CHAPTER 5: IS SHE OKAY?

BEXLEY'S P.O.V

I rolled my eyes while glancing at the gym's clock, it was already quarter past 4. We had already taken our positions on the court, and still Jason was not present yet.

"Someone send him a text, my phone is down", I ordered, while rolling my eyes and folding my arms

"Sure", Hazel replied

Hazel left the court, she grabbed her bag and took our her phone. A few minutes later I asked impatiently

"Well, Where is he?"

"He didn't answer, but he definitely saw the text", Hazel said still scrolling down her phone.

I looked over at Liam's side, he was sitting at a corner with his headphones, waiting patiently as usual. I also heared Janice's groan of frustration and I sighed. I suddenly turned to the boys and asked

"Don't you guys have the slightest idea of where Jason could be?"

"We can't possibly know every whereabout of Jason", Matthew said

"We are just friends, not some sorority-blood sister group", Felix chimed in

"Besides that is Alex's job, since he is closer to Jason, than any of us here", Felix added, while the others agreed.

"Well, I am not certain if you've realized, but Alex is not here", I shot back.

"You know what forget it, Let's just wait patiently. If he is not here after ten minutes, we will start without him", I said trying to drop the topic.

"Soooo, when Jason does walk through those doors, what are you going to do about it", CAPTAIN, Christopher asked curiously

This question sparked everyone else's curiosity to the peak and suddenly everyone was asking how I was going to handle this behaviour. I just smirked and said

"Wait and see"

Everyone "ooooed" in anticipation of what I was about to do

JASON P.O.V

I headed as fast as I could, to the gym for practice. As I got there, I could see that they were already in their positions. I hurried over to the court, but was confused. All of them glared at me, when they saw me.

"I'm really sorry, for keeping you waiting", I said.

Before anyone could respond, Bexley got off the court, approached me and asked calmly like a concerned mother. This was probably the calm before the storm.

"Why are you late.... Where were you?"

"Ooh, something is going to go down", I heard Chris say

"I'm so sorry Bee, something came up, but I promise I won't be late again".

Bexley did not respond immediately. I could see the others were watching us with a familiar look on their faces. I waited for Bexley's response, the silence was frightening. She sighed

"Okay, Apology accepted. Let's finally start practice", she said almost reluctantly

"Thanks", I thanked her, patting her shoulder.

"WHATT??!!", Chris shouted

Well, this seemed to be the same reaction of everyone, but Chris just voiced it out the most

"That's it!!", He continued in disbelief

"Let's leave it at that Chris", Gia finally said, sounding a little bit weak.

Chris glared at me while I just nudged him. Bexley and I went to the court. Before I took my position, my initial confusion came back to me.

"Why are we separated", I asked seeing the guys and girls on different sides of the court.

"Since Alex is currently indisposed, we decided, we are even now", Bexley said

"Yeah, five girls, five boys", Janice said

"We can finally make the girls eat their words, that there are better than us", Felix said.

"Okay", I understood

I took my position with the guys in the front row while Bexley took hers.

Liam immediately served the ball to the middle. I jumped and saw Hazel too, I tried to spike the ball to their side, but she was faster, she spiked it to our side. That's what you would expect from the girls' fastest member. I saw everything in slow motion, the ball spinning, about to make contact with the floor. Luckily christopher went to the side and dug the ball back to them. This time Bexley

followed the ball quickly and saved it. I smashed the ball to their side, Maya passed it back to us with a little more effort. At this point the match started to get more and more intense. Suddenly, everyone pumped up their speed, including me. Nobody was backing down at this point. As Gia leaped slightly, to return the ball, that was about fall into the girls' side...

GIANNA'S P.O.V

I saw the ball coming my way. I leaped slightly trying to strike the ball with all my strength, I could hardly muster. A sharp pain ran through my body, making me miss the incoming ball.

"We win", I could hear Felix say while Bexley huffed off in annoyance

I crouched down weakly on the court trying to shake off the monstrous pain.

" What was that?!!"

"You certainly had the ball, how on earth did you miss that ASSISTANT CAP?", Bexley said her loud voice practically piercing through my already throbbing brain.

"Yeah, Gia you sure you're okay", Jason asked with concern

"Are you crying, Gia?", a voice asked me, guessing it should be Matthew

I shook my head in disagreement, but for some reason, I could still hear everyone throwing thousands of concern questions to my way, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. My ears were ringing and everything was so cloudy up in my mind. My brain had enough of their numerous questions.

"I'm fine, guys", I managed to say, dismissing them

I weakly struggled to get out of the court. I went to my bag. I felt everyone burning stares on my back, as if I was going to collapse any second now. Well, this was not far from what they expected. I started feeling very dizzy all of a sudden. My legs wobbled and I felt myself crashing slowly to the ground. Before I drifted into the unknown, my name echoed through the gym

***** TIME SKIP

NURSE'S OFFICE

LIAM'S P.O.V

After a while, the nurse had finally confirmed that Gia was in a stable condition.

I sat beside her bedside and watched her sleep peacefully. She really looked pale.

"Do you know what happened?", I asked the nurse curiously.

"Well, while running a few tests on her, there was a very high concentration of stimulants in her bloodstream"

" Like coffee?"

She nodded,

"Very high dosages of caffeine and probably other energy drinks"

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah, she just needs a little more rest, " she will wake up soon, don't worry"

"Her lack of sleep and overworking herself is the reason why she fainted", She continued

I heaved a sigh of relief, why would Gia need to take high dosages of stimulants?

While I was lost in my thoughts, I heard the door close. The nurse had probably gone to attend to another.

I looked over at Gia and with the blankets she had, she still tugged over my jacket in her sleep. I let out a small chuckle.

***MEANWHILE IN THE HALLS

The mood in the atmosphere was sad and depressing. Gia's teammates were all waiting to see her. There was silence for a while, until Hazel asked

"Is she going to be ok?", her eyes beaming for the answer she wanted to hear

Janice just pulled her into a warm embrace, trying to comfort her clearly.

She continued, "Jan, tell me she will be alright"

Janice didn't say anything. She tightened her hug on her even more, patting her head softly, as her fingers gradually combed through her hair.

" I should have known", Jason said, leaning on the wall, clenching his fists tightly.

"C'mon Jason, you couldn't have known", Bexley said

"Exactly man, don't beat yourself for something you had no control over", Felix added.

Jason slumped to the chair beside Matthew and sighed.

"I just wish there was something I.....or anyone else could have done to help Gia"

"Gia is strong, she is definitely gonna be alright", said Matthew trying to ignite some hope in Jason.