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Chapter 23
Slowly boys began to trickle in, all of them surprised to see me. When Tyler, Dev and Cal walked in, I knew I was in deep shit. Dev and Cal quickly made their way over to me, Ty trailing behind them.
"Nicky, what are you doing here?" Cal asked, confusion written on his face.
"I thought it was pretty obvious." I said sarcastically, pain putting me on edge.
"What about your leg?" Dev asked, worry clouding his face.
"What about it?" I asked, daring him to say something.
"Nothing. Dev said, sounding defeated.
Ty stepped forward. "Nic-" He started only to be cut off by a shrill whistle.
I looked around to see where the whistle had come from. My eyes rested on a short woman standing at the front of the gym, with brown hair braided to her waist and hard brown eyes.
"LINE UP!" She yelled and everybody slowly started forming a line in front of her. "A LITTLE URGENCY WOULD BE NICE!" She yelled.
Everyone immediately fell into line, some of their faces clouded with fear. I looked down the line and my eyes locked on Ty. He looked at me as if sensing my eyes.
"I understand we have some new recruits." Coach shouted.
"Yes Coach." The team yelled back, while the senior members pushed the new ones forward. As I stumbled forward I stumbled forward I caught Dev's disapproving gaze and Cal's worried one.
"I'm going to give you guys a test run. Every drill I will cut people off the team, whether you're already on the team or not. So, play your best. Now, get your asses outside."
Everyone walked outside, all of us moving sluggishly and lined back up. "I want 5 laps around campus. You have 15 minutes." She screamed, putting her fingers in her mouth and releasing a high-pitched whistle. I started jogging along with everybody else, only to feel a sharp pain shoot up my right leg. I ignored it and the pain gradually started to fade as I ran, becoming a dull throbbing in the background. I glanced around and noticed most of the senior members were sprinting, instead of jogging. What the heck, I thought, perplexed.
"10 minutes." Coach yelled as I passed her the second time. OH SHIT! I had totally forgotten about the time limit. I automatically picked up my pace and managed to finish 30 seconds before time was up.
"WATER BREAK! Except you, you and you." Coach shouted, pointing to 3 boys who hadn't finished before the time limit. I walked over to the bench with my water, and looked up to see the 3 boys exiting the gym. Half the guys had crawled to the benches and proceeded to drink half the bottle. I shook my head in amusement as Coach stormed up to them. "You idiots! Do you WANT cramps?"
"No ma'am." They answered, fear making their eyes glaze over. She stomped away and walked out, leaving them sitting there dumbstruck.
I started to laugh at their expressions when my leg seized up and started to shake uncontrollably. I tried to move the muscle, but couldn't, I had no control over it. I tried massaging it out, like I would a cramp and was pleasantly surprised when it stopped the shaking.
"Get your lazy asses over here!" Coach shouted. I looked up to see her standing by the doors, a bag full of basketballs in her hands. I slowly stood up, to see if my leg would even hold me up. When it didn't give out, I took a few experimental steps and it seemed like it was ok.
Everyone trudged over to her, some of the boys clutching their stomachs.
"We're going to do the point drill. It'll help with your rebound skills. So, I want half the team at one basket, and the other half at the other basket." She said, but no one moved. "Why are you all just standing there? MOVE!"
Cal, Dev and I ended up on the same side. I tried to ignore them, but of course they had to end up right behind me in line.
"Are you ok?" Cal asked, glancing down at my leg.
"I'm fine. I can barely feel it." I said, trying to give him a reassuring smile.
"START!" Coach yelled. She threw each line a ball, and we got started. I threw the ball at the backboard and ran to the back of the line, while Dev caught the ball and did the same thing. Cal then caught the ball, and then shot it at the backboard, and so on. We did this for another 20 minutes, our side only dropping the ball once.
Coach blew the whistle and all of us came jogging in. "How many times did your side drop the ball?" She asked turning towards my side.
"Once." Some tall brunette boy answered. She turned towards the other side, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Twice." A tall black haired boy answered.
"Well, go run your laps." She said. All the new members just followed the senior members lead. My side had to run one time around campus, while the other team had to run around twice.
"WATER BREAK!" Coach yelled when everybody had finished. I walked over to my water bottle, and sat down. My leg started to twitch, but I ignored it. When I tried to stand up, my knee buckled, sending me to the floor. Shit, what was that, I thought, slowly getting up.
"WATER BREAKS OVER!" Coach shouted, motioning for us to join her at the front of the gym. I slowly walked over to her, trying to feel any signs of my knee buckling again.
"Ok, we're going to play a little game, to see how good you guys are. It's man on man. Ok?" She asked, before picking teams, not waiting for an answer. Tyler, Dev and I were on the same team, while Jake and Cal were on the other.
"Nic, take it easy. Ok?" Dev warned.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said dismissively, setting myself up in front of Cal. Coach blew the whistle and threw the ball in to the air. Ty and some tall blond boy jumped for the ball. TY hit the ball down, while Dev and I sprinted around our guards, to try to get the ball. Dev got the ball first, and evaded his guard again. I ran ahead, so I was open and Dev passed to me. I aimed for the top right hand corner of the box, and shot the ball. Everyone watched in disbelief as the ball bounced off the backboard and straight into the basket.
