My class after Pre-Calc is the class right before lunch. Team Sports. Luckily for me, basketball counts towards my physical education credit so I get to use this class period as an extra practice time. I love having this class right before lunch because then I'm extra hungry after class and ready for lunch. I usually eat a small snack right before class, though, that way I don't pass out from low blood sugar. Which is why I take my time walking to the gym as I snack on a chocolate and peanut butter protein bar. No need to shove the bar down my throat for me to choke as I rush to class. That's a great way to throw it up.
I crumple the wrapper up in my hand as I take a swig of water to wash the protein bar down as I enter the locker room. I toss the wrapper in the trash can and then head for my locker. Since this is an elective and most of the kids in this class are on the basketball team, the locker room isn't overly crowded like the hallways and classrooms. Only a few guys are in here but I pay no mind to them as I go to my locker.
I may be gay and sometimes look at other guys but Ambrose is the only one to have ever captured my entire heart. I look at other guys because I appreciate the eye candy once in a while, but none of those guys ever hold a candle to Ambrose's beauty. And with Ambrose here now I can't even think about looking at another guy. Not only do I not want to get caught staring at a guy, but I definitely do not want Ambrose thinking I like anyone.
I let out a small frustrated sigh as I turn the dial on the lock. I'm frustrated that I can't let Ambrose know how I really feel if I want to at least be his friend. So far he's in my homeroom and two classes so I don't want him to hate me and have to suffer seeing him so much every day. Nope, that would be bad. That would be very bad.
I change into my gym clothes quickly before I grab my water bottle and head out to the gym. A group of boys stands around the coach and I realize with an annoyed sinking feeling that the group is larger than usual. Great, so we do have extras in here too then. I get closer and nearly panic when a boy with silver eyes turns around to make eye contact with me. What the hell? Why is he here too? Three classes before weren't enough? I panic inwardly as I stop next to Liam.
Liam is a good buddy of mine on the basketball team. We really only hang out during practice and games, though. Even after games when we have parties I don't really hang out with him. We have a good friendship, though, despite only hanging out for limited times. Liam is a nice guy who's great at basketball. Liam should have been voted captain of the team but Brandon got that title instead. Brandon and I have never gotten along because I don't approve of his bullying. He bullies people into getting what he wants, which is how he became captain of the team instead of Liam.
Liam has sandy blonde hair with dark brown highlights thrown in. He keeps the sides and back short but the front longer which he styles upward. He's tall at nearly six feet, just a few centimeters short which really annoys him. His eyes are light brown which I will admit are actually really pretty. His nose has a small bump on it from when he got hit in the face by a basketball our Sophomore year and broke it. He's built, too, since he lifts weights in his free time. Unlike me, Liam wants to go pro someday. I just love the sport and want to play it, I don't want to get so serious about it and go pro; I feel like that would take all the fun out of the game for me.
"Hey, man," Liam greets me as soon as he notices me stop next to him.
I give him a head nod as a reply. I'm too afraid to speak in fear of saying something stupid in front of Ambrose. I've been sort of lucky so far but sooner or later my luck is going to run out and I will make a huge fool of myself. Tripping twice the last period was enough for one day. Which is why I plan on saying the least I can during this period and focus on whatever we end up doing instead.
Once the bell rings and it looks like everyone has made it coach Comen clears his throat loudly to get our attention. He's a big man over six feet tall and broad shoulders. His muscles are defined well enough to know he keeps his body conditioned but not enough to be classified as bulging. His hair is a dark brown with eyes that match and a pair of tan rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. Honestly, he's pretty good looking and sometimes I wonder why he's even a high school basketball coach in the first place. He looks so out of place amongst the other teachers here. Coach Comen looks like he should be a personal trainer or something.
"Okay, as you can see we have some new additions. Nothing is official or anything but some of them might end up joining the team, it just depends on how talented they are and if I can convince them. But for right now this is just another elective for them. The new additions don't mean you can slack off, though, I'm going to work you just as hard today. So get to it, stretches before three laps around the court,"
I stretch my arms out first counting to ten in my head for each arm stretch before moving to my legs. I do a few different stretches before I start jogging around the court at a steady pace. I know coach Comen pretty well after being on his team for three years. So I know it's best to take things slow and work your way up to a faster pace because the man likes to make us sweat. I can't remember a day where we didn't all end class drenched in sweat. It's the same for our real practices after school, too.
