Chapter 3

Sean grunted as he turned the page. It was now after school and he wanted to wait for Devon to get out detention. He decided to sit on the front steps of the school and study for his test the next day while waiting. Suddenly, a hand flew down towards him and knocked his notebook to the ground. Sean laughed lightly. He didn't need to look up. He already knew who it was. "I thought you had detention."

Devon tossed her backpack on the bottom step and sat down next to Sean. "Your principal decided to just give me a warning—you know, since it was my first day and all." She shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't have minded either way. Sometimes detention is the only time for me to squeeze in a nap in the middle of day."

Sean laughed lightly again as he picked up his notebook from off the ground. He held up his notes in front of her. "I've got a major test tomorrow." He sighed. "But nothing seems to be soaking in!"

Devon smiled. "It's obvious what your problem is, Sean!" She turned her head and noticed a group of people playing basketball then looked back at him. "You're too tense!" She stood up and grabbed his arm. She pointed at the basketball court. "How about a pleasant game of basketball to calm you down?"

Sean lifted up his left arm to reveal his splinted wrist. "I can't."

Devon looked at her friend up and down. "Why not?"

Sean held his arm up to her face.

Devon didn't seem impressed. "So? You're right handed, moron! You need one arm to shoot and you can survive dribbling with one hand, can't you? From what I see, you've got two functional legs to run around, two good arms to shove people out of the way, and one good wrist to shoot!! Besides—it's a beautiful day, we've got time to waste and energy to spend!" She started to make her way to the court, then turned around to look at him. "Unless..." she started.

Sean raised his eyebrows. "Unless, what?"

"Unless you just want to admit right now that you don't want to play because I'm going to beat you anyway..."

Sean paused for a moment to stare at his friend. He picked up his backpack and walked up to Devon until he was right in front of her face. "Let's go," he said then walked passed her towards the basketball court.

Devon smiled as she watched Sean walk away. She knew that it would be easy to convince him to play.

Jimmy and Sully were already deep into their game of basketball when Sean and Devon walked up. They to out of breath and had taken their shirts off earlier to avoid drenching their clothes in sweat.

Jimmy successfully sunk another basket in. Sully grunted with frustration.

"Alright—good job!" Hazel cheered for her boyfriend from a picnic table nearby with Paige sitting beside her.

Sully and Jimmy stopped playing for a moment when they noticed Sean walk up to them.

"Up for more players?" Sean asked.

Jimmy looked down at Sean's splint and smiled to himself. He assumed that it would be an easy game against Sean, considering that he had a slight disadvantage. He tossed the ball to Sean. "Sure."

Sean caught the ball, then placed it down at his feet to quickly take off his shirt.

Sully started to walk off. "You boys have fun. I'm going to sit this one out."

"Why?" Devon asked. "We need an even amount of people for teams."

Sully stopped and turned around. He quickly glanced at Jimmy and they both looked over at Devon.

"You wanna play?" Jimmy asked surprised.

Devon nodded. "Sure! Why not?"

Sully looked at the petite figure standing in front of him and grinned. "Sorry, sweetheart. Only REAL basketball players for this game." He pointed at the table where Hazel and Paige were sitting. "The cheerleaders are over there." He laughed as he lightly tapped Jimmy in the shoulder to laugh along with him.

Devon looked at Sean who shrugged his shoulders, then back at Jimmy and Sully. "REAL players?" she asked again. She crossed her arms. "Care to be more specific?"

"You know," Sully answered back. "Guys only. To help break it down for you—if you can't take your shirt off like the rest of us men, you can't play." Sully and Jimmy laughed again.

"Sully, leave her alone," Hazel called out. "What a sexist thing to say!"

"I'm just calling it like it is," Sully replied back. He looked at Devon, laughed lightly, then started to turn around and continue walking away.

Sean looked over at Devon who looked like she was going to come after Sully. "Don't get into a fight with this guy, Dev. These guys are on the basketball team with me. Sully just says dumb stuff like that all the time. Ignore him."

Devon wasn't paying attention to what Sean was saying. "Hey!" she called out to Sully.

Sully turned back around to look at her.

Devon took the bottom of her shirt and flipped it up over her head to slip it off.

Jimmy and Sully quickly looked at each other. They couldn't believe what this girl was doing. Sean was a little shocked, too, but let out a sigh of relief when he saw a sports bra underneath Devon's shirt.

"So, MEN..." Devon started to say as she tucked in a portion of her shirt in her back pocket so it can dangle behind her. "Does this mean we can play?"

Sully smiled at her and nodded. Devon had completely shut him up.

