I had ruined the project before we even started working on it. Max was trying to cheer me up, telling me we would find a way, but the barn was just too far away. Besides, the owls might’ve left already. In that case, it could take days before we could even find them again, but with my injured leg, I couldn’t do that.

“I’m so stupid...” I muttered to myself.

Choosing the owls was a stupid idea. We should’ve picked something else, like ants or something. That would’ve been easy. But no, let’s take owls, birds who slept during days and flew away during nights. Good thinking.

And now I had a sprained ankle and crutches. My ankle was still hurting, and it was so swollen my shoes didn’t fit. The doctor said it wasn’t bad, but it would take weeks, maybe even a month, before it was fully healed.

And of course, we had PE. Well, the others had. I was just sitting alone on a bench at the corner of the gym. I watched Max, who looked good in his red shorts and a loose, gray tank top. He had his long hair in a bun, and he laughed cheerily after tossing the ball through the hoop. I didn’t complain about not being able to participate in the game since they were playing basketball. I sucked at it, just like I sucked at every other game there was, but basketball was the worst. I couldn’t get the ball to go through the hoop even if I used ladders.

But Max was amazing at it. He was amazing at everything. There was a group of girls on the other side of the gym. They were peering at Max constantly. One of them got hit by a volleyball when she was focusing on drooling over Max. I sighed and turned to look at Max again. I was such a disappointment compared to everyone else. I’d finally had the chance to be alone with him, but I stupidly injured my leg just before our first camping trip.

I let out a long sigh. Maybe we should ask our biology teacher if it was all right for us to change our subject after all. Maybe we could follow the hedgehogs in my backyard. Or maybe Max should just find a new partner. I’d only drag him down with me if he continued being my partner.

When the class was dismissed, I followed others into the locker room. I grabbed my bag while Max and Troy were changing clothes and tried to sneak out before they noticed me. I didn’t have such luck though.

I turned to look at Max for a mere second and immediately walked straight into someone.

“Watch where you’re going, dimwit!” Luke, the biggest of them all, hissed at me.

I tried to mutter my apologies, but he was too pissed to listen. He grabbed me by my collar and lifted me up from the ground, pushing me hard against the lockers.

My bad luck didn’t end there. I was alone with Luke, behind the last row of lockers, and no one saw us. No one seemed to even hear us. If they did, they stayed out of it. I was scared that Luke would hit me. He had never liked me, but I couldn’t understand why.

“I’m s-sorry,” I whispered.

“Hit me with those fucking sticks one more time, and I swear, there will be nothing left of you for the coroners to identify,” Luke growled before letting go of me.

When my legs hit the floor, I lost my balance and fell. Luke marched away from me as I took a shaky breath, trying to get up.

“Sky?” I heard Max calling for me, and he stepped into the aisle just when I was back up on my feet. “Why are you hiding here?” he asked.

“Oh, I uh... There was a spider,” I said with a shrug.

“Oh Lord...” Max muttered and retreated towards the door.

I tried to smile at his reaction, but I was still shivering. My ankle was hurting more from the impact, and I was scared. I’d never been manhandled like that before.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked as he walked to me. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“No – no, I’m fine,” I said, faking a smile.

“Are you sure? You don’t seem fine,” Max spoke with a worried frown.

“Let’s just go,” I said, taking a firm grip on my crutches.

“Sky?” Max’s voice was even more worried when he continued, “You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I’m serious, nothing’s wrong,” I said, trying to move faster.

“Why would something be wrong?” I heard Troy’s voice right behind me.

“I said I’m fine!” I sighed in frustration.

I didn’t want to tell them about Luke. I was afraid he’d only get more pissed at me. Besides, he was Max’s friend. If Luke denied scaring me, Max would believe him. He’d think I was lying to him. On the other hand, if he believed me, things could get sour between them, and I didn’t want Max to be mad at any of his friends because of me. Maybe Luke didn’t even mean to do it. It might’ve been just a misunderstanding.

“Sky?”

“I am fine,” I said. “My ankle is just hurting,” I continued, hoping they’d leave me alone.

Apparently, that was not going to happen.

“You should sit down,” Max said. “Do you have any painkillers? Maybe we should take you to see the nurse?”

“Max, for crying out loud,” Troy sighed. “Would you just please take a breath and calm down?”

“But he said–”

“I heard him. Sky, do you need to sit down?” Troy asked.

“I’m fine, like I told you already,” I muttered.

“See? He’ll tell us if he needs something, right Sky?” Troy asked me.

“Yes,” I said gratefully.

“But–” Max tried one more time and earned a slap to the head from Troy.

“You are killing me...” Troy muttered in annoyance.

I let out a light chuckle. Troy was really fun to hang out with. I really liked him, and I was happy to have him as my friend. At least I hoped we were friends. He had invited me to play games, so didn’t it mean we were friends?

I looked at Max, who was rubbing the back of his head with an angry expression on his face. Troy seemed pretty pleased with himself and ignored Max completely.

“Should we stay inside or outside?” Troy asked.

“Inside,” Max said. “It looks like it’s going to rain soon.”

