Stepping Out of Me

17

LANCE

As Lance sat in the driver's seat of his car, he noticed Halle making her way with her head held down. Neither of them said a word to one other after last night. Lance looked away from his sister as he backed out of the driveway and headed down the street.

He quickly sent a text to Kiera. It was almost time for class to begin and he wanted to see her before then. Luckily he glimpsed her heading upstairs and went into a mini sprint to catch up with her.

"Kiera!" he called after her.

The girl spun around slowly. Lance smiled as her brown eyes landed on him. He walked up the stairs skipping some steps and stopped in front of her. Because of the time a good amount of students were walking up and down the stairs. To avoid bumping into anyone Lance took Kiera's hand and pulled her to the corner near a window.

"Hi."

"Hi..." Kiera replied. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him. "What?"

Lance's eyes swiped over her whole face. It's almost as if she looked more beautiful each day. He chuckled to himself at the thought.

"I like your hair," He told her. She had it in a bun that day. Lance tilted his head to get a better look at the small shell clip she had in the side.

"Oh, thanks," she replied as her she relaxed.

"I just wanted to see you before class," Lance told her.

She glanced down at their hands and then back at him but before she could reply Halle walked up to them.

Immediately she glanced at their intertwined hands and looked somewhat disturbed. Lance sighed to himself as he let go of Kiera's hands.

"Uh, hey Kiera," Halle began. "You coming to class?" She obviously tried to avoid looking at Lance.

Kiera nodded. "Yea, I'll be right there."

Halle nodded once and reluctantly walked away.

"What was that about?" Kiera asked.

"What was what about?"

Kiera folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later," he replied and ran back down the stairs. Despite him running away it really wasn't enough time to talk about that.

Lance went to his usual classes. However, he was more distracted than usual. Memories of last night with his dad and Sheree kept popping up. Usually, he could forget about them whenever he wasn't at home but last night was weighing heavily on his mind. Add in the fact that he had to miss basketball practice to do something for the last person he wanted to do anything for.

"You okay, man?" Kyle's voice snapped Lance out of his thoughts.

Lance looked around at his friend and nodded. They already knew about his dad and Sheree. If he wanted to forget about it for the day there was no point in bringing last night up to them.

When lunch finally arrived Lance headed to the gym. He figured he could get some practice then instead. Inside the gym was empty during lunch so it was a perfect time. He quickly changed out of his clothes and started doing his laps. After he proceeded to do the usual drills that his coach made them all do during practice. Playing by himself was not as good as with a team but he had to make do.

The school day continued uneventfully. When the bell rang and classes ended, Lance quickly made his way to the parking lot. He wanted to get this delivery over with as soon as possible. Plus the drive would take him an hour. He put on some music to pass the time as he made his way to the Deluxe.