The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Twenty Five

The rest of that day passed by in a blur, with me thinking about my sketchbook and nothing else. This of course caused me to get called on by many of my teachers when they saw I wasn't paying attention. Instead of flushing and being embarrassed this time around, I just honestly didn't care.

Even worse, that night Damien had practically sent me over fifteen texts, asking if I was okay. I had ignored them until they had begun to pop up on my phone every two minutes, causing me to send a text back to him, clarifying to him that I was in fact okay, even though it was clear that I wasn't and probably never will be unless some miracle happened.

The next day, it wasn't an understatement that I dreaded going to PE after what had happened yesterday. Zander was in this class with me and I don't know if I could face him after what had happened. Even worse, Alicia wasn't at school today (or at least I think she wasn 't, I haven't seen her around this morning) so I wouldn 't know what to do if I was approached by Zander and his friends or Damien. Oh, and I still haven't forgotten about my wet sketchbook.

Maybe Will is right. Maybe I can't stand up to myself and make people do it for me. I thought as I trudged to PE. I had just sat down on my spot when I heard someone call my name. I looked up and to my dismay, I saw that it was Zander.

"What do you want?" I asked once he had sat down next to me. He just gave me an amused look.

So he thinks this is funny?!

"Are you still upset about your sketchbook?" he asked. I glared at him.

"What do you think?!"

"I think that, no, you still haven't gotten over it."

"Correct." I huffed, and then added ¨What are you going to do about it?¨

Before he could respond, Mr. Greene's booming voice interrupted our "conversation" and all the talking around us.

"Alright, today is going to be a free day." Mr. Greene told us, after he had taken attendance. "You may walk around the track, play with the basketballs, soccer balls, and volleyballs or toss around a frisbee." he added, mentioning to a trash can filled with basketballs, soccer balls, volleyballs and frisbees. I slightly winced when I saw that it was the same bucket that Zander had thrown up in last week.

"However," Mr. Greene said, "You may not sit around and drink water or talk to your friends. You have to do something active."

Well, there goes my plan of laying down sulking over my sketchbook... I thought to myself.

When he released everyone to go get whatever they needed, I just sat there for a minute, going over what I could do if I couldn't lay there and sulk. Eventually I just decided to go and walk the track. Sighing softly to myself, I stood up and began to make my way towards the track. That's when I heard someone call my name.

"Noah!" I turned around to see Zander, Will, that chestnut haired boy, and another unfamiliar boy with straight dark hair standing there. I noticed that Zander was holding a basketball.

"What-"

'Do you want to try and shoot some hoops with us?" Will asked and I couldn't help but notice the slight smirk on his face.

"Um, I was just about to go and walk the track-"

Please, just for a few minutes?" Will begged.

"I-I-"

I bit my lip and looked at the basketball hoop behind them. It seemed to tower over me, even more so than I thought it would be, considering I was as short as hell.