Charlie Williams

After talking to my parents for about almost an hour after I got back from Olivia's, I finally collapse on my bed. Today was such a hectic and long day I just want to crawl into a hole and never get out. I would get out for Ollie though, If she needed me I would get out.

My monitor beeps, making me aware of its presence and my low blood sugar. Sighing, I heave myself off the bed and check my monitor. My level is 4, which is ok but I need to get it up because my levels usually go down when I sleep. I walk downstairs and go into the kitchen where I grab an apple from our fruit bowl. I look around and notice that everyone has retreated to their rooms for the night. Even though it's only nine o'clock, they must be exhausted from the first day in a new town with a new routine. Gwen has been back in Illinois since the day after Christmas, but she makes sure to call frequently, so it's just my parents and me.

I didn't really make any friends yet except Ollie. It beat me up today seeing her already getting pushed around. It's just so unfair. People should be more aware of their surroundings. Even though she's tiny, she's still a person and still can get hurt. If anything she gets more hurt than others because she is so small. It just made me so angry seeing other people push her around. I want to be able to protect her from all the hurt in her life. I want to be that person she goes to and unwinds and unloads all her crap with. I want to take her away and never bring her back. I don't just WANT her to be safe, I NEED her to be safe and I might not deserve her love and beauty, but I'm sure going to try my best to get it.

Nevertheless, I saw the way she looked at me earlier. I could see how uncomfortable she was with me. She definitely is not used to being coddled, which is not even close to what I was doing, but it's the closest definition to it. I just don't understand why she doesn't get that it's super important to take care of your body and your health.

I finish my apple, then go back upstairs and get a shirt and pants out to sleep in. After I'm changed, I go to the connecting bathroom and brush my teeth. Finally I can go to bed. I turn off my light and call for Bella, who bounds into the room like it's not almost 10:30 at night. I crawl under my covers and Bella curls up on the foot of my bed. This house is finally starting to actually feel like a home and it's one of the best feelings ever. I quickly start to feel drowsy and start to drift off to a peaceful night's rest.

The next day, I wake up at 5 am. No particular reason except that I couldn't fall back asleep. I decide that I'll go for a run while waiting for school. Even though it's 30 degrees outside, I put my jacket on and get ready to go out. I sneak into my parents room and tell them I'm leaving and then I head outside. As I'm starting to run on the sidewalk, I hear music from Ollie's house; specifically her garage. I pull out my phone and send her a quick text asking her if she's awake. She answers almost immediately telling me that she is. Interesting. Seems like we're on the same schedule.

I finish my run and go back to my house and take a shower before school. After my shower, I walk downstairs to the kitchen where I see my dad making breakfast.
"Good morning son." he says

"Good morning! how did you sleep?" I ask him

"Great, what about you?"

"Awesome, until I woke up at 5. But it gave me an opportunity to go on a run" I say

He gives me a smile and hands me a plate of eggs, bacon and fruit. My mom walks down a minute later and repeats the same thing I did. Our family has insanely busy schedules, so instead of eating dinner together as a family, we eat breakfast together. Which in my opinion, is nicer because it doesn't give me a reason to stress over being home for dinner. A little while later, I'm getting my stuff together to go to school. I start to head out to my car and see Ollie getting ready to go too. She's loading up all her siblings into what I've figured out is her mom's car. It's a white escalade Cadillac SUV that looks like the newest model. She's on the phone with someone and she seems pretty annoyed with them. Once her siblings are in the car, she goes to the front and starts the car and walks back inside. A minute later her mom comes out, gets in the car, and drives away. Ollie walks back out and walks to her own car, an Audi R8 that's got a custom paint job of baby pink, and starts it.

I start my own car, a red Mercedes CLE coupe; new as of last year. and run inside to grab my basketball duffel bag and put it in the trunk of my car. I close the trunk and see Ollie walking over to my house. Exactly what I was going for.

"What's up Ollie girl? How was your night?" I say and she looks at me and skeptically answers fine.

"How are you always so happy in the mornings. Like even if I sleep in, I still don't have the energy to be all sunshiny." I start to laugh and pull her in to give her a hug. She turns stiff in my arms. Among realizing how uncomfortable that makes her feel and WHY it makes her feel uncomfortable, I squeeze her a little tighter before releasing her from our embrace. She takes an extra step back and looks at the ground.

"Well, we both should get going. See you at school?" I ask

she nods her head and says a mumbled "yup" then walks back to her car. I get in my car and wait until she's out of her driveway before pulling out behind her. We arrive at the school pretty much the same time and I pull into the parking spot next to her. The reason I didn't offer to give her a ride is because I have basketball practice today right after school.

I hop out of my car and walk over to Ollie's where she's putting on a hoodie.
"Shouldn't you have done that before you left the house? And where is your coat? It's like 30 degrees outside you know" I say to her with my eyebrows raised.

"I know. But the cold is good for you." she answers as she closes her door and uses her key fob to lock her car. 

