Chapter 10

 

       The following day I struggled to get up out of bed. I was really tired since I still wasn't used to waking up at six o'clock in the morning, and I wasn't nervous like I was yesterday, so it was easier to feel the tiredness. To make things worse, it was raining hard when I had to head up to the bus stop. I didn't usually mind the rain, but I hated it when it rained while I was at the bus stop. It was annoying to get drenched by it before the school day started.

       I stood at the corner of my street and a different one as I waited for the bus. The orange umbrella I was forced to bring with me up to the bus stop lazily rested on my shoulder as I stared down the street through half-closed eyes. I was soon broken from my trance though when I felt the weight on my back lightening as my backpack was lifted. Next thing I knew, the backpack fell back down to crash into my back and I nearly fell to the ground due to the weight of it and because of how tired I was.

       “You jerk,” I muttered as I heard Jack chuckling from behind me.

       “Relax, I was only playing around. Can I get under the umbrella with you?”

       “Why should I let you after you did something like that?” I asked with an exhausted smirk.

       “C'mon, I don't want to get any wetter.”

       “Fine.”

       I raised the umbrella off my shoulder so Jack could get under it. The umbrella was small, so we were standing rather close to each other in order for both of us to keep the rain from pelting us. I could feel a bit of heat rushing to my cheeks from this as I looked away a little to try to keep Jack from noticing any possible blushing.

       We talked a little as we waited for the bus, which came about a minute or two later. I put down the umbrella when the bus coasted to a stop and we boarded the bus. Jack wanted to sit with me for some reason and I was too tired to bother arguing with him, so I let him. He said something, but I didn't quite catch it, so I just nodded in response before I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

       I somehow managed to wake up when the bus was close to school. When my eyes opened, I felt my head resting on something. It only took me a couple seconds to realize that it was Jack's shoulder. A bit startled by this, I jumped up into a sitting position, the tiredness coming back to me from doing so.

       “Good morning,” Jack said quietly with a smirk as he looked at me. “Have a nice nap?”

       “Uh, sure,” I said.

       “Here, this is yours.” He held out my black iPod Nano.

       “You idiot!” I said, forcing myself to stay quiet so no one in the back of the bus would yell at me for being so loud. “Why did you go through my stuff?”

       “You were asleep and I needed something to do,” Jack replied with a shrug. “I don't have my iPod and I thought you wouldn't mind if I listened to yours.”

       “Well, I wouldn't have if it wasn't for the fact that you went through my backpack,” I murmured.

       “Relax, it's not like you have anything real personal in there, right?”

       I sighed, letting the whole ordeal go. Jack did have a point after all; I didn't have anythin personal in my backpack, but it still felt a little wrong for him to go rummaging through it like that. When the bus pulled into the parking lot, I quickly shoved my iPod into my backpack before getting off of it.

       Even though I was tired, the first half of the day went by pretty quickly. When it came time for lunch, I went to the cafeteria and, seeing that Jack there yet, I sat down at an empty table. It wasn't long until Jack and his other friends joined me. Like yesterday, I didn't say too much, but instead just sat there and listened while I ate my ham and cheese sandwich. However, about ten minutes into lunch, Justin decided it would be a good idea to throw grapes at me. I tried to ignore it, but it became harder to do so with every piece of flying fruit that pelted me.

       “Stop,” I told Justin after the eighth grape bounced off my head and onto the floor.

       “Why?” he asked. “I don't have to take orders from a Freshman.”

       “Ha ha, Freshman!” one of Jack's other friends chimed in.

       “Get lost Freshman!” Justin shouted with a grin.

       I sat there and glared at him.

       “Come on guys, leave him alone,” said Jack.

       Justin apparently decided to ignore Jack and he threw another grape at me before telling me to get lost again. I didn't want to deal with it anymore so I got up from the table and went to an empty one. A few seconds later, Jack sat down next to me.

       “You alright?” he asked.

       “Yeah,” I replied while looking off to the side somewhere.

       “Sorry about Justin. He likes to fool around a lot. I'm sure he'll be cool with you sitting with us once he gets to know you a little.”

