A/N:
Ohmygosh guys. Seriously. 23,516 VIEWS?! This is so amazing! Thank you so much it means so much to me!
Hope you enjoy the chapter! Y'all know the drill by now; comment, favourite, follow.
—
Friar residence. Lucas.
Should I tell...? I don't know if... But then again... has a right to know... What if...?
A ball thunked against the back of my head, jerking me back to the world. I rubbed the back of my head where the basketball had met its target and scowled at Jonas.
"Quit daydreaming, man." He grinned and I shoved the ball at him. He caught it at his stomach and gave me a coy smile. "Ohh... did I hurt the big boy's feelings?" He chucked the ball at me haphazardly with a lopsided grin and I had to stoop to catch it. "So why did you ask me to come early?" Ah, shit. "Something I need to know?" Screw it. I'm gonna tell him.
"It's, ah... It's about Maya." I scratched my head awkwardly. Jonas paused mid-shoot and turned his head ever so slightly, a smirk lined up in place.
"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to fess up." The ball sunk neatly into the net, the satisfying "chauck" and whoosh seeming like a hi-hat preceeding the deep bass of the ball's skin meeting the ground.
"I just- Wait, you knew?" I gaped. Jonas' laugh was louder than the steady drum of the ball as he dribbled.
"I do have eyes, man. If the others used theirs then they know too." He glanced at his watch. "Damn it, now I owe Jackie five bucks. Thanks for looking out for me, mate. You couldn't have waited until next week?"
"Shit..." I groaned, rubbing my hands across my face roughly. "Wait, you bet on this?"
"Relax, man. I don't think the others used their eyes. Billy hasn't taken his eyes off Jenkins since that night and you know what Issac's like. He only plays with us because we're the best." He shrugs nonchalantly. "It's just me and Jackie that knows so we decided to have a little bet, no biggie." At least now I don't have to tell him. "So what's up with you guys? You fess up to her yet?"
"I wanted to do it that night, but it just didn't feel like the right time after what happened, know what I mean? Now I'm not so sure how to. I can't just walk up to her and be like 'wanna date'?" I said, imitating a ridiculous deep voice.
"I was thirteen, man! When are you going to let that go?" Jonas whined.
"Still... 'wanna date?'" I snorted, remembering how Jonas had asked a girl out in middle school. It was the most unromantic thing ever.
"Shut up. I've gotten a lot better since then." he grumbled.
"Oh yeah? How are you going to ask Jackie out then?" Jonas tripped halfway through a layup and turned about as red as Maya's dress for the semi-formal. I smirked, knowing I had got him.
"What- that- you-" he spluttered. I patted him on the back.
"After the initial denial stage, you will learn to accept it before moving on to the awkward stage, where you will second guess every single bloody thing she says." I said consolingly. He finished choking.
"Speaking from experience?" he retorted.
"You didn't deny it." I smirked. He now closely resembled Mickey Mouse: black, white and red. "Your face is clashing horribly with your hair. You might want to tone your face down." He punched me in the shoulder, then hid his face in his hands. "I saw the way you looked at her at the semi-formal, mate. You looked like you finally realised Jackie was of the female species." I snorted.
"Oh shit." His voice came out muffled by his hands. I guess acceptance of the fact had finally settled in. "Well played Lucas."
"Guess we're the same now, huh?"
"Yeah, we're in this together now. Because you decided to expose me thanks for that."
"No problem." We were silent for a while, sat on the court ground and basketball abandoned for the time being.
"So." I finally broke it. "Billy and Jenkins, huh?" Jonas smirked.
"Yeah." Silence.
"We're goners, man."
"Yeah." Silence.
"Wonder what the girls are doing?"
Meanwhile, at Jackie's house...
"Get up!"
"No!"
"You've been in this room for two days since our movie marathon. Get up!"
"No!"
"Jackie! We're meeting up with the guys for basketball, remember?" Her eyes go about as wide as the basketball.
"-!" she curses, finally leaping out of her bed.
