Chapter 48: Chapter 48

" Mom..just let me sleep some more time..", I groaned and squirmed uncomfortably after yanking away the two hands which were shaking me harshly whilst yelling my name in my ear.

" C'mon, wake the fuck up Nate ! And I'm not your Mom ! I'm Grace ! Your roommate ! "

Oh ! It was Grace ? And I just called her Mom ??

I flickered my eyelids open to see Grace standing in front of me wearing a track suit with matching top, her hair in a ponytail and her hands akimbo as she stared down at me a bit annoyed. Oh ! She is also wearing sneakers. Did she decide to go for jogging ? But she isn't fat or anything.

I tilted my eyes and looked at the alarm clock on the small bedside table. It showed 6 : 10 Am. Then I looked back at Grace, squeezing my sleepy eyes and blinking it at her to see her properly. " Are you going for j..jogging ?", I asked.

" Yeah and you too."

" Me ??", I asked in surprise. " I'm not c..coming.", I said shaking my head and pulled up my cover, lying back.

" But you agreed to come when I asked yesterday.", She said pulling down my blanket.

"Ahh...I never agreed. When did you ask me ?", I groaned sleepily.

" At 12 : 21 Am to be exact. You were sleeping on the desk over your physics text and then I asked you to go and sleep on bed and you stood up and walked to bed. Then I asked you, will you accompany me for jogging tomorrow and then you said okay and fell on the bed. Now remember ??"

" I don't remember at all.", I said.

" Anyway you agreed. So c'mon get ready. Let's go jogging.", She squealed grabbing my hands and trying to pull me up.

"Grace...ahh...leave me.. I'm not coming. I wanna s..sleep.", I groaned. But she continued pulling me. " Oh..C'mon..I don't want to j..jog. And why should I go for jogging ? I'm already s..slim. Only 54 Kg, you know. So leave me alone. And why the hell are you g..going for jogging. You are also slim.", I pointed out.

" Yeah..I know you are underweight. And Nate, all the people in the world go for jogging not because they are fat. You need to do exercise to be healthy. And you are so fucking weak. So we are going for jogging from today onwards.", Grace said sternly.

"I don't know to j..jog.", I said sitting up on my bed and rubbing my eyes.

Grace chuckled at me. " You don't know to jog ? What stupid excuse is that ?"

" I mean I haven't went for jogging s..since a long time. So I can't j..jog. I will start panting soon."

" It's okay. But Ethan said you run at high speed. I'm sure you can run at least 3 laps continuously.", Grace said and pulled me out of the bed.

I tried to protest saying a few more excuses but she pulled me all the way to the bathroom and gave me my brush. Then she herself went to my cupboard and got be a t-shirt and shorts. When I sheepishly stepped out of the bathroom after changing, she is standing there holding my shoes in her both hands.

" Can we just s..start from tomorrow?", I asked.

" Today ! "

I sighed and walked to her taking my shoes and wearing it whilst sitting down on my bed.

" Okay, let's go ! ", She squealed as I sleepily tied my shoe lace with half open eyes.

Soon she was dragging me out of the room with her. I was still trying to sleep while walking. But then a thought suddenly hit my head.

" Where are we jogging !?", I asked.

" Ground obviously.", Grace said.

" You mean football ground ??", I asked.

" Yeah dumbo.", she shook her head.

" But footballers will be p..practicing there, right ?", I asked.

" All sports teams jog from 6: 20 to 6:45. Only after that they start actual practice.", She replied.

" So we are gonna j..jog with the footballers? With Ethan ??"

" Yeah..of course. Gavin too will be there. And there are lot of people other than sports guys who jog daily."

" No ! I'm not coming ! "

" Oh..C'mon..", Grace made her grip tight around my wrist. " What if Ethan is there ? It's over, right ? You guys are now friends."

" It isn't actually over, Grace. He s..stares at me the whole time.", I said.

" It's just your imagination. Ethan just had a crush on you and he honestly told you. You rejected him and it's over. And yesterday he said he is planning to ask out a girl who confessed to him last year."

" Ohh..?? Really ?", I asked. I was surprised.

" Yeah..", Grace nodded increasing the pace of her walking.

