Ok so I finally got the first chapter up for this story. Just to clarify, this is the second story I was talking about in the last few chapters of One Step Too Far. I began writing this in the beginning of June, so I waited a while to finally publish this story. But I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
"Look at you, you're already crying!" A girl said.
"Am not!" Lynn shouted back.
The girl laughed maliciously, "Yeah you are! I can see the tears in your eyes building up!" The girl replied laughing even more.
Lynn felt her breathing become uneasy. The tears in her eyes were threatening to spill. The heat in her face built up from a mixture of sadness and anger made it worse. "Shut up, Maddison!" She yelled.
Maddison laughed even more. "Aww poor baby Lynn. Sad that you lost your wittle game?"
"No!" Lynn yelled. It was a half lie. She actually was sad about the loss, but the emotion she was feeling at the time was mostly rage.
"You're just realizing that nobody on your team needs you. You're just as useless as the people watching in the stands!" Maddison barked.
Lynn could feel her sorrow beginning to take control of her body. She wanted to punch this girl in the middle of her nose. But what can she do with a weak will? But maybe she wouldn't need to act, as a thirteen year old African American boy who was Clyde's shade, named Adam, just happened to turn the corner. He was a little taller than Lynn herself. Sporting a white muscle shirt and black basketball shorts and a low haircut. He finished working out previously and was leaving the building. Until he saw Lynn being verbally bullied by a girl the same height as her wearing a blue volleyball t-shirt and compression shorts. He saw a tear stream down Lynn's defeated, emotion filled, face. "Hey!" He yelled out.
Both girls turned their heads in his direction.
"Why are you making her cry?" Adam asked.
"It's not my fault she's all soft like that. I'm just informing her on how useless of a player she is." Maddison replied.
"Is there really a point in doing that?" Adam asked her again.
Maddison laughed, "Yes! She's causing so many losses for our school. Why not let her know?"
Adam crossed his arms. "You talk about how bad she is when you're on the bench longer than her?"
Maddison scoffed at him, offended. Lynn looked at Adam, surprised by his remark. "Yeah? What makes you so different from me?!" Maddison asked.
"I'm one of the top five players in all the sports I do. Which basically means I'm rarely on the bench unless taking a break. Which also means I have better things to do with my time than to bring others down with my own insecurities." Adam replied.
Maddison's face twisted with anger. But only because Adam was exactly right about what he was saying.
"Whatever!" Maddison shouted in frustration. She turned and promptly left the area. Adam heard a smack on the brick wall next to him. It sounded like human flesh coming in punching contact with a brick like substance. He turned around and saw Lynn punching a brick wall repeatedly. Using full force and every angry thought stored in her mind to punch the brick wall. But such force was cutting open her knuckles and causing them to bleed. Adam rushed behind her and pulled her away from the wall. She breathed angrily as Adam dragged her a good 15 feet away from the wall. "Don't do that! You're gonna hurt yourself!" Adam said.
Lynn thrashed about violently. "I don't care! I wanna keep punching it!" She yelled.
"Just settle down. Breathe slowly like me. Ready? In...out..." Adam said inhaling then exhaling.
"I don't wanna." Lynn replied.
"I'm not letting go until you do it." Adam said.
Lynn angrily mumbled under her breath.
"In." Adam said inhaling.
Lynn reluctantly inhaled with him.
"Out." Adam continued exhaling.
Lynn slowly exhaled. They continued matching inhaling and exhaling patterns until Lynn settled down and slightly slumped in his arms.
"Good. Feel better now?" Adam asked.
Lynn wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "What are you? Some miracle worker?" She asked sniffing.
Adam let her go and smiled, "No. I'm Adam. Adam Law." He said introducing himself.
Lynn suspiciously eyed him, "Lynn Loud." She introduced.
"What's all this stuff about not being useful?" Adam asked.
Lynn threw her hands up, "I completely botched my last Basketball game. I'm starting to think I'm not needed on any team."
Adam tapped her shoulder, "Nonsense! I saw you play before! You were just off your game!"
Lynn looked down, "I wish."
Adam smirked, "I know you're a better player than that."
Lynn looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks."
Adam nodded, "Are you joining football?"
Lynn shrugged, "Isn't it almost the end of the season?"
Adam shrugged back, "More than halfway done. But better late than never right?"
Lynn nodded. "Yeah I guess I'll join."
Adam smiled again, "Great! I'll see you at practice one of these days!"
Lynn nodded. "Thanks again."
Adam began backing away, "I gotta go. But remember, you're worth something. You're a very valuable player!" He said before turning and walking from the back of the school.