"And now she remembers." I mutter, rolling my eyes and getting off her bed so she can fly around the room like a madwoman to get her things together. She repeats the same curse word over and over again as she stumbles around.
"Have you seen my-" I hold it up, already able to read her mind. "Thanks." She stumbles around the room one more time, making sure she didn't forget anything. "Okay, let's go." We arrive quickly, finding the guys already there and starting to dribble around. "Were you going to start without us?"
"The ladies finally decided to show!" Jonas calls, then fumbles a catch as Billy passes the ball to him.
"Took you guys long enough." Issac mutters.
"Nice to see you too." I retort under my breath. Jackie hears me and snickers. Issac narrows his eyes.
"Ahem, well... let's get started then." Lucas says, loudly breaking the tense air. Jackie and I hold on to each other instinctively, securing us in the same team. Jackie springs towards Jonas and presses her arm down on his shoulder, trying to squash him down to her height.
"Come on, Jonas! We want you!" He turns beet red and starts to splutter.
"Why- you- what- me- want-" Jackie looks at him weirdly. Lucas watches on in amusement.
"How would I know what you want? I assumed you would be okay with being on our team. Would you rather not?" she says, confused.
"No, I- you-" he trails off, mumbling.
"Oh-kay... Lucas. With us?" Jackie says, dismissing Jonas. Lucas nods in reply and shoots an apologetic look at Jonas, who's slowly turning back the regular shade of skin, his ears still hot with embarrassment.
"Let's play ball already." growls Issac. Jackie and Jonas both bend for the ball on the ground. Their arms bump and Jonas draws back quickly, stuttering an apology.
"Dude... you're acting all weird today." Jackie says, scrutinizing his face like she's trying to tell what's wrong with him. Lucas has his fist close to his mouth so he's snickering into it, his teeth biting a knuckle in his fist to stop himself from laughing out loud. I need to interrogate him later. "Hurry up!" snaps Issac.
"Alright, man... chill your pants..." I mutter. His eyes snap to me and he gnashes his teeth together, growling something under his breath as he roughly passes the ball to Billy, who takes this as a cue to start and dribbles up the court without warning.
"Oi!" Jackie yells, chasing him down. Lucas rounds on him first and Jackie falls back to block Jonas.
"Move out of the way!" Issac bellows, just as Jonas ducks out. Jackie jumps in, intercepting the pass, and she turns to face me and Lucas. Issac yells in frustration. I hear Billy mutter something like 'calm down, dude'. Jackie fakes to Lucas but passes to me. I wait for the rough leather to meet my fingertips but it never does. Instead I feel a contact, a tilt of gravity, and then coarse scrape of the hot court ground against my skin. I blinked. What happened?
"Maya, hey. You good?" comes Lucas voice, and suddenly his hands are clamped around my arms. I feel myself being pulled off the ground. I plant my feet on the ground and rub where the ground left an abrasion mark on my forearm. Lucas pushes my hand away and turns my arm in his own hands, inspecting it.
"Dude, not cool." I hear Jonas say. He's glaring at Issac, who has the ball clenched triumphantly in his hands. Then I get it. Oh, hell no.
"Chill out, Issac. It's just a game." I spit out, glaring slightly.
"It's just a game to you! Amatuer." he retorts.
"Hey, now." Lucas says, stepping in between us both.
"So what? Does that mean I can't like the game?"
"Why can't you 'like the game' with some other people? We're serious players here, Hart. Go smack the ball around with the sixth graders, why don't you? Maybe then you'll actually be able to see the hoop over them. Y'know, since you're so... compact." What follows next is a deathly silence. Anger pounds through me, beating on the door that seals my trap shut (well, most of the time) and demanding for it to be opened. Seriously? Why is everyone pulling the short card nowadays? Enough is enough! Everyone sucks in a breath, readying themselves for the explosion.
"You little-" says Jackie.
"Here we go..." Jonas mutters. Lucas makes a move in his direction, but I get there before anyone else.
