Before He Met Her

Chapter One

  It was the day before my first day of high school I was hanging out with my friend Jake. We were playing basketball in his backyard. His mom handed us Gatorade's because we were getting pretty sweaty and it was a hot day outside. "One more basket and you win!" Jake told me. This was my chance now or never.

  I dribbled the ball and the basketball made it In the basketball hoop. "Nice job man!" Jake told me. "Wanna take a break and get some food or something?" I asked Jake because I was starting to get hungry from all the exercise that we had just done. "Sure, I can eat." Jake told me. "Hey, nerd." Jake's older sister said to him.

  "Is there a possibility you can give us a ride to the mall?" Jake asked his older sister. "For what?" His sister asked him. "We wanna go to the food court." He told his older sister. "Okay, fine I will give you a ride, I need to look for an outfit for my first day of College." His older sister finally gave In to him.

  "I need to grab my purse, I'll be right back wait in the car." His older sister told them as she unlocked her car. "Are you still crushing on my sister?" Jake asked me. "I'm sorry, she's hot." I told Jake. "Ew!" "That's my sister!" He said to me. "Look, I know it's never gonna happen, I just can't help it." I told him.

  I saw her walking towards the car and I started to get butterflies in my stomach. She hooked up her phone to the aux chord and started to blast rap music. "You guys are Freshman now?" His older sister asked us. "Correct." Jake told her. "I wish I was still in high school." She said as she pulled into the mall parking lot.

  "Why?" I asked her. "Because the real world sucks ass." She explained to me. "Anyways, thanks for the ride sis, see ya later." Jake told his older sister. "There's something that I really wanted to ask you." Jake said to me. "What's up?" I asked him. "I was wondering if you were still interested in trying out for the wrestling team?" He asked me.

  "Yeah, totally." I said to Jake. "Tryouts are tomorrow after school." He told me. "We'll go together?" I asked Jake. We headed towards the food court and I decided to grab a slice of pizza and so did he. "Oh uh yeah we will." He agreed as we sat down and ate our pizza. "This is my chance to start over as a new person, it's high school." I told Jake.

  "Yeah I suppose you're right." Jake said to me as we finished up our pizza. "I think a new wardrobe would be best." Jake told me. "Why?" "What's wrong with my wardrobe?!" I asked defensively. "Nothing, you just need something more high school like." Jake explained to me.

  I realized that wearing a Pokémon shirt probably wasn't the greatest thing to show people that I wasn't the same person I was in middle school. "I'm gonna help you pick out some new things to wear." Jake told me as we walked into American Eagle.

  *******

  "Honey, time to get up for school!" My Mom shouted upstairs. Somehow the first day of high school seemed to sneak up on me quicker than I expected it to. I quickly got myself dressed into one of my new outfits. I put on a pair of skinny jeans and a college sweatshirt. I then brushed my teeth and fixed my hair with some hair gel and I put on a new deodorant and cologne.

  "I made you breakfast." My mom told me. "Sorry mom I'm gonna be late, I've gotta catch the bus." I told her as I started to walk out of the door. My friend Jake was at the bus stop waiting for the bus. "Do I look okay?" I asked my friend. "Well you definitely look more mature." My friend Jake told me as we got on the bus.

  "You guys over here." Our other friend Brady said to us. "Ready for high school?" He asked us. "I'm nervous." I told them. "It's gonna be fine, we'll get through it." Brady told me. "I hope so." I thought to myself as the bus pulled into the school parking lot. I was so nervous this morning that I couldn't even eat anything that was really unlike me, and I felt my heart pounding and my hands were shaking now.

"Hey, you coming?" Jake asked me. "Oh, right yeah." I said realizing that I was zoned out. Maybe it was just the ADHD medication making me feel like this I wondered to myself. "Hey, Thomas." Lucy said to me. "Hey, how was your summer?" I asked her. "Good." She said to me. "Same here." I told her.

The bell rang for first period, I had a free period which basically meant I could do whatever the hell I wanted for a whole hour. I decided to stop at my locker though I wanted to set some things inside of it so I would t have to lug everything around with me all morning.

  After I was done with that I decided I should grab a granola bar and a water from the school store. I wasn't used to skipping meals, I was just so nervous about today that it kind of just slipped my mind. The late bell rang after I made my purchase. My heart began to race and I swallowed a lump that was in the back of my throat.

  "Nice of you to join us." An older woman said to me as I walked into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late I had trouble finding your room." I lied to the teacher. "Since it's your first day I will let you off the hook just this once." The teacher told me. I nodded my head and sat down in the back of the room waiting for people to take their attention off of me.

  I looked at the clock it was nine thirty, I was counting down the hours until wrestling tryouts. I noticed a pretty blonde haired girl on the opposite side of me. She was on her laptop watching music videos. I glanced over at her a few times, I wanted to say hi but my shyness kept me from doing so.

  I was starting to get bored which made me feel anxious, I started to tap my feet it was a habit that gave me some sort of comfort. I pulled out a book and tried to focus my attention on that. It was no use I was too distracted by the beautiful girl sitting next to me. This time she noticed me staring at her I quickly looked away from her feeling embarrassed.

  **********
  It was lunchtime and I was starving I could wait to find Jake and Brady. "Hey." Jake shouted to me. "Yo, guys." I said to my two friends. "Did you hear the news?" Jake asked me. "No, what news?" I asked him. "Wrestling tryouts are after lunch." Jake told me. "I'm so pumped for it!" I told them. "We are to." Brady said to me as we sat down at a table.

  I got myself an Italian hoagie and they had burgers and fries. "Imagine all the girls were gonna pull once we make the team." Jake said to us. "You mean if we make it." I said to them as I began to eat my hoagie. "Don't be so negative all the time." Jake said to me. "I'm sorry." I said to them.

  I was actually feeling pretty nervous about this whole thing but there was no way I could tell my friends they'd never understand. Sometimes I think it's the ADHD that makes me feel like this, also the medication has a tendency of making me feel numb sometimes. I hate feeling this way, I wanna be fucking normal.

  *******
  "So honey how were tryouts?" My Mother asked me as I walked in the door. "I made the team!" I said happily to her. "This calls for a celebration dinner!" She said happily to me. "Where's dad?" I asked. "He's working late." She told me. "I think I'm gonna go hang out with my friends." I said to her.

  "Okay, I just thought maybe we could have dinner together." She said to me. "Actually I have a lot of homework, I'm just gonna go to my room." I said changing my mind about wanting to see my friends. "I thought you wanted to see your friends?" She asked me. "You always say school comes first so, just let me know when dinner is ready." I told her.

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