Super happy that everyone is still enjoying this story! Thankfully the characters will not stop chattering away in my head and special thanks to a late night ipod shuffle and Florence and The Machine and I now know how this fic will end!
Just to get there now though!
massive thanks to everyone that has reviewed, you're all fantastic and I love you!
So here's some more!
If there was one thing Louie Provenza hated more than school in general, it was having to endure phys ed. Mandatory sports seemed more like a punishment than anything else. The school boards own brand of humiliation amongst the mass populus of the student body. It wasn't as if he couldn't keep up, he just had no desire to exert himself in that way. He and Mike Tao were similar in that respect, together they sat on the bleachers sipping a coke, feeling dumb in the school sports clothes and ragging on the nerds that just couldn't seem to master running in a straight line.
Every few minutes they'd throw in an eye roll, a courtesy look of distaste in the direction of the jock crowd. How Jackson Raydor became Captain of the football team no one would ever figure out, general theories surrounded the fact that his father was a big contributor to the sports department but who was anyone to judge. With Jack came his gang of idiots, some of them actually had talent but brains were in short supply.
They weren't all bad on the team. Fritz Howard was a decent guy, rumour was that he was slated to take over from Daniel Dunn as the starting quarterback. A covetted role if ever there was one. Apparently Dunn had let his grades slip lately and it just wasn't good enough.
Then there was Sanchez, newest guy on the team. He was the quiet type, but he wasn't someone to cross. Fritz had taken him under his wing last semester, the kid was spiralling, only just keeping his head above water, living in a part of town that was rife with drugs and gang activity. His mother had sent him to this school to give him a better chance and Julio was determined not to let her down.
"You gunna sit your ass up there all day?"
Louie looked down a little from where he sat when Andy walked over to them, hoisting himself up to sit on the railings.
"That's the plan."
"How do you expect to pass the class by the end of the year if ya don't like, run, at least once." Andy laughed, looking from Louie to Mike, who looked up from his laptop only briefly and shrugged his reply.
"Same way we do every year, join an obscure team and slip under the radar. This years hot favourite, badminton."
"Badminton?" Andy laughed, his eyes wide in shock and amusement.
"Flawless plan man!" Louie raised his hands and grinned.
"Believe it when I see it."
"Anyway whats the deal with you! I saw you in the batting cage over there, since when are you a jock?"
"Shut up man I'm not a jock! Baseball gets the stress out, releases the tension."
"Tension eh!" Louie wiggled his eyebrows as he leant back on his elbows. "Here comes your kinda tension right now."
Andy looked around and rolled his eyes. Sharon, Brenda and Andrea were walking towards them from the running track. "Give it up Louie we're just friends, not even that really."
"Could have fooled me." Tao added, not looking up from his computer screen, fist bumping Louie without even flinching.
"Hello boys!" Brenda called out, hopping over the railings she climbed up to sit beside Louie, taking his soda can from his hands.
"Ladies." Provenza smiled widely, handing his second soda can to Andrea as she sat down beside Mike.
Sharon stopped beside Andy, her hip resting against the railing, twisting a bottle of water in her hands.
"Thought you were benched? How's the shoulder?" Andy gestured to her arm, recalling their conversation from only two days ago.
They hadn't seen each other since and Andy would be loath to admit that he missed sparring with her. It wasn't much of a secret at least to him that he was looking forward to their science class this afternoon. In truth he was simply looking forward to every opportunity he had to see her.
He liked her, he made no secret of that from the first day he met her but she was off limits. Maybe that made him want her more who knew. Usually when it came to girls, Andy had no scruples. Whether single or not if he liked them he went for it. With Sharon it was different. The more he got to know her the more he liked her as a person, she wasn't just a pretty girl to him. He was sure of that pretty quickly and he didn't want to hurt her.
His feelings for Sharon were a bit mixed up right now, he couldn't define or explain them so he simply ignored them. There was no way he could ignore her though, his every fibre begged to be around her, for now that was all he would settle for.
"I'm no expert but I don't think it takes much shoulder action to jog around a track." Sharon laughed, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him. "It's a little better thank you for asking."
