The New Kid (Book 1)

Chapter 5

Colton

If I thought the day couldn't get any weirder, I was wrong.

By the time I finished changing, I still hadn't seen Henry. I was a little confused by his absence, but figured he was around somewhere.

I ended up finding him already out on the field. He was by himself, kicking the ball into the net, before running to grab it and shooting again. He was definitely a good soccer player.

"You know, if you aim at a top corner, most goalies will have trouble blocking it," I said as I walked up.

He made the shot, right into the upper left corner of the net, then smiled at me. "Do you think I need your help?"

I scoffed. "No, of course not. So what are you doing out here now? Practice hasn't even started yet."

"I know. Decided to come out early. I was going to ask if you wanted to join, but I saw you talking to that Elliot kid."

I nodded. "He's an interesting one, that's for sure." Walking over to the net, I grabbed the soccer ball and dribbled back to where Henry stood.

"He totally has the hots for you."

Instead of answering, I kicked the ball as hard as I could into the net. So I wasn't the only one to notice.

"Nice shot," a voice that was totally not Henry's said behind me. I turned to see two boys walking up, hand in hand. "Colton, right?" the taller one asked.

I nodded. "Thanks."

"I'm Alex," he continued, smiling. "Your new captain, or one of them. You'll make a great addition to the team."

Someone called out his name and the two of them walked off in their direction. I was about to go retrieve the ball when a different kid ran up to me. He stopped maybe three feet in front of me and I recognized him as Elliot's friend, Jared.

"What do you think of rainbows?" he asked.

I stared at him dumbfounded. "What?"

"Rainbows? Like the huge bands of pretty colors that sometimes appear in the sky?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "I know what a rainbow is. What does my opinion of them have to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question, before Coach G calls us over."

I shrugged. "I guess they're interesting, looking at them scientifically."

"Awesome." Then, without another word, he ran off again.

Before I even had a chance to process what had happened, Coach G called us all over to start practice. And that's not even when the weird ended.

For the rest of practice, Jared would randomly come up to me and ask me a question that made no sense whatsoever. They were things like 'what's your favorite part of the human face?' or 'how many pairs of shoes do you own?' or 'do you prefer blue or black ink pens?' or 'what's your favorite super villain?'

And those were only some of them.

But, in between all of that, I actually got to know Nick pretty well. He was a junior too, and apparently the best goalie the team had. Coach G had seen my goalie-ing skills and decided to have us alternate in the goal during games. Today, he had Nick and I working together while the rest of the team ran drills.

We were talking about his relationship with Alex for a little while before he said the strangest thing to me. He said, "Don't be ashamed to admit your real feelings."