"How the hell did she do that?" Someone mumbled. I was feeling pretty damn good, until a sharp pain sliced through my victory haze. My leg locked up, before a tremors started rocking through it. I took a deep breath to try to calm my racing heart, before reaching down to rub the muscle.
"What are you doing?" Dev asked, when he saw that I hadn't moved.
"Nothing." I said quickly, limping away, all the while rubbing the muscle. Finally the pain started to subside and the game started again.
The same blond boy passed the ball to Cal, but I sprinted and intercepted the ball. I looked and saw Ty was open. I threw the ball, shouting, "TY!"
Too late, I saw that he wasn't paying attention. He finally became aware of the ball and everything went into slow motion.
Ty moved his hands to stop the ball, but it was too late. The ball hit him squarely in the face.
Ahh, SHIT!
*~*~* Tyler's P.O.V. *~*~*
I was watching Nic as she sprinted across the court to beautifully intercept the ball.
Gosh, I want her so badly it hurts.
"TY!" I heard her musical voice yell, tearing me from my thoughts, seconds before I saw the ball. I knew it was useless, but I still tried to raise my arms to stop the ball.
Next thing I know, I was lying on my back and my face felt like it had been smashed in. I tried to sit up, only to be gently pushed back down by Nic. I looked up into her gorgeous face, to see worry spreading over her beautiful features.
I heard the bleachers clank as someone came down them. Seconds later I felt someone's pounding steps coming closer. Suddenly Nic's angelic face was gone, replaced by Heather's demonic one.
Oh, god, why couldn't I control my dick, I thought in despair. Now I've lost Nic forever.
I tried to get up, only to have Heather slam me back on to the ground, causing me head to bounce off the floor. I winced in pain as the back of my head touched to the ground again, thinking about how gentle Nic's touch had been.
*~*~* Nicole's P.O.V. *~*~*
I was kneeling next to Ty, trying to see if he was ok, when I felt pounding footsteps coming closer. I disregarded them, until someone came and shoved me away from Ty. What the heck?
I looked up to see Heather, kneeling next to him now. He tried to get up, only to have Heather roughly push him back into the ground. When his head hit the ground I cringed.
"What the hell, Heather?" I asked, majorly pissed off.
"Stay away from my boyfriend, slut." She hissed.
"Wait. Boyfriend? Slut?" I asked, my anger bubbling to the surface.
"That's right. My boyfriend and I'll be damned if I let a slut like you steal him away." She said, louder this time, causing the team to form a circle around us.
"Call me a slut one more time." I said quietly, letting her feel the full force of my anger. A million questions were flooding my mind, and I didn't have an answer to any of them. Why would Ty lie and say he had broken up with her? Why would he ask me to meet him in the gym? Maybe this was all a set up? Damn it and I thought he was better than this.
"SLUT!" Heather yelled, dragging out the word. That's it. I slowly stood up, ignoring the protest from my leg. She followed my lead and got to her feet, her 4 inch stilettos making her as tall as me.
"You asked for it." I said in a low venomous voice. Heather's eyes widened in fear for a second, before she could mask it.
I took a step forward and she stumbled back. I moved so that I was right in front of her, before raising my hand to hit her. My fist was almost to her face, when a strong hand caught my forearm. I looked back and saw Dev standing behind me, Cal not far behind.
"Don't Nic. She's not worth it." He said, slowly lowering my hand.
"Did you hear what she said?" I asked, my anger starting to recede.
"I'm pretty sure the whole school heard, but that's beside the point. You and I both know that you're not a slut, so what does it matter what the whore says?" He asked, trying to appease me. I heaved a big sigh, before giving up on the idea of actually punching her.
"Dev you can let go of my hand now. I promise not to hit her." I said, trying to shake his hand off.
"Ok." He said skeptically.
I turned to Heather. "Stay away from me. Next time Devin might not be there to save you." I said threateningly.
"Whatever." She said and practically ran for the door.
"How the hell does she do that?" I wondered out loud. I mean, seriously. How do you run in 4 inch heels? I can't even run in flats!
Dev chuckled, bringing my attention back to him. "Thank you." I said, giving him a hug.
"You're welcome Nicky." He said, wrapping his arms around me. I felt safe and calm in Dev's arms. It was and would always be one of my safe havens.
"Can we get back to practice?" Coach asked sarcastically.
"Sure Coach." I said, waving her off.
Ty slowly got up off the floor and took his place as center. I went to guard Cal, like I did last time, when my leg suddenly went numb. I tried to move it, but it wouldn't move. Oh crap!
"Wait Coach." I shouted.
"What now?" She asked impatiently.
"I can't move or feel my leg."
"What do you mean you can't feel you leg?" She asked perplexed.
"Exactly what it sounds like." I retorted fear making me short tempered.
"Come here." She said, walking to a bench.
"Umm... What part of 'I can't move my leg' did you not understand?" I asked, my temper getting the best of me.
"Somebody help her." Coach snapped. Next thing I knew I was in Cal's arms.
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