3 weeks later…..
Lynn was next on the football dive drill. She lined up in front of Adam. She had to go up against the wide receivers since that's her position, and the group she's in. Adam didn't want to go up against Lynn. She's strong in her own way but that's not why he didn't want to face her. It was because she was the only girl on the team. He didn't want to hurt her or embarrass her, but what other choice did he have? The coach blew the whistle and the two collided. But Adam exploded with such force that his momentum took Lynn off of her feet. Lynn landed on her back, and Adam landed right on top of her. Lynn grunted from his weight and the force of impact. Adam panicked thinking he crushed her body. "Ohmygod are you ok?!" He asked.
Lynn nodded, "You're good." She said out of breath.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to hit you that hard!" Adam said getting up.
He easily picked Lynn up and put her on her feet. "Are you sure you're ok?" He asked.
Lynn nodded, "Yeah I'm fine." She tapped his helmet. "Good job!"
Adam nodded but still looked her in the eyes, getting lost.
"Law!" The coach yelled.
Adam turned his attention to the coach.
"Your turn is over, either get a room or get back in line!" The coach said.
Lynn chuckled and playfully punched Adam on the shoulder, "Count yourself lucky, I'll get ya back one day!"
Adam shook his head and smiled, "You keep saying that."
Football practice lasted a little bit longer before it ended. After Adam took his gear off he walked walked to Lynn. "Hey Lynn. Sorry about beating you again."
Lynn smiled, "Hey, it's no problem. I just can't seem to beat you at it yet."
Adam shrugged, "I think you just need to be more explosive and use your legs more instead of upper body."
Lynn raised an eyebrow, "Really?"
Adam nodded.
"You think you could help me on that?" Lynn asked.
Adam was taken by surprise with the question. "I mean sure. Where would you want to practice that?"
Lynn shrugged, "My house probably. I have a lot of equipment there." She cocked her head to the side, "Do you play any other sports? Like baseball? Or?"
Adam nodded, "I mean last year I did, but I play dodgeball which is a substitute for it."
"So you're good at catching and throwing?" Lynn asked.
"Catching, throwing, and dodging." Adam replied.
"What about track?" Lynn asked.
"Sprinter and jumper." Adam replied.
Lynn nodded, "You know I might have to start hanging out with you. None of my siblings are all that interested in sports."
"Really? How many siblings do you have?" Adam asked.
"Ten." Lynn said nonchalantly.
Adam raised his eyebrows, "Wow!"
Lynn slightly grinned, "Yeah I know. The other nine are my sisters and there's one who's my brother."
"Big family." Adam said.
"You get used to it after a while." Lynn replied.
Adam chuckled, "Kindof sounds impossible."
Lynn shrugged.
A car honked behind them. They both turned their attention towards it. "That's my sister Lori. She's the oldest." Lynn said grabbing her gear and water jug. "How about you come over tomorrow? I need someone to practice with."
"Yeah sure. I just need your address." Adam replied.
Lynn told him her address then hurried to the car as Lori honked more.
She threw her stuff in the back and hopped in.
"What took you so long?" Lori asked.
"I was talking to someone." Lynn replied.
"You mean the boy?" Lori asked with a smile.
Lynn sighed, "His name's Adam."
"He coming over anytime soon?" Lori asked.
"Tomorrow, to do what you guys never want to do with me." Lynn replied.
"Oh, sports boy?" Lori asked.
"Yep." Lynn replied.
Lori shrugged, "You never know. He could be a comic book geek too like Lincoln, or a rockstar like Luna."
"Maybe." Lynn replied.
The Next Day...
Lynn jumped up and body slammed on Adam's stomach. "Oof!" Adam squeaked out as all the air in his lungs was forced out.
"One!" Lynn yelled slamming her hand on the ground. "Two!" She yelled again.
Adam quickly jumped up and pushed Lynn off. "Whoa!" Lynn said. She spun in midair and landed on her front with a loud thud. Adam quickly knelt next to her on the left and grabbed her right arm to pin it behind her back. "Ow!" Lynn exclaimed.
Adam let go scared that he hurt her, "Are you ok?"
Lynn grinned evilly before moving swiftly behind him and putting him in a headlock. She fell back with him and put her legs on his stomach. "You gotta tap, now." She said still smiling.
Adam groaned frustrated with no escape.
"Hurry before I make the hold tighter." Lynn teased.
Adam tapped his hand on the ground twice. Lynn let go and stood up shortly. "The woman! The myth! The legend! Lynn Loud!" She chanted.