" But he a..actually stares at me.", I said.

" Maybe he just wants to tease you. Anyway Ethan isn't going to do anything to you without your consent. Don't you worry about that.", She said.

I left a sigh. We had almost reached near the ground and we could see groups of guys running. There were three groups of guys each containing 15 or something people, neatly jogging at same pace at three different parts of the ground. Also there were other few normal students from dorms who were running scattered.

" There are only this much sports people in our school ?", I asked Grace.

" No..this is only Football team, Basketball team and Baseball team. Other two teams use the ground near the pool.", Grace replied.

" Pool ?? Our s..school has pool ? And a other ground?", I asked in surprise.

" Don't tell me you haven't seen yet.", She said.

" Ahmm..I honestly didn't know y..yet.", I replied.

She sighed. " Can't believe you didn't see yet. Hmm anyway..there's a pool behind our school and there's a swimming team in our school. Also there's a comparatively small ground beside it."

" Oh..! ", I nodded.

" Come..run ! ", she said and already stepped into the track, running behind one group of guys. I followed her behind, jogging.

I looked at the team of guys in front of us to see whether there was Ethan in between them. But I couldn't find him. But soon I saw Gavin who was actually running in the middle slowly decreasing his speed and positioning himself at the back of the guys.

" Hey ! ", he tilted his head a little and waved at us. Grace and I waved back.

" So you guys came for jogging ! ", he said amusedly.

" Yup ! ", Grace laughed slightly whilst increasing her pace to run closer to Gavin.

Oh ! So Gavin didn't know about this ? I actually though he was the one who asked Grace to come for jogging.

Then will it be Ethan who put forward the idea of jogging by any chance ? I think Grace mentioned his name earlier. No, maybe Grace herself just thought to run and become fit.

Maybe it's just my imagination that Ethan is still behind me. Or maybe he just wants to tease me like Grace said. And Grace just told he is going to date someone. So, I guess I don't need to get this much nervous about Ethan.

Anyway I averted my gaze to the two other group of guys. Very soon I found Ethan. Cause he was then running anti parallel to us in the opposite side and he was the only person running with a head tilted in our direction. But soon we ran past and we couldn't see each other anymore.

Thank God ! At least he won't come running near me cause he has to run with his team.

" Nate ! Let's take a break ! ", Grace panted when we had barely completed three laps.

" T..tired already ?", I asked. I also was panting a little, not as much as her.

" Not that. Actually..", she paused. "Yeah..tired..let's rest for sometime."

" Okay..", I nodded. I just wanted to sit somewhere and sleep.

We walked to a side bench and slumped ourselves down. Soon after I caught my breathe, I leaned forward and closed my eyes, holding my face in my both palm, my elbows supported on my thighs.

" Are you sitting and sleeping ?", I heard Grace ask.

" Shh..don't disturb me Grace. Let me s..sleep for sometime.", I said. She chuckled. After that I didn't hear any sounds.

I had almost fallen into a nice slumber when Grace shook me calling my name. I opened my eyes and saw the ground was now more bright. And the group of guys weren't running anymore. They were all sitting at the side steps and side benches sipping on water. But a few guys and girls who probably aren't part of any sport teams was jogging around.

" What's the time now ?", I asked.

" It's past 6: 45.", Grace replied.

" Oh..why you didn't c..call me ? Now it's time for football practice, r.. right ?",

" No..it's break for them until 7. We can still jog until then.", She replied. " And you were peacefully sleeping that I didn't feel like calling you earlier."

I couldn't help but frown at her. " I'd have slept more p..peacefully on my bed."

" Hmm...anyway now go and run for fifteen minutes.", she said.

" Come let's r..run together.", I said.

" I ran enough. I'm tired. You go run.", She said and turned to walk.

" Where are you going ?", I asked.

" I'm just going to Ethan and Gavin. You go run.", she said pointing at the two boys who were sitting at the side steps talking to each other.

" Hmm..okay.", I nodded and stood up stretching my hands and yawning. Anyway I came, so I will better go run a few laps. And it's better than being dragged by Grace to those two guys who are sitting over there, all sweaty. I lazily walked to the track and started jogging slowly.