December 18, 2009
Aaron arrived at the school premises, and the very first thing he was able to notice was the overwhelming atmosphere filled with pure emotion and high expectation that was perceptible throughout the entire school; only one specific thing could cause such a massive stir in the environment.
It was finally time for the first game of the basketball season.
If there was something that Christ the King High School could be immensely proud of, it was the fact that its basketball team was recognized as one of the most elite programs in the entire country, and with good reason; boasting a state title and several CHSAA conference championships, the Royals were an absolutely dominant force within the league.
As he walked through the corridors, Aaron could not help but notice the constant stares that the other students were directing in his direction; this was because, during this past month, Aaron had managed to build a significant reputation for himself in the school by being the only freshman student currently playing on the Varsity team roster.
Without allowing himself to be intimidated or affected by the attention, Aaron continued walking with his head held high, acting as if the intense gazes that the people around him were giving him did not even exist, until he finally reached his designated locker.
Opening his locker door, Aaron heard the metallic sound of the locker right beside his being opened. "What is new with you, Drew?" Aaron asked, seeing that it was indeed his friend, who appeared to be even more excited and agitated than Aaron himself about the game scheduled for this afternoon.
"Dude, it is the start of the season!" With a massive, radiant smile on his face, Drew could not help but state the obvious with an overflowing emotion, as if he were the one who was actually going to be out on the court playing instead of his friend, who remained remarkably calm while storing his backpack and grabbing his textbooks.
"You are talking as if you were the one who is actually going to be playing out there," Aaron replied, rolling his eyes toward his friend, an action that caused Drew to immediately deflate and lose his exaggerated momentum.
"You really are a total buzzkill sometimes," Drew reproached his friend, who remained deeply focused on the contents of his locker as if the surrounding excitement did not affect his nerves at all. "Are you not even a little bit excited for today?" he could not help but ask, dying of curiosity to know exactly what was going on inside the mind of his calm friend.
"I am," Aaron began to say, while he was still meticulously organizing the items within his locker. "But I also know that I must maintain my composure and stay calm, and I still do not even know for sure if I will get the chance to play today," he finalized while closing his locker with a dull, metallic thud and beginning to walk alongside Drew toward their classroom.
"The head coach would have to be completely out of his mind not to put you into the game," Drew said, encouraging his friend while giving him small pats on his side, given that he could not easily reach Aaron's shoulder due to the height difference.
"Thank you, bro." With a genuine smile, Aaron could not help but feel deeply grateful for the constant support of his friend. "And how are things going for you?" he asked now, in an attempt to find out how his friend's personal life was progressing.
"Well..." Drew began to say, only to go suddenly silent and simply remain with his gaze fixed straight ahead; upon seeing this, Aaron could not help but furrow his brow and direct his own gaze toward the direction where Drew was looking, instantly understanding the reason why his friend had become so quiet all of a sudden.
Standing in front of him at some lockers was a girl with chestnut-brown hair, her head covered by a warm winter snow hat and wearing a beige-colored coat, surrounded by a tight circle of her friends who were all laughing at something the girl beside her was saying.
"You should definitely go over there and talk to her," was the only thing Aaron said, making his friend snap out of his temporary stupor while a deep, visible blush began to creep across his entire face.
"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about," he quickly stammered, hurriedly turning his gaze away toward any other direction except for the girl in question.
Faced with that nervous reaction, Aaron could not help but let out a low, soft laugh and shook his head in the direction of his friend, who was still desperately looking at every other possible direction instead of at him.
Rolling his eyes at the display, Aaron said, "Well, if you are not going to do it, then I will." He began to move toward where the girls were standing, but he was quickly and desperately detained by Drew.
"No!!" Drew shouted, causing the eyes of every single student in the hallway to focus directly in their direction, including those of the group of girls in question.
Quickly lowering his head in a very clear and painful sign of embarrassment under the attentive and curious gaze of all the students, Drew advanced rapidly down the hallway without looking back once, being followed only seconds later by Aaron.
