Tactics & Teamwork Chapter 1

Mark hurried down the stairs of his family's new house of just a week with his leather satchel over his arm. Yeah it was a bit old-school, but it suited him. He got to the bottom of the stairs and to the front door before he turned back to call out to his mother.

"Mom! I'm heading out now, see you for dinner!" He said opening the door.

"Make sure you wear a coat, it's still a bit chilly outside!" His mother called back, but Mark already had that covered as he was wearing his favorite green hoodie. But he did flip the hood up since it was October. Though it was much warmer than it would have been in Bern this time of year and Mark was happy for that. He took a deep breath and started walking down the sidewalk towards his new school, Caelin High. It was Saturday, so most would be wondering why he would be going there today, but Mark wanted to be prepared since he knew he was a bit socially inept and one less thing to worry about would help him out greatly. Plus he knew that sports practices would most likely would be going on, and he figured he could watch and get to know some people before his first day Monday.

"Well, it's not as big as any of the school buildings in Bern, but at least it looks like it's in good shape." Mark commented to himself as he stepped onto the school grounds. He had heard the unofficial motto for Caelin High was 'We may be small, but we are brave.' Mark liked the sound of that, plus he did better in small groups. He made it to the doors and took a few steps before he saw someone else. He was a big, muscular looking guy, so Mark decided to just past him by, but as he did the guy turned sharply and Mark ran straight into him.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" The guy said quite irritated.

"Sorry, I guess you were just blocking my way just a bit too much." Mark said completely not thinking about how the guy would take it. This was his social ineptitude at work.

"What did you say punk!" The guy said grabbing a hold of Mark by the collar and pushing him up against the lockers. Sad to say, Mark had been in this situation many times before, but it wasn't as if he didn't have a solution. He knew he wasn't going to talk or fight his way out of this one, so he pretended to pass out from fear. "Yeah, that's what I thought." The guy quipped before throwing Mark hard against the lockers. Unfortunately, Mark's head hit one of the locks and that knocked him out for real. It felt like forever before he finally came to, and when he did he was in what looked like a nurse's office with a beautiful green haired girl sitting next to where he was laying down.

"Oh good, you finally woke up." The girl said as his eyes flitted open. Mark turned his head to get a good look at her and saw that she had green eyes, a very long ponytail, and was wearing a basketball uniform. "You must have taken a nasty bump from that locker, it's most likely going to bruise."

"I've had worse." Mark admitted, wondering if this was a dream. "I take it you brought me here?"

"I did." The girl told him. "I saw you sprawled out on the floor and just had to help you out. What happened?"

"My stupid mouth got me in trouble." Mark answered. "I ran into this big guy and said the wrong thing as usual."

"Let me guess, blonde flattop, green headband?" The girl asked.

"Yeah, you know him?"

"That's Batta, he always ends up sending someone here just about every day, on purpose or on accident depends on the day."

"I'll try to stay clear of him then." Mark said as he finally sat up. "Thank you for helping me out, my name is Mark by the way."

"I'm Lyndis, but most people just call me Lyn." The girl responded. "It's a good thing I found you when I did too, I'm the last one here. I hope you don't mind but I leafed through some of your papers as I picked them up, are you by chance a statistician, I saw a lot of numbers and sports terms."

"Uh, yeah actually." Mark said a bit sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I take it you play basketball?"

"It's good to see your eyes are still functional." Lyn joked and Mark chuckled at that. "But yes, I've been playing basketball since middle school, and I'm pretty good if I do say so myself." After she said that she realized something. "Hey, you're new here aren't you? Where are you from?"

"Bern." Mark answered. "My father got hired on to a law-firm in Caelin though, so we moved to Lycia. I take it you were born in Sacae, the green hair really gives it away."

"Yeah, but I've been here in Caelin for about a year and a half." Lyn said trying to not talk about her parents. "But back to basketball, you want to come to our practice tomorrow, our first game is Wednesday, and to be honest we don't even have a full time coach. Maybe you could watch and give us some tips?"

"That's what I was trying to do today actually, but sure I'd love to. I even have some..." Mark paused as he reached into his satchel. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?" Lyn asked confused.

"My green notebook with all my basketball plays in it. Did you see it when you picked my stuff up?"

"No, I didn't. But I think I might know where it is. Follow me." Lyn said taking Mark's hand an leading him down the hall. They came to a stop back where he got knocked out and Lyn reached out and started unlocking one of the lockers.

"Why would my playbook be in your locker?" Mark asked being confused now.

"This isn't mine, it's Batta's. Everyone knows his combination is 1,2,3 for his locker. And he deserves it for how he treats people anyways, he's such a bully I can't stand it sometimes." She said pulling out a green notebook. "Is this it?"

"Yeah. Man, you've saved me twice and I just met you. I hope I can find a way to repay you." Mark told her.

"Well, you're probably going home for dinner right? Can I come with you?" Lyn asked nonchalantly.

"I guess that would work, you should probably tell your parents first though, going to a strange guy's house and all." Now, if certain things hadn't happened in Lyn's life she would have laughed at that, but those certain things did happen, so instead she turned away from Mark and tried to not start crying. "Did I say something wrong? I tend to do that a lot." There was no answer. "I guess I'll just leave then."

"Please don't." Lyn said as she grabbed his wrist. "It's not your fault, there is no way you could know."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Mark said quietly. There was silence and he wasn't expecting an answer, but suddenly Lyn spoke up.

"My parents died in a fire a year and a half ago. It was an arsonist and they never found out who did it." She said in a calm yet determined voice. "I live with my grandfather now and he's been in poor health lately." Mark could see that she was visibly trembling, so he did the only thing that he though might help and he hugged her. As soon as he did she started to sob and hug him back harder.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." Mark said rubbing her back to comfort her. "I'm sorry I asked. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I told you it's not your fault." Lyn said calming down some. "But thank you for the hug, it helps a lot. I know it's been a while, but it still gets to me sometimes."

"Hey, we all have those moments." Mark said as he reached up and wiped a tear out of her eye. "You are really tall, you know that?" Lyn chuckled and Mark smiled because of it.

"Maybe you're just really short?" She suggested sarcastically and Mark just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"We're going to be friends aren't we?" Mark asked with a grin.

"I don't know, you're kinda cute, I might want you as a boyfriend." Lyn joked, but she did think he was cute.

"Don't toy with me like that, I might just take you up on that." Mark responded and the two of them just cracked up laughing. Eventually they calmed down and Mark spoke again. "So what are your thoughts on meat stew?"

"Love it. I take it that's what's for dinner?" Mark nodded. "Then let's go, I'm starving."

A/n- So this is a thing. I'm going to try and finish this without taking huge break, but it all depends if my inspiration stays high. And this does mean that Buried in the Sand is on indefinite hiatus, I just don't have anything for it because no one seems to read it.