It was a little awkward walking back to the field. Axel and Vincent decided to stay two meters away from me as we did, though. Most of the students were gone, but Kaylie was there. There were around a dozen other kids that were probably there just to see drama happen. I noticed Erich sitting on one of the benches. He grinned when I glanced at him.

Jake, the brunet next to Kaylie, was looking sheepish. I assumed that he was the one that threw the disc. 

“Kaylie and Jake here are going to apologize to you, Madeleine,” Coach Meridith told me. 

Aaron, Jake’s buddy, snickered from his bench. It was hard to tell what he found funny. It was probably the fact that Jake was trying to disassociate with Kaylie as much as possible. It also could’ve been the two-millisecond glare he gave me.

It was obvious that Kaylie didn’t expect to get blamed along with Jake. I assumed that she tried to pin it all on him. Her excuse was probably, ‘I was running, Coach Meridith! When would I have ever gotten the opportunity to harm Madeleine?’. It was about time that she realized that Meridith can see through her like glass.

“Sorry, Madeleine,” Jake apologized after some awkward silence. However, he was muttering, so it sounded more like “sermedline”.

“Say it like you mean it,” Meridith demanded, and I internally winced. ‘We’re going to be here for hours if you want sincerity from this guy.’

 “Coach, it’s fine. It’s okay,’ I assure her, and Meiridith, thankfully, listens to me.

“What about your apology, Kaylie?” Meridith turned to look at the redhead. Her face might have been the same colour as her hair. She glared at me as subtly as she could—meaning, not subtle at all—and she huffed before speaking. 

“Madeleine, I really didn’t do anything. Can’t you believe me? You can tell that Jake and I don’t even know each other.” She gestured to Jake, who was looking anywhere but at Kaylie and was as far as Meridith would let him be from her.

“What?” he blurted. “I, what? I don’t know Kaylie, but I didn’t…” he struggled to find a good excuse. Aaron snicked again.

“Kaylie, it’s fine if you were involved,” Axel sighed. He had apparently come up to the four of us without me noticing. It was a relief, since it didn’t seem like Meridith was going to let anyone go. Not until Kaylie apologized, at least. “If you apologize now, we can end this conflict quickly.

Kaylie’s eyes widened. Her originally pale cheeks had now turned a pretty pink shade. She looked up at Axel, her mouth open with no sound coming out. Erich raised his eyebrow, still paying attention to the conversation.

Wait… I fought the urge to smile. It was unfair that Erich got to do it without any risk of consequence.

“S..sorry. Madeleine. I won’t do it again,” Kaylie sputtered. She looked up at Axel for what I thought could only be approval. Axel didn’t smile, but he looked at her, and she blushed even more. Oh my goodness. I couldn’t hold in a giggle, and some of the other kids followed my example. Meredith quickly shut our laughter down with a glare, and everyone went silent.

I quickly replied, “Okay,” after calming myself down. 

“We’ll have to go soon,” Axel said. “We have class in a few minutes.”

“Oh! You have class?” Meredith asked. “Sorry for holding you two here for so long.”

“We don’t-” Vincent called, but was interrupted by Axel.

“It’s alright, Coach Meridith,” he smiled lightly. “But we’d also like to take Maddie home, since she has an injury.”

“Alright,” she agreed. “Make sure she gets that properly treated later.”

Axel nodded and motioned for me to follow him to the gate.

“May your evening be pleasant,” I told Meridith, but then I remembered it wasn’t the end of the school day. “Afternoon. May it be eventful.”

“Wait,” Erich stood up. “Can I come with you?”