"You know that you really lose nothing at all by just talking to her, right?" was the first thing Aaron said once he managed to catch up with Drew in the middle of the high school hallway.
"It is not quite as simple as that," Drew murmured in a tone that was barely audible, without even stopping for a single moment and continuing to walk as fast as he possibly could toward the safety of their classroom.
Sighing to himself, Aaron decided to keep following his friend. "Come on, what is the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen?" he kept insisting toward his friend, who still refused to stop his frantic pace.
"What happens if she does not even remember me?" Drew finally responded in a very low voice, finally reducing the speed of his steps with a slight, rare look of vulnerability peeking through his facial expression.
"You will never know for sure until you actually try it," was the only thing that occurred to Aaron to say in an attempt to support his anxious friend. "Besides, she must have had at least some level of interest in you after that kiss at the party," he finished, referring to that kiss Drew and Sam had shared almost a month ago at the Halloween party held at Meghan's house.
After that comment, Drew simply remained quiet as if he were deeply meditating about the words Aaron had just said; Aaron wisely decided to give him his personal space, knowing that at the end of the day, the final decision rested completely on his friend's shoulders.
"And how is everything going for you with Meghan?" At that sudden question, Aaron's mood decayed rapidly at having to think about that specific person.
"It is complicated," was the only thing he could say with a visible grimace on his face as he recalled this last month spent with Meghan.
In all this time, they had had, at the very most, five or six dates, which were, to be completely honest, not memorable at all.
There was chemistry between them, there was no doubt about that, but it was more physical than anything else, since the majority of the time there was no common topic of conversation they could talk about for more than ten minutes without ending up kissing each other.
And another thing that Aaron was starting to get really tired of was the sheer intensity and the jealousy she displayed, which were certainly suffocating and would drive him insane if he continued with the relationship.
Remembering all the dramatic scenes she had caused, one in particular was the one that finally broke the camel's back.
Flashback
He remembered clearly that he and Meghan had gone to take a walk at the shopping mall under her persistent request, claiming that they had not gone out together in a good amount of time.
So, against his own better judgment, Aaron decided to accompany her to the mall, watching her try on a huge mountain of different dresses and going from one store to another while being followed by an Aaron who would much rather be in any other place on Earth than there.
In one of those stores, Aaron saw a familiar person out of the corner of his eye; so, with a mischievous smile, he crept up silently behind her back. "Boo!" Aaron shouted, making the person in front of him jump up from the sudden fright.
"Aaron!!" Paola could not help but shout as soon as she saw the smug, arrogant smile of her nephew right behind her. "What exactly are you doing here?" she asked quickly, genuinely surprised to find him in a clothing store like this one.
"I came here to..." Aaron began to say, until he was suddenly interrupted by a forced throat-clearing that made both his aunt and himself direct their gaze toward the person in question.
Meghan, with her brow deeply furrowed, did not stop glaring at Paola while she quickly positioned herself at Aaron's side and tightly linked her arm with his. "Who is she, Aaron?" she asked in a suspiciously sweet tone while her eyes were essentially throwing daggers at Paola.
"She is my aunt," he said, and then proceeded with the proper introductions. "Aunt, this is Meghan," he said, pointing to the girl, who upon learning who she was, relaxed her intense gaze and dedicated a sweet, fake smile toward her.
"It is a pleasure." With a smile, Meghan approached Paola in an attempt to appear friendly, an act that did not convince anyone even a little bit. "Uhum," was the only dry response Paola gave her, not believing her little performance at all, and then they continued with an incredibly awkward and formal conversation.
End of Flashback
"I think I am going to break up with her," was the only thing Aaron said, finishing the memory of that moment and wanting to free himself from her presence as soon as possible.
"Are you absolutely sure, man?" Drew could not help but ask while he gave Aaron a look of pure incredulity. "Do you even know how many guys in this school would kill to be in your shoes at this very moment?" Drew continued saying, knowing firsthand the high number of boys who were jealous of Aaron for being with Meghan.
