Chapter Two

My next period was quite boring and neither Marcell or Sunglasses Guy was in my class so I tried my best to keep to the background. I didn't talk much to anyone else after lunch and kept to myself mostly. The last period of the day was phys ed so Marcell and Sunglasses Guy weren't in my class either, since the gym classes here were split into boys and girls. I followed the crowd to the gym and went it, keeping my head down. The teacher, Mrs. Elliot had pulled out a couple racks of basketballs and we all took one.

"Just warm up. Shoot some baskets and we'll scrimmage later."

I started to bounce the ball, dribbling it slowly to one of the baskets. Mrs. Elliot had went away somewhere and most of the girls weren't actually shooting baskets. I approached one of the baskets awkwardly, unsure if I was supposed to shoot or not. Deciding that it should be all right, I went up to the foul line and let the ball fly. It flew in a perfect arch, swishing in the net without touching the rim. I looked around to see if anyone had seen that but no one was looking at me, instead they were laughing and talking. I walked to where the ball had rolled to and picked it up.

“Hey. Nice shot.”

I turned, surprised, to see the girl Marcell had been flirting with behind me.

“Ugh... Thanks. I used to play a bit.” I offered a small smile and she grinned back, showing off a set of perfectly straight teeth.

“So, you're Marcell's step-sister right?”

I nodded and straightened up, hugging the basketball to my stomach.

“Your brother is really... nice. I really want to get to know him.” She seemed to have a second meaning under her words. “I thought that I should get to know you too. You seem to be having a bit of trouble meeting friends.” Her words were genuine and didn't sound mean but I blushed, embarrassed that she had noticed.

“So, my name's Renee. What's your name again?”

“Kyra.” I looked down at my ball and shuffled gawkily. “And I've made on friend! Sunglasses Guy!” I suddenly blurted out, correcting what she had said earlier.

“Sunglasses Guy?” Renee looked confused. “You mean... Oh yeah!” She laughed. “I remember now! He actually told everyone not to tell you his name. Strange guy, he is. But I've got to warn you. If you're going to be friends with him, watch out for Noella.”

“Who's that?” I pushed my glasses up, staring intently at Renee.

“Ah, well. Do you see that girl over there?”

I nodded, recognizing her curly blond hair that was now tied up in a ponytail.

“I know her! She was glaring at me at lunch!”

“Yeah, that's her. She has a... little crush... on Sunglasses Guy. Since she moved here a few years ago, she's had her eyes on him and she doesn't appreciate girls getting friendly with him. She gets jealous easily. Even me, who's only just friends with him, has to be careful around her.”

“Oh.” I wasn't sure what to say now but luckily, Mrs. Elliot came back and blew her whistle.

“All right! Split into two team to scrimmage! Five people on both sides! The rest on the bench!” I headed to the bench on my side of the gym and I thought Renee was going to follow me but she headed to the other of he gym to join her group of friends instead. I sat on the end of the bench, nervously crossing and uncrossing my legs, and fiddling around with my hands. The other team was already set up on court but our team all sat on the bench, all not willing to go on. Mrs. Elliot walked up to us briskly.

“C'mon! We don't have all day!” She barked at us. “You, you, you, you, ad you. You're on first.” She pointed at the first five people on the bench, including me.

I stood up, following the other girls out onto the court. I was relieved to see a friendly face on the other side when Renee waved at me. My lips curved up slightly back but then I caught the sneer of Noella. She was throwing me the same dirty look like at lunch and if looks could kill, I would definitely be dead right now.

I took the position of the far right side of the court, the right wing or whatever it was called. Mrs. Elliot stood at centre court, between the two people who were jumping for the ball.

“All right. We're just scrimmaging today so it's half court. Play fair!”

She leaned down slightly, the bright orange ball in one hand. The two girls at centre bent, their arms read to spring up and knock the ball towards their side.

Then the ball was in the air, two bodies leaping up to get it. There was a slapping noise and the ball was knocked towards me. I grabbed it, hesitating a millisecond before bolting down the court, the ball pounding the ground in sync with my pounding heart. I was blocked by Renee, her arms spread wide and her face in an excited grin.

I shielded the ball from her hands and pivoted, bounce passing to the point guard of my team. Renee ran to try and get the ball and I went into the area under the basket.

“Ball!” I yelled at the point guard. She flashed her eyes towards me and passed the ball to me. It sailed through the air, landing in my hands firmly. I went in for a lay up, gently laying the ball up to the basket. It hit the backboard, falling back into the basket.

