swingsets and dance routines ; tyrus

chapter #5: the basketball game

A/N: This one's slightly longer than usual so buckle up gays!!

Cyrus should've known from the enlivened atmosphere at school a few days later that something was up, but he didn't find himself taking much notice as he sat through his classes, tuning out the excited whispers around him.

To him, it was just another school day, and he was struggling to see why everyone was so much more upbeat than they normally were. Teachers were trying about twice as hard to control their classes, and even the people with notoriously good grades seemed to be distracted from their work.

Lunchtime rolled around and he was very close to just snapping and asking someone what on earth was so interesting all a sudden, but Buffy and Andi beat him to it.

"Cyrus!"

He looked up from his work with a start, clutching a hand over his chest.

"Guys," he scolded gently, sending the librarian a nervous glance. "Keep it down!"

Buffy just rolled her eyes and placed a piece of paper onto his workbook, covering his writing almost entirely. "Did you seriously forget?"

Cyrus scanned over the paper for a moment.

THE JEFFERSON HIGH JAGUARS VS. THE SALT LAKE RAPTORS

DATE: SEPTEMBER 4TH

START TIME: 12:00PM

LOCATION: THE INDOOR BASKETBALL COURTS

There was a corny basketball comic at the bottom of the page, and Cyrus couldn't help but laugh.

He should've known. It was glaringly obvious now that he looked back at everyone's behaviour.

"Cool," he said simply, brushing the paper away and picking his pen up again.

"Cool?" Buffy spluttered. "It's the first game! You have to come!"

"I don't see a contract anywhere." Cyrus shrugged. "And besides - you're not playing, so what's the point?"

Buffy softened slightly at that, but she still looked indignant as he picked up the paper. Andi, who didn't really have an affinity for sports anyway, continued to linger neutrally in the background.

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at Buffy, who stood there with her arms folded.

"Fine," she relented after a few moments. "You don't have to come...but you'll definitely be at my dance competition, right?"

"Of course I will! I obviously have to see the slayer in action."

Buffy smiled slightly at that, and Cyrus could tell she had caved. "Okay - I'll see you in Maths then."

She turned to walk away, while Andi lingered for a moment longer to desperately mouth the words 'Help me' at Cyrus. He just laughed and gave her a playful wave.

"Bye, Andi!" he called, an amused smile on his face as he watched the girl trudge reluctantly after Buffy.

He glanced around the library for a moment, wondering to himself how on earth he hadn't noticed the absence of other students earlier. The weather was still dreary outside, which meant that the room would've usually been filled to the brim with people gossiping in small circles, playing cards and reading books. On this particular day, the only person he could spot was a bored looking senior student, tapping away at his phone.

No longer than 3 minutes of writing his essay had passed when he heard a loud commotion outside, which he couldn't help but roll his eyes at. The librarian looked as though she was itching to move from her perch and stalk over to tell them off, but she was clearly holding back because the boys weren't actually in the library.