"Well, as far as I am concerned, they can go right after her," was Aaron's ironic response, accompanied by a smirk. "In fact, I will be entirely and eternally grateful to the person who can actually handle her intensity," he finished saying just as they reached the classroom to begin their first period.
Once inside, and seeing with his own eyes that the back section of the room was completely filled with students, Aaron clicked his tongue while searching with his gaze for any empty desk where he could sit down.
Locating one quickly in the very first row, Aaron let his backpack drop and took his seat as best as he could to be relatively comfortable.
While he was taking out his books and necessary materials for the class, Aaron could not help but notice out of the corner of his eye a mane of blonde hair sitting right at his side, belonging to a girl who seemed to be much more concentrated on what she had in her book than on what was happening in the classroom.
"Hello, Hannah," he said, and then saw how Hannah lifted her head and adjusted the glasses that had fallen slightly down her nose, fixing her gaze directly on Aaron.
"Hello," she responded in a very low voice, almost as if she were whispering to herself.
"I did not know that you were in this specific class," Aaron continued saying, trying to make some conversation until the professor arrived.
"I did not think it fit with you either," Hannah said without thinking, only to immediately cover her mouth with her hand as a deep blush of embarrassment appeared on her face.
Slightly furrowing his brow, Aaron asked in a deep, grave voice, "Fit in what exactly?" to which Hannah began to wave her hands frantically in the air.
"Nothing, nothing, it is just that usually, athletes are not found in Intermediate Calculus classes," Hannah said rapidly, trying to justify her previous comment, but before Aaron could even respond, Hannah continued with her diatribe. "I know that it is wrong to have prejudices, but the majority of the time, athletes do not worry about their academic studies and..." before she could continue talking, "Hannah," Aaron interrupted her, making the girl lower her head in a sign of shame once again.
"I was only joking with you," with a warm smile, Aaron tried to console the restless girl who, seconds ago, could not stop talking. "I am sorry," was the last thing she murmured, lifting her head and looking back in Aaron's direction.
"Do not worry about it, I know very well that I am not like the rest of the athletes," he said with a smug, confident smile on his face, at which Hannah could not help but let out a very light, soft giggle.
"And what exactly are you reading?" Aaron asked, giving a quick glance at the book Hannah was currently holding, in which he could see a complex set of mathematical equations.
"It is nothing out of the ordinary, I am just practicing a bit of derivations," Hannah said while she furrowed her brow at a specific problem which she could not quite understand completely, a detail that did not pass unnoticed by Aaron's sharp eyes.
"It is not actually that complicated," Aaron said, delicately taking the pencil from Hannah's hand. "Think of it this way: the derivative measures the speed at which a function changes with respect to its independent variable, or in other words, what a function needs in order to transform into another one," Aaron said while he solved the equation directly in the book. "Easy," he finished saying, turning his face toward Hannah.
With a look of sudden and complete understanding, Hannah could not help the bright smile that appeared on her face. "I understand now," she said with joy while she also turned her face, and both of them suddenly realized that their faces were only mere centimeters of distance away from each other.
Blushing even more than normal, Hannah pulled her face away rapidly and lowered her head back toward her book. "I..." Aaron began, until he was interrupted by the loud sound of the bell and the professor indicating the official start of the class period.
After that, the class continued as if nothing had happened, but Aaron, for some strange reason, could not prevent his gaze from subconsciously directing itself toward the girl right at his side, until the bell rang once more, indicating the end of the period.
"See you later," Aaron said in the direction of the blonde girl, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking toward the door.
"Good luck in the game," Hannah murmured in a low voice, believing that Aaron had not heard her, when in reality he definitely did, a fact that made a genuine smile appear on his face.
Authors thought's
What did you think of today's chapter?
If you want to know what Drew looks like, I was inspired by Walker Scobell
And for Hannah, I'm using Hannah Lowery as her face claim.
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