Third Wheel

And After That Everything Was Ruined

In that instant, energy and wakefulness returned to my body. I immediately stood up, grabbed my bag and made a run for the car. Screw Jason, he knew where to find me. I didn't have to wait around for him in the gym like some groupie.

Groupie.

"Hey!"

I looked over my shoulder again. Big mistake. Jaime had finished mopping off the sweat from his body with one of the towels he had fished out of his sports bag, and now he had noticed me trying to make a dash for it. I yelped and started running faster. Even bigger mistake.

With a grin from ear to ear, Jaime tossed aside the towel and started making his way towards me. And quickly.

At this point I had gone from running to full on sprinting. And with every step that I took, he took about two or three. I began to curse my short body and lack of athletic ability.

"Hey," I heard his voice from right next to my ear, "Where are ya going?"

I yelped and tripped. Immediately, Jaime caught me around the waist and prevented me from falling flat on my face like a clumsy dumbass. Instead, I made an ungraceful flailing motion with my arms and continued to make embarrassing sounds like "Gah!"

"Easy there," He laughed.

I soon found my balance and detached his arms from around my waist, then glared at him from a distance. "What the heck was that for?" I demanded.

"What?"

"The – the chasing thing! The hell?" I growled, then gaped and covered my mouth. Jaime raised an eyebrow.

"Well, why were you running away?" He asked, crossing his arms. I tried not to stare at the way his biceps rippled slightly. Think of Cara, I thought desperately. He's not worth the hassle of getting involved with.

"No reason," I huffed, also crossing my arms and trying to look tough but failing. Jaime just stared down at me, the clumsy shorty he'd just caught up to, and smirked. "Wh-what was that?" I demanded. He just shook his head and smiled.

This can't be happening. Get out of here. Don't you dare spend another second with him, a voice warned.

"Hey, I'm ready, Snow." I nearly jumped, but it was just Jason. He looked out of breath, but happy. "Can we go now?"

I almost forgot to respond. "Yes! Yes, let's go," I exclaimed, immediately grabbing his hand and rushing him towards the exit.

"Whoa!" Jason panted. "Slow down, I just ran around like crazy for two hours!"

"You're a grown boy, you're fine," I grumbled. I didn't expect to hear a small chuckle in response from behind me. I could feel my face growing hot, but I continued to push on towards the car, forcing myself not to look back.

"Hey, Snow Girl!" My heart nearly stopped. "If you ever want to learn how to run properly, maybe join the track team!"

I gritted my teeth.

Just ignore him, the same voice in the back of my head pleaded.

But at this point, I dropped all pretenses of being interested in listening to it.

I did turn around. And I did walk over to that sweaty, stupid Latino jock, and I did look at him dead in the eye. He was sporting the same, stupid smirk.

And some part of me that refused to listen to that voice of common sense felt a strong urge to do something.

In my case, I decided to kick him in the shins.

He yelped loudly and grabbed his ankle, exclaiming in pain. Jason's jaw dropped and he stared at me like I just shot Martin Luther King Jr. in the face. I ignored him and walked past both of them.

"Jason, are you coming or not?" I asked in my best Goody Goody Little Sister Voice (also known as the GGLSV).

Jason was still in shock. He looked back at the suffering Jaime, and he looked back at me. Then finally, slowly, he made his way over to me.

"This way," I said briskly, making sure to whip my ponytail as I turned and walked out the door after him. I sneaked a brief glance at Jaime without turning around, through the reflection in the door's glass. He was still holding his ankle and rubbing it, but he had stopped hopping around. Now, he stood completely still and was looking straight ahead. At me.

I took a deep breath and shut the door after myself.