When Autumn Comes

Basketball

Autumn tapped her pencil on her desk and stared at the teacher, occasionally nodding. As if she was actually paying attention. She shifted in her seat and shifted her gaze to the clock; 10 more minutes of this, and then she'd be off to P.E. At least there she'd be moving around. Something to do. She sighed, fidgeting. "Just come on... 10 more minutes..." Jake whispered next to her, sensing her anxiousness. "Besides, math isn't so bad." She raised her eyebrows at him, and he chuckled. "Alright, fine. I get it."

"Alright, class, let's get out our headphones and study." Miss Wanser nodded. "Test is tomorrow."

Autumn grinned and pulled her phone out of her pocket, along with a small pair of black headphones. "Alright, math isn't so bad." She laughed as Jake shot her a wry smile, and then plugged in her headphones. She scrolled through her music, and clicked on "Shawn Mendes - Aftertaste". Immediatly she started humming, and flipped through her notes. Pretending to study; she was a straight-A student. ~Turns out that no one can replace me, I'll probably doubt you can erase me, don't know if you remember me, one more kiss is all it takes, I'll leave you with the memory, and the Aftertaste~ Her song rang in her head, and she almost began singing, until she remembered she was still in class. She nearly laughed out loud, smiling. Soon, the song was over, and a new one started playing. She stayed like that until she heard the bell.

Pulling off her headphones, she shoved them into her pocket along with her phone, gathering her notes, books, pencils, pens and everything into her arms before trying to push in her chair with her foot... instead she ended up falling, everything spilling out of her arms. Jake paused in the exit of the classroom, but she waved him off and crouched, starting to gather it back.

"Dork." Came a whisper from above her, and she looked up as Derek, a jock and a bully, strutted past her with a smirk. Glaring daggers at him, she ignored more stinging insults and finally picked everything up, making her way out the door. Setting things beside her locker, she started spinning in the locker combination, brushing her blonde hair out of her face absentmindedly, and shifted her braid to the other shoulder. Her blue-gray eyes were concentrated, even though she'd been spinning in locker combinations into her locker since sixth grade. Somehow, this was the only way to escape the chaos of the halls, the insults sometimes aimed at her, the shoves, pushes and trips she managed to get.

Putting her things up in her locker, Autumn grabbed her backpack and shoved in one of her notebooks, a pencil, and a book. She slung it over her shoulder and closed her locker gently, making her way down the hall. Jake caught up to her someway down the hall, walking by her side. "Art, or P.E.?" He asked, tipping his head to the side. "P.E." She replied, watching people warily as she walked by, and then shifting her gaze away... and not noticing when a box of pencils, or a couple of books, spilled to the floor, right after she looked at them. Thankfully, no one payed any attention to her.

"Bye." She nodded to him as he waved, and jogged into the Art classroom. They had signed up, hoping to be together, but they weren't. She sighed, and turned, opening the P.E. locker room door and avoiding looking at anyone changing. Personally, she hated changing in the locker room... it was just awkward, because it felt like everyone was staring at her. She shoved her backpack into a locker and closed the door, jogging out of the locker rooms and into the Big Gym.

Of course, they were walking laps. She started along the huge track, it was still inside because they were going around the edges of the Gym. After a little while of that, a whistle sounded, and she jogged to the middle, where everyone was meeting. Crossing her arms, Autumn stayed to the back, blue-gray eyes wary.

"Today, we will be playing Basketball," came the voice of her teacher, and Autumn gave a small grin. Basketball was one of the only sports she was relatively good at, Kickball and Baseball in that category as well. A couple of the boys high-fived, laughing like idiots.

"Now, I expect you know how to play Basketball, since you ARE in 8th grade." Said the Coach, looking annoyed. Mostly everyone nodded in agreement, the boys in the back snickering again. She ignored them, and the Coach started putting everyone in teams. Derek, Teresa (A girl from her English class), and two other boys that she didn't know.

"Good luck, dork." Derek laughed, and grabbed the basketball from my hands before jogging over to where the hoop was. I ran after him, flushing from anger. He jumped and twisted in the air, tossing the ball, and it swished through the net. I glowered at him from the edge of the court angrily.

         Teresa grabbed the ball as it thudded to the ground and dribbled it before tossing it to her, and she caught it easily. Dribbling it around and past the boys, she leaped up and tossed it... and missed. The orange basketball bounced off the backboard with a heavy thunk and rolled off the hoop, Derek catching it before it could hit the ground. He laughed, tossing it to one of his friends. "Good going." She narrowed her eyes, and then suddenly, the basketball flew out of Derek's hands and straight at her. With a yelp, she caught it, eyes widening from their narrowed position to wider then usual. "What the hell?" Derek, Teresa, and the other two boys were staring at her like she was insane. Which she was almost positive now that she was. "What. The. Hell?" She said again. And for some reason, sudden realization dawned in Derek's eyes. 

             He grabbed her wrist sharply and twisted, causing her to cry out, and bringing him closer to her. Derek muttered in her ear, "What the hell was that? How did you do that? I didn't think you were one of us." 

           She pulled back sharply, wincing at the pain in her wrist. Her expression clearly said, 'One of us?', and she stared at him. Then, the Coach blew the whistle; class dismissed already... but of course. She had forgotten, today had been late start, class was only a half hour long. She gave another questioning glance at Derek, before jogging to the Girls' locker room and grabbing her things. On her way out of school, Derek grabbed her wrist again, holding her back. "Wait, there's something I need to tell you..."

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                  A/N -  Please comment and tell me what you think! <3 ~Stella