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I may look like I haven't grown since the seventh grade, but it's clear your maturity hasn't grown since the third grade." I snap at him. Someone half snorts. Loudly. "I may be short, but short people can wear heels. Ugly, on the other hand..." I 'tsk' at him. "That can't just be fixed." Jonas is choking, close to an unnatural shade of purple, and Jackie is thumping him on the back, grinning at me proudly. I glare right into his icy eyes, accepting his non-verbal challenge. "Next time you don't approve, come and talk it out like adults. I'm sick of people pulling the short card." I gather up my things, not missing the others doing the same out of the corner of my eye. My hardened heart warms considerably at this, melting for these wonderful people I have been gifted with. As I head for the gates, I pause momentarily before Issac. "You know, I'm glad you're tall." He twitches and finally looks down at me, meeting my gaze. I smile at him. "It gives me more of you to dislike." I reach up and turn my bottle bottoms-up over Issac, letting its glorious contents empty down his head. My face twists in satisfaction. I hear a round of 'ooooohhhhh's that fuels me. Lucas comes to my side and stares right at the spluttering Issac, only it is much more intimidating than when I did it because Lucas is so much taller.
"Get out." he says. "Now." Issac spits at my feet, then stares me right in the eye. The message is clear: this is not over. Then he leaves.
"That was awesome." Jonas says, apparently still recovering from his choking session.
"Come on," Lucas tugs on my wrist. "We promised you pizza, and I'm starving."
"You guys don't... care... that I just started a riff with you guys and Issac?" I say haltingly, only just fully realising the complications of my actions.
"Eh. I never really liked that guy anyways." Jackie shrugs, and we both smile at each other.
"Come ooonn!" Jonas says, dragging out his words like a whiny kid. He starts pulling us across the sidewalk, his hand out and his finger pointing out to the battle field like a general leading a charge. "Pizza!"
"Pizza's the other way, Jonas." says Lucas. Jonas makes a hundred and eighty turn smoothly with an 'I totally knew that' kind of determination and starts pulling us in the opposite direction, hand still stuck out.
"Pizza!"
—
A/N:
Heyy y'all!
I've actually wanted to write a split of Issac for a pretty long time, but I just didn't know how to do it. Also, I had really bad writers block for the last few weeks hence the late update (sorry for that by the way). The writers block was so bad I couldn't even write essays for Literature. I'm good now though! (I think)
Anyways, this story really speaks to me because of the height stuff Maya has to face. I am actually almost five foot one (about the same as Maya) and I'm a ninth grader. I have always been the shortest kid in class, and now in high school I am the shortest kid in my grade. My height is one of the things that does bother me but once I entered ninth grade and high school, I started to accept it and make peace with the fact that I am, in fact, a short little stack of pancakes (geddit haha...). Kinda weird since high school is supposed to be that time where you feel the most insecure but yeah I was super insecure throughout most of my life and when I transferred school (where I am from you stay in the same school from seventh grade to tenth grade but I transferred schools at the start of this year: beginning of ninth grade) everything clicked and I am so much more secure now with a leetle bit more confidence. To the other pancakes out there reading this: hello! Life does not suck because you are short. Good things come in small packages. Like M&Ns. And gummy bears. And marshmellows. And if you ever want a bit of ooph; there's always high heels. :D
I'll be honest, I was kinda disappointed that the comments were... nonexistent haha. Just saying, you guys are a big inspiration when I write and your comments never fail to egg me on. I'm a little surprised that I haven't gotten any comments that are questions about the story or the characters. Scratch that; I'm a little surprised that I haven't gotten ANY questions. Cmon guys you gotta KEEP ON TWIDDLIN THEM THUMBS ;)
luv2read2: You get me. The first kiss needs to be perfect! And this story needs to go on. Thanks for sticking around!
I've got finals soon so updates will be slower than usual. I will update more often when I finish so keep an eye out then!
Keep reading and keep rocking!
Lots of love,
Rocksrain xx