My childhood best friend is a bad boy

Chapter twenty-four - I don't have a choice

Ellie's POV:

It's officially three months since I came here. Nothing has changed. I am still the same old me, which I always was. The only new thing is that I found and reunite with my best friend. I have never imagined that this will happen. It was hard for us at the beginning, but now we are good or to say excellent. We are together almost every day, except in school. There are still some girls who don't like the idea of me being around Scott. I don't want to imagine what will happen with me if they understand we hang out every day and even sometimes make slumber parties. Which means that I sleep in his house and he, in mine. 

Soon is the winter vacation and I'm looking forward to it. I need some rest from everything. Now I have to think about my next class, which is PE. Usually, I like it, but since I know that Melinda and her friends are there, I am a little bit scared. 

- Ok, now we'll play dodgeball. - the coach said

Oh, no. Not that. God, please save me. Our teacher is the coach of the cheerleaders. I guess they didn't have more teachers and I have to say that in this class they are like golden girls. Basically, they can do what they want and no one can say anything. 

- There will be two teams as usual. Melinda and Jessie are the captains. Ladies choose your teammates. 

Melinda never chooses me on her team. Guess why? So she can hit me with the ball. I have to admit that she throws really well. I see practice here. 

All the boys and girls were picked and of course, I wasn't on Melinda's team. Should I be scared?

- Ok, so I'll use a coin to decide which team will have the ball. So heads are for Jessie and tails for Melinda. 

The couch flip the coin and it landed. Damn it! It was tails. Now I am dead. Wish me luck. 

The game started. Melinda looked at me with a smirk. She throw the ball against me, but luckily, I moved. I don't know what's wrong with her, but she doesn't look happy. Her team eliminated most of the players from ours. Now we were ten to five. There is no chance for us to win. Or if there is, it's very small. Every time when Melinda was taking the ball, she was throwing it at me. 

Now left me and one boy against Melinda and her girls. I think that she is trying to kill me. When one of her friends get rid of the boy, all of her attention got on me. Every twenty seconds she was throwing the ball at me. 

- Stop escaping, you little b***h. 

- No! What is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me? 

- You deserve to be dead and I'll make sure of that. 

Melinda threw the ball right in my face. That hurts. A lot. She get the ball and hit me again. This time in my stomach. The coach was just staying there. Why she is even here? Melinda continued hitting me until I fall down on the ground. No one helped me. Everyone was staying on the benches. What kind of people are they? Lucky the bell started ringing and all of them left. Well almost. I slowly get up.

- Did you get the message? I hope that you did. - Melinda said

- What was all of this about? I don't understand. 

- I see that you're not very smart. I'll say it again. Stay away from Scott or this will happen every time when we have PE. Understood?

- But I don't even talk with him.

Did she see us somewhere? Well, we hide only in school. It is very possible that she has seen us outside. I don't want to stay away from my best friend, but at the same time, I don't want this twice a week. 

- Just forget that he exists, ok? He is not for you. Oh and don't tell him. If he understands, I'll do what I said. It's up to you. Mel is bye, bye. - she hit me one more time with the ball and left

I fall down again. I felt tears in the corners of my eyes. I won't take this. Maybe it'll be better if I stay away from Scott, but if I do it, he'll ask why and I have no idea what to tell him. 

Soon I heard voices in the room. 

- OMG, Ellie, are you ok? What happened? Why your whole face is red? - Scott asked

- Did you have a fight? It doesn't look like you won it. - Noah chuckled

- It's no time for jokes, man. Ellie, who did this? I am sure that you didn't do it by yourself. 

I didn't say anything. If he understands who did this, bad things are coming for me. I get up and take my stuff. I walked out of the gym, without saying anything. My stomach is still hurting me a little. Scott grabbed my hand and I winced in pain. 

- Ellie, will you tell me what happened?

- Nothing. I am fine. I have to go now. We can't talk here. 

With that, I left for my next class. I feel bad for not telling him, but I can't do anything. I don't want this to happen again. I get my things and walked to the classroom. Luckily, Melinda wasn't here. Only two of her girls. I passed by them and one of them gave me a note. I opened it and read what it was saying. 

Meet me at the gym after your last class. You better come alone if you don't want to suffer. 

I think I know from who is this note. There is only one person who will send me this. I get a little bit scared. What if she does the same thing? I won't think about this now. 

My last class finished and I went to the gym. There she is. The main cheerleader and my enemy number one. Actually, I am her enemy. I don't hate her. Well at least at the beginning. Now I am not sure. She was holding a ball in her hands. 

- I see that you have read my message. Good girl. 

- What do you want from me? Didn't you get enough?

- I just want to make things clear once forever. I can't let this happen again.

- I agree here. You can't hit people like that.