       “Yeah, sure he would,” I said sarcastically.

       “C'mon, lighten up a little.” He clapped me on the back.

       I shrugged before looking down at the table for a moment.

       “I'm not going to sit there anymore,” I said a couple seconds later.

       “You sure?”

       “Yeah.”

       Jack nodded. He slowly got up and walked off. It didn't bother me, or at least that's what I tried to get myself to believe anyway. However, Jack came back a few seconds later, setting his tray on the table.

       “Why aren't you sitting with them?” I asked, trying to conceal the fact that I was glad that he decided to sit with me instead. “I mean, they're your friends after all.”

       “Yeah, but so are you,” he said, “and I'm not gonna let you sit here by yourself.”

       I cracked a smile and he smiled too. We talked a little while we ate our lunches. None of Jack's friends came over to sit with us during that time, but I didn't care. It was probably better this way anyway. I didn't want to be bothered by Justin or anyone else.

       When lunch was over, we started to make our way to the gymnasium. However, when we were about halfway there, Jack remembered that he didn't have his gym clothes and so he ran off to go to his locker. I didn't bother going with him but instead just continued on my way to sixth period. As soon as I got there, I went into the changing rooms to change into my gym clothes.

       Once I was dressed, I headed out into the gym. The nets were set up and a bin filled with volleyballs were out. I mentally cursed at the site of them. Volleyball was one of the sports I despised the most. There were usually too many people on a team and I always usually got yelled at by my teammates because I could never hit the ball.

       Fortunately, I was on the same team as Jack. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time with a friend on my team? Of course I shouldn't have bothered to get my hopes up. I still had no luck with hitting the ball whenever it came to me, and the fact that the ball always seemed to come towards me every single time didn't make it any better. Every time I missed the ball, I could see the other guys on my team – except for Jack – getting angrier at me.

       “Goddamn it Freshman, can you stop missing the f*****g ball?!” a Sophomore boy yelled at me after I missed the ball for the seventh time, his face red with anger.

       Usually the teacher would step in upon hearing something like this, but the teacher was speculating a different game a couple nets down. Not only that, but the music that was being played drowned out the yell of the boy, so the teacher wasn't able to hear him. I didn't respond to what he said, knowing that it wouldn't do me any good anyway. It didn't really bother me too much though because I was completely used to being yelled at since it always happened to me.

       “Don't bother wasting your time yelling at him,” said a guy in my grade. “He sucks at sports.”

       “Why can't we get someone else on our team?” asked the Sophomore boy to no one in particular. “This kid sucks!”

       “Come on, leave him alone,” Jack said. “This is just a game anyway. No need to get real worked up about it.”

       The Sophomore boy just sighed irritably. I was glad that this class would only last for a semester.

       I was relieved when the teacher said it was time for us to go change. I didn't bother sticking around any longer for anyone to yell at me anymore, but instead went straight to the changing room. By the time I opened the locker, Jack was already in the changing room. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't bother looking at him.

       “You alright?” he asked.

       “Of course,” I replied. “I'm not going to let something like that get to me.”

       “Alright, good.” Jack smiled a little.

       We didn't say anything else as we began changing. I subconsciously glanced over towards Jack when he only had his boxers on and I froze in place upon laying eyes on him. He had a nice, slightly muscular body. Fortunately, his back was turned, so he wasn't able to see that I was looking at him. When he did turn around though, I looked away as I slipped on the cargo shorts I had worn to school.

       Jack and I left the gymnasium when the bell rang. We talked as we walked with each other until we had to part ways to head to our last class of the day.

Author's Note

Is the dialogue okay?

Reviews

[Amund Schofield]

how does a freshmen get mixed into a gym class with sophmores? Also, Jack seems like he turned into a total a*s, which would cause a lot more friction between the two boys.

[Kayla]

Yep. Dialogue is good. I'm hooked on your story and I can't wait to see what happens next.

[courtney]

yes wheres the rest??? grrrr noooo i want to know what happens. lol it was just getting really good.