Gabe strummed his guitar, playing a low note. He was about to start playing "Hotel California" when he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in." he said. He was all by himself in his room, mainly avoiding Max.
But his intention had come to an end because Max walked into the room, carrying a piece of Bristol board. Gabe braced himself for a yelling at but it never came. Instead, Max simply turned the board so it faced Gabe. It showed nine round, colorful balls drawn onto the board. It took Gabe a moment to realize that it was their solar system project.
"I just want you to know." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "That all I wanted was to do a project together with you. If you spent half the amount of time doing this project as you did avoiding it, we not only would have an awesome project but I think we would've gotten to know each other a lot better."
She reached behind her back and brought out a folder. She threw it in the garbage can beside Gabe's bed and walked out of the room.
"Max." Gabe said weakly, though there was no hope she would've heard him. He placed his guitar onto his bed and got up. He reached inside the garbage and brought the folder out. He spent a few minutes flipping through it. It turned out to be the "blueprints" for the mobile that Max had been planning on making. He turned another page and came to a list of things needed for the project. He read through the list and saw that the things needed were easily attainable.
Gabe closed the folder and exited his room. He had things to do.
"So you have a date?" Chase asked.
"It's not a date." T.K said for what felt like the billionth time.
"But you're teaching her tennis?" Riley asked.
T.K, Riley and Chase were in the Open, discussing the not-date that T.K and Lara had.
"Yes, I am teaching her." T.K said. "It's no big deal."
"Yes, it is!" Chase and, surprisingly Riley, said.
"Lara is an incredibly beautiful young woman." T.K said. "I was president of the Chess Club in Junior High."
"You know what your problem is?" Riley said, sounding annoyed. "You have no confidence in yourself. You think you're a dork but you have just as much chance to get with Lara as any other guy here."
Chase snorted.
"Chase!" Riley shouted.
"Sorry."
"My point is…" Riley said, throwing an evil look at Chase "is that you do have a chance and tonight's it."
T.K looked from Riley to Chase. Did he have a chance with Lara?
"Do you think…?"
"YES I DO!" Riley said, even louder, earning some questioning stares from some other students.
"Ere-hay omes-cay ara-Lay." Chase said in bad pig latin.
Lara was walking over, dressed in tennis clothes and clutching a racquet.
"Hey, T.K." she said.
"Hey, Lara." He said, as she arrived.
"Uh, you know, Chase and Riley." More "heys" were excused.
"You ready?" she asked.
"Yup. Just let me grab my racquet." T.K said, getting up from the table.
"Good luck." Riley muttered low enough for just T.K to hear.
"Damn it!" Lara exclaimed, messing up another attempt at a serve.
"You're trying too hard." T.K said, patiently.
They had been practicing for the better part of an hour. As it turned out, Lara wasn't exactly that bad. Her backhand was especially strong. It was the serve that kept screwing her up.
T.K stepped over the net and walked over to her.
"You need to relax." He said, taking the hand holding the ball in his hand.
"Loosen your grip in the hand holding the ball." He said, loosening her fingers.
"And grip the racquet farther down the handle." He moved her hand down the racquet as well.
He let go of her hands and stepped back.
"Go ahead."
Lara took in a deep breath and let it out. She tossed the ball above her head and swung the racquet. It came into contact with the ball and sailed over the net, bouncing inside the boundary.
"I did it!" she said, loudly.
She ran over and threw her arms around him.
"Thank you, T.K. So much!"
T.K smiled. He was proud of her success. And he was now painfully aware of how close they were. Riley's words come drifting back to him.
He paused for a moment and leaned in towards her face, brushing his lips against hers.
It lasted only for a moment before Lara withdrew from the kiss and the hug.
"T.K. What are you doing?" Lara asked incredulously, turning scarlet.
"I-I-I don't know." T.K said, turning equally red and feeling even more embarrassed then he ever felt before.
"T.K, I'm sorry. I-I can't." Lara said, turning around and walking swiftly from the court.
T.K merely stood there, for how long, he didn't know.