Our team cheered, some of the girls high-fiving me. I grinned, slapping their hands and moving back behind the half court line. A girl brushed past me, hip checking me and swinging her curly blond hair my face. Noella.

“Oops Sorry.” She opened her hazel eyes so wide, innocently mocking me.

“Ah, that's okay.” I said meekly, going to my position.

She went to her spot and bore her eyes into my face. Renee stared sympathetically at me and I bit my lip uncomfortably. Noella's eyes were burning holes in my face, ruining my good mood from scoring. I got ready to play and the other team passed the ball into play. They approached the half line slowly, taking their time to dribble. The person with the ball jerked her head and someone charged at me, picking for someone. I tried to get away from her and I saw Noella dodge several of my team mates, tossing the ball into the net with nearly no effort.

Our team got the ball and Noella's team backed to half court. She shoved past me, taking the time to step on my foot.

“Take that loser.”

I felt my teeth grind together unwillingly. I refused to let this girl get to me. I've seen people like her before. People who thought they were better than average when really, with personalities like theirs, they were below average.

I went to the other half of the court, waiting for the ball to be put into play. As soon as the ball was passed up, the girl with the ball rushed up the court, attempting to charge straight to the net but she was blocked. She passed another and she passed again, throwing the ball like it burned her. It flew through the air and someone tried to catch it but the other team got it first.

She dribbled, then launched the ball down the court. I spun around to see that Noella had already run down the court when no one had noticed and she caught the ball easily. She dribbled to the basket, doing a perfect lay up into the net.

She smirked at me as we got into position again. I felt my blood boil but I kept my cool. The ball was passed into play and it got passed to me, but it got stolen in mid-air. The opposing team tried to do the same trick they did last time but I was ready for it. I charged for Noella whacking the ball out of her hands. I took control of it and dribbled down the court. I was about to pass half court when I saw a leg stick out in front of me. My reaction came a bit to late and I tripped, landing awkwardly on my foot.

“Oh my god!” I'm so sorry!” Noella crouched beside me, sounding sincere with her back turned to everyone else but she grinned at me, taking pleasure in my pain. Everyone else surged around me, asking if I was all right and Noella backed away. I was helped up by Renee and I cringed as a shock of pain shot up my leg when I put weight on it.

“Ow.” I muttered, bending over to look at my leg. My ponytail brushed my ear as I bent and I saw trembles shooting up my leg. I leaned the the opposite way to put less weight on the leg as Renee slung my arm around her shoulders.

Mrs. Elliot came up to us and eyed me, focusing on my leg.

“You going to be okay there Miss Cooper?”

“Uh, yeah.” I brushed my bangs out of my face and looked thankfully at Renee for supporting me. I looked back at Mrs. Elliot and pointed at my leg. “I don't think I can play right now though.”

She nodded almost regretfully and fingered the whistle around her neck.

“That's too bad. You seemed like you were pretty skilled at basketball. You should join the team next year! But for now,” She waved Renee and I away. “Renee here can take you to the nurse's office.”

Renee nodded and helped me shuffle out of the gym, holding open the door for me. We exited the gym and I sighed in relief. Renee glanced at me and gently tugged me along the halls.

“What? You're glad to get out of there?”

I heard the smile in her voice and I stuck my hand in my pocket.

“Well... Kind of.”

“Yeah. I saw how she was treating you. I warned you though! And that wasn't even what she's capable of. I've seen worse.

“Nice to know.” I commented dryly. This wasn't exactly making me feel any safer.

“Hey!” Don't worry! Just stick close to me and you should me safe. I'll introduce you to my friends later! I'm sure you'll like them. They're a lot nice than Noella.

“They sound great already.” Renee laughed and led me around a corner. I hopped awkwardly on one foot, leaning heavily on Renee.

“Wow. This is just awesome. First day of school and I'm already disabled.” I said sarcastically. “Nice to know this place is as amazing as I remember it as.”

“You've been here before?” Renee questioned curiously.

“Oh, uh yeah. I used to live around here.”

“Oh.” She nodded slowly, silence falling upon us. For the rest of the way to the nurse's office, we didn't talk much. I couldn't think of anything to say anyway.

This was my problem. I just can't talk to people, or at least not when I'm alone with them. It always ends up in an awkward silence.