Adam shifted in a sitting position facing her. He watched her jumping around chanting her name in a whisper to imitate a crowd.
"You cheated." Adam interjected.
Lynn finally stopped her chanting and faced Adam. "Nah, you're just gullible."
Adam felt a moment of betrayal, and looked slightly vexed.
Lynn sighed. She walked over and sat next to him. "Relax, I'm just messing with ya."
Adam looked at her, "I thought you were hurt."
Lynn met his his gaze, "You shouldn't have. I'm not fragile you know. I can hold my own."
"Yeah I know that. But people compare me to a Mac truck." Adam replied.
Lynn laughed, "You hit like a Mac truck."
"Sorry. That also emphasizes my point." Adam said.
Lynn shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with it. It's good to be sturdy like that."
Adam nodded. "My whole life depended on me to be sturdy. So I got used to it I guess."
Lynn gave him a quizzical look, "Huh?"
Adam shook his head. "N-nothing."
Lynn held her hand out. "What did you mean by-" "Lynn! Come inside, Mom and Dad wanna talk to you." Lori interrupted.
Lynn looked back. "Alright!" She faced Adam again. "I'll be back. We'll practice on my pitching next." She stood up and ran to the front door.
Adam looked around the yard. It looked very chaotic, dozens of different things on the yard scattered around. A battle field fought with toys. It made Adam slightly jealous.
"Hey, are you the boy Lynn brought over?" A voice called out. Adam looked over his shoulder and spotted a short boy with an orange shirt, blue jeans, and odd white hair walking towards him.
"Yeah I guess I am." Adam said. He questioned why the boy had white hair, but everyone is different in their own way.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lincoln." He said holding his hand out.
"Adam." Adam replied shaking his hand.
"How do you know Lynn?" Lincoln asked.
"Mainly from football. Tough girl." Adam replied.
"I gotta deal with that everyday." Lincoln said smiling.
"It's not that bad is it?" Adam asked.
"Depends on the sport. One day she may kick a soccer ball at you. Or another day she'll throw a baseball in your direction." Lincoln said.
"Sounds like she loves sports more than I thought." Adam said.
"That's probably why you're here." Lincoln added.
"I mean I like sports too, but I like other things as well." Adam replied.
"What kind of other things?" Lincoln asked.
"Well unlike a lot of the other football players, Lynn included, I'm a comic book geek." Adam said.
Lincoln's eyes went huge, "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?"
Adam laughed, "Yeah."
"What do you know?" Lincoln asked trying to quell his excitement.
"Marvel, DC. That one guy Ace Savvy seems pretty cool." Adam said.
"I KNOW RIGHT?!" Lincoln yelled out loud. Adam raised his eyebrows. Lincoln covered his mouth, making not sure not to let anymore excitement blurt out.
"You alright dude?" Adam asked smiling.
Lincoln nodded and exhaled. "It's just that the only person that likes comics like me that I know is my friend Clyde."
Adam shrugged, "I'm used to being the only geek in my friends circle."
"How many friends do you have?" Lincoln asked.
Adam's smile disappeared, he looked down. "Come to think of it, none of my friends are that trustworthy. So my circle is pretty small if anything."
"No I'm sure you have more friends." Lincoln insisted.
Adam shook his head, "I don't."
Lincoln blinked. "Oh."
Adam looked up and noticed the conversation was taking a darker turn, "But uh putting that aside. Which comic book character is your favorite?"
Lincoln smiled, "Ace Savvy."
Adam nodded. "I figured. You geeked out when I said his name."
"He's just the coolest by far!" Lincoln added.
Adam shrugged, "I like Spider-Man more."
"Good role model." Lincoln said.
Adam nodded. The front door behind Lincoln opened and closed. Lynn returned and hopped down the steps from the porch. She smiled seeing Lincoln. "I see you met my brother." She put her arm around the back of Lincoln's neck.
"Only boy in the house." Adam said.
Lynn looked to Lincoln. "Yeah."
"Hey Lynn. Adam likes comic books too, like me." Lincoln said.
"Comic books? Lame." Lynn replied.
"Come on Lynn. You should give it a try." Lincoln begged.
Lynn shook her head. "Nah. I don't see what's so cool about it. It's not even real."
Lincoln nodded, "That's the thing! It's an escape from reality like video games."
Lynn patted Lincoln on the shoulder. "That's cute." She walked towards Adam and held her hand out to help him up. "Come on get off your butt. We're doing baseball pitches."
Adam took her hand and stood up. "Lead the way, Princess."
"Princess is Lola's thing." Lynn replied walking to the backyard.
