Author's Note: Thanks for everyone who's been reading and reviewing. Hope you like this chappie
A disclaimer: I do not own anything familiar.
"Life is not a matter of chance . . . It is a matter of choice." – Ka
"Knight!"
"Coach!" I greeted and approached the pissed looking coach holding what looked like a sign up sheet.
"What seems wrong with this Knight?" He slammed the paper into my chest.
I ignored the looks that the people gave me who were walking toward the cafeteria. I glanced at the paper and looked at him, shrugging.
"Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with this! It's empty! Not a single person signed. I tell you Knight, if you don't get people to sign this bloody paper by Thursday, we cancel playing this season's playoff."
"But Coach . . ."
"I know Knight." He exasperated. "I know. Just get people to sign and audition on Friday and we'll see what happens after that."
"Friday? But Coach . . ." Before I could even finish, coach dashed to the cafeteria leaving me alone in the school hallway.
I looked at the sign up sheet. If my team just hadn't quit, everything would be alright. I could go to my new job on Friday so my mom would see that I am responsible. I would have had a bigger chance of getting into Minnesota Wild, earning more money compared to what my father earned. Then finally people would stop comparing me.
I approached my former teammates and loudly pounded my fist on the table, surprising them and the girls sitting and flirting with them.
"Calm Down Knight. A little hot headed, are you now? Why don't you go to the rink, play hockey and cool off. Oh right, you don't have anyone to play with because you don't have a team." One teased.
"Because you guys are too full of yourselves to even go back to the team. Selfish."
"Selfish!" Gibson, one of my teammates, exclaimed, stood up and knocked milk and juice cartons off the table. "Don't you even use that word to describe us Knight. Who wouldn't pass the puck during games? Who wouldn't trust us to shoot the puck? Who forgot that hockey is a team sport? Who forgot, no, never acknowledged that he even had a team? You're the selfish one here." He glared at me and drilled his finger into my chest with every word he said.
"You deserve this, Knight. You deserve to be left by your team as a punishment. And soon you will be left alone with your family as well."
I couldn't remember what I did for him to end up on the floor with a broken and bloody nose. All I know is that if I don't look for teammates, he's right.
"Mr. Knight! Principal's office now!"
"Mr. Diamond, please report to the principal's office."
I walked to the office irritated. Why in the world did they choose, out of all the times they could've called me they chose to call me now – the perfect time to make friends
I arrived and saw a blonde guy sitting down, looking at a sign up sheet.
"Ah, Mr. Diamond. Please sit down. Your mother has sent you something. I'm not really sure what is. Ah, have you eaten? Do you want some?" She put a bowl of candy on the counter top.
Candy. Sugar. Fat.
"No thanks." I declined.
"Are you sure?" She put a peppermint flavored candy in her mouth. I could smell the sweet, fresh scent of peppermint leaves – spicy yet subtle at the same time – calling me to grab one of them.
"I'll leave them if ever you want some."
"Hmm . . . She seems nicer." The blonde stood up and took two candies then inspected me from head to toe.
"What are you doing? I asked through gritted teeth trying to hide the fact that my cheeks were turning red and feeling hot.
He glanced at my face then looked away.
"Sorry. Just-just to clear things up. I'm not checking you out and I'm not gay." He said a little too loud that the people passing by snickered.
He sighed and sat down, tossing me a peppermint flavored candy before eating his own. He looked disheartened as he folded and unfolded the paper in his hands.
Not knowing what to do in a situation like this considering I have no friends, I just kept quiet. I stared at the candy instead and decided to what no other Diamond would dream of doing, eat it.
It was euphoric. It was heaven in a small deadly clump of flavored sugar. Deadly, yes, but blissful.
"What's wrong now?" I glared at him because he was giggling like a girl and irked me.
"Well . . ." He cleared his throat and gave me a serious face. "You make the weirdest noise when you eat candy."
"What?" The staff was trying to stifle their laughter. I frowned at him and he stopped laughing.
"What? Ok, ok. Just so you know we're in the same boat. I'm now officially known as a member part of the gay club and you are now known as the person who can't eat candy without sounding like a dying whale."
He smiled as I smiled.
"Knight. Kendall Knight." He put out his hand and I shook it.
"Diamond. James Diamond."
"Wait a second, Diamond? You guys own Diamond Cosmetics right?"
