Love At First Roll

Collision - REWRITTEN

Mark’s P.O.V

I have to say out of all of the schools I have done sessions at, this had to be the most boring one. We had come in this morning to meet the most enthusiastic teacher ever, who made me slightly sick. Then I have some weirdo falling off the chair. God that would be a good one to tell the guys. Nate and Joe will be well happy with that one. I don’t know why I got dragged to this; I don’t understand why John couldn’t ask Nate. He was much better with people than I was. I thought the stupid lesson was over but no there was another bloody half. This was going to kill me and I thought I was on the edge of ripping my hair out that was until the mahogany doors slammed behind us. Every head turned to stare and then move back expect two who were uncontrollably winking.

For some reason the girl at the door sent shivers down my spine. Her long brown hair was tied into a messy ponytail and her fringe was straightened and placed on her forehead slightly covering her right eye. Her eyes especially caught my attention for some bizarre reason. Her eye was twitching but I’m guessing she was attempting to wink back at her friends. Suddenly the large voice erupted my thoughts.

“Mark, please start the game.” John interrupted.

I nodded and explained the instructions to the class. She was at the corner of my eye, sitting in the chair. She looked deep in thought. Great another one who doesn’t fucking listen to me. The class was rowdy and loud so I took this great opportunity to burst her bubble.

“What’s your name?” I asked. Her body jumped for a second but she soon settled to answer my question.

“Erm, Gabby.” She replied, a weak frown plastered her pale face. I cocked a smile and started again.

“Well, Gabby.” Adding extra emphasis on her name. “I would appreciate if you could listen when I’m trying to explain the instructions and before you try and challenge my accusation, may I ask what my instructions were?” I could tell she was angry, her cheeks were flushed and her fists were clenched into balls.

“If you know I wasn’t listening and you know I don’t know the instructions, why are you still asking me? And before YOU answer MY question, which you probably won’t, please can you move your head from my face.” Her comment made me choke a little; I noticed the small distance I was away from her face. Her eyes were dark and cold; her face didn’t move even the slightest. Her cough, knocked my thoughts and I turned away.

“OK guys, to start the game you have to get into your teams and return to your side of the court. When I blow the whistle, the first person to touch my wheel is the winner.” I shouted. I looked across at the two girls who were winking earlier. They were now chuckling to themselves. These two were obviously having more fun than anyone. Probably down to their dirty minds.

I turned back and positioned my chair in the middle of the court. As soon as the whistle blew, I watched her blast to my chair with determination clear all over her face. I chuckled and turned to the blonde who had touched my chair a few seconds after.  

“AND THE RED TEAM WINS!” I cheered, glancing at Gabby then glancing back.

“ERM EXCUSE ME MARK! I WAS CLEARLY HERE BEFORE HER!” she screamed, her hot breath lingering above my face. I locked my eyes on hers, whilst patting down my tracksuit bottoms, where they had rose in that moment. I smirked and then answered her.

“I’m sorry Gabriella, but you didn’t touch the wheel. I guess next time, you should listen to the instructions.” I could feel the heat radiating from her body, her cheeks were crimson and her face screwed up. I turned to the rest of the class and announced the winner. “OK, so the red team wins, to your sides girls! First team to five baskets win!

She raced back to her side without moving a muscle in her face. The whistle blew once again and there she was, right in front of me. Before I knew it, the ball was gone and she was on her way to victory. She was two more pushes away from the goal and I smashed into her from behind, taking the ball and scoring for the opposition. I have to give it to her she tried, but with me smashing her every time she had the ball in her hand, she didn’t stand a chance. Every time she took the ball from me or another player, I would let her get close to the net and then take it from her. I could tell she was getting angry and I’m pretty sure she was pissed as shit. I took the ball from her one final time and threw it to the same blonde from earlier, who scored a few seconds after. If she missed it I probably would have slapped her. As soon as she scored, Gabby muttered something in between ‘whore’ and ‘fucks sake’. I grinned and rolled back to the centre.

They all took a seat back on the benches and I couldn’t move my gaze away. I listened to John answering question then persuading me to show the girls the punishment we received if we weren’t working to our abilities. For a seven-teen year old boy, like me, I should be asleep or getting pissed at a club. I moved to the back of the court, tensing my body and moving furiously up and down the court. I occasionally looked up at the class, but when I did, only Gabby was in my view. She looked at me with sympathy but so much anger, I couldn’t help but grin.

It was heading towards the end of the lesson and I was heading to accepting I will never see this girl again. John explained abit more about the club and then he made me tell my story. I sighed and started.

“Hi Guys, So I’m Mark and I’m part of the junior team at our centre. So there’s me and some other guys planning to be submitted for the 2020 Olympics. So when I was younger, I took part in skateboarding and parkour. So in one of the competitions I did something to my leg, it wasn’t worth the complications so I had it amputated. There are loads of things which I want to do but the wheelchair doesn’t allow me to. So I discovered the basketball which became one of my favourite things to do and took my mind of the things I couldn’t do.” I explained, I could see Gabby in the corner of my eye listening in awe, but as soon as she realised I spotted her, her face turned cold and a scowl took its place.

The class said their byes and left. John, Linda and the teacher left the room, leaving me with three girls, who were slowly walking out talking. I walked out quickly because I gathered they were talking about me, yet didn’t realise I was there. I took a seat on the small bench which was located outside of the gym, when I noticed the bag, draped with a blue blazer. I picked it up to find a name and there it was. ‘GABBRIELLA GREENE’ in big black letters. I traced my finger over the name, but only felt the cold piece of metal. I pulled it out and began to unlock it. She didn’t seem like a Blue Samsung kind of girl. It made me chuckle how her password was ‘GREENE’ in numbers. It took me a while to find out what to do but there was only one thing I could do. I peered into the gym and it didn’t look like the girls were moving any time soon. I quickly added my number, calling myself and leaving the call history there.

I quickly put everything back how it was and wondered back inside, just as they were leaving. I think I just got the two girl’s names. Aana, Lottie and then there was Gabby. She was the last one out, I grabbed her arm, pulling her to the side.

“Aana kanye not?” she growled, turning her head to face me. Her face dropped and then she shuffled from my clasp. I couldn’t help but chuckle abit.

“Erm Gabby, It’s Mark. I just wanted to say you were really good.” I mumbled, trying not to make eye contact with her.

“Err thanks.” She replied, looking at me curiously. And that was it, she left. I watched her grab her stuff and leave. I felt my body loose the strength to stand, I dropped down to the bench, grabbing my phone from my pocket. There it was,  her number. My face was still and stern. All I did was watch the screen, hoping for her to run back in.