"It can also be bad for you. like how it can cause your immune system to weaken, and how your muscles can turn stiff and cramp and hurt. And I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's not the best when you're a dancer and dance at least 3 hours a day. Am I right?"

"Next time" she says, heaving a sigh which signals to me that the conversation is over.
We enter the building and she walks me to my first hour before turning on her heel and going to hers. I can't help but think I messed something up this morning. Whether it was the hug or the jacket, I'll find out after school and after practice, because I'm not going to let this weird tension float between us like a shard of glass.

—————————————————
Afterschool
—————————————————

I walk into the gym for my first basketball tryouts and nervous is an understatement. Everyone else is already in here when I enter because again, I got lost when I was trying to get here and then I had to change. So yeah even the coaches are here. Not a great first impression. I walk over to where all the players are sitting on the benches and the coaches are standing in front of them talking. One of the coaches shifts to look at me and smiles. It's Coach Jensen, one of the coaches I did tryouts with.

"Lads, this is your new teammate Charlie Williams, Welcome him and become his friend please." 

The coaches start talking and walk away from the group of guys. I take a breath and walk towards the guys.

"What's up y'all" I say in my best Texan accent. Apparently I did a great job because they gave me mystified looks then proceeded to ask, "Texans play basketball?"

clearing my throat and realizing how awkward I made this whole encounter, I say, "I'm not really from Texas. I'm from Illinois."

One of the boys on the bleachers decides to ignore my weird greeting and says, "sup dude, how you been. I'm Levi, this is most of the team." he starts pointing to some of the guys and starts to say their names, "That's Jordan, Noah, Elijah, and Aaron. We all kinda hang out in our free time. You're cool to come hang with us. Give me your number and we'll add you to our group chat." I tell him my number and a chat is put on my phone. One is the basketball chat with the whole team, and the other is with just him and the guys he named.  We start to chat, mostly them asking questions about my past and where I'm from until the coach blows his whistle and tells us that we're getting started with practice.

————————————————
After Practice

————————————————

Exhausted to the bone after practice, I chuck my duffel into the back and walk over to the driver's seat, when my monitor goes off. Groaning, I hop in my car and grab my backpack from the front seat and start rummaging around for a glucose pouch. When I eventually find one, I open it and drink it before getting an apple juice and putting it in my cup holder.  Finally, I buckle my seat belt and get on the road. 

I pull into my driveway and turn off my car. Still feeling extremely exhausted, I leave my duffel and just bring in my backpack inside. I walk into the living room and surprisingly see both of my parents on the couch cuddling, watching a movie together. I walk in and collapse on the couch. My mom sits up and looks at me. "Are you ok Charlie? you look a little clammy. What's your blood sugar level at?" she asks as she walks over and takes my monitor that I pulled out of my pocket to give to her. She continues to eye me warily while she checks my monitor. "You're at 3.5 did you eat something after practice?" she asks me.

Closing my eyes, I answer that I had a glucose pouch and a juice box. It must not have kicked in yet if my blood sugar is still low like it is. Not that I'm sitting, I can feel myself crashing. I think my mom can sense it too because she swats at my dad to sit up and helps me lay down on the couch. I vaguely hear my mom tell my dad to go get another few glucose pouches and apple juice. I feel all sweaty and hot and I just want to sleep. I feel my mom sitting next to me and urging my mouth open. Then I feel the cool gel of the glucose on my tongue. My mom tells me to swallow and I try my best to comply. I feel completely exhausted and I just want to sleep. I hear a muffled voice and realize that it's my mom telling me not to go to sleep yet. I suddenly feel something buzzing underneath me and it takes several vibrations to realize that it's my phone in my pocket. I try to grasp at it and my mom must see my poor attempt to relieve myself from the buzzing when she rolls me over on my side and takes my phone out of my pocket. She looks at it for a minute before setting it on the table beside the couch. I feel so tired.

I start to close my eyes again when my mom takes my face in her hands and wills me to stay awake. I just want to sleep. I try to close my eyes again when something cold and wet softly lands on my cheek. I open my eyes a little bit fighting with every ounce of willpower I have left to keep my eyes open. I look at my mom and see the sadness that's washed onto her face. I look over her head and try to think about anything else that will keep me awake.

Olivia... Her beautiful long wavy hair. Her pretty smile when she gets shy. How inhumanely gorgeous and beautiful she is. I didn't get to talk to her as much today because I think I freaked her out a little bit this morning. I wanna give her a hug. I want to smell the coconut nothings she uses in her hair and on her body. I want to hear her comforting voice and see her beautiful little habits that she does sometimes when she hasn't moved enough in a little while. I want to sleep. I try to close my eyes again feeling cooler than I have been since I got home. I feel something prick my finger and my reflexes are too slow to react. I feel my mom cup my cheeks again and tell me to close my eyes and sleep. Wasting no time, I stop fighting my fatigue and feel myself drifting off thinking all thoughts of Olivia and something pricking my finger.