INVISIBLE STRING - Duan Jia Xu

EIGHT

Duan Xu let go of the girl, laughing at how his best friend was acting. "Are you jealous? Will you miss me that much?" He asked, laughing loudly.

But not the kind of loud that made people stop and judge what was going on.

"shut up." Sang Yan spoke, shoving his friend in the shoulders.

"Grade 11," A speaker roared around on the field. "The women's high jump will begin soon. Please find your marks." The person spoke in the speaker.

Hui Ying nodded her head, knowing that now was the time to shine. She knew she could do it, but she had to admit that her nervousness had been hiding in the shadows like a ghost. It was now crashing down on her what they were doing.

If she wasn't nervous before, she definitely was now.

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HUI YING CLAPPED IN HER HANDS FOR THE COMPETITOR FOR LANDING THE JUMP, she had admit that she was happy they were making it. It was only at 105cm which wasn't really that hard to jump so she wasn't too nervous.

The only reason she was nervous was for the worst, she was afraid people were going to find out that it wasn't Sang Zhi who was jumping, but her. Switching places with her friend was one thing she would easily do, though she didn't want the teachers to know that the real Sang Zhi was hiding behind her brothers.

She did somehow realise that her side profile looks a little bit like Sang Zhi's if your not looking too closely at it, the hat was covering at least 50 percent of her face which made the whole thing more believable.

"Number 0155." Duan Xu called out, his eyes falling on Hui Ying who was biting her nails. She was nervous that her hat would fall off and the whole plan would be done for. She'd know she would definitely not be allowed back in school.

She stepped up to the starting point. Took a few backward steps. Rolled her shoulders. She was stressed, maybe she was excited in a way but she was definitely nervous.

One breath in. another one out.

She made sure her breaths were good before she wanted run, it was a way getting her calm before the the jump she had to do. It was like her body was in a sort of panic, and breathing would help her be calm and make a better jump.

Once her body went out of the panic mode, she ran.

Her feet pounded against the track. The bar was right there. The rhythm felt good. She was seconds away from launching—

Before something hard hit her head, her nose to be exact. In those seconds she was almost certain that she had heard it crack, maybe she had been hallucinating it but she was sure that she had heard It.

A soccer ball. Out of nowhere. Had hit her in the face, hard.

She didn't even see it coming—just a flash of white and black before the impact rocked her head sideways. Her hat went flying. Her knees buckled mid-stride, and she crashed onto the ground in a flailing heap, skidding slightly on the track.

The breath whooshed out of her lungs.

The sting in her nose was instant—sharp, hot, and sticky. She touched her face and saw red. Her nose was bleeding.

She had never one—a nosebleed, but she knew instantly that it hurt. Like her nose was broken and she couldn't breath out of it.

She heard yelling from Sang Yan and Duan Xu, their eyes filled with worry as they sprinted towards the girl. Sang Zhi had also started running fast towards her friend, not caring that her hat was also on the ground.