I looked out of the windows. Max was right. The sky looked gloomy, and the wind seemed to be getting strong again. The yard was still covered with broken pieces of fences and other trash from yesterday. The tornado had luckily avoided the city, but the storm had done pretty heavy damage to the buildings and forests.

I followed Max and Troy to our next class. The corridors were crowded and noisy, and my head started hurting too. Luke had lunged me hard against the lockers, and now I could feel it in my entire body.

When we stopped next to our class, I let out a long sigh and leaned against the wall. Max looked worried, but this time it was Troy who spoke first.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” I sighed once again. “Stop asking me that.”

I saw Luke behind Max and Troy. He glared at me for a moment before he turned to talk to his friend.

“You don’t look too good,” Troy said. “Is your leg hurting that bad?”

“I told you we should take him to see the nurse,” Max said. “Sky? Are you with us?”

“I – am – just – fine,” I articulated loud and clear. “Stop asking already.”

I saw Luke looking at me again, and there was something weird in his eyes. I turned to look away from him.

“I think you should get a new partner for the biology project,” I told Max. “Maybe you can ask if you can do it with Troy and his partner.”

“No – You’re my partner,” Max said. “I don’t want anyone else.”

I blushed at his words and looked down to hide it. I could only wonder if he knew how much those words meant to me.

“Then we need to come up with another subject,” I continued. “I can’t go looking for the owls like this.”

“We will find a way,” Max said reassuringly.

“Max – you know there’s no way I can walk to the barn, and you can’t carry me there. We need another subject,” I spoke quietly.

Max looked sad, but I guess he was too stubborn to admit I was right. He would understand it sooner or later.

The conversation ended when two of our classmates started talking to Troy. Max didn’t seem to be listening at first, but soon he forgot my presence and joined in on their conversation. I let my eyes wander in the crowded corridor, and soon I noticed Luke staring at me again.

I sighed and looked down at the ground without looking up until the bell finally rang. Our teacher came to open the door, and I waited while the rest of the students walked in first – I didn’t want to get tackled by anyone or hit people with my crutches.

Max and Troy were already inside, and walking to their desks. I had that horrible feeling of loneliness rising inside me, just like I had the day before. This time, I tried my best to ignore it, and I took the first step towards the door. I had my injured ankle as a reminder of what could happen if I ran away again.

But when I was about to step in, someone grabbed me by my shoulder and yanked me away from the door.

“You didn’t tell Max.”

I turned to look at Luke, who was holding me tightly by my hoodie.

“N-No,” I whispered.

He squinted his eyes and let go of me. I watched him walk to the classroom next to ours without saying another word to me.

“Mr. Jenkins? Are you planning on joining us anytime soon?” our teacher asked, waking me up from my shock.

“Yes...” I muttered and hurried in.

I sat in my seat at the front of the classroom and put my crutches away. I was still thinking about Luke. I wasn’t sure about it, but it was almost like Luke was surprised I hadn’t told Max about what happened after PE.

“May I have your attention please,” the teacher said, and I snapped my head in his direction.

He was looking at me, and I realized I was the only one who hadn’t been paying attention.

“Thank you,” he said and started the class.

I didn’t pay much attention to what he was saying during the whole class. My head was still aching from the hit, and it was hard for me to concentrate. The white pages of my textbook were too bright to look at, and I wondered if I should’ve visited the nurse after all. Thankfully, by the time the class was dismissed, I was feeling better. There was still dull pain around the area where my head had crashed into the locker, but the headache was gone.

When I stood up, Max hurried to pick up my crutches and bag from the floor.

“I’m starving,” I told him, before he could start asking if I was sure I was all right. “I even remembered to take my lunch today,” I continued.

“That’s good,” Max said with a smile. “Are you–”

“Do not end that sentence,” I told him sternly, and started making my way to the door.

“Is that the same shy kid who was too afraid to talk to you a week ago?” I heard Troy chuckling behind my back.

“I told you he’s a fun person to hang out with,” Max answered him.

“Yes, you did, buddy,” Troy said. “Yes, you did.”

I rolled my eyes and continued walking. Max and Troy caught up with me, and together we headed to the lunch hall.

“I need to put my books to the locker,” I said when I walked past it. “My bag is getting too heavy to carry.”

“I’ll help you,” Max offered. “Just tell me which books to put away.”

“All except geometry books,” I said and watched while Max went through my bag.

“You have our project with you,” Max said, and pulled out the thick pile of papers.

“Yeah...” I muttered. “I was thinking about going to speak with our biology teacher after school and ask him if we can change the subject.”

“I don’t want to change the subject,” Max said quietly. “I have my hiking boots and all.”

“I’m sorry you wasted your money,” I said.

“We can ask if we can have more time with the project,” Max suggested. “I’m sure he will understand.”

I gave him a smile. “Yeah, we can try that.”

Max returned my smile and put my books into the locker before we continued to the cafeteria.

“Come, I want to properly introduce you to the others,” Max said and nodded towards one of the tables.

I saw a bunch of his teammates sitting around it, including Luke.

“O-Okay,” I muttered, and followed him reluctantly, hoping I wouldn’t be getting into any more trouble with Luke.