Adrien Walker
Even though Ethan slept for more than 12 hours, he still somehow manages to slip in and out of sleep throughout the entire school day. I'm surprised he's able to pass his classes.
The only one he doesn't sleep through is PE and that's because Coach expects us all to participate. We have our first PE class of the year today. After the paint incident last year, I wonder if he's going to bother turning up to class at all. I guess the teacher's treating him as though he doesn't exist plays in his favour at times.
He decided to show up.
Before heading out of the changing room, I quickly take a look around and see who is in this class. Thankfully, I don't see Matt and Nicki, but Tom's here. Fortunately, Tom doesn't actually do anything without the other two. Although some of the other seniors may decide to get rough with him. A tackle gone wrong, an 'accidental' shove, throwing the ball in the 'wrong' direction. PE is way more dangerous than any other subject, other subjects don't have baseballs and baseball bats, hockey pucks and hockey sticks, even basketballs and footballs hurt like hell if thrown with a lot of force. He'll be the main target in all the games, especially dodgeball.
The only other teammate here is Trevor and again he's keeping to himself. I'm not even surprised in all fairness, he hates the teenage population minus like two people.
I want to go over to him and make sure he's okay. It's not easy pretending that everything is alright. Some invisible barrier seems to be stopping me from taking a step forward. Maybe he wants to be left alone for a bit. But what if he doesn't want to be alone right now?
Just as I'm about to take a step towards him, I can't help but think that I'm just going to screw things up more. I'll end up saying something inappropriate or won't say the right thing and it'll be awkward.
With that thought in mind, I glance around the changing room once more, I catch Ethan quickly tying up his laces. Don't blame him for being in a hurry to get out of here.
Coach is standing right outside the door as I walk out, before he can say anything Luke comes rushing down the hallway, "Reynolds, why the hell are you late?" Coach yells at him.
Luke freezes before sheepishly looking up, "Uh sorry Sir, there was a mix-up with my schedule and I had to go to the office, " he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a slip handing it to Coach.
Coach looks it over before looking back at Luke, "Alright, now hurry up and get changed. If you're not out with the rest of them you'll be doing 5 extra laps after tryouts," Luke only nods in response.
He's about to carry on walking when he spots me, he stares at me for a few seconds before walking into the changing room.
I should have said something. Even if it was just a simple greeting. Should have smiled or something.
"Walker, what you doing just standing there? Get your ass on the field!" Coach tells me walking into his office.
Just as I'm about to start walking again, the changing room door opens and closes behind me. Turning I see the familiar brown hair, he's wearing the usual gym clothes but underneath he's wearing black long-sleeved skins, "Wanna come over to mine tonight to work on the project?" I ask.
He's staring intently at the floor as he answers, "I uh can't today."
Before I can reply, I hear the changing room door open which causes Ethan to rush off before the person has even stepped into the hallway.
Instead of standing around, I follow him onto the field.
Soon everyone is out on the field. We're all standing around huddled in groups talking. Luke is attempting to talk to keep a short conversation going with Trevor but isn't succeeding much as Trevor is only nodding and giving one-word responses.
At least he's trying.
Just as it starts raining a little, Coach comes out onto the field blowing his whistle, "Get into groups of four and start doing group warm-ups!"
Everyone quickly moves into groups of four. But I stay exactly where I am once I notice Trevor and Luke standing not too far from me. I look around seeing Tom heading towards us, I'm surprised he even wants to be near me after lunch. I cannot deal with his bullshit. Just as I'm about to swear aloud Coach yells, "You with your head down, get yourself in a group!" I look around to see who he's talking to, as I'm doing this Coach is also looking around at each of the groups, "Join Walker's group, boy! And get a move on," I guess Coach noticed that there were only three of us standing together. Thank fuck, Tom won't be joining us.
Luke smiles at Ethan, "Hey." I know he's trying to be friendly but at the same time cautious.
Luke is always the happy, easy-going guy. He doesn't cause issues and never gets involved in any kind of drama. He always tries to include others and makes a special effort to smile and talk to everyone. But even he changes around Ethan.
Ethan smiles back at him but doesn't say anything, he looks up at Trevor standing beside him, "Hey."
Trevor nods too, and I swear I see a small smile.
I didn't realise they spoke to each other.
We do a short warm-up before splitting into two teams. The rest of PE passes by uneventfully. As everyone else heads inside to shower and change Trevor, Luke, Tom and I stay on the field. It's a little awkward because none of us really talk to each other, but with Luke being Luke he quickly strikes up a conversation with Tom whilst trying to include Trevor and me. Coach has gone inside, probably to talk to Coach Edwards and make himself a coffee.
As people make their way onto the field I tell them to start warming up. Fifteen minutes later, everyone is out on the field, it's just over half the people from yesterday.
As I look around to see if Coach has turned up yet, I notice that Nicki and Matt aren't here. They definitely won't be dropping the team, so where the fuck are they?
Probably beating some poor kid up. Better not be Ethan, his face and neck are already covered in red marks and bruises.
Just as I think this, I see them both sprint onto the field with matching smirks. I obviously didn't do enough damage at lunch if they have the ability to sprint, I'll do better next time. It's obvious they've either beaten someone up pretty badly or had a quickie in the janitor's closet. Even though they boast about how homophobic they are, who knows how close they truly are...
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Thoughts?
A bit of a short filler chapter, sorry!