Shadows

Chapter 2.

The minuscule hour seemed to pass in mere minutes with Casey at my side. We exchanged goodbyes as the bell shrilled, then gathered our things to leave.

Geometry dragged. History dragged. Chemistry dragged, especially. The only other class that didn't seem to last longer than a few precious minutes was Orchestra, and that was because Casey was in it. Orchestra was heaven, for me, at least. Casey and I always hold our double basses in a certain way so the teacher can't see us whispering and laughing.

But, the worst out of all of my classes had to be Gym.

Even though Casey and Scarlette were in my class, people thought it was the perfect opportunity to torture Scarlette and I. Luckily, I only had it once every 3 days. Unluckily, I had it last period, today.

Scarlette and I exchanged small talk as we changed into our gym clothes in the locker room. When I was in my old T-shirt, yellow short shorts, and knee-high socks, Scarlette and I walked into the gym, our own personal torture chamber.

 Unfortunately for me, we were still in our basketball unit, which was my least favourite sport. The teacher chose four team captains, and they lined up to pick who was to be on their team.

Naturally, Casey was one of the first picked, but Scarlette and I were picked last. It didn't bother me they way it used to anymore.

After that, we jumped right into two smaller games within the gym. Me and Scarlette's team were playing against each other. We both stood there, not moving a whole lot, with people running around us like maniacs.

Somewhere in the middle of the game, someone passed Scarlette the ball and it hit her in the face. Her nose started to bleed. The teacher let me take her down to the nurse.

As we walked down the hall, Scarlette pinching her nose, we complained about gym, stupid people, and gym some more. We also talked about how glad we were about missing it to go to the nurse. The same conversation continued as we sat in the nurse's office, her bleeding into some tissues.

When her nose finally stopped b;eeding, we had to return to gym. To my dismay, we still had about 15 minutes or so of gym left.

We returned to the court and to our teams. Now, my team was playing Casey's team. I resumed to stand and only move when the ball was close to me. I checked the clock. 10 minutes left.

I checked it again a little later. 5 minutes left.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice yelled from my left, "Hey, you lazy emo bitch! Catch this!"

Before I could look to where the voice was coming from, I felt the familiar bumpy surface of a basketball crash into the side of my face.

Bending over slightly, I held my face where I had been hit, not making a sound. I hoped that it wouldn't bruise.

I heard a pair of feet come running toward me. The voice I heard comforted me. "Harper, are you okay?" Casey asked, sounding concerned.

"Fine," I grumbled, standing up straight again and putting my hands at my sides again. My face didn't hurt as much as my pride.

Casey turned around to the kid who must have thrown the ball at me. He was rather short, with cropped blonde hair and an unbalanced face that said irritating.

"You listen to me, because I'm only saying this once," Casey said in a threatening voice, walking up to him.

"Two things, Cole," Casey growled, holding up his index and middle finger in the kid's face. "Number one-" he held up only his index finger, "Harper is not lazy, emo, and she is not a bitch.