"Foul!" Coach Bolton yelled as Kiki was knocked to the ground for the umpteenth time.
"Swear to god Zara I will rip your throat out." Kiki growled as she picked herself up off the ground.
"Can't play with the boys then go join volleyball." He smirked. Kiki scowled and headed to take her shots. She got the first but missed the second thanks to Jimmie, coughing loudly as she took the shot. She glared at him; he was moodier than she was. She thought back to Homeroom that morning
"And a big congratulations to Miss Evans for making the team." Ms. Darbus clapped her hands and left the students to talk amongst themselves and work on forgotten homework. Kiki, who usually managed to finish her homework either in class or before she got home, opened her book, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. A hand, male by the look of it had come up over the book to cover the pages. Kiki looked up into the face of Rocket Man.
"Can you read it now?" he asked.
"I'm smart, not super woman." Kiki answered, jerking the book out from under his hands.
"You sure?" He asked with a smirk. Kiki quirked an eyebrow at him.
"If you try and use that as an excuse to shoot me-"
"Naw, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't last in prison."
"I don't doubt it." Kiki agreed. She tried to go back to her book but Jimmie pulled it from her hands and closed it.
"No reading, it's time to talk."
"About?" She quirked an eyebrow. He smiled at her and leaned so he could rest his elbows on the desk. She leaned forward her blue eyes meeting his brown ones.
"Don't know. I just don't want to see a pretty girl like you wasting her time-"
"Swear to god if you saw 'wasting my time reading' I will beat you to death." Kiki said, trying to push away the fact that he'd called her pretty. This was not the time to get flustered over compliments.
"Looking forward to practice tonight?" He asked with a grin.
"Maybe. Depends on how you all act." She shrugged, getting up when the bell rang.
"What do you mean?" He picked up his back pack and walked with her.
"If you act like a bunch of idiots then it won't really be worth it."
"Kiki!" The pair turned to see Larissa running down the hall after them.
"...Holy crap..." They said in unison. Larissa came to a stop next to them, patting her hair.
"Do you like it?" She had died her hair blonde. Not as blonde as Kiki's hair, but it was still pretty blonde.
"I...umm..." Kiki was speechless.
"I knew you'd love it!" Larissa chirped. "What do you think Rocket Man?" Jimmie looked like he was trying not to laugh. It wasn't that she looked bad, she didn't, it was just... kind of obvious why she had dyed it.
"I think it's awesome." He nodded. "I got to get going." He ran off, presumably to tell Donny about Larissa's hair.
He had been normal, even pleasant then, now he was being a total jerk, as he knocked her over once again. Kiki got back up and clenched her jaw, looking at Jack.
"Rocket man! Come on." He shouted. Kiki went to take her shots, holding the ball in her hands. Instead of shooting it at the basket she chest passed it, as hard as she could, into Jimmie's stomach. He hadn't been watching and when the ball hit him it knocked the wind out of him, sending him to his knees.
"Stop being an asshat." She snapped, walking around him to get the ball. Jack pressed his hand to his face. This was not working.
"Evans! Zara! See me after practice." he ordered. The two glared at each other and Kiki took her shots, making them both. They ran off in opposite directions to get back with their mini teams. Larissa, who had appointed herself junior coach, stood next to Jack.
"Next time, you should put them on the same team. Less of a chance they'll murder each other." Jack did a double take when he saw her.
"Okay... And you are?"
"Larissa Mickowitz, your new team manager." She smiled. Jack thought about it a moment, but decided against arguing with the girl, if it meant he'd have more time to work out plays he was cool with it. Now if only he could get his star players to stop attacking each other. This point was only proven when the two jumped for the ball and wrestled for it until they were both on the floor. The ball slipped away and rolled a few feet away and both dived for it. Jack sighed and walked over, grabbing Kiki by the back of her shirt, because she was lighter. He yanked her up off of Jimmie and roughly yanked the male up by the front of his shirt.
"Practice is over Hit the showers, except you two. My office, now."
"Coach, your office is in the boys locker room." Kiki pointed out.
"Then you better get there fast." Jack let go of the pair and they took off for the office. Jack glanced over at Larissa, who was dutifully collecting basketballs. "At least some of the females in this school aren't insane." He muttered, walked down to the locker room. The shades in his window were pulled down, but he could see the shadows of Jimmie and Kiki. Kiki was sitting on the desk and Jimmie was slumped into a chair. Sure enough when Jack pushed the door open that's where they were.
"Please I hope you..." Kiki trailed off when she saw Jack.
"You hope he what?" Jack asked, closing the door.
"I hope he chokes on his own stupidity." She finished. Jack frowned.
"Off my desk." He pointed to the seat next to Jimmie. He turned to them and shook his head.
"What exactly is wrong with you two?" He asked.
"She's psycho."
"He's an asshat."
"Language Evans." Jack snapped. Kiki crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Let me try that again. Where exactly did you get the idea that it's okay to be the holy hello out of other players?" His voice rose a little, but not to the point of yelling.
"Ask him, he was fouling me all day." Kiki jerked her head towards Rocket Man. He glared at her.
"I'm just helping. This is how it's going to be when we actually play. They are going to be ruthless, meaner than I was." Kiki opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, he was right.
"It's not your place to 'prepare' her for what might happen." Jack said calmly, he realized Jimmie was right too, but that didn't make it okay. "From now on..." He got up and opened the door.
"And this goes for all of you, Kiki is your teammate, you are to treat her as such. Don't treat her like a flower and don't go out of your way to knock her out." He closed the door again. "Got it?" The two nodded, though still glared at each other.
"Next time you knock me over Zara, I'll slash your tires." Kiki threatened, going to the door. Jack opened it and Kiki walked out, a few shrieks from unsuspecting guys followed.
"Looking forward to the game." Jimmie rolled his eyes and walked out to get changed.
"He's still a jerk." Kiki muttered to Larissa, who was waiting outside the locker room.
"Yeah." Larissa sighed. "Too bad, He's really cute."
"Ew." Kiki wrinkled her nose. "No, he's not." Larissa just shrugged They went to the girl's locker room and Kiki pulled her shirt over her head. She changed into her jeans and tank top, heting her messenger bag over her shoulder.
"I'll see you later Keiko." Larissa waved, running to her mom's car.
"Don't call me Keiko!" Kiki called after her. Kiki went to sit down, pulling out her cell phone to call Sharpay to pick her up. Sure Kiki could have her own car, if she wanted it. It was just easier to get her dad to drop her off in the morning and have Sharpay pick her up after practice. She jumped back onto the curb as a car came speeding by.
"See you later Princess!" Jimmie shouted as they sped by.
