Outside The Lines

Outside The Lines Chapter Six

As the day dragged on, I couldn't help but wish I could go home, eat chocolate all night and watch movies. I know, what an exciting Friday night. But unfortunately, this was the usual for me. Every other kid my age went to parties every weekend, but I just wasn't into that. And I didn't get invited to any.

I almost whooped in delight when the bell signalling the end of the day rang, and as usual, I practically ran out of there, not wanting to hear all 'those girls' discussing the upcoming party.

As I approached my locker, keeping my eyes glued to the floor at all times, I felt someone bump into me and my books fell to the floor.

"Shit." I cursed quietly to myself. I guess it was my fault, and I didn't want to cause a scene, so I bent down to pick them up. As I reached my hand out to pick up my English text book, something soft, warm and big grabbed my hand. Of course, being Sydney Bell, the walking embarrassment, my cheeks  went red. I slowly raised my head to see whose hand I was awkwardly holding, and it was him.

"Oh, sorry. That was totally my fault I didn't see you." Said Ethan. At this point, I realised he was still holding my hand. He must have to, because he quickly released it. That was weird, I thought to myself. But soo great too.

Okay I have got to stop doing this.

"No its okay, I wasn't looking where I was going." I managed to say, while I collected the rest of my books. He gave me a weird look, kind of a half-smile, half-checking-me-out.

I turned around quickly as he walked off, not knowing what to do. I gradually caught my breath, and fumbled with my padlock to get my locker open. I felt someone coming up behind me, and almost had a heart attack, then realised it was just Will.

"Oh. Hey."

"Don't sound too excited to see me, Syd, we're only friends you know." Joked Will.

"Sorry, hi Will," I said, with a little more energy. "I'm just thinking about what kind of things I should write in my article. Which reminds me, do you still want to come?"

"Can't say no! Those boys are waiting for me."

"Cool, lets go!"

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I swear I had already looked at the clock, like, five times, and it wasn't even nearly over. I wasn't much of a sports fan, so I was ready to get out of there. The only thing that kept me from leaving was watching Ethan run around in his sexy basketball uniform.

I had bought along my favourite notebook, where I kept all of my ideas and thoughts, making it extremely private. I hugged it to my chest as we watched. Will had practically become a cheerleader, screaming in delight every time our team scored.

I took a few more notes before the buzzer went off for the last quarter. Finally, I could soon go home and get into my pyjamas. Again, cool, I know.

"So what are you going to say to Ethan?" Will asked, when he took a break from cheering.

I panicked. What did he know? I was too embarrassed to tell even Will about my obsession for Ethan, so how did he know? Maybe he saw us talking at my locker?

I tried to act casual, not wanting to give anything away. "What do you mean?" My voice sounds higher than usual, which makes me go red.

"You said you need to do interviews for the article? Are you going to interview the captain?"

Crap. I had completely forgotten. I was too excited to get out of there, and hadn't even though about the interviews.

"Oh yeah, I have to interview the captain and the coach." Shit! What was I going to say! At least this time I could plan ahead, and practice not sounding like an idiot. 

All of a sudden I wished the game would never end. I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

"There goes the buzzer. Its your time to shine, Bell."

I took off my sweater so I wouldn't get so hot talking to Ethan, and because the top I was wearing might make me look a little better. I walked slowly towards the court, going over questions in my head, and smoothing my hair down to make me look presentable.

As I approached the team, a couple of the guys gave me weird looks, so I went to my default move and looked at the ground.

"Umm, excuse me." I practically whispered, for some reason not having the ability to create sound. I cleared my throat and tried again.

"Excuse me, um, Ethan?"

"Yeah?" God he looked good when he was hot and bothered. Hell, he always looked good. I started to think that he could never have a bad day, when I realised I was staring.

"Oh, hi, um, I'm from the school newspaper, and I was wondering if I could quickly interview you? Its totally cool if you don't want me to or anything, I.."

"No, that's cool." Ethan interrupted.

Okay, so that hadn't gone so badly, but that was the easy part. I followed him over to one of the benches on the side of the court, and saw Will strutting towards James, the only other gay guy at our school, and the only gay guy on the basketball team.

"So, how does it feel to lose the quarter final?"

I looked at Ethan and saw him laughing. Why was he laughing!? Had I done something wrong? Oh God please don't tell me I had something on my face. I reached a hand up to touch my cheek as he replied, "We actually won. Do you know that the team with the most points wins, not loses?" He chuckled to himself again, and even though I knew he was teasing me, I went bright red and pretended to write something in my diary. I really should have looked at the rules for basketball before the interview.

"Um, so are you nervous about the finals?" 

I noticed him relax a little, which made me feel better. I still couldn't believe how uncool I was being, and how confident he was. We definitely weren't a good match.

"We're doing real well,working together, and we have a really good defense system so I think we will smash it. Are you gonna come along?"

He caught me off guard, so I mumbled back a "maybe", and wrote some more notes. 

I was keen to get out of there, because the interview was making me extremely uncomfortable. He told me about how the season was going, and I was surprised to find out how much he talked. I guess that's what comes with being the most popular guy in school.

"Thanks, um, good luck with the next game. Bye." Man I really was smooth. I didn't even wait around to hear what he had to say, but when I looked back he was already back with his team mates, and had probably already forgotten about me.

I collected Will from his flirt session with James, and we started our walk home. Mind you, I was practically running.

"He is soooo cute, and he plays basketball! I think I'm in love, Syd!" He really did sound happy, which made me feel better.

I know how you feel, I thought to myself. 

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Thank you to everyone who is reading, I am so happy to have this support, I really didn't see myself getting this far, and it is honestly thanks to you!

Please feel free to comment on anything you wish :)

Ellie

xx