I'm making my third lap around the court when someone jogs next to me. I don't even have to look to know who it is. I can sense who it is and I don't really know why. Somehow I know it's Ambrose. Perhaps I'm so in-tune to him because of how much I love him. Whatever the reason is doesn't really matter I guess. What really matters is that Ambrose is jogging next to me and I don't know how to act. Do I greet him? Pretend I don't notice him? What the hell do I do now?
"Hey, Mathias," He says after a few seconds of running next to me.
He doesn't even sound like he's been running because his voice is completely normal! What the hell? Also, that's the first time he's said my name and I have to close my eyes for a few seconds so I don't have a serious fangirl moment from how exciting it is.
I have to take a deep breath before I respond with, "Hi," Yeah, I knew I would sound like an idiot. I'm not wheezing or anything— my body is thankfully more conditioned than that— but my voice is just a bit breathier than usual.
"I mean I hoped you'd be in this class considering you're on the basketball team, but what are the odds that we have all our morning classes together?" He asks.
My heart thumps especially hard just once as I hear his words. He hoped we had this class together? I have no idea what to respond with so I just nod my head and munch out a, "Yeah, weird,"
He chuckles quietly and I swear I'm about to have a heart attack from how sexy it sounds. "I'm glad, though," As soon as his words register in my brain my shoe scuffs on the floor and I nearly face plant. Ambrose's hands shoot out and catch me, though. "Are you okay?"
I nod my head quickly and right myself before stepping out of his hold. "I'm not normally this clumsy, I swear," I rub the back of my neck. What is wrong with my feet today?
He grins wide as he looks me up and down once. His once-over of me has my cheeks heating up more than my running did. Why did he just do that? Is he assessing me to see I'm telling the truth? Do I look clumsy? Can a person look clumsy?
"I think it's kinda cute," The words reach my ears but it takes a good solid ten seconds before my brain registers.
Slowly, my eyes widen and my mouth opens slightly. Did... did he just say what I think he did? Or is it just wishful thinking?
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," He bites his bottom lip and I can't stop my eyes from zeroing in on it. His two front teeth that press into the pink flesh are white and square and just perfect.
"Boys! Why did you stop running?" Coach Comen yells across the court.
I shake my head and nod my head forward to signify that we need to start running again. He nods back so I start running again, Ambrose keeping perfect stride with me. Ambrose is hardly taller than me so it's not surprising that he's keeping up with me, I just hate that he doesn't even look like he's been running. Not a single drop of sweat can be seen on his perfect skin.
Speaking of perfect skin, I can see so much of his right now and I have to force my eyes to stay off him. The quick glance I did get of him I saw that he was wearing a white tee and black basketball shorts with white Nike's. His smooth light brown olive skin looked sexy peeking out from his shirt and shorts. I swear, I'm going to have a heart attack by the end of the day from how sexy he is!
We don't speak after that, not even when we finish our laps and stop to stretch again. We don't talk as Coach Comen divides us into teams, or even when we played a game of basketball. We don't talk as Coach Comen makes us do various floor exercises or during another three laps around the court to cool off. Honestly, I can't decide how I feel about that. I can't decide if I'm glad we didn't get the chance to talk to one another so I could make a fool of myself, or if I'm upset that I didn't get to hear his voice.
By the end of class, I am all hot and sweaty and in serious need of a shower. However, as I catch a glimpse of Ambrose in the locker room I get all shy and debate on if I really need a shower or not. I could shower now and risk seeing him naked or vice versa. Or I could wait it out until he leaves and then take a shower. Only I would be late for lunch and I didn't show Jensen where the cafeteria is. Maybe he can get to the cafeteria on his own? I shake my head as I stand in front of my open locker. No. I need to just shower and get it over with. I can survive one shower without looking at him and being a creepy pervert.
With determination, I grab my shower caddy and towel and then force myself to stand tall as I strip out of my sweaty clothes. I shove my clothes into my locker and shut it as quietly as I can as to avoid making a commotion that would make eyes look my way. I wrap my towel around my waist then take a deep breath before I turn around. And of course, my perverted eyes find Ambrose immediately.
My heart thumps inside my chest just as quickly as it did while I was running. Ambrose is heading towards the showers with a white towel wrapped low around his waist. His back is smooth and the olive skin glistens with sweat under the fluorescent lighting. The small of his back dips just slightly revealing that his torso is toned and not an ounce of fat is there. Not even love handles! Hot damn!
I gulp before rushing to the showers and taking the first empty one I get to. Thankfully there are curtains boxing me in so no one can see inside the shower. Normally I'm not this self-conscious but with Ambrose being here I can't help but feel weird in my own skin. It's not that I hate my body or anything because I don't, it's just that I feel weird when I think about Ambrose seeing me naked. I may be obsessed with the guy but that doesn't mean I'm ready for him to see me so vulnerable.