- I was talking about you and Scott. 

- There is nothing between us. I don't even like him. 

I won't lie that this hurts a little. I love him, he is my best friend, but she doesn't need to know this. 

- You don't have to lie. I saw you two yesterday on the lunch break. 

- We were at different tables. I don't understand. For what are you talking about?

- All the time he was looking at you instead of paying attention to me. Do you think that I didn't notice it? Well, think twice. 

Thank you. I thought that she saw us somewhere together. So she still doesn't know everything. Things are getting way too complicated. 

- And what do I have to do about that? It's not my fault that he was looking at me. 

- Well if you were uglier, but I don't think that this is possible. - she laughed

- Can I go now? I don't want to be here, neither you. 

- You can. I hope that this will be our last meeting. I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't want to be a good girl, I have to do it. 

Melinda hit me with the ball and left. I guess my stomach is her favorite place. I sit on the ground and covered my face with my hands. Why? Why this is happening to me? I did nothing to no one. Soon I felt hands wrapped around me. I turned around to see that it was Scott. I glare at him. All of this is his fault. I know that he didn't do anything, but Melinda clearly said why she is doing it. 

- Ellie, are you ok? What is going on with you? What's wrong?

- What is going on with me? You! That is what's wrong. 

- But what did I do? Will you tell me? C'mon Ellie, I am your best friend. 

- I... never mind. It's not important. Now if you excuse me, I have to go home. 

- But Ellie...

I was about to leave when he grabbed my hand and pulled me close for a hug. I almost broke down. I want to tell him so bad, but I can't. I don't want her to hurt me every time. In this moment, I realize that I have to choose who is more important. He or me. Damn it! I hope that she won't understand about this. 

- Look. I have to go now, but can you come after an hour, at home? Don't tell anyone. 

- Ok, but why? Did something happen? 

- Just keep your mouth shut. I know that you love to talk but please this time don't do it. 

He just nodded. I walked away, straight home. When I walked in, I saw my mom. Soon my dad appeared. Both of them looked at me. Do I have something on me or...? I get it. My face. Sh*t! How could I forget about that? 

- Honey, are you ok? What happened? Why does your face look like that? - mom asked

- Oh, I just trip while I was walking and fall down. 

- You can lie to whoever you want, but not us. Now tell us the real reason. - dad said

- Ok, I will, but you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone and that you won't do anything.

- But why? Is it that bad? - mom asked worriedly

- Just do it. Please. For me. 

- Ok, we promise you. Now tell us what happened. - dad said

- So there is one girl in school called Melinda. She is... how to say it... little bit obsessed with Scott. Let's say that she likes him, but he doesn't like her. That is the reason why we don't talk in school at all, but sometimes he comes way too close and she is seeing this. I had PE today and as usual, we played dodgeball. This girl never picks me to be in her team so she can hit me. She was very angry today and all the time she was hitting me. I look like that because of her. Or technically it's Scott's fault. No matter that he doesn't know about this. 

- But Ellie that's horrible. Isn't there a teacher? - dad asked

- There is. Who is also the coach of the cheerleaders, so they are like golden girls and they can do whatever they want. 

- Honey, you have to do something. You can't let her do these things to you. - mom said

- Don't you think that I'm not trying? The only thing, which I can do, is to stay away from Scott. This is what she wants, but if I start avoiding him, he'll ask why and I don't know what to tell him. 

- Ellie, you have to tell Scott. He is involved in it. 

- Didn't you listen when I said that I won't tell him. He can't understand about this or she'll do it every time when we have PE. I don't have a choice. I can't get through this again. 

- But you can't let her treat you like that.

I was going to answer, but the doorbell rang. Probably it's Scott. I forgot that I told him to come here. 

- It's probably Scott. I invited him. I hope that you don't mind. 

- You know that he is always welcome here, but Ellie... - dad said

- Yes. Do you want to say something? 

- You need to talk with him. Both of you will find a solution. 

I didn't say anything and just opened the door. He got inside and gave me a hug. I felt a tear falling down. He lifted my chin and carefully wiped it. I return a simple smile. 

- Ellie what is going on with you? I see that there is a problem. Your face says it all. - he chuckled

- It's nothing important. You don't have to worry about it. Can we watch a movie?

- Yeah, sure. Whatever you want, but I suggest you put some ice on your face. It's still red. 

- I will do it later. 

I sit on the couch and he went into the kitchen. After a minute, he came back with a bag of ice. He sat down, pulled for some cuddles, and put the bag on my face. Sometimes I can't believe that he is a bad boy. Scott acts so nice when he is with me. It's breaking my heart that I have to hide and lie to him, but I don't have another choice. If Melinda stops doing this, I don't have a reason to tell him. I hope that she'll keep her promise.