Sean picked up the ball and started dribbling it around. Jimmy ran in front of him with outstretched arms to attempt to take the ball from him. Sean faked moving to the left and quickly bounced the ball to the right to pass to Devon. Devon caught the ball, ran a few steps, dribbled the ball between her legs, and passed the ball behind her back to Sean before Sully could run up to her. Sean grabbed the ball and hopped up and watched the ball roll off his fingers and into the basket. Devon ran up to Sean to give him a successful "high five". "We still got it!" she exclaimed in victory. She walked passed Sully and winked at him. "Sorry, sweetheart. You've got to move a little faster for this game. But then again..." she pointed back at Paige and Hazel. "maybe YOU should sit over there with the cheerleaders if you feel you can't keep up."

A half-hour later, Manny and Emma walked out of the front doors of the school. "I promised Paige and Hazel that I would talk to her this afternoon. She wanted to discuss 'cheerleading stuff,'" Manny replied to Emma. "It will only take a few minutes if you want to wait. Then, we can go to your house and start studying."

Emma looked over and saw Paige, then her eyes drifted to the basketball court where she saw Sean playing basketball. "Sure," she said distantly while still staring at Sean. Manny started to walk away. Emma quickly snapped out of her trance and realized that she was still standing on the steps. "I'll walk with you!"

Manny turned to look at Emma confused, then looked at the basketball court and noticed Sean. She giggled. "Why, Emma!" she replied jokingly. "Are you actually going to sink so low as to finding any reason to be near Sean...with his shirt off!"

Emma felt herself blush. "Shut up, Manny," she muttered.

Sean caught the basketball Devon passed to him and stopped. He looked at his injured wrist that was beginning to get sore. "Sorry, guys. I need to sit the rest of the game out." He tossed the ball back to Devon.

"I guess I'll go ahead and sit this one out, too," Sully gasped in between breaths.

They both sat on the lawn next to the court. Sean perked up when he noticed two familiar figures walking up to them. "Emma! Manny!" he called and waved.

Manny quickly nudged Emma. "Go talk to him," she said quietly in the corner of her mouth. She waved back at Sean and Sully and continued to walk up to Paige and Hazel.

Emma stopped next to Sean. "Hey, Sean," she replied nervously. She remained standing there awkwardly fishing for something to say. "Ready for the test tomorrow?"

Sean laughed lightly and shook his head. "Not even close. I was just playing some basketball to relieve some stress." At that moment, the basketball rolled towards him and Devon ran after it.

"Sorry," Devon said nearly breathless.

Before she could run back to the court, Sean stopped her and stood up. He looked at Emma. "Emma, I wanted you to meet that friend I was talking about. This is Devon." He looked back at Devon. "Devon, this is Emma."

Emma stared at the attractive girl standing in front of her. THIS was Sean's friend? The infamous friend from Wasaga Beach? She was a little surprised. When she heard about Devon, she pictured a large person who wore leather, yelled a lot, and didn't smile. She imagined someone who looked...threatening. Most importantly, she had an image of a GUY. Instead, she saw a polite and attractive girl standing in front of her.

Devon tucked the ball under one of her arms and raised her eyebrows curiously. "So this is Emma?" she asked grinning mischeviously at Sean. She knew about Sean and Emma's history and was finally glad to meet the girl her best friend was so crazy about. She extended her arm to shake Emma's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Emma," she said. She quickly glanced at Sean. "I've heard SO MUCH about you..."

Sean threw Devon a "don't you dare say anything" look.

Devon took the hint and decided to embarrass Sean another time. "Well—I'm going to go back to the game." She turned around to walk back on to the court.

While Devon walked away, Sully lightly smacked Sean on the shoulder. "Hey, Cameron!" he replied as he grinned flirtatiously. "Your friend there is pretty hot!"

Sean threw Sully a dirty look. He shoved Sulley to break him from his odd trance. He didn't like the way Sully was "scoping" out Devon. He shuttered for a moment. It was actually...disturbing. "Whatever you're looking at..." he said boldly. "DON'T!"

Emma felt a little left out that the guys were focusing all of their attention on the new girl. She cleared her throat to get their attention. "So, anyway, Sean..."

Sean held his hand up to stop her while continuing to throw Sully a threatening look. "Hold on a sec, Em..." he muttered as he walked away. He lightly jogged up to Devon.

Devon bounced the ball twice then stopped when she noticed Sean coming up to her. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Thanks for trying not to be obvious," Sean replied sarcastically.

Devon quickly glanced over at Emma. "So that's Emma, huh? Should I fill her in on embarrasing stories about you NOW or save it for later?" she smirked. Anyway, why are you talking to ME right now. Go talk to her, stupid!"

Sean sighed. "I am...just don't embarrass me." He watched Devon contemplate. "PLEASE!" he begged.

Devon laughed. "Alright! I won't embarrass you! Just do yourself a favor and try not to sound like a babbling idiot around her. It's not exactly a 'turn on.'"

Sean grabbed the ball and playfully threw it at Devon, and they both laughed.

Emma watched Sean and Devon on the side of the court. "What are they talking about?" she wondered. She was a little disappointed to watch Sean chatting with Devon and not her.