediately stopping because she didn't want to be overheard by someone else. The last thing she needed was to give other students a reasons to mess with her.

Completely lost in what she was doing, half of the class passed before Elizabeth even knew it and no one had bothered her the whole time. This was a little strange, but Elizabeth assumed it was because Allison wasn't at school, so her friends didn't seem the need to mess with Elizabeth all day. Which was nice because it meant she could enjoy the time.

A few moments after Elizabeth came to the conclusion of why she wasn't being bothered all day, she lost control of the ball once again and had to chase it down. When she did so, she happened to see Ms. Watson talking to Coach Perry, which caused her to raise her eyebrow slightly, curious. What could have brought a history teacher to the gym?

After a moment Elizabeth gave up on trying to figure out the reason Ms. Watson was here, deciding that she didn't really need to know about the reason as long it wasn't about her. If the matter involved another student, there was no need to be in their business.

However, Elizabeth soon found out that the matter actually did involve her.

Lost in her dribbling once again, Elizabeth was focused on the ball that she was trying to keep off of the ground, which was most likely why she didn't notice that someone had walked up to her until they tapped on her shoulder, which caused things to go wrong in her dribbling.

Elizabeth had just bounced the ball out her knees, sending it a fair distance into the air so that she could head-butt it. Her eyes were focused on the ball as it went up in the air, positioning herself so that she could head-butt it when she felt the tap. Without thinking about it, she looked in the direction of the tap, smiling a little as she saw Ms. Watson.

Reaching up she pulled her earbuds out of her ear after pausing the song, getting ready to say something when suddenly the soccer ball hit her on the top of her head before bouncing off to the side.

Elizabeth blushed slightly in embarrassment as she heard a little giggle escape the teacher's lips. Quickly walking to get the ball before making her way to stand in front of Ms. Watson once again. The woman was smiling at Elizabeth while she was trying to push the blush off of her cheeks.

"M-Ms. Watson, I'm sorry I didn't see you there. O-or hear you, I was a little lost in my music." Elizabeth stammered while moving her left hand up to move her bangs out of her face, flashing her tattoo to the teacher. Ms. Watson's gaze moved to the tattoo on Elizabeth's inside left forearm before looking back at the girls face.

"No, no. That's alright, I understand and I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to come here and offer you a deal." Elaine said while smiling a little wider when she saw Elizabeth's eyebrows raise slightly as if she was interested in the idea.

"Oh, do you now? What exactly would this deal be?" Elizabeth asked while lightly tapping her foot on the ground, clearly wanting to know just what this deal was and what was going to be offered to her as well as the cost. Seeing this reaction, Ms. Watson cleared her throat as she got ready to speak.

"Well, I thought you might be interested in a few days off of studying with me after school. Maybe getting Friday and Monday afternoon all to yourself rather than spending it with me in my classroom?" Ms. Watson proposed, while raising an eyebrow of her own. The very idea seemed to interest the girl so she nodded her head slightly while still looking at the teacher curiously.

"Please go on. This does sound like something interesting, though I would need to know what you expect me to do in order to get these afternoons to myself." Elizabeth said, knowing very well that she had to do something in order to get a reward such as two days off to herself in the afternoons.

"You are right. You will have to do something for me but first I want to let you know that the days that you have off will last through the entire semester, meaning that you will only have to stay after to see me three of the five days that you are supposed to come and see me. That much is understood, correct?" Elaine said, wanting to make sure that her deal was catching the girls attention and so far, it was working just fine to get Elizabeth's attention.

"Understood. Three times a week for the rest of the semester rather than the first agreed five days. Now what will I have to do in order to get said days off?" Elizabeth asked once again, really wanting to know what the teacher thought she would be willing to do to get out of two days of afternoon studying.

"I'm getting there. Anyway, the theater club needs some backstage help as well as a narrator for their upcoming Christmas play and I think that you would be perfect for the part. Working backstage you can put your clear art talents to good use and I'm sure that you won't have any problems with reading a few lines during the play. Now, you don't have to do both, however, if you do decide that you do want to do both of them, I will give you some extra credit in my class. Seems fair enough, right?" Elaine explained as she looked at the girl. Elizabeth stood there for a moment, clearly thinking things over rather thoroughly. She wanted to make sure that this was actually going to work out in her favor.

All she would have to do is either read some lines in the Christmas play or draw some of the background props that would be used in the play. She would really enjoy making the props and it didn't really seem like it would be that much work to read the lines of the narrator as well. After a moment, Elizabeth nodded slightly to herself before looking back at Ms. Watson, nodding once again before realizing that the woman didn't know what a nod of the head stood for.

"Alright, I'll do them both, but you have to promise that you won't mention this to anyone other than the people of the club. The last thing that I need is for someone that picks on me daily to show up after school to make my life more miserable than it already is. Can you promise me that?" Elizabeth asked while looking at the teacher seriously, meaning every word of what she had just said. Elaine nodded and smiled softly and Elizabeth.

"Your secret is safe with me, I promise you that. I'll let the group know that you will be joining them during their next rehearsal, which I think is sometime tomorrow. Is that alright with you?" The blonde asked, getting a nod from Elizabeth before she smiled and walked back in the direction that she had come from.

As Elizabeth walked, her mind kept thinking about what she had just done, wondering if it was really going to be worth it in the long run. Weekend trips to the school so that she could read some lines for a play in order to get two days to herself and extra credit? Well, the only way she was going to find out would be to go to the rehearsal tomorrow and find out just how worth it this turned out to be.