Chapter 8- Jake
When Isabelle asked me if I thought she was pretty I didn’t know what to do. I mean of course I did, but it was hard enough saying it once, now I had to say it again? She avoided my question, so couldn’t I avoid hers? But what if she thought that I didn’t think she was pretty if I didn’t say anything? I couldn’t let her think that, so I nodded a yes.
“Any guy that doesn’t think that is a fool.” I said quietly, not meaning for her to hear me, but just my luck, she had good hearing. Isabelle stopped in her tracks. I got ready to hear an excuse about her having to go, knowing that I probably just freaked her out. However, instead, when I looked at her I saw those sparkling eyes, and she was smiling at me.
“You know,” she said “I think I like corny Jake. I mean he is really sweet.” She gave me a little nudge and I smiled, still a bit embarrassed.
After just that first week, I already felt pretty close to Isabelle and all her close friends as well (which includes the guys). The whole new kid, new school, new people thing really didn’t seem like that much of a big deal anymore.
Last week I hung out with everyone a lot and they really tried to include me in everything and introduce me to everyone else they knew.
The first day of school was fun and after that it just got better. Apparently, not just for me, because things got better for Matt and Maria too. I heard Matt’s conversation with Isabelle at lunch the first day and I was kind of curious, so I asked Isabelle what was going on. She said that basically Maria thought Matt was mad at her, but he wasn’t.
Well, later that day Matt chased after Maria in the hallway and caught her hand. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and as one dropped down Matt rubbed it away, and pulled her close to him saying,
“I was never mad at you I was just too…shy. I couldn’t come up with anything clever to say, so I just kept thinking, hoping something good would come to me. But then, I went to get some food, came back and my phone was gone! I didn’t find out where it was till this morning. Turns out my little brother had it the whole time.”
I’m pretty sure that made her day, and I was really happy that she wasn’t feeling so sad anymore, because she seems really nice.
Another thing that happened that week was in drama our group planned out what we were going to do and made up our script. The dude Isabelle told me about, Richie, didn’t show up the whole week, so he left us to do everything. Isabelle, Mike and Karina were pretty mad, but I didn’t know why because I thought he was just sick. Then they told me he was just doing it because his friend told him about the project and he didn’t want to help with the planning.
Anyways, that was that. Now, Isabelle and I were walking around, talking and eating our lunch, like we did the first day, then I saw a girl running towards us, and man was she going fast! She finally got to us and jumped Isabelle.
“You’re crazy!” Isabelle yelled at the girl.
They started laughing and gave each other a hug, then Isabelle turned to me,
“This is my friend and neighbor Skye. She’s a year older than us.” Skye extended her hand and said hello, then she went back to Isabelle.
“Isabelle, we have basketball practice again today right?” Skye asked.
“Yeah, coach said we have to practice a lot to make up for the break ‘cause we have a game coming up next week." Isabelle replied.
“You’re on the basketball team? That’s really cool.” Isabelle looked at me.
“Yep. You like basketball? If you do, even though the season already started, you can probably tell the coach and try out to see if you can still make it.”
“Really? I should do that. I am a pretty big fan of basketball, but I don’t know how good I am.” Both Skye and Isabelle laughed.
“Come on, you’re probably just being modest.” Isabelle said.
Skye joined the conversation saying “Yeah, you look like you’re a good b-ball player. Hey, you should come watch our practice after school!” Isabelle’s eyes widened but Skye continued. “It will be a good way for you to meet new people. A bunch of people come to our practices. What do you think Isabelle?”
Isabelle looked at Skye meeting her eyes then looked at me.
“Sounds like a great idea!” She finally said “As long as your parents are cool with it then it should be really fun. It goes on until 4:30 or 5:00, depending on what time we get started.” At that moment I was pretty happy. She actually wanted me to come!
“Nice. Yeah, my dad would be cool with it; I just have to call him so he doesn’t worry about me. I’d rather not have him panicking. You know?”
Isabelle nodded. “Then it’s a date.” she replied. Skye’s eyebrows went up in a questioning kind of fashion and when Isabelle noticed what Skye thought she was saying she immediately yelled, “No, not that way you idiot!” We all broke out laughing. Isabelle was red and I’m pretty sure I was too.
“Okay, I have to finish my lunch, so I’ll see you later.” Isabelle said.
“Okay, see yah.” Skye replied, and walked away.
Isabelle and I went around the school eating our lunches. We talked a lot about things that happened to us, all our friends and I told her everything about my old school. Well, actually not everything. There was one thing I couldn’t tell her, or anyone her for that matter. I couldn’t risk losing their trust here.
In gym we were learning dance and not much happened. We learned a couple more moves and actually had a lot of fun. Then, when the bell rang for the end of school I called my dad to tell him I would be staying to watch the girls’ basketball practice and went to join Matt, Zack, Alex and Lucas.
The girls started with their passes, moved on to shots and layups, then started a scrimmage (a game). Emma, Maria and Isabelle were all put on the same team. On the other team I recognized only Karina (who was waving at me) and the Alisha girl that everyone was warning me about.
The game started and Emma caught the ball, passing it to a team mate, who drove it in and got a basket already. Then, the other team started to bring up the ball, but Isabelle stole it and passed it to Maria who got a layup. After that they tried again but this time Emma stole it, threw it to Maria who dribbled but got caught. Then she made a great pass to Isabelle who made a 3 pointer!
These girls were actually amazing! The other team got some shots in too, 2 of them by Karina, but Isabelle’s team was still winning like crazy. They were working like more of a team, passing, planning, setting up plays, that kind of thing.
Anyways, even though when it comes to actual games, they’re on the same team, I’m guessing Alisha was getting sick of it. Reason? Well, when Maria jumped for the ball Alisha pushed her down and Maria landed sideways on her ankle.
Isabelle and Emma, who were waiting up court started to run to her, and so did Matt and the rest of the group, including me.
When we all got to her Isabelle held Maria’s ankle checking to check that it wasn’t sprained or anything. It was fine just in quite a bit of pain.
Matt held Maria’s face in his hand and turned her towards him, stroking her cheek with his thumb and holding her waist with his other arm.
“Maria, are you okay?” Matt asked and Maria nodded.
“Yah, I’m alright. What happened?” she asked him.
“First of all, that idiot Alisha just pushed you down, and I think she didn’t only injure your ankle, but your head too. Second, if you can’t remember that, I don’t think you’re really okay.” Matt replied with a bit of a chuckle.
Maria looked at him and started laughing then saying “owe!” because she was moving her ankle and head too much, which made the rest of us laugh as well. Matt cared her up and took her to the bench to sit down because she couldn’t get up herself. He sat next to her, put his arm around her and her head on his shoulder. Then, he kissed her forehead. As Isabelle said, it was cute, sweet and probably pretty helpful as well.
Isabelle asked me if I could get an ice pack for Maria, because even though she was saying she was okay Isabelle wouldn’t take that answer.
“You have to ice it a bit” she told Maria, so eventually Maria laughed and gave up.
I came back with the ice and put it on the floor while I sat down. When I went to reach for it again I touched someone’s hand instead. It was Isabelle’s.
“Oh, sorry.” We said in unison, then smiled.