"Lola...?" Adam trailed off looking to Lincoln for help.
"Younger sister." Lincoln simplified. Adam nodded and followed Lynn to the backyard. "So maybe we can be comic book geeks later?" Lincoln asked.
"No!" Lynn interjected still walking.
Adam turned his head, gave a thumbs up and nodded silently at Lincoln.
Lynn grabbed a baseball mitt and tossed it to Adam. She grabbed a catcher's helmet, and shin guards. She also grabbed a football hitting pad and tossed it to Adam. Adam noticed it while he was clipping the shin guards on. "What's that for?"
"That, is for the family jewels." Lynn replied.
"Why would I need that?" Adam asked picking it up.
"In case one of my pitches goes down there by accident. Or if I get mad and throw it down there." Lynn replied.
Adam raised an eyebrow, "You would purposely throw a baseball down there just for being mad?"
Lynn nodded, "It'd get you to shut up, yeah."
"But what if it wasn't me who got you mad?" Adam asked.
Lynn shrugged, "Then know it wasn't personal."
Adam sighed, "You're crazy."
Lynn narrowed her eyes, she then threw the ball forward toward Adam's legs. Adam quickly shielded his groin with the football pad and blocked the ball just in time.
He looked up at her with wide eyes.
"Told you it'd make you shut up." Lynn said smirking. Adam puffed and tossed the ball back to Lynn.
Lynn took her pitcher stance. She exhaled. Shortly she threw the ball forward again at a vast speed. Adam caught it with the baseball mitt in his left hand. He tossed it back. Lynn caught it and set up her position again. "So I gotta ask, where ya from?"
"Originally? I have no clue. But I grew up in town." Adam said.
Lynn threw the ball again, "Family moved a lot?"
Adam caught the ball again, "You can say that."
"How long are you staying for?" Lynn asked.
Adam tossed the ball back, "For as long as I want I guess."
Lynn caught the ball and nodded, "Decent."
"What kind of sports do you do?" Adam asked.
Lynn got in her position and held it. "Any sport I can join. Basically anything physical. From Martial Arts, and parkour. To Rugby, and name it." She threw the ball forward.
Adam caught it, "Wow. Definitely passed my record for most sports." He passed the ball back.
Lynn laughed, "Ball is life." Lynn threw the ball again. "That's basically all you need to know about me."
Adam caught the ball again. "I'm sure there's more to you than that."
Lynn shrugged. "I love sports…..not much else than that."
"Nothing else?" Adam asked tossing the ball back.
Lynn shrugged after catching the ball. "I'll do other things, like go to movies and concerts and what not."
"I got a feeling I'd have to ask your siblings about what else you like to do." Adam said.
"I'll bet that they say what I just told you." Lynn replied. "Enough talking, more throwing." She threw the ball again.
"What? I talk too much?" Adam asked catching the ball.
"Yes. It's very boring." Lynn replied.
Adam shrugged. He tossed the ball back. Lynn caught the ball then set up her stance again. She threw the ball back to Adam. Adam caught it and threw it back. Lynn caught the ball again and threw it to Adam again. Adam caught the ball again and instantly tossed it back. The sound of birds chirping could be heard. Even the shuffling of the grass when Lynn threw the ball would sound loud as if everything else was dead silent. They passed the ball back and forth a dozen more times through the soundless ball throwing. Still nothing said. Adam silently smirked. Lynn sighed. "Ok fine you can keep talking."
"You sure about that?" Adam asked.
"It's a lot more boring to not say anything than to listen to you." Lynn replied.
Adam held his hands in the air. "Ohhh the horror!" He pointed a finger at her and raised an eyebrow, "Hey wait a minute, weren't you the one that started the conversation in the first place?"
Lynn rolled her eyes, "Now you're gonna be Mr. Detail?"
Adam huffed and grabbed the ball from his mitt. "Anyway, what other sport do you wanna practice with?"
Lynn held her chin between the knuckle on her index finger and thumb and looked into the sky. "Well..." She trailed off. "Since I got an upcoming soccer game we can work on that next."
Adam held his hand with the ball out with his palm facing upward. "Shouldn't we have just started with that when I got here?"
"Yeahhhh, but then again none of my other siblings would do this with me. So why not have fun first?" Lynn replied shrugging.
"You call wrestling me in the dirt, and throwing baseballs at my groin fun?" Adam asked.
"I'd call bloody knuckles fun, so yeah wrestling and throwing stuff at you is also fun." Lynn replied smiling.
Adam swirled his finger around the side of his head, "Coocoo." He imitated a clock with a bird sprouting out of it.
