Not Another Jock

Chapter Seven

Following Tyler up the stairs, I examined the family photos on the walls.

Most of them were of Tyler and Caz as young children, a few from more recent years. One picture in particular showed Caz on a horse, his young, freckled face beaming at the camera as he sat on the western saddle. He couldn't have been more than eight or nine.

"The desktop is in here, not on the wall." Tyler said from beside me, making me jump, wobbling on the step.

"I know that." I said, practically snapping at him. "God, you scared me."

He chuckled quietly as he lead me the rest of the way up, holding the door to the office open.

Slipping inside, he propped the door open with a wooden wedge, slipping it under the door to keep it open. He strode over to the black desktop that was sitting on a worn, old desk.

Bending over to login in, he turned the desktop on, the screen turning blue as a loading symbol spun around the middle.

Once the system turned on, four icons appeared, the users.

Sam, Lauren, Ty and Caz

Tyler clicked on his profile, the keys of the keyboard clicking harshly as he put in his password.

"I'm not as good with computers as Caz or Dad is." He admitted, clicking on the search bar. "But I'm not too bad. You have your email and password on you?"

I nodded, pulling my phone out of my pocket and opening the email that the school sent me a few days prior.

He stepped aside to let me use the keyboard, my phone open on the desk beside me.

Typing my email and password into the login box, I hit enter and waited for it to load.

It wasn't the fastest desktop I'd ever used, but I had no other option, and I was thankful to Lauren for agreeing to let me use it.

A menu popped up on the screen, so I clicked onto the icon that had my subjects and timetable on it, waiting for it to show up.

Pulling out my phone, I opened the camera, ready to take a picture of it. I had a few unread messages from Pearl, but I ignored them and went straight onto my camera app.

I took a quick photo of my timetable and subjects, turning back to Tyler, who was leaning against the wall with his phone in his hand, eyebrows creased as he read whatever was on his screen.

"Erm, thanks." I said awkwardly, pocketing my phone and wringing my hands. "For letting me sign into my account."

I turned to walk away after he nodded, but was stopped when I felt his hand on my shoulder. I turned around, facing him as he let go of my shoulder.

"What I said at the table." He started, and I could feel a light blush creeping over my face. "I didn't mean it in a bad way."

"I know." I said, my voice unnaturally high.

"It's just that the team always tip the hot girls from our school, even if they have no chance with them." He continued, my face now burning with awkwardness and embarrassment. "So, don't take it personally if they crack a joke or something."

I nodded quickly, not trusting my voice to come out as anything other than a high pitched - embarrassing - squeak. My face was burning at this point, but he either didn't notice or was ignoring it.

Leaving the room, I started head out to follow him but I remembered that the desktop was still on, so I turned back and quickly shut down the system.

Heading towards the stairs, I nearly bumped into Lauren, who was turning the corner just as I was.