The Life Of A Quarter

Six

"Sit down and be quiet so I can take roll!" Coach Spencer yelled across the gym. The talking simmered down to low whispers, and everyone took a seat on the gym floor. As he began to call out names, the gym doors opened. Zach came wandering in, a slip of paper in his hand. He had a bandaid across the bridge of his swollen nose. Dark bruises sat beneath his eyes. Coach Spencer stopped to look up at him. "Who are you?"

Zach held the slip of paper out to him, and replied, "I'm Zach Martin. I, umm.... just switched into this class."

"And what happened here?" Coach Spencer gestured to Zach's face. 

"You know, just a mishap with a candy bar. It's fine." He replied.

"Okay..."

 Olivia facepalmed. Hard. Why? Why did he have to switch into this class? She thought. This was the most likely class that she would break his nose again, or tackle him, or kick his shins during soccer. All of these scenarios have happened before.

See, in gym class, Olivia went all out. There is no such thing as fooling around when it came to sports. She gave 100% all the time. She even sprained her ankle diving for a frisbee when she was playing ultimate frisbee. She didn't catch it. Olivia might not be the best all-around sports star, but where she lacks in skill, she makes up with enthusiasm and competitiveness. Anyways, back to the story.

Coach Spencer took the slip of paper from Zach, and told him to sit anywhere he wanted. Zach turned around and his eyes scanned the class until his eyes landed on Olivia. He winked. She smiled uncomfortably. Should I sit next to her? He asked himself. I don't know, she looks pretty bugged. He looked across the room again, and didn't see anyone else he knew. He looked back at Olivia, and started making his way over to her.

Please no, Olivia thought. He sat down next to her, and whispered, "Hey Liv."

"Don't call me that," She teased.

"Okay, Liv," He responded. Meanwhile, Coach Spencer kept taking roll, ending with Olivia.

"Olivia Wallace?" He called out.

"Here." She rose her hand, and coach marked her name off on his clipboard. 

"Alright, today we're going outside to play flag football." He announced. Immediately the students began to murmur. This would have been a perfectly fine sport to play in gym class if it weren't for the fact that it was December. "Oh I know, it's the middle of winter. I also know there is a foot of snow on the ground outside. You haven't lived until you've played football in the snow." He looked at his clipboard for a second, then looked back at Zach. "Zach Martin, come here. The rest of you assemble into your teams."

Zach stood up, and gave Olivia a cheesy smile. She headed over to where team 4 was standing. "Yeah, team 4." She gave everyone a high five. "We're gonna kill it today." She looked over to Coach, and saw that he was pointing at her team. Zach nodded, and joined the team. 

"Hey guys. Hey Liv. I guess I'm your new teammate."