Playing The Player

:Chapter Eleven:

Colt glanced at me as he pulled out of the car park, confusion mixed with cockiness etched on his face. I hastily turned my head to the window, mindlessly staring at the passing houses, not wanting to be the first to talk. Not wanting to talk at all. What would I say anyway?

So last lesson in History was pretty wild, right?

No, I really didn't see that happening.

Though he was in my History class, he sat at the back with his other friends, joking around while I sat at the front, actually paying attention. History had always been one of my favourite subjects, from learning about the history of Ancient Greece to the history of Australia. History's interesting.

I had a feeling I was saying 'History' too much.

Really, the only other thing that Colt and I had in common was the fact that we both talked to Blake on a regular basis. I knew that Colt was one of his best friends, while I was just the girl who happened to be giving him lessons on how to score with her twin sister. I knew there was a chance that Courtney wouldn't be able to drive me back, but I had been hoping when I left the house that Blake would. But I mean, he had resorted to talking about weather around me. I was that boring, and there was no way I would be able to face him after that.

How humiliating would it be if Colt started talking about how nice the day was?

"So lucky it was such a great day today," Colt commented.

I was speechless. I didn't look at him, averting my eyes from the window to the twisting hands in my life. You have got to be kidding me - Colt was talking about the weather. The stupid, freaking weather. Seriously, was there a sign on my forehead saying 'BORING'? I glanced up quickly the mirror. Nope. I wondered if they had some sort of boring-radar. You know, like a gay-radar thing, except with boring people, not gay people. Not that I was making fun of gays. I had nothing against them. I swear.

Oh God, shut up.

I made a non-committal noise in the back of my throat, too humiliated to say anything. I could just imagine my gravestone now: 'Here lies Hayleigh Grace, so boring people would resort to talking about weather.' I cringed at the thought of that actually being written - would that just be embarrassing or would that just be embarrassing? Yes, you're right, it's neither. It would be so achingly humiliating that if I weren't already 6 feet under, I would bury myself and never come up again.

" - practice," Cole was saying.

Oh God, I had been rambling on in my head so much I had completely missed what he had been saying. That was so... rude. "Sorry," I started awkwardly, "What was that?"

Cole smiled at me. "Lucky it was a great day," Not the weather again, "Cause you know, of the practice Nina had in store for you."

"Oh right," I forced a laugh, "Yeah, the water thing. I had no idea that was coming, it was more than I signed up for."

He started talking about something else again, and I zoned out, focusing back on my hands. He didn't actually expect me to have a full, normal conversation with him, did he? For crying out loud, we didn't even know each other! I mean, I knew he was Colt and he probably knew I was Hayleigh, I mean, who would let a stranger in their car, but apart from that, we travelled in different circles.

I tried to pay attention to the conversation, I really did, but the word 'sports' travelled to my ear and I automatically zoned out again. Don't get me wrong, I had heaps of school spirit. Go team, and all that stuff. But the idea of me actually playing sport, of doing anything physically tiring was laughable.