"Yeah. My mom makes and advertises them. Well, me too. Why?"
"Is the makeup really supposed to sting?"
"As my mom says 'The burning means it's working'."
"Mr. Diamond, it looks like what your mother left is a message. She said that she'll be leaving this afternoon and won't be back until next week." The principal then faced Kendall.
"Mr. Knight, we will let you off the hook. But the next time you do this – detention!"
We both stood up and left. The last bell of the day rang. I walked to my locker and grabbed my notebooks.
"Are you sure you're not gay?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He was leaning on the locker beside mine.
"Yes. I mean. No. I mean . . ."
"I know Knight. I'm just teasing. Now what were you doing?"
He gave me the paper he was folding and unfolding a while ago. It was a sign up sheet.
"I was examining you. Could you be a member of my team? Hockey team. You're perfect. Your physique is big enough to slam guys to the boards but not too big to skate fast enough to the net. Not that I gave much attention." He turned scarlet.
"Hockey? I don't know. I'm not perfect."
"Just think about it. I'll write down your name. If you want to audition – great, if not – it's alright. I'm not forcing you. It's on Friday."
For once I was given the freedom to choose. Most of the time, I was given choices but only between something that would please people or would crush them. It's not considered as freedom- or at least for me, it's not. However, hockey wasn't really in my field of expertise. Why venture into something I will never be the best at regardless of what he says. My goal was to be the best, to be someone, to have friends and hockey won't help me with that.
"Look Knight . . ."
He clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Typical Diamond. Always has to be the best at everything. Don't worry, you'll eventually be the best if you practice. It could even help you be the best in your field of expertise."
I halted and turned around.
"So we got a deal?"
"Deal."
"You know I thought you hated me but then you waited for me and . . ."
"Please!" I might've shouted at him which startled him but didn't erase the smile off his face. "Stop following me and I do hate you."
I slammed the locker as loud as I could hoping to scare him away. He was still following me.
"You-you don't mean that, do you?" He asked in a timid and hurt voice.
"You know what, I do! I mean that with every part of my being. You know why you don't have friends. It's 'cause you don't fit in here! You're weird, different, immature. And no one, especially me, would want to be friends with you." I screamed at him in my Texas accent – the accent that inly appears every once in a while, usually when I'm angry.
He stumbled and fell, eyes glistening with ushed tears. Then it hit me. Literally, something hit me.
"What in the world are you doing?"
I was pinned up against the lockers, my feet more than 18 inches above the ground.
"I-I- I was . . ."
He was shaking me and he himself was shaking because his blnde bangs were shifting slightly their position on his forehead.
"I don't like people like you."
He raised his fist and I closed my eyes waiting for the impact. But the hurt I anticipated on my face- again- went down below. I felt him let go and I landed with a thud . I saw stars and a helmet.
"Are you okay?"
I pushed him away and his help. I didn't even bother to say 'Thank you'. Why would I? He's the reason why I was slammed into the lockers. I was only telling the truth. He should know that he could never and will never make friends because of his abnormalities.
Maybe he's right. I'm just so afraid of being someone else and pretending because I know that someday, when I've become who everyone wanted, I will lose myself. I don't know.
Maybe losing myself is the only option I have left to be accepted.
"Hey, you ok?" I heard a vioce from behind me.
Am I really?
"Hey." I was spun around by a pair of big, strong, manly hands but as smooth as baby's skin.
"Yeah." I removed the hands off my shoulders.
"Good hit by the way."
I saw the blonde I not-really-that-gently-hit-rather-practically-ramm ed-into, clutching his stomach but looked to be happy that I hit him with such force.
"You could be a great hockey player. Wanna try out?"
"I don't know how to play."
"Oh, it's easy. I'll personally teach you after school hours before the auditions." He offered looking a little desperate.
"And me?" James added.
"Yeah, sure." He waved James comment aside. "So what's you say?"
"Sure. Sign me up!"
If this was a sign for me to change, I'm accepting it with open arms even if I don't know how to play hockey. He gave me a pen and the sign up sheet.
"When's the audition anyway?"
"Friday."
"This Friday?"
"Yeah."
"Great!"
Author's Note: Hope you guys liked it. Expect that the next one will be in a few months since I still have to take exams to get into college and to so great in my last highschool year. Hope you guys review anyway