LaMelo Ball - By Ari

Two

The next day at school, I was disappointed to read a text from Chanelle saying that she wasn't feeling too good, so I had to walk the halls alone. Instead of discussing the normal gossip with my best friend, I stuck to just minding by own business and silently watching the many students of the school buzz about; talking, laughing, making plans, whispering secrets with their friends. I felt alone without Nelly by my side and while I walked, I sighed heavily and continued to gaze at the different kinds of people in their little cliques.

It wasn't until I turned around the corner and began to enter the West Wing when I noticed LaMelo horsing around with his group of jocks, along with one of his two brothers, LiAngelo. The rest of the boys I didn't know, but my eyes barely left LaMelo. The sight of him made my day ten times better, no - scratch that - a thousand times better. His wide smile was so simple yet it was the easiest way to put me in the happiest mood. A breath released from my body that I didn't even know I was holding in and I clutched my books tighter to my chest as I made my way past the group of jocks. I felt dumb because I didn't even look or wave at LaMelo. I knew that I had wanted the budding acquaintance between him and I to grow so badly, yet I didn't dare to make any sort of move, even if it were something as simple as a wave. I heard the boys' conversation quiet down a little as the distance between us grew and grew. The disappointment in my mind crept in sneakily like a cloud cover until I felt a few light taps on my shoulder, and it was like my heart floated from the bottoms of my feet right back to its rightful place in my chest. I rotated around, my hair moving with the motion, and heat instantly rose to my cheeks when I realized it was the one and only LaMelo.

"Hey," he breathed shyly and I allowed myself to smile. "You headed to, uh, lunch?"

"Yeah."

"I'll just walk withchu then. My boys were getting ready to go to the gym to hoop and I think I'd rather have an escort instead of being alone."

"Sweet," I noticed that his voice was teasing yet serious at the same time and I stared straight ahead as I saw LaMelo slightly jog to catch up with me. "Which gym they go to?"

"We all train at Synergy, you know, that huge-"

"Unbelievable building on Parkins Street that looked like it dropped down straight from Heaven? Yeah, I remember that place. I used to practice there myself until...um....money got a little tight in my family and we couldn't really afford a membership. Now Chanelle and I just shoot around at Marty's Gym, you know, the one on Chipman Road."

LaMelo's eyes darted towards me to try and read the expression on my face, clearly worried that he had accidentally brought up a touchy subject. My signature resting, emotionless look remained as I sighed.

"Marty's Gym...? Hold up, you hoop?"

"Mhm. Since I was seven."

LaMelo nodded to himself. "You should go for the Chino Hills girl's traveling team. The try-outs are here in a few months."

Shaking my head slightly, I tilted my head to the side, thinking about how cool it would be to play for my school. "Eh, I don't know. I haven't played competitive ball in a while, and I think that it'd be too much for me right now."

"Oh, come on. All you gotta have is time and some skill. I think you could be the star of the team if you really wanted to."

Shrugging, daydreams of me being on the school's traveling roster streamed through my head like a movie. That'd be so amazing to finally be apart of something that I could be proud of. Nelly would be so happy for me if I made that team, in fact, she probably could, too, if she wasn't so damn lazy.

There was a moment of silence as an eventual smirk grew on LaMelo's beautiful face. "Well anyways, maybe we could meet up at Syn-"

I bit my lip as he cleared his throat, now a little embarrassed.

"I meant, we should meet up at Marty's sometime. Shoot around a little."

"Yeah."

We continued to make our way to the cafeteria and I could hear the voices of the students eating in the large room that was a little ways away. The silence between LaMelo and I was perfectly comfortable and I was shocked at how easy it was to talk to him, considering the fact that he was probably one of the hottest and most popular guy in Chino Hills High.

"Oh, and I forgot to ask, wait, do you mind me asking about-"

"You can ask me anything, LaMelo."

He stuck out his tongue to moisten his plump bottom lip and my stomach fluttered once more out of the hundred times that it's happened already.

"Just call me Melo. Only adults or strangers call me by my complete name."

I slightly giggled in amusement. "I just met you yesterday. Am I your best friend now?"

"Pretty much," LaMelo laughed as well. "I mean, I'm not complaining."

Ugh, why did he have to be so damn charming and attractive? I wish Nelly was here to witness how well he and I were getting along and how cute he was being.

We made small talk while we walked into the cafeteria, grabbed our plates, filled them with random foods from the buffet, and sat down at a table close to the exit. It was a small table for two and my mind instantly thought of us eating together as a little date, but that makes zero sense. I mean, it's not a date if it's in school. And what if he felt forced to sit with me just because we were having a dumb conversation?

Once we settled and began stuffing our mouths with the delicious food the lunch ladies provided today, LaMelo and I turned our small talk into a real discussion. The conversation flowed so smoothly and neither of us were ever quiet. I discovered that LaMelo isn't really that super high-up, worshiped popular guy that I thought he was, but he was surprisingly sillier and humorous when I started to get to know him a lot more, and almost a little dorky. He was passionate about a lot more things than basketball, like drawing and 90's hip-hop culture.

It's funny because I would have never thought that LaMelo Ball went a lot deeper than the surface than most.