Pride

Chapter 3- Jordan

"Should we take bets on what your punishment is going to be?" Nathan muses as we go to the gym, where Coach Johnson's office is.

"No, we shouldn't," I snap. Nate smirks a little.

"Really, you wouldn't have to worry about the coach's punishments if you just didn't let Chase get to you."

"That's a lot easier said than done, and you know it."

"Fine, yes. But if you stopped glaring at him every time you saw him, he might not take the invitation to start pushing your buttons."

I scowl and don't respond. Because that's probably true. But it's not even really intentional anymore- it's just an instinct to glare at him whenever he's anywhere near me. And it's really impossible to ignore him, because he's got the biggest, most arrogant personality you've ever seen. He's like, the definition of pompous. And he knows exactly how to 'push my buttons' most of the time, which is extremely annoying, especially since Nathan's always around to stop me from giving him a knuckle sandwich.

Though, Nate's interference is probably overall a good thing. If I actually were to hit Chase, it'd almost certainly be the end of my football career. The school has a very low-tolerance policy for fighting and bullying, which is probably a good thing all in all, but they don't seem to know exactly what to do with me and Chase. Because I'm always in the principal's office for intending and attempting to hit him, but they're not dumb- they know he's provoking me. So I'm constantly almost breaking the no fighting rule, and he's constantly almost breaking the no bullying rule (an argument could be made that he has broken that rule repeatedly for at least the last two years, but a counter argument could also be made).

Chase Jackson really is kind of a bully, if you get right down to it. But due to the school's rivalry and the fact that he's never caught by a teacher or even an impartial student witness (there are very few impartial students in this school- most have chosen to support either the basketball team or football team), he's never gotten in trouble for it. No real trouble, anyways.

Sometimes it seems like it's hard for him to control himself, like he just can't help wanting to antagonize people (me). I've tried using that to my advantage, to try and get him to say something particularly incriminating in front of a teacher, and it probably would've worked if it weren't for his first mate, Levi. Which kind of makes me want to hate Levi. But it's harder to hate Levi than it is to hate the rest of the basketball team, because Levi does shut Chase up more effectively than any other strategy, and he's also kind of not a horrible person. And he's done a lot of cool things that have nothing to do with basketball (for example, he's the leader of the GSA, and he's also on the student council and has organized at least one pancake breakfast for our grade on Terry Fox Day for extra fundraising).

"Boys!"

Nate and I have reached the gym by now, and instead of going to Coach Johnson's office, Nate is pulling me in the direction of the shout- which originated from Coach Baines, the basketball coach. I scowl a little as my gaze falls on the two other boys standing beside her- the King of Pompousness and his closest advisor. Nate shoots me a look, and I try not to glare at His Royal Smugness as we make our way over to the basketball coach.

Fortunately, Coach Johnson emerges from his office only moments later, and smiles a little when he sees us. Wait- smiles? He was so pissed at me earlier- this punishment is going to be bad.

"Ah, good. You're here. Let's get started then. Coach Baines?"

She turns her smile (which looks just slightly more evil than Coach Johnson's) on the four of us. "After today's incident, I'd hope that you're all feeling the gravity of the situation. And while you two," she gestures to Nate and Levi, "have been very good at preventing anything too serious from happening thus far, your intervention shouldn't be necessary."