Panic.  Sheer cold panic was all that Ashley felt when she heard that recognizable scream from the other side of the curtain.  Without a word Ashley had made a dash for the other side leaving Aaron to try and catch up.  When she finally arrived at the other side she saw the teacher pushing Jason past the curtain and towards the exit to the main school building.  There was also a large crowd on the other side of the gym, and Ashley knew what was over there.

            Please be ok. Please be ok.  Please be ok.  Please be ok.

            After making her way through the crowd, Ashley came up on the motionless form of her best friend.  Pushing everyone out of her way she was finally able to kneel down beside her friend to see what had happen.  Tears started to form around her eyes as Randall’s breathing was shallow and he was curled up in the fetal position.  Grabbing the closest guy she could, Ashley started to shake the poor boy viciously while trying to get answers.

“What happened?  Why is he like this?  Who did this?  Will he be ok?  Please just tell me!” Ashley cried to the boy while hot tears started to fall down her face.

Finally getting his wits back the boy answers cautiously because he was afraid of what this giant girl could do to him.

“We were playing razel dazel when Jason tripped and accidently landed on top of him.”

With this reply, both teams started shouting a different accusation from Jason tackling Randall on purpose to it was just an accident.  Ashley not caring anymore started to gently pick up her friend and started to carry him to the wellness center of the school.  Because of Randall’s size, it looked more like an adult caring a baby.  Rushing through the hallways at twice the speed a normal person could, Ashley finally made her way into the school’s wellness center.  The entire time she was carrying him Ashley had been crying out, “Please be ok Randall, please be ok.”

Once inside Ashley tried to explain the situation to the school’s nurse but wasn’t making much progress.  The nurse finally getting a grip on the situation took Randall away from Ashley and took him into the back room.

What seemed like hours to Ashley was only around thirty minutes before the nurse had come back out.

“You don’t have to worry, he just has some serious bruising but nothing is broken.”

“Can I see him?”

“I don’t see why not and he will be waking up soon.”

“Thank you nurse!”  With this Ashley gave the nurse a hug and went straight into Randall’s room to wait for him to come to.

            Cold…  why am I so cold for.  Ouch, I guess that tackle must have done a number on me but the real question is where am I at right now.  I think I can move so I might as well see where I’m at.

            With this Randall tried to sit up, but a huge hand was keeping him down while trying to tell him something.  Of course having just woken up, he just couldn’t process who and what this person was trying to tell him.  After finally giving up, mostly from the pain but some from the fact that this hand was by far stronger than he was, Randall decided to try and open his eyes.

To his surprise, it looked like he was inside of the nurse’s office and the person holding him down was Ashley.  Ashley looked like she had just finished crying but for some reason the redness of her face wasn’t all from her previous crying.  She was actually blushing.  Under further inspection Randall had realized that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but was wrapped with bandages from the bottom of his ribs up to his shoulders.  He also figured out another reason of why he was cold was because he had several ice packs pressed up against his side, which he assumed was just to ease the pain and stop any bruising.

“So how long have I been out?” Randall wanted to know.

“Around thirty minutes now.” now Ashley replied in a whisper.

“Really, well can you tell me what happened?”

            Ashley went on to explain to him what she thought had happened to bringing him inside the nurses office.  After hearing the story Randall asked Ashley to help him with his shirt and to let him sit up a little.

“So, you ended up carrying me like a princess through the school and at the same time crying out my name?  Guess that’s going to be embarrassing to explain.”

“What are you talking about!?  You were seriously injured just now and you are only worried about how embarrassing it was!  Do you ever think of how I feel whenever you go off and do something stupid like that?  Why did you even play that game in the first place?”

“Ashley, you know better than I do that the thing that I hate most is when someone looked down on me just because of my size.  It’s hard for me not to accept any challenge just to try and prove that I can do anything.”

“But you don’t have to prove anything to me.”  Ashley said in a whisper.

“Ashley, you are probably the most important person in the world to me so let me make a promise with you.  I’ll never play a game that involves Jason anymore and as my treat, I’ll take you out tonight to pick out our costumes then we can go and grab a bite to eat afterward.  What do you say?”

“Is this a going to be a date?” Ashley said knowing that this will push Randall’s buttons, but his reply completely surprised her.

“Yes it is.” Randall manages to say after a few seconds with his face starting to blush a bright red.

“But first I got to get out of here and finish the rest of the school day.”

            With this they let the nurse check Randall out and gave him advice like; no hard activities, ice his ribs to lower swelling, and to take an aspirin whenever he felt like he needed it.  The day went by without nothing else happening, but Ashley wouldn’t let Randall carry his own back pack and had to walk slower than she usually did in order for them to get home.  Ashley tried to convince Randall to let her carry him, but his pride wouldn’t let him.  After walking at an incredibly slow pace at what seemed like an eternity, Ashley finally decided to do something about it.

“Hey, what do you think that you are doing!?” cries a surprised Randall as his feet leave the ground and he is seated atop Ashley’s shoulders.

“I’m trying to get us home faster so that we can prepare for our date tonight.”

“Yeah I can see that, but I can walk you know.”

“But not very fast in your condition.”

“Hmm, you do have a point but you will let me off once we get close to my house.  I don’t want Rachel to see me like this because I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Ok, I’ll do that.”

            Deciding that it was useless to further argue, Randall let himself relax while taking in the scenery of his higher vantage point while wondering what will be in store for him for their trip to the mall.  The Halloween dance was coming up so this trip to the mall should be interesting for him.