The Spectacular Sick Shot

1. The Duo

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Tyler Stone sat in the cafeteria of Frankfurt High School with his best friend, Laquicha Lewis. Lunch period had just begun and, much like most of their fellow students, they felt starved from the long hours of classes that they had just endured.

Tyler and Laquicha were both sixteen years old, but Laquicha's seventeenth birthday was nearing. They had been friends since 2nd grade, and though they had gone through many other friends, they stuck together through the years.

Laquicha watched Tyler as he engorged himself on his backpack-flattened sandwich, his shaggy curls bouncing with his every movement. His ebony hair contrasted well with his bronze skin.

"Make sure it doesn't run away before you get to eat it all."

"Yeah, I know, I hate when that happens," Tyler said, wiping the mustard off of his mouth.

She giggled and swiped her curly black bangs behind her ear, where they remained for only a short period of time. They never did stay one place for long. She inherited her curls from her African heritage. Sometimes it was like they had a mind of their own.

"So if you'll quit stuffing your face, I can get your opinion on my birthday party, which, by the way, is this upcoming Sunday night. It's not gonna be much, it'll mainly be you, me, and some of my cousins-"

Laquicha quit speaking, upon noticing that Tyler seemed to be in a zone, staring out across the large room, ignoring his surroundings. "Tyler. Tyler, are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, looking back at her. "You were talking about your party?"

Laquicha peered in the direction he had been staring and saw Katie Cassidy, a girl who Tyler had had a huge crush on since she began coming to the school the previous year. "Why don't you just talk to her?" she asked as she fiddled with the clear plastic vending machine ring on her finger, which Tyler had given her for her ninth birthday.

"Who?"

Laquicha raised her eyebrows. "Gee."

Tyler sighed. "It's not that I don't want to, I just-"

"Don't have the balls?"

"No... Yes..."

"Look, you've always been great with people. Why is she any different?"

"Because... She's Katie Cassidy..."

"My gosh, Tyler, she's not the holy grail," she grunted.

"Yeah, but she's pretty, she's smart, she's-"

"A read head," Laquicha said with a wink.

Tyler blushed, and let out a grin he didn't want to give. "Quiche..."

"Look, if you wanna talk to the girl, just do it. Unless, of course, you're..."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Fine," Tyler accepted. "I will. Just to prove to you I can."

"Ask her to prom?" she suggested.

"It's October..."

"Better now than never."

"Uhh, no, that's weird," he laughed.

"Whateves. Just go talk to her," she told him.

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. "Wish me luck."

"Go get her, Tiger."

Tyler blushed from embarrassment and began making his way across the room, when the bell rang. Part of him was relieved and part of him was disappointed that he hadn't gotten that chance to talk to her after he had finally built up his courage.

He walked to his next class with Laquicha, who insisted that he should have at least tried to talk to Katie, regardless of the schedule.

"Okay, so, as I was saying earlier whilst you were in la-la-land, my birthday party is this Sunday. It won't be much but you and me and-"

"Your cousins?" Tyler groaned in dread.

"Yes, my cousins," she laughed. "It's on a Sunday, you can make it, right?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I wouldn't miss it for the world," he replied.

"Okey dokey! Can't wait!" she exclaimed with a smile. "We can have cake and ice cream!"

Tyler looked at her and cracked a smile. "What are you, five?"

She stuck her tongue out and nudged his arm.

The duo walked into their crowded classroom and took a seat at their desks and, after the bell rang, began to half listen to the teacher's dull lecture and half daydream about getting out of school.

Thank you all for checking out my story! Every read really means a lot to me. If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a vote and feel free to comment. :) Thanks again!