CHAPTER 4: DAMIEN'S CRUSH

It was a fresh Monday morning, and Damien has officially been at Richmond High for a week. He hated it at first, but after the win on Friday, people were starting to know who he is. There were a good few that would go out of their way to make him feel as if he was just a nerd who wasn't as cool as the rest of the student body, but he didn't let that bother him. His father's coaching is all that mattered to him.

He went into his pocket and pulled out his schedule to look at it. He had different classes on different days, so he wanted to make sure he was going to the right class. He needed to get to his locker right away because his first class was a long walk and he didn't want to be late. He began rushing through a bunch of other students who were making their way to class. Some of them were standing by their lockers talking to their friends with no intentions of going to class. He heard the first bell ring and began to panic. He needed to be in his class by the second bell, or he would be late. He walked faster to the point where he was almost running. He looked down to check his watch, and he bumped into someone. Papers, school books, and notebooks flew all over them as they both fell to the ground. Damien was mortified.

"I am so sorry! Are you okay?"

"Oww!" She cried as she clutched her head.

Damien moved closer to her to check on her, and he noticed who she was, the cute girl from the game on Friday. The one he wanted to talk to, but couldn't. He was even more mortified than ever now. He quickly got up, picked up her books and papers and extended his arm to help her up.

"I'm so sorry!" He repeated once again as she took his arm and picked herself up. He was hoping that she wasn't going to be angry with him.

"It's okay," She said while still holding her head. "I should have been watching where I was going."

Damien handed her books; he noticed she was a bit frustrated.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She looked at her schedule and sighed. "Not really," She answered. "I'm trying to find Mr. Gessick's science class, and I have no idea where it is. My older cousin was supposed to help me, but she's sick and isn't here today, and I don't know where to go!" She let out a slight whine.

"Hey, it's okay," Damien said with a slight chuckle. "I have his class too; I'll take you there."

"Thank you so much." She smiled.

"No problem," Damien answered back.

The bell rang, which meant both of them were late for class, but Damien didn't care. His prayers were answered. He got to talk to the girl he wanted to talk to. Being late was worth it.

They both continued to walk down the hall. Damien grew nervous; he wasn't sure how to talk to a girl, but he knew if he wanted something to happen he was going to have to get over it.

"I'm Damien." He introduced himself.

"I'm AJ," She said back with a smile.

"So this is your first day I take it?" Damien asked as they continued walking.

"Yeah, can you tell?" AJ laughed.

"Don't worry. It's my first week. I'm trying to get around this school too. St. Francis was way bigger, though."

AJ scrunched her face in confusion. "You came from St Francis? Drastic change."

Damien sighed. "Yeah I transferred to Richmond."

"Wait a minute," AJ began, "You moved to Richmond from St Francis?"

Damien chuckled a bit. He wasn't surprised at AJ's reaction. Almost everyone he told that too had the same reaction. "Yeah, my dad is the new coach for the boys basketball team."

AJ's eyes widened, she finally realized who he was. "Oh! You're number 12! I saw the game on Friday; you were really good!"

Damien blushed and smiled; the girl that he was into gave him a compliment.

"Thank you," He answered.

They finally made their way to Mr. Gessick's class. Students were already in their seats, and Mr. Gessick was teaching his lecture. Everyone stopped to stare at them.

"Damien Carter, you are late." Mr. Gessick said.

"I'm sorry sir," Damien answered. "I was helping her find this class."

"Oh yes, we do have a new student." Mr. Gessick turned his attention to the classroom as AJ handed him a note from the Principal.

"Class, we have a new student!" He announced, "Her name is AJ, she's a sophomore this year. Let's make her feel welcome."

AJ sighed. She didn't want to be the center of attention, but it was too late.

"AJ, why don't you take a seat over there and see me after class I'll give you some assignments to catch up on."

AJ sat at the desk Mr. Gessick assigned her, and Damien sat next to her.

"Mr. Carter, I will excuse your tardiness for today because you were helping our new student."

"Thank you, sir," Damien said back.

Mr. Gessick continued his lecture. Damien went into his backpack and sulked. He realized he forgot to go to his locker and get his science book.

"Dammit," He whispered, "I forgot my book."

AJ pulled her book out from her backpack. "We can share mine. Think of it as a thank you."

Damien smiled, so far so good with AJ. He had to thank Kenyon for the advice later on at practice today.

"Thanks."

He moved closer to AJ as she opened her book to the page that Mr. Gessick was referring to. She smelled exquisite and he loved her long curly hair. He wanted to touch it, but he didn't mean to seem weird, especially since things are going well with her.

"So how long have you been playing basketball?" AJ whispered to him.

"Ever since I learned to dribble," Damien answered.

"You were really good on Friday," AJ said again.

"Thanks." Damien smiled.

Mr. Gessick stopped his lecture again because he heard them talking.

"Mr. Carter, I take it you are helping AJ with the assignments as well?"

"Uh, yeah!" Damien answered knowing he was lying, "Just explaining to her what's going on."

"This is a vital lecture, can you help her when class is over?" Mr. Gessick asked politely.

"Sorry, sir," Damien said.

Mr. Gessick continued his lecture once again. Damien and AJ laughed a little bit as they kept their silence and looked at the book together.

Coach Ken Carter was making his way from his office to Principal Garrison's office. He wasn't sure why she called him in, but he was hoping that it regarded the progress reports that he had asked for. He was getting a bit frustrated about asking for them because he felt as though he was being ignored, but he wanted his boys to make something of themselves and go to college. He was going to make sure that was going to happened one way or another.

He decided to take a look in his mailbox before he went inside Principal Garrison's office. He was hoping that something was there. He looked in the slot by his name K. Carter; he saw nothing. He shook his head as he opened the door to her office and seen her talking on the phone with a parent. He patiently waited because it seemed to have been an emergency.

After 2 minutes, she finally hung up the phone and turned her attention to Coach Carter.

"Mr. Carter, how are the boys?"

"They are great ma'am; we are 1 and 0."

"Very good." Principal Garrison said while opening her file cabinet and began rummaging through files. "If you have some time I would like to talk to you."

"Sure ma'am." Coach Carter said as he sat down.

"I'm not sure if you heard about the shooting at Hercules."

"I read about it in the paper. It's sad that young adults have to go through such trauma." Coach Carter answered.

"It is." Principal Garrison said back. "Well we have a student here who came from Hercules, and um, she was involved in the shooting. Involved directly, I can't say much, but she witnessed something tragic and even had to go to trial for it. Her parents are worried that is affected her behavior."

"With all due respect ma'am, what does that have to do with me?" Coach Carter asked.

"Well, she used to play for Hercules, and she loves basketball-"

"There's a girls team she can play on."

"Well unfortunately not enough girls tried out for the team, so we won't have one this year, but I thought maybe you need an Assistant Coach or something."

Coach Carter was concerned; he wasn't sure how to feel about the favor that Principal Garrison was asking, He wasn't sure about having a girl around the team.

"I don't know ma'am. I don't see it being a good idea."

"Look I know you may have some reserve about this but, I feel that you are working well with these boys, and I want you to do the same thing with this young lady. Maybe her being around something that she loves will keep her busy, away from the stuff she's been through."

Coach sighed, he wanted to say no, but he felt as though he had no choice.

"Well, Clay did quit on me without notice. I could use a little help I guess."

"Just see how it goes for a week or two, and if doesn't work out just let me know." Principal Garrison said.

"Sure." Coach answered.

"Great. I'll call her to the office so you can meet her."