Lynn dropped her smile, narrowed her eyes and grabbed towards the center of her mitt. But she grabbed nothing but air, she quizzically looked at Adam confused. She thought she had the ball. Adam smiled at her and held the ball up in his hand. "Looking for this?"
"I don't need a ball to hit you hard you know." Lynn said threateningly.
Adam tossed the ball back to her. "Fine. I take back what I said."
Lynn fought the urge not to throw the ball at Adam. "I'll forgive you this one time."
Suddenly the backyard door opened behind Adam. A little girl with blue overalls and a backward red cap that covered her blonde hair walked out. "Hey Lynn can I borrow your soccer gloves? I'm about to fix the leaking pipe in the sink and I can't grip the darn thing with wet hands." The girl stopped in her tracks when she locked gazes with Adam. "Uhh who's he?" She asked.
"Friend of mine." Lynn replied.
The girl smirked, "Your 'friend' huh?"
Lynn's face began to turn red. "Lana." She warned gripping the baseball in her right hand.
Lana began smiling, "Ooooooh is that your boyfriend?" Lana teased.
Lynn was fuming. "Shut. Up. Lana." She demanded gripping the ball harder.
Adam turned his attention back to Lynn. Brows low and pinched in the middle. Teeth bared like an angry dog. Adam looked at Lynn frightfully. "Uh, Lana? Can you maybe just tone down the teasing?" He dropped the baseball mitt and grabbed the football pad.
Lana laughed, "Cmon, Lynn I'm just messing with you."
Lynn glared at Lana still a little irritated. Lana began walking back into the house but stopped as she opened the door. "Did you guys kiss yet?" She asked.
"Oh God." Adam said silently gripping the football pad with his legs in front of it. Lynn growled angrily and swung her arm forward as hard as she could. The ball curved downward towards Adam's groin. It ripped through the football pad and slammed itself against Adam's groin. "SWEET MOTHER OF PERCY JACKSON!" Adam blurted out. He flopped on his back and clutched his throbbing aching privates.
Lynn snapped out of her angered state and rushed next to Adam, "Sorry I didn't mean to throw that hard. Are you ok?"
Adam rolled side-to-side on his back, "How on Earth can you throw that hard?!"
"I didn't throw it that hard." Lynn replied.
"That ball had to be going at least 130 mph!" Adam said.
"Well the football pad was old and it was ripping anyway." Lynn replied calmly.
"So I just tanked like 80 percent of that?!" Adam squeaked.
"Nah more like 95 percent." Lynn replied.
"Hang on, did he just say Percy Jackson?!" Lana asked laughing out loud.
Adam grunted out of breath, "I think I might pass out."
"Come inside, I need to get you ice for that." Lynn said trying to help Adam up.
Adam hissed in pain, "Lynn, standing after nut shots makes the pain ten times worse!"
"Tolerate it you big baby." Lynn said. She struggled trying to move him to the door. "Geez, use your legs. You feel like you're 150 pounds!"
Adam tried to use his quivering legs, "I'm 156, a good percentage of that is muscle weight. Probably leg muscle."
Lynn sighed, "Then use that leg muscle."
"Easy for you to say. It's not happening to you." Adam replied.
"You're right, and it's not gonna happen to me." Lynn said.
"I could make it happen." Adam said.
Lynn looked at him, "Do it and you're dead."
Lynn put his left arm over the back of her neck and she reached her right hand over to grab his torso. She placed her hand down on his stomach, but shock overtook her when she felt abs. "Whoo." She exhaled astonished.
Adam looked at her, "What?"
Lynn tried to shake it off, "N-nothing. Just need to catch my breath." She lied.
Adam looked at her confused but still in pain.
Adam nearly fell down when his right leg gave out. His body slipped past Lynn's right hand. She roughly grabbed his skin trying to make sure he didn't fall. Adam's face scrunched up in pain, "Ow! You're grabbing my chest!"
Lynn felt around and noticed Adam's big pec muscle. "Dam...AGE!" She quickly said. "Uh damage, yeah damage, that's a lot of damage you sustained..." Lynn awkwardly said.
Adam looked at her again, "What are you talking about?"
Lynn shook her head. "Can you just use your legs so we can get inside?" She silently blushed.
Lana held the door open and watched as Lynn and Adam passed her. Lynn gave her a threatening glare. "Nice to meet you." Lana said laughing.
Ok so that was chapter 1. It was gonna be longer but I decided to split the next part for the next chapter. What do you guys think about Adam so far? I hope you guys come to like him and this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to review on how you felt about it!