Invisible (On Hold)

Chapter 7: Games of Death ~ Matt

I lay in bed, eyes glued to the ceiling of my bedroom loathing the fact that it is Monday morning and a crowd of deluded students are waiting for me to come to school and be their hero. The monotonous days of studying, training and keeping up with the schools expectations that I am the star that they are after. It had been a month since Charlie had arrived to Lake Anderson High and she seemed to fit in straight away excluding my terrible outburst thus leading her to expect that I am a dreadful human being. But that is the least of my worries, the basketball team are having a game today and I am expected to make an appearance and score our team a long awaited victory.

I get up of the bed and head to the bathroom where I take a shower and change into trousers and a blue collared shirt. I run my hand through my black hair, it was messy but I run some gel through it giving it a dishevelled look. Meh it looks okay, I grab my bag and head downstairs to find my dad drinking coffee in the living room.

"Hey buddy, excited for the game today?" my dad pats me on the shoulder.

My parents seem to only care about my sporting achievements. I think they have this dream that I'll become some sort famous soccer player. My dad has the same black hair and green eyes while my mum has brown straight hair with grey eyes.

"Yeah" I lie "Where's Mum?" I ask him

"She left for work early" my dad replies

"Oh okay" I make my way to the kitchen before pouring myself a cup of coffee.

After breakfast my dad drops me off to school. I jog to the sports oval where my friends usually hang out. I spot Ashley and Andy and walk over them. They spot me and wave for me to come over to them. When I arrive Ashley greets me with a kiss.

"Good Morning" she says when she pulls away

"Good Morning" I reply with a smile

You see after my outburst with Charlie, I hung out with Ashley a lot more than usual, at first it was a little awkward because I didn't really like her but after time, I realised that she is actually pretty amazing. I did not believe that you could like someone overtime but that was because our relationship was a little forced and still fresh. The more I hung out with her the more I got to know her and little by little I fell for her, now not a day goes by that I don't tell myself how lucky I am to have her as a girlfriend.

"Ugh, gag me" Andy says while pretending to puke.

Ashley gives me a small smile.

"I should get going" she says before leaving the bench and heading towards her friends.

"Bye" I wave at her

After Ashley left, Andy puts his hand around my shoulder.

"So big game tonight, do you think we will win?" he asks

"I don't know, we are against Akhi's team" I reply

Akhi is known for being the school player; he is always seen chasing different girls, winning their hearts then dumping them for someone else. It's a circle. However he is also known for being really good at basketball. He is not part of the Populars but Akhi is definitely popular however there are some rumours of him being part of the Invisibles which means that Sophia is getting guys to join as well.

"Don't worry we'll be fine as long as you're playing"

I wish I could have his confidence.

After school all the students head to basketball court near the school. I lost all my confidence when Ashley told me that she couldn't come, she is my girlfriend she is supposed to support me at this important game. Behind the court, Lake Anderson glistened in the sunlight. The two teams were standing on court as our coach's were giving tips and advice.

"Matt you're gonna win this for us" Coach Harris looks at me with a proud face

"Yeah no pressure" I mumble

The whistle goes off and the game begins, I admit that I am pretty good at basketball however Akhi was better than me. My area of expertise is definitely soccer. So far the game was fine, we were winning but they were catching up. There wasn't much time left on the clock, just enough to score one last hoop. Akhi had the ball but I was chasing after him, I was just about to take the ball of him when I felt someone push me to the ground. My head hit the ground with a horrifying smashing sound.

Pain throbbed from the right side of my head. I touch the spot and when I pull my hand back it was covered with red, sticky blood. All of a sudden all I could hear was my heartbeat, time slowed down, my vision came into focus for a brief moment as I saw Akhi jump to throw the ball into the hoop, he made eye contact with me for a brief moment before his eyes widened and his body jerked sideways. He came crashing down before landing on his arm. I see him clutching his arm in pain before my vision blurred until I am surrounded by utter darkness.

I wake up in what looks like a hospital bed. The right side of my head still throbbed. I scan the room, it looks like I'm in the childrens ward. I see Akhi in the bed across from me, his arm is in a sling. I also see Hayden who I haven't seen in  about a month, he was wearing a full body cast and kept giving Akhi a death stare. What that was about, I had absolutely no idea.

I look to my left and I see Ashley holding my hand and facing the ground with her eyes closed, why didn't I notice her? I squeeze her hand.

'Hey' I whisper

She instantly lifted her head up. Her mascara was running and she still had tears running from her eyes. She was wearing converse with skinny jeans and a white sweater. She squeezed my hand back.

''God you're actually ok, you were unconsious for over an hour''

''Where are my parents?'' I ask her

''They went to get something to eat'' She replies

''Why didn't you come to the game?''

Tears form in the eyes ''I wanted to but I had tutoring''

''Really'' I ask her in disbelief 

''Yeah, I'm a math tutor''

''Wow'' I yawn

''You should get some rest'' Ashley says kissing my forehead.

''Wait, can you sing me a song?'' I ask her pretending to be a little kid again

She chuckles ''Sure''

She then sang in a soft voice that could have belonged to an angel

In the oceans deep

In the canyons steep

Walls of granite here I stand

All my desperate calls

Echo of the walls

Back and forth ; then back again

To believe that I walk alone

Is a lie that I've been told

So let your heart hold fast

For this soon shall pass

Like the high tide takes the sand

I close my eyes and slowly drift to sleep with Ashley's voice echoing in my head.

A/N

Hey guys. Did you like this chapter? Ashley and Matt look cute together. Also the song that Ashley was singing was Let Your Heart Hold Fast by Fort Atlantic, totally check their song out it's really good. Anyway till we meet again

Love Hasanga <3