In My Shoes | The Music Freaks AU | A Jailey Fanfiction

Chapter 8 - Bruises and Sudden Friendships

In front of me, is my brother, and two people I've never seen before.

The first one is a guy with jet black hair, and a pair of headphones wrapped around his neck. He's wearing a hoodie and a pair of navy sweatpants. He seems quite tall. He looks worried and gives me a sympathetic look.

The second is a girl with fiery pink hair that falls just above her shoulders. She's wearing a cap and a pair of fingerless gloves, and she looks tiny completely to the guy next to her. She seems a bit upset. She's chewing on her bottom lip, and she looks like she's sorry for something.

"I'm so sorry!" The girl says quickly, holding the ball in her hands tighter against her chest. "I wasn't looking where I was kicking it! I didn't mean to hit you!"

Everything is a bit blurry, and my vision is hazy. 

"What? Who are you, what's going on?"

The guy and girl steal a look at eachother. 

"I'm Sean, and this is my best friend Milly. She was practicing kicking earlier. She accidentally hit you." 

This girl not only hit me with a soccer ball, but also knocked me out? Damn. She has to be the P.E. teacher's favorite. 

I sit up straighter, and bring me knees to my chest. I'm pressed against the wall, and feel a wave of embarrassment wash over me. I know I didn't do anything to deserve this reaction, but I can't help it. Getting hurt publicly makes me feel so stupid and awkward.

"You people really need to be more aware of your situation. It's not like there's nine hundred other people in the courtyard right now." Zander says as he crosses his arms across his chest.

I turn to Zander and give him a glare. These people were trying to be good by apologizing. Now he's just making them feel bad.

"Zander please, try to be understanding. It was an accident." Again, he's so freaking overprotective. It's driving me insane.

"Fine." Zander rolls his eyes for a seventeen-millionth time today. "Are you going to go to the nurse?"

My head is throbbing, and I'm pretty sure on I'm going to have a bruise on my cheek. However, I really don't want to go to the nurses office on my first day. I can walk it off.

"Nah, I'm good. It doesn't really hurt." I plaster a fake smile on my face, and begin rubbing my cheek. It hurts like hell, but I don't want to make this girl feel any worse than she already does. Besides, she seems nice.

"I'd say you should take the offer. Especially if you have Mr. Holter next period. He likes to force the new students to make a slide presentation about themselves, and then present it. He even grades you on it." Sean says as he plays with the drawstrings on his hoodie. "You can usually avoid it if you aren't noticeable."

I flash him a genuine smile. "Thanks for the advice."

"Yeah of course. I hope you and your brother adjust well. High school kinda sucks, especially here."

I think back to Rosemedow High. "Oh trust me, I know. It's not just here, it's every single one."

Sean chuckles and Milly's face lights up into a smile. Even Zander is grinning. This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

However, our happy moment is interrupted when we hear the bell ring, and Milly stands up, offering me her hand. I take it, and she pulls me up and off the floor. 

"I think I'll take your advice Sean." I say happily as I grasp my backpack, and throw it over my shoulder.

Sean chuckles and Zander's face shifts to one of dissatisfaction.

"You're leaving me alone again Hailey." He says dramatically, as he grips his books even tighter under his arm.

I can see that he's joking. I don't get to see this side of my brother often, so when I do, it fills me with euphoria.

"Well one things for sure. I'm walking Hailey to the office because I need to skip the first ten minutes of chemistry. Mr Mcdane always makes the worst jokes near the beginning of the class period." Milly adds as she brushes a strand of hair from her bright eyes.

Sean laughs, and agrees saying Mr Mcdane has the ultimate collection of cringy dad jokes. After a few more minutes of fooling around, Zander and Sean head off to class together, and Milly walks with me to the office. We both make sure to take slowest and smallest steps possible.

"Is Zander really your brother?" Milly interupts the silence. "No offense, but you two look nothing alike."

"No, he's my stepbrother, but our parents got married when we were both five. We've always just considered eachother siblings, because it's weird to think back to a time where we weren't in eachothers lives."

"Woah, that's deep." Milly jokes, pretending to clap. "Do you write books or something?"

I swallow hard. Do I write books? Kind of, but that's not where my heart lies. I write songs, and I get my inspiration from nature or pinterest. Two of the most beautiful things out there. 

Point is, I love writing songs. Scratch that, did love writing songs. Of course he ruined that for me. Will I be telling Milly any of this? No. Absolutely not. 

"Oh um well, a few short stories."

Milly's eyes light up, and she grins. "Could I read one?"

I think for a moment. When was the last time I wrote a story? Well yesterday, but I never finish the majority of my stories. I don't even start writing a lot of my stories. I have ideas in my head, but they're all song lyrics, not really story book material.

"Well, I haven't finished most of them-"

"That's okay! I just wanna see! If you're writing is half as good as your speech, then you could be a #1 author!" Milly interrupts. 

I smile, and I feel my cheeks heat up. I'm not used to compliments.

"Thank you. Umm, I'll try to find something. We can meet tomorrow in the same place we sat today."

"That's perfect!" Milly exclaims. 

Unfortunately, our walk to the nurse's office has just about ended by that point.

Milly turns to me and I give her a smile.

"I'll bring something tomorrow, we can work on it together." I tell her as I grip the strap of my backpack tighter.

"That's sounds awesome. Please wish me luck. Chemistry sucks."

I giggle. "Of course. I wish you all the best."

Milly throws me a dramatic look. "Bye, see you tomorrow."

"Bye"

Milly sighs and turns around, trudging away to what I'm assuming is the chemistry classroom. However, it wouldn't surprise me if she decided to ditch class.

I stand there for a few seconds, glued to my spot, and I think back to what Shannon said.

"You'll make friends"

I smile to myself. Moms really are always right.