When we got to the nurse's office, we were greeted by a bustling woman who ushered me to sit on a chair.

“What happened to you?” She asked, organizing something in a drawer.

Renee cut in, standing by the door.

“Nurse Skidmore, she fell in gym and hurt her ankle.”

“I think she can speak for herself. Now shoo.” She made shooing motions with her hands. “Your assistance is not needed here. And don't think I'll let you skip class. I know what you're up to young lady. Her eyes sparkled and I knew she was completely serious.

Renee shrugged, as if to say Oh well. I gave it a shot. She waved at me and backed out of the room.

“See ya later Kyra.”

I waved back and she left.

“Take of your show please.” Nurse Skidmore asked, shutting the drawer.

I pulled off my shoe, easing my foot out of it. Nurse Skidmore crouched and took my foot in her hand and started to roll it around. I cried out in pain when a new stab of pain exploded in my foot.

She raised her eyebrows at me and pressed a pot on my foot making me cry out in pain again.

“Well, it's nothing too serious. Just don't pressure it too much and it will be fine eventually. I'll wrap it up tight to support it for now but if it really hurts too much later, I'd consider getting a crutch for the time being.”

I nodded as she went into a cupboard and got a roll of something. She wrapped it tightly around my foot and tucked in the end. I tested a bit of weight on it and it didn't hurt as much as it did before.

“Thank you!” I said politely and she smiled at me.

“No problem. But be careful. You don't want something like this to happen again.”

“Yeah. Definitely...” I muttered, sliding back into the hall. I limped to the end of the next hallway when a snide voice sounded out.

“Feeling better now?”

I turned to see Noella had emerged from an intersecting hallway.

“What are you doing here?” I looked at the nearest room and the lights were already off in there.”

“Well, I told Mrs. Elliot that I felt bad so I wanted to check up on you.”

“And the real reason?” I defiantly looked her in the eyes as she walked up to me, forcing me back.

“I'm here to tell you something, new girl. Stay away from my man or you will regret it.”

“Your man? You mean Sunglasses Guy?” I stood up taller so I could be almost eyes to eye with Noella. “That's not what I heard you two were.”

“Oh please.” She glared at me and gave me a push. I stumbled back and hissed when my bad foor hit the ground hard. “You don't even know his name. You have no right to tell me about our relationship status.”

“You know what the sad thing is?” I recovered from my stumble and looked challengingly at Noella. “Even though I just met him today and I don't even know his name, I think he likes me better than you.”

I spun on my heel and hobbled down the hall. When I turned back, Noella was gone. I peeked into an empty classroom to check the clock. It was almost the end of the day so I decided to go to my assigned locker since it might take me a bit longer to get there with my foot. I headed through the halls when I heard footsteps come up behind me. I looked back and saw the pair of black sunglasses looking back at me.

“Hey! What happened to your foot?” He asked bluntly, smiling at my clumsy limp.

“Nothing. I just fell in gym. And what are you doing here?” I raised and eyebrow accusingly. “Shouldn't you be in class?”

“Oh, I'm a bad boy, don't you know? I'm skipping.”

“Oh, skipping the last couple of minutes of class. You are so bad.” I teased and he grinned good-naturedly back.

“I know I am. Anyway, need help going to where ever you're going?”

“I'm going to my locker. And a bit of help would be great actually. I'm afraid I'll be stampeded when the bell rings.”

“Sure. No problem. Here, lean on me.” I slung my arm over his shoulder and limped a bit faster. He took me straight to my locker as I directed him and I went to lean on one of them.

“Thanks Sunglasses Guy. See you tomorrow.”

“No problem Glasses Girl. But I'm not leaving yet. What kind of guy would I be if I left a damsel in distress? I'm a gentleman so I'll escort you out of the school.”

“Gentleman?” I thought you were a bad boy?”

“Okay. I'm a... bad gentleman?”

I giggled and unlocked my locker as the bell rang.

“Fine, but don't you have to get anything from your locker?”

“No.”

“What? The bad gentleman doesn't have homework?”

“I do. But I have my ways...” He looked at me mysteriously but ruined it by grinning.

“Okay then. Let's go.” I closed my locker, swinging my bag onto my back. By now, all the classes had let out and everyone was pushing past each other in the halls. Sunglasses Guy opened a path for me, bowing slightly and waving out his arm.

I smiled and limped forward as he kept clearing people away.

Who knows? Maybe he really is a gentleman.