Not Your Typical Running Back || nh au

Thirty-four: "We need to talk to you."

I feel my heart sink to my pants, as I see who's standing outside of my house. Missy stands behind me, holding on to my back, helping me stand straight. It's almost 7pm. Missy's staying the night, even though we have school tomorrow.

"Empire Lucas?", I ask pretty surprised.

His nickname is Empire Lucas because he's tall as fuck and I came up with it, as we did a trip to New York. My nickname is Patrick from Spongebob because sometimes I'm just as stupid as him.

"Yeah, it's me, Patrick. Your mom called me and told me what happened, so I decided to come here and help you a little. You look like you need a little love from your best friend", he smiles with the huge brown teddy bear in his hands.

The bear is almost as big as him and Luke's tall as fuck compared to me. He also has a black balloon tied to the bears paw with the words Get well soon on it. Luke also carries a huge arrangement of flowers in his hand. I smile widely, as he steps up the stairs.

"So, could you help me?", Luke smiles at Missy.

She just laughs slightly, taking the bear from him. Luke hugs me really carefully but still with all the love he has.

"Thanks for coming from tour. Aren't you guys still performing?", I ask, kissing his cheek.

"Yeah, we are but I told the boys that I won't be performing for one week, so I could visit you here. Michael was really mad. We still don't know what's wrong with him about you. It's weird", he explains.

We walk up to my room and they both help me sit down on my bed, also helping me slide up to the headboard.

"Luke? Do you already know Missy?", I ask him pretty curious because he's been staring at her ever since she opened the door.

"No but it's nice to meet you, Missy. I'm Luke", he tells her, taking her into a hug.

Luke's always been quite a hugger. Him and Missy soon sit down in front of me, staring at me like two cars.

"What?", I ask.

"Why were you crying? You're just sitting here with us", Luke laughs.

"I don't think my mom told you this because it just happened today but... I caught my boyfriend cheating on me. He was face-fucking some ugly slut against his locker. When he saw me, he didn't even care. His face said more than words ever could", I tell him.

Missy's eyes land on her lap where she plays with the material of her shirt. I also play with the material of my grey sweats. I'm wearing these everywhere because of the cast I can't wear other pants. Tears stream down my face again.

Call me, when you want to hear my version of the story.

Yeah right, I will listen to you.

"And what are you two now? Did you break up?", he asks.

I see sadness fill his eyes. Luke was so happy to see me recover from Michael's break up. Michax, was our ship name when I was with Michael.

"We broke up", I whisper, feeling the knot built up in my throat again for the millionth time again.

Luke lays his hand on my right leg, which is still okay. He soothingly rubs it carefully.

*****

Missy walks behind me, as we enter school. I have a confident smile on my face. Since Luke's here since yesterday, I feel way much better. We watched movies together yesterday with Missy. Sometime we all fell asleep, missing the end of Deadpool, so we were quite pissy when we woke up this morning. Luke's staying at my house. He's going to tell my mom everything today since she and Harold will be home this morning. Suddenly I feel someone bump their shoulder into mine, so my crutch falls down, almost making me fall over but Missy holds me tightly. The stupid girl who ruined everything just ran into me. She's such a bitch. Missy picks up my crutch, so we can continue walking to my Maths class which I have with Niall and of course I sit next to him. Sadly only Niall and I are in this class from the people I know very good.

"See you after class. I'll pick you up", Missy smiles, helping me sit down in my chair.

Why didn't they just give me a wheelchair, like seriously? I thank Missy. She leaves my class room, speed-walking to her class because she already knows that she'll be late. I try to find a comfortable position in my chair but don't find it, so I give up and wait for this lesson to start. Even our teacher is here before the bell.

"Maxine, the principal and Coach Patrick want to have a talk with you outside", she tells me.

"Oh, okay, thanks."

I push myself up from the chair with pain in my ribbs. As soon as I'm out of the door, the bell rings. Coach Patrick and Principal Oakley stare at me. Coach Patrick actually visited me in the hospital.

"Hello, Max", our principal speaks up.

"Hello."

"We need to talk to you. I'm very sorry what happened at the game and that's what we need to talk to you about", he speaks.

I nod, trying not to cry because I already know what their about to say.

"Since you won't be able to play football for two months, we are forced to tell you that your football carreer at this school is done. We really hope you can find a college with a good football team."

Coach Patrick sighs. He lays a hand on my shoulder.

"Of course when you can play football, we'll let you but don't be too sure about that. Your doctor could tell you that you won't be playing for six months but he could also say that you can't play for three weeks after the actual time of your break ends", Coach Patrick tells me.

"Okay but thank you. I just really hope the team does well without me", I speak.

"We hope so, too."

Niall silently passes us but Mr Oakley sees him.

"Niall, why are you late?", he asks pretty mad.

"I uhm... Just didn't feel that well, so I was thinking about staying home but I then decided I'll go anyway", Niall explains.

His eyes meet mine. The blue bags under his eyes show me how much sleep he got and that couldn't have been a lot. My eyes fill with tears again. Niall's mouth stands open a little, as he looks back to my eyes.

"Okay but please help Max back into class", Coach Patrick speaks.

"Sure", Niall fakes a smile.

I stumble towards Niall, who already holds the door open. Our principal tells our teacher that it's okay that Niall's too late. Niall holds my hand while I sit down.

"Thank you", I mumble.

Niall nods, sitting down next to me. I don't know how long I can be without him and football. It's killing me and I think not even my best friends can help me with this pain.