I scrub off as quickly as possible and make sure I don't get any shampoo into my eyes in the process. I can hear people still in the showers but a lot of them are already back at their lockers so I turn off my shower and grab my towel from the hook outside my stall. I figure the more people hanging out in the locker room the less of a chance there is for me and Ambrose to see each other. Ambrose seems pretty popular amongst the people from his school and he seems to get along well with the people from mine, so hopefully, someone keeps him distracted long enough for me to get dressed and escape the locker room before I see something that will definitely warrant another shower.
After wrapping my towel tight around my waist and then grabbing my shower caddy, I make my way out to the lockers. I keep my eyes forward and literally force my eyes to stay on my locker so I don't feel tempted to look for Ambrose. Only God knows just how badly I want to try and find Ambrose. I somehow manage to make it to my locker without looking at anyone else and quickly unlock it. As I'm pulling out my jeans Liam comes over to lean against the lockers next to me. I try not to make an irritated expression. I really wanted to get dressed and leave as quickly as possible.
"What do you think about all this?" He asks.
I glance at him to find him fully clothed and looking up at the ceiling. "About what?" I ask as I yank on my jeans.
"About Washburn High joining us?"
"Oh," I should have known that was what he was talking about. I shrug my shoulders as I put deodorant on and then reach for my shirt. "I mean it's gotten us out of class for the most part so I don't really mind it. It's super crowded, though, so that's a negative,"
"Tell me about it, we've resorted to sitting on the floor because there aren't enough chairs," Liam says. "I did hear that some of the other schools already took in some of Washburn high students but since we're the closest public one that most were sent here. I wonder what they are going to do about it since it's still the beginning of the school year basically. We can't really accommodate all these new students, can we?"
I shake my head. "It's a safety hazard, our school isn't big enough to hold this many people safely," Now that I think about it I really hope Ambrose isn't sent somewhere else. I may be acting stupid around him but I don't want him to be sent somewhere else now that I'm finally talking to him.
"Yeah, I wonder," Liam nods his head as I slip my shirt over my head finally. "I just hope someone doesn't get put somewhere important like the team or in a play or something and then have to leave again, that would suck,"
"Yeah, that would definitely suck," I agree. I grab my sweatshirt and yank it on next. "This whole thing sucks, though," I say just as my head pops out of the top, the hood falling over my eyes.
Liam punches me in the shoulder as I'm knocking the hood off my head by throwing my head back. "Well, I'll see you at practice tonight, bye," He says with a nod before walking off.
I nod back before turning to my locker and grabbing my shoes and socks. With my back turned still I can feel a presence that has my skin tingling. I take a deep calming breath before I turn around with my shoes and socks.
"I wasn't the reason he left, was I?" Ambrose asks as he points over his shoulder with a thumb in the direction Liam left in.
I shake my head. "Nah, I don't think so," I say as I sit down on the bench and put my socks on.
"Still, I'm sorry if I was the reason," He says as he leans against the lockers next to mine just like Liam had. "I was just wondering, though, since we have already had all our morning classes the same, I was wondering what your afternoon looked like. In case we have any more classes together,"
I look up at him and bite my inner cheek almost immediately. God, why does he look so hot leaning against the locker like that with his wet curls hanging down? "You want to know my afternoon classes?"
"Yeah,"
"Well, lunch right now," Which is good because I feel like I'm going to die I'm so hungry!
He nods his head. "Same,"
"After lunch, I have American Literature then US Government and Marketing, this semester I have CPR as well,"
"Do you have those with Mrs. DeWhall, Mr. Gregory, and Mrs. Brodal by any chance?"
I stare at up him with a sinking feeling in my gut. "Yes," I say slowly.
He grins wide. "Cool. I have those exact classes too then," He sounds so excited. "I don't have CPR, though, I have woodworking with Mr. Stetson last period,"
For some reason hearing that we don't have our last together makes me a little sad. And here I was convincing myself that I didn't want him in any of my classes. But at least now I can prepare myself before going to class instead of being surprised and making a fool of myself.
"That's crazy that we have the same classes," I say as I finish with my shoes and stand up.
"Yeah, but I think it's cool," He looks like he has something else to add but he doesn't, instead, he just looks at me with a pretty smile.
I debate what I'm about to say next before I actually do. "Do you want to walk to lunch together?" Hopefully, I don't regret asking that.
"Yeah, I'd like that,"
I nod my head and shut my locker before nodding to the exit. Ambrose pushes off the locker and follows me out.