Chapter 10

Me and Freddy exit out of the changing rooms and into the gym.  Coach Stanler stands tall with a basketball in his arm, a whistle around his neck and shorts short enough to hinder on the line of inappropriate.  "Morning everybody."  He says warmly with his husky voice - he looks over everyone and his eyes stop on me.  He makes his way over as Freddy wanders over to a nearby bench to tie his shoe. 

"Morning Nathan."  He greets and offers sympathetic eyes.

"How did you know it was me coach?"  I ask with confusion, only receiving a smile from him in return.

"Because I didn't know that I was getting a new student." He laughs as he looks over his class.

"Please call me Mercury...It's a nickname that my aunty liked."  I bluff.

"Of course...Mercury."  He states as my heartbeat settles.

"Okay kids pair up!"  Coach yells as Freddy makes his way towards me. 

"Ugh.  Do you want to be my partner?"  Freddy asks shyly as he looks towards the ground.  I put my hand under his chin and tilt his head up so he can watch me nod in acceptance.

**********

"Go get changed!" Couch yells after we pack away all the balls.  I make my way with Freddy at the side.

"That was fun."  Freddy announces cheerfully, managing to get a few nods from the other players.

"Yeah.  Hey Merc, you should play for the team."  Tommy Christians announces as he looks at me.  He doesn't know that I used to play with him;  but my name was Nathan then and the ball never got passed to me, so I eventually quit because I felt uncomfortable and like I didn't belong. 

"Yeah;  too bad I missed sign ups."  I sigh in sarcastic disappointment . Basketball's always been a part of my life and it's sad not to be playing.

We make our way to the benches, I scan around the room to make sure no one's watching me. I hear Danny's voice before I see him.  He comes in with Samuel and a few others from his class.

"I saw you playing basketball;  you're good.  You should come to practice today after school." 

"I can't;  I missed try-outs." 

Danny stands there and leans against the wall as I pull my school uniform off and get changed back into my clothes.  "Need anything?"

"No just waiting."  He confirms and sits down and takes his shirt off. 

"What for?"  He sits silently and winks as he watches Freddy change.  Freddy's red face the same colour as his hair. He continues to get changed, completely aware that he's being watched.  He turns and drops his gym shorts on the ground.  He turned around and exposes his pure black undies to Danny forcing Danny to pant slightly.  Freddy picks up his shorts and turns towards Danny and winks at him.  You go Freddy you little bubble of self confidence,  I think silently to myself.

**********

School rushes by in a hurry - me and Freddy are in the same class for most of the day.  Excluding History;  but not to worry because Danny sat next to me, to the protest of Samuel.  Samuel barely acknowledged me, let alone talked to me, but it's fine.  I sit with Freddy at lunch and as soon as I sit down, Danny comes over and pretends to be talking to me and then somehow smoothly starts talking to Freddy.  But I don't mind being a 3rd wheel?  A 3rd wheel?  Surely Danny's just extremely social.

When we finally get home I go to my room to catch up on homework and assignments that have been postponed due to my absence from school.  And that explains why I'm in my room at 6:00pm not doing anything.  There's a knock at my door and I mumble a reply to let Katherine know she can come in.

Samuel's grey hair comes into view instead of Katherine's.  "Hey."  I greet as he pokes his head through my door.

"Hey. Um do you have any basketball gear?"  He asks as I think about my wardrobe that boasts many basketball suits that've never been worn. 

"Um sure... But I don't think that any of them will fit you."  I compare my body size to his tall muscular one and there's instantly no doubt. 

"Oh I don't need them;  you do. You're going to basketball practice." He says as my heart races but then slows down when I remember.

"But what about try-outs?"  I query as I deflate. 

"Danny took care of it and coach said you can play." I jump off my bed knocking over my homework and get my uniform. We're out of the door in 10 minutes.

A/N

Hey humans. How's life?

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Date edited:  12/2/18 . 9:53 am

-YOP