Prude

Chapter 17: ...I'd be dead

Jazz, Angela and I went onto the courts arm in arm. I was definitely glad to have my friends back, I'd missed them, I realised. The only thing that irked me was that I clearly was going to have to make an effort and listen to them go on about the new boy. After my experience with Hunter, I wasn't very optimistic about fresh meat.

We found seats on the Hillcrest side and Jazz went to get us snacks and drinks.

"So are you still seeing your therapist?" Angela asked quietly. Though she'd whispered, I still glanced round to see if anyone had heard.

"Nah," I replied. "I went to see her this morning. She said the weirdest thing to me."

"What?"

Before I could reply, I felt the bench recline slightly and I glanced to the right of me to see a boy I'd never set my eyes on before sit down. I did a double take. My eyes wide, I turned back to Angela. She gave me an equally appreciative look. Jazz returned moments later with lots of food. I raised my eyebrows.

"What?" she said innocently. "I'm hungry."

Angela and I accepted our fries graciously. Highfield School's cheerleaders came onto the court and began cheering. I rolled my eyes.

"Who's the guy sitting next to you?" Jazz leaned across Angela to whisper at me.

I shrugged at her. I had no idea. It was only when Hunter, and the rest of the team, came onto the court that I began to pay attention to the game. Although since Hunter came the team had become one of the best in the state, I knew from last year that Highfield were a very good team. But when Hunter scored the winning shot I think I was the loudest cheerer.

I heard a chuckle beside me and I turned to glare at the unknown boy. But now I had gotten a good look at him, the glare began to dissipate.

"Woah," he said. "No harm meant."

"Who are you?" I asked. He was sitting on our side of the court, not on Highfield's side.

"I'm Chad Smith, I'm new, I'm enrolling on Monday," he explained.

"Ah, that makes sense," I told him, "as to why you're sitting on our side," I added when he gave me a puzzled look. I could feel my friend hovering, as if waiting for me to introduce them. "Oh," I muttered, realising I hadn't even offered my name. "I'm Denise, and this is Jazz and Angela."

He waved at them. "So where can I get some ice cream around here?"

*

So Chad was the boy Jazz had been talking about all week and I realised I had the case of the broken-hearted girl, you know, the one who gets her heart broken by some crappy guy and can't trust another man who crosses her path. Well, it was sort of like that for me. I couldn't trust new guys just in case they were as doche-ey (if it's not a word it should be one) as Hunter; but I did end up liking Chad. Unsurprisingly, he was nice, unfortunately, he'd joined the basketball team within a week of joining the school, and I could honestly say that he was good since the three of us loved to watch the team practice sometimes. There's nothing like hot sweaty boys to get you excited.

A week later, Darla came back to school, and the fact that her nose looked as if I'd never inflicted any damage on it was indicative of her spending a ridiculous amount of money to get it set and healed. I was almost tempted to grab it and wiggle it around just to see if it was fake.

She glared at me as she walked by and I just looked at her, still wondering why she hated me so much. I could no longer lie; I just wished all of this would be over.