Let's Pretend You Love Me

-Chapter 22-

Emily's POV

Two weeks later, after the state championship, after Aaron had broken his ankle and collar bone and was rushed to the hospital, it was finally time for basketball tryouts. Even though I was guaranteed a spot on varsity it didn't mean I had any time for slacking.

"Remind me to never let you talk me into doing this again," Jacy grumbled, her hair in a messy ponytail and her eyes still halfway opened while she passed me the ball at the three point line. I caught the ball and flicked it up in the air, the satisfying sound of the net wipping as the ball flew through it brought a smile to my face.

"Oh shut up, I didn't talk you into anything," Sure it was only 6:15 in the morning and we were at the school shooting hoops but we hadn't been shooting as much as we should have and tryouts started today.

"I'm losing precious beauty sleep 'cause of you, whore," Jacy growled, catching my rebound and throwing it back. I shot again but missed this time. Damn.

"I don't think sleep is gonna help you with that," I teased while Jacy chased after my ball and chucked it at me as hard as she could. Luckily she has horrible aim and missed me or else that would've hurt a lot.

"You're stupid," Jacy yelled at me but we were both laughing.

Thirty minutes later we were stuffing our basketballs back into our gym lockers and changing into our school clothes to get ready for the day. Within ten minutes we were both ready and walking out of the girls locker room and into the school hallways.

"There you guys are," I heard Emmett say, walking up to us with Aaron rolling up behind him. Since he couldn't use crutches because of his broken collar bone he had to roll around in a wheelchair. He complained all the time about not being able to do anything by himself, but of course he didn't mind being pushed around the school by his friends and of course by me.

"We were practicing," I said, nodding my head towards the closed gym doors.

"Goody two shoes," Aaron scoffed, still upset that he wouldn't be able to try out this year due to his injuries. Even though the coach had saved him a spot on the bench and promised Aaron that once he got better he'd be able to work his way up to varsity by playing in JV games through out the season, Aaron still hadn't given him an answer as to if he would actually do that or not.

"Oh hush you sour puss," Jacy scolded, glaring at him before grabbing Emmett and kissing him hard, not caring who was watching. Aaron and I both made gagging sounds before the two pulled apart.

Just then the bell rang and we all separated to go to our own classes. While I was on my way to my first period class someone bumped into me.

"Hey, are you Emily?" The person who bumped into me, asked. I didn't recognize this guy. He was tall, maybe taller than Aaron and Emmett, with sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Freckles were scattered around his nose and cheeks and he was built like a middle line backer. 

"Um, yes I am? I'm sorry, do I know you?" I tried to be as polite as possible but if I stopped to talk to this stranger I would be late to class. 

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to be rude! My name is Derek, I'm new here and the office lady gave me your name, she said you could show me around since it's my first day?" He said smiling sheepishly. I remember that I had put my name on the sheet of paper at the beginning of the year to be one of the seniors to help show new students around the school and make them feel comfortable. 

If I remember correctly I also got out of some of my classes if I was showing a new student around. 

"It's nice to meet you, just follow me and I'll give you a tour after I put my books in my locker," Anything to get out of going to my first period! 

"This is a pretty big school, it's a little nerve wracking to walk in here," Derek said while he tailed behind me in the hallways as students disappeared into their classrooms until we were alone. 

"Where are you from? We're a 3A school so it is pretty big," I explained, shoving my books into my locker. 

"I moved from a small town about five hours from here. My old high school had about 300 kids total, if that," 

"Oh wow, that's smaller than I had expected,"

"You have no idea," 

I spent the first two periods showing Derek around the school and explaining all of the rules. He seemed excited but really nervous as well. I found out that Derek and I had a lot in common, he was a pretty cool guy. He was going to try out for basketball as well, luckily he got here the day of tryouts. 

By lunch time I had invited Derek to sit with us and he was getting along with everyone really well. 

"I'll pick you up in the morning okay?" Aaron said, kissing me again before I opened the door of his car to get out. 

"Okay babe, have fun tonight," Aaron was going out to dinner with his dad and his Fiance to try to patch things up some. I could tell he was pretty nervous. 

"Yeah. . . I'll text you," We kissed one more time before I shut the door and ran into my house while Aaron drove away. 

With finally being ready to go to sleep I snuggled up in my bed, plugged my phone into its charger and closed my eyes after this long and exhausting day. 

Right when I was just about to fall asleep my phone rang. The only reason I checked my phone was because I thought it was Aaron finally texting me back. It wasn't. 

Hey! I just wanted to thank you again for showing me around school. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and everyone else better. I'm feeling a lot better about my families move up here now, thanks to you. Sleep well, goodnight:) 

It was Derek.