Falling

03

"It's definitely not what you think it's about, I can promise you that," he replied, turning the page.

"It's not some romance novel we're going to be forced to read?"

Vinny let out a small laugh that I could barely even register before shaking his head and closing the book, looking over at me.

"No, it's not," he told me, his lips slightly quirked upwards.

"Why are you already reading it anyway?" I asked with a puzzled expression. "It hasn't even been assigned yet."

Vinny shrugged, leaning forward so that all the legs of his chair were safely on the floor.

"I like to get ahead," he said. "You think I have time to go grab a smoke before class?"

I checked the time and immediately shook my head.

"Definitely not."

Just as the words left my mouth, Mr. Thompson walked in the room with a coffee in hand.

"Glad to see you're on time today, Vincent," Mr. Thompson greeted Vinny to which he just rolled his eyes.

When the late bell rang, Mr. Thompson immediately began class by discussing Beloved.

***

Of course, by the time gym rolled around, we were being forced onto teams for a floor hockey game. Coach Bronson made Seth Powers and Vinny each captains, much to Vinny's dismay. To give him credit, he did try to get out of it, but Coach Bronson was not having any of Vinny's negative attitude and forced the captaincy on him.

"I don't think it's very fair that you made two guys captains when there are plenty of girls in this class," Vinny pointed out. "Don't you think that's a little sexist? Not putting any girl in a captain position?"

Coach Bronson sent Vinny a look of annoyance while most of the class watched in amusement. Logan, on the other hand, gave his brother an irritated scowl, as did Seth.

"Fine, Vinny you're right," Coach relented with a sigh. "Madison can take Seth's spot."

"That is not—"  Vinny tried to argue, but Coach Bronson put his hand up to silence him.

"Stop arguing with me," Coach demanded. "Nothing you say now will change my mind."

I didn't miss the nasty glare that was sent Vinny's way by Seth and by that look, I knew he would be targeting him during the game. That was probably his plan all along.

Madison started off by picking one of her friends and when it was Vinny's turn, he just pointed at someone with a bored look on his face.

It went on like that for the next few minutes, Vinny eventually pointing toward me while Logan and Seth were picked for Madison's team.

"Captains choose your goalies!" Coach Bronson shouted you each team that occupied either side of the gym.

"I'll be goalie," one girl on our team stated before anyone else could say anything.

"Whatever," Vinny replied in a bored tone.

We all grabbed our sticks, which were blue for our team color, and I looked to Vinny who stood off to the side. His eyes were cast downward at the floor as he leaned on the hockey stick, placing most of his weight on his left leg and bending his right knee.

I stopped staring at him before he could catch me.

Coach Bronson ordered Vinny and Madison to the center of the gym floor for the face off. Vinny lost it and Madison batted the ball toward Seth who immediately started running down the floor toward our goal.