Stress Relief

New Boy

As they walked to their first classes of the day, their chatter filled with talks of that morning. "I can't believe you hit on Coach's son dude." Jase spoke with a disbelieving smile.

"Hey he's cute, I was shooting my shot." Alex shrugged, laid back as usual. "Coach is definitely gonna have me doing running lines though." He chuckled.

Alex was always sort of lax when it came to relationships. He liked to keep things simple , only looking for a good time. Or, as Chase has come to realize, a distraction from his ridiculously strict parents and a sense of freedom that came with the rebellion.

Chase looked over at him, knitting his brow in slight agitation. "You're lucky he wasn't put off or you would've been kicked off." He still couldn't believe how fast he went for it, and after just meeting the guy no less.

"Awe, are you worried about me." Alex cooed.

"Worried you'll spread something to Coach's son." Anthony murmured.

Alex looked unbothered, until Chase watched out of the corner of his eye as he slowed down and positioned himself behind Anthony.

Anthony stumbled out of his peripheral, causing several squeaks of his shoes. "Watch your step Anthony."

Chase looked back just in time to watch Anthony punch Alex's shoulder. "You're pathetic." Alex rubbed his arm with a wince and gave him a scowl that was already returned.

"Oh my God I can't with them." Diego groaned at his side. He couldn't agree more.

As they walked down the hallway, his heart jumped a little seeing his girlfriend walking down the hall. Her eyes were facing forward, her hands clutching her messenger bag as she sped walked down the hall.

"Rachel!" He waved at her.

She looked over, gave him a smile and looked forward once again as she rushed to her next class. His chest tightened at the brief greeting, and his hand fell pathetically to his side.

"Bro...you've got to break up with her." He gave a look to Diego and kept walking. "You two never spend time together anymore." He reminded, as if he wasn't already aware of their strained relationship.

"We don't need to be attached at the hip." He joked, but the truth still festered like an infected wound.

The truth was, he only ever saw Rachel during their meetups before his practice after school. She worked on weekends so he never got to see her then, and on the days they didn't have practice she was busy doing homework. Of course, he knew she was working hard to get a scholarship so she can get out of her house and away from her dad and he supported her fully but, he never got to hang out with her.

Not to mention their last date was months ago, and Rachel's denied every time he asked because she's had AP class work to finish.

After giving a couple of departing fist bumps to his friends, Chase walked into his Introduction to Rhetoric class and took his spot at the table by the door.

It sucked he didn't have English III with his friends, but he knew it was consequence for not taking it junior year like everyone else. Oh well, at least he got to read The Great Gatsby before them all.

Luckily though, classes flew by like a blur thanks to his earbuds. With some light chatter and complaints about the Earth and Space Science teacher from Carson at lunch, it wasn't long before his last class rolled around. He was a little disappointed to see that Elijah wasn't in any of his classes though. He wanted to talk to him again.

The desks were arranged in groups of four, roughly twenty five desks in total. His was in the middle of the room facing away from the door, closest to the whiteboard.