One Bad Day

One Bad Day

I entered gym class and saw what was written on the board, “Capture the Flag”. Yay! I thought to myself, for this was one of my favorite games to play in middle school. 

“On your marks, get set, go!”, my gym teacher shouted. And the game began. Some kids sprinted to the other side, trying to get the flag. Every time, the person was tagged and had to go to the sidelines and do some push ups so that they could get back in the game. I waited on my side for the right moment to go, hoping that my opponents wouldn’t see me coming. Perfect, it’s my time! I thought. I sprinted across the gym floor into a hula-hoop, a “safe” spot. Now, some of my opponents were watching me. I’m not going to be able to get the flag without them seeing me, so I must outrun them, I thought, as I struggled to come up with a plan on how to reach the flag and sprint back to my side. I sprinted towards the flag and felt a hand on my back. I flew forward. Time slowed down. I landed on the solid gym floor. My knees felt like they were on fire. I got onto my butt and carefully examined my knees. There were three holes in each pants leg. The holes were all red from the blood oozing out. I struggled to lift myself up off the ground and wobbled over to the bleachers. I quickly sat down, for I couldn’t stand up any longer. My eyes began to burn and I felt tears trickling down my cheeks. I quickly wiped my face so that no one could tell I was crying. My friend ran up to me and asked if I was okay. She saw the holes in my pants and the blood oozing out.

“What happened? Are you ok?” My gym teacher asked me. I hadn’t seen her walk up to me.

“Yeah, someone just shoved me and I fell hard. Can I go to the office?” I replied, trying to get a grip and not cry anymore. 

“Sure thing,” she answered. “You go with her,” she said, facing my friend.

“K!” My friend quickly stated.

By the time we reached the office, bruises had already formed on my knees. The secretary grabbed me a wet paper towel for the blood and an ice pack for the pain. 

“How’d you do on the math test?” My friend asked me with a smile, trying to take my mind off the pain. We sat in the office and talked until the end of gym period. The bell rang. Ugg… I thought. I got up and forced a smile onto my face. Just have to tough it out until the end of the day I thought. For, as someone once said, “when life puts you in tough situations, don’t say why me, say try me” (unknown).