Wake Me Up

Chapter 3

"Hey Talia!" Conner called from across the library.

Conner was my little brother, in the tenth grade. He was 5'9 with light brown hair, which he liked to keep in a quiff. He wore his blue jeans, white t-shirt, with his red and white letterman jacket.

"Conner, what do you want?" I replied.

"I heard you can't play soccer until Blake Carter wins a game scoring at least one goal, and you win a basketball game shooting at least ten baskets."

"Shut up Conner. This is not the time!" I replied.

"Why? You’re going to go meet Blake?"

"No! Have you lost your mind! Why in the world would I want to see his face when I’m not forced to?" About five seconds after I said that, I realized I actually was going to the gym to meet Blake, for basketball practice. 

"Every other girl on campus would love to." He smirked.

"Conner don't you have friends or something? A girlfriend? A rock? Someone other than me you could bother?"

"No! I have to fulfill my little brother role you know."

"Well you've fulfilled it enough. Hey, look there is Anna, that girl you used to like last year. Why don't you go talk to her?" I said shoving him towards her.

I made my way out of the library towards the gym, for my first basketball practice.

I wore my soccer shorts, a black t-shirt with a picture of spider man on it, and my ugly pink and purple running shoes.

"Hey Talia," Drake shouted from the other side of the court, "Next time wear shorter shorts okay!"

Drake was no better than Blake, when it came to the snarky side comments, and perverted innuendos. He was sometimes even worse. With his 6’2 height, hard rock abs, and I must admit, beautiful face, he was the player of the school.

I ignored him and walked over to the bench, set my bag down, and decided to wait for instructions. 

"Ugh!" Blake whined as he walked into the gym and dropped his bag onto the bench. 

"Don't think I want to be here." I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, get up and run five laps, then I'll teach you how to hold a ball." He replied.

"Whatever" I said, and began to run.

I went into that annoying count down motivational mode, which you always go into when you start running. Come on you can do this. Four laps to go. Two and a half laps left. You’re almost there. You just keep repeating it over and over until you finally finish. 

Well, I did finally finish, and pretty quickly at that. I was used to Coach Bryant's twenty laps in twenty minutes madness. 

"Brooks come over here." Blake called from across the court. 

"Look, this is a basketball. It is not a soccer ball. Don't try to kick It." he explained holding out the ball for me to see, similar to how a preschool teacher would try to teach you that you shouldn't hit people because they are your friends.

"Thanks, I didn't know." I rolled my eyes.

All of a sudden the ball hit my chest, causing me to groan in pain.

"Always be ready for the ball Brooks!" he laughed.

"You don't just randomly throw balls at a girl’s chest. It hurts." I said trying to not to rub my chest and make this whole thing awkward.