East Chapel Academy

Chapter 9- Marcus

    "Garrett, you're up!"

    Coach yelled through his blow horn. He commanded us from a shady spot on the bleachers, while we sweated like pigs on the field. I ran across the field, sweat dripped into my eyes behind my helmet.

    My last two classes flew by, I honestly don't even remember what we were talking about. Now I was running sprints down the field for my fourth period, football practice, and I can't wait for it to be over. As much as I hate running up and down the field, it's nothing compared to what we had to do at summer camp. That was just pure torture.

    Once I was done doing my sprints, I jogged to where we kept our water bottles. I tossed my helmet on the bench, grabbing a bottle from the cooler, I finished it in a few long swallows. I sat down to catch my breath, I could feel the beads of sweat drip down my back. I'm going to take a long hot shower when I get to the locker room.

    Nick jogged up to the bench, taking off his helmet. Picking up his water bottle, instead of drinking it, he emptied the bottle on his head.

    "God, can we just go one day without having to run out here. Why couldn't we just stay inside, where there's AC," he complained, wiping the water from his face.

    "Because central AC is for—,"

    "Pansies," Sam finished as he came up to us.

    "Look who found his voice. Nothing getting knocked around on the field can't fix," Nick teased him. "What happened to you—I thought you were going to ask Nia to prom?"

    "I admit it, I choked," Sam said grabbing a water bottle. "But we have Trig together, so it'll be the perfect time for me to redeem myself."

    "Good luck with that, she thinks you hate her," I told him.

    "What? She thinks I hate her, why would she think that?" Sam asked, shocked.

    "Well, maybe it's because you were staring at her like she had ta third boob growing from her forehead," Nick said exasperated. "You didn't speak to her the whole time, Sam. Of course, she thinks you hate her."

    "Well, I don't. I hope you told her that. You did tell her I didn't hate her, Marcus?" he stressed.

    "Don't worry, I told her you didn't hate her," I assured him. "I told her that you were shy."

    Nick laughed, "Sam, shy, that's rich. But I get why you choked—she's hot, if I wasn't with Crystal I'd try and ask her out myself." And thank God for Crystal, because Nick has never been soft-spoken. What he wants, he gets. And if he wanted Nia, Sam and I wouldn't stand a chance.

    "I don't know what came over me, I just couldn't stop looking at her. She was practically glowing," Sam sighed. I know the feeling, man, I know the feeling. "I'm going to ask her out."

    Not if I have anything to do with it.

    "You don't even know anything about her," I said, trying to talk him out of it.

    "You do," he replied. "You can tell me about her."

    Shit. I can't reveal my knowledge, I was going to use that myself. "Uh, I don't know much about her either." Which isn't a total lie, I don't know much about her, except that she likes to read and she works at Barnes and Noble, and she's pretty, and she's smart.

    "Didn't you talk to her when you walked her to class," Nick asked.

    "Not really," I said. "We just talked about classes, nothing interesting."