TNXM: The New Mutant

Chapter 2: Some Basketball Practice

Chapter 2: Some Basketball Practice

When I got to the gym, nobody had shown up yet except for a girl named Tianna, who is one grade above me. We exchanged "Hey"s, then just sat around in the hallway, waiting for Coach Lowe to show up. That was the rule: No student is allowed to go into the gym or change rooms unless a teacher is there in the gym to supervise.

It took another minute or two until Coach showed up, and by then, half the team had shown up already. He allowed us into the gym, and we all went into the girl's change room to change. I hung my backpack on one of the hooks and took out my gym clothes from the front pocket. I opened up the largest pocket in the back and took out my basketball shoes that were black with neon green laces and a neon green stripe through the middle. I slipped into my pink Nike t-shirt that says Going All the Way, and my favourite pair of blue and orange basketball shorts. A girl named Skylar, who is also a year older than me (everyone on the team is older than me, except for three people who are younger), walked into the change room just as I was putting on my shoes.

"S'up, Villamore," she greeted me, calling me by my last name.

"S'up, West," I replied, returning the favour.

We both know that she hates me, I think because she's jealous that I'm the best basketball player on the team and she is only the second best. But sometimes she'll act a little friendly just so she could look better than me and NOT like a jealous rat.

I never said that it worked.

"Just so you know, I love those shorts you're wearing!" she fake-gushed.

"Thanks."

"Especially since it covers your knees. That's essential for clumsy oxes such as yourself, you know, when you fall on your face and knees."

Then there are times when she decides to be her jealous self. Lucky for her, there is nobody else in the change room right now to witness her jerkiness. (And the fact that she stupidly used the term oxes when the plural form of ox is oxen. Yeah.)

And I don't take insults very lightly.

I finished tying my shoelaces, then stood up, looking Skylar in the eye even though I was standing over a meter away from her. "Listen, Skylar," I said. "I am really not in the mood for a fight or argument, so I don't need your rude and pathetically false comments. Seriously, you should just get a black permanent marker and scribble I'm So Jealous on your forehead. It'd be pretty much the same thing. Besides; it's not like being number two stinks."

I turned around and headed for the door that leads into the gym.

"You better watch your back, Trin!" she threatened.

All of a sudden, I got that weird feeling again. Yes, the same tingling feeling I got that started the epic spitball incident during math class. Everything but me was in slow motion, and I could actually feel something hurling towards from behind me. With tremendous reflexes and speed, I turned around and caught what turned out to be an airborne shoe, catching it with one hand, which Skylar had thrown at me, ruining her attempt to hurt me with her shoe.

When time returned back to normal, Skylar's mouth was gaped open, shocked that I had been so fast and alert, as if I had eyes on the back of my head.

"First of all, only my friends call me Trin." I broke the shocked silence with an intense tone that made me look pretty cool. "And second, what kind of immature eighth grader throws a shoe at a seventh grader? Answer: One that acts like a second grader."

I tossed the shoe on to the ground and walked into the gym feeling triumphant. And yeah, I know I'm not amazing at insults and snappy comebacks, but at least I did something that was enough to make her speechless.