"Glad to hear it!"
"Hey Flynn you're a guy!" Brenda jumped down from the bleacher and landed on the ground in front of where Andy was sitting.
"I was last time I looked!" He laughed, looking briefly up to Provenza and Tao as they both looked on.
"What are we? Chopped liver?"
"Well obviously you're guys but I mean Andy is...well he's a litte more ladies man than you are." Brenda twisted her hand in the air, trying desperately to appease the put out counterparts.
"Excuse me! I had three dates last week how many did your so called ladies man have huh?"
"My standards are a tad higher than your's Louie!"
Andy briefly glanced at Sharon, regretting it the second it happened as they both blushed at the implication.
"Getting off track!" Brenda called order and turned back towards Flynn. "What does a girl have to do to get a guys attention around here? I mean, here I am, in these very short shorts, and last years t-shirt and Fritz isn't even flinching! I don't even think he's noticed me once this whole morning out here!"
"He noticed you." Andy took the water bottle from Sharon and took a gulp before handing it back to her. An action that did not go unnoticed but nobody commented. "But it's not enough to be noticed Brenda. Don't try so hard, and stop ignoring him. You wanna talk to him? Get over there and talk to him. Fritz is the passive aggressive type...you gotta go to him once in a while."
"So what you're saying is that I should quit trying to get his attention and just go over there and grab it?"
"Guys dig that." Louie nodded as Andrea tossed their empty soda cans into a nearby trash can.
"Since when did Brenda Leigh Johnson get so wimpy. You're a go getter kid! So go get him!"
Brenda nodded once and stood up straighter. Andrea was right. "Ok. I will. Watch this space."
And with that she was gone, strutting off across the field to where the team was taking a break, leaving the others to smile after her, each shaking their heads.
"You ready for chemistry this afternoon partner?" Andy turned his head to look at Sharon as she rolled her eyes and shrugged slightly.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"You love it!"
"Word around the halls is that Lambert will be assigning projects today. I think we may have to establish some sort of study schedule soon."
Andy narrowed his eyes and adopted a whimsical expression. "More time with Sharon...I think I'll cope. Good job you like me huh Sinclair!"
"Anyone ever told you, you have a massive ego?"
"Many people, many times. I live with it." Andy shrugged and smiled as she laughed. Their moment interrupted seconds later when her boyfried jogged across the field and wedged himself between them.
"Hey babe!"
"Hey Jack."
"I was thinking," Jack started to say, slipping an arm around Sharon's shoulder as he pulled her to him.
"Don't strain yourself!" Andrea whispered, earning a laugh from Louie, Mike and Andy. Each of them receiving a glare from Jack in return.
"I'm pretty free tonight and I haven't seen my favourite girl all that much lately, so how does a movie sound? Pick you up at 6?"
Sharon paused for a moment, it was awkward standing here with her boyfriend in front of Andy. It shouldn't be awkward and she knew that but it was. After extensive thinking on her part she had concluded that she and Andy Flynn were friends, nothing more. She liked having him around, he made her laugh and always listened to her opinions.
Maybe it was Jack that made the situation awkward.
"Sounds good. Can you make it 7? I promised Andrea I would help her with some newspaper stuff tonight."
"No problem Baby! I'll see you then."
Sharon nodded and smiled at him, responding when he leant in to kiss her. She wasn't one for public displays and Jack was really giving it everything but she just couldn't commit fully.
What the hell was happening to her.
The air was tense and awkward when Jack departed back towards his team mates. Andrea shared a knowing look with Provenza and jumped down to stand beside her friend.
"We'd better get going if we want to be showered in time for lunch. See you guys in lab!"
They each waved their goodbyes, Louie shook his head as he watched the girls depart, turning to glance at his friend.
"Dude you got it bad!"
Louie wasn't the only one that had a view on the matter. Andrea practically pushed her friend into the locker room with a hastily uttered. "Could you be more obvious!"
Hopefully starting to move things on a bit now! It's about to get interesting! ;)
Drop a review if you have a minute, I'll be eternally grateful!