Chapter 9
A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter. I'm trying to update faster ok. Maybe once a week.
Medeia was confused. What she had seen in Alex's eyes was the most emotion she had ever seen in them the whole day. It was only a day that they had met, but Medeia was sure that Alex never displayed those kinds of emotion towards anyone. Then why did he show me? Medeia questioned.
Medeia knew Alex held a façade, a mask. He seemed cold and distant to others this made people distant themselves in turn, but Medeia was more interested as to why he was like that. She met other people who held a mask as well. Each one was different. Even if they appeared to be the same, they were not. The masks being worn were different were different than another.
Many people wore them. Either to keep people away from them, to protect themselves, or to hide their emotions. Even Medeia wore a mask when it was necessary.
She had noticed Alex wore one the moment she spoke to him. When she met him, she multiple upon many questions that had answer about Alex They kept floating around her head the entire day. Even when she tried not to think about him, her thought always returned to one subject. Now, there was one major question which refused to go without an answer.
Why does Alex wear a facade in the first place?
Medeia knew she couldn't force and answer out of Alex. So, she settled for becoming a friend of his. Someone he could trust. At this thought, something in the back of Medeia's mind warned her not to become too close to him, but she dismissed the notion. She was going to become his friend! Even, if he wanted her to or not!
With this in mind, Medeia followed Alex into the gym. Medeia glanced at Alex and frowned. Any emotion he had before in his eyes were hidden.
When Medeia and Alex entered the gym, everybody was in there groups for the day and playing at their assigned sport. The girls were playing volleyball and hitting the ball over the net while trying not to make it land on their side of the net. The boys were playing basketball and screaming to each other that they were open or the captains of the team pointing at the positions where there players were. The gym coach , a man in his forties which looked as if he never exercised in his life, was sitting to the side and reading a magazine while wearing headphones on.
No one noticed Medeia or Alex enter the gym
Medeia didn't know if she was to approach the coach and tell him they had arrived or just join the girls in the volleyball game. She was starting to walk towards where the coach sat, but noticed that Alex was walking towards the boy's locker room. Medeia followed his example and just went to the girl's locker room instead.
Once she was changed in her sport outfit ,which was only a white shirt and blue shorts, did Medeia step into the gym. She asked one of the captains of the volleyball game if she could join in even if she was late. Medeia went with her excuse from the beginning of being new and not knowing the way to the gym.
One of the captains, who was a short girl with her brown hair in two pigtails, smiled at Medeia and readily agreed for her to participate with them on her team. The girl's team was losing by twenty points, so the opposing team saw no difference if they were to gain one more member. Oh how wrong they were.
Medeia was placed in the very back of the team in one of the corners. Nobody paid much mind to her, but Medeia placed her hands in the position to hit the ball if it was coming her way. Her hand were clapped together in a fist and were lowered while her legs were a few feet apart.
Once the game restarted, a girl from the opposing team spiked the ball to the other side of the net. The pigtails girl Medeia met before was able to return it back, but the ball was returned quickly. A rally began between the two teams, but Medeia's team was becoming tired quickly. They were already twenty points behind and some saw that they didn't have a chance to win the game.
At one point, the rally was broken and the volleyball headed right torwards where Medeia was positioned at. Medeia had been watching the rally between the two teams without loosening herself from her position and was ready return the ball headed her way.
Medeia hit the ball at an angle that most thought the ball would either go backwards off the court or just hit the ceiling of the gym. Instead of doing that, the ball went in a straight line upwards. When it was half-way to coming down Medeia spiked it to the other side of the net.
This time it was different than what the other girl did. The volleyball flew swiftly and quickly to the other team that they didn't even see it land on their court. Everyone was stunned. They couldn't believe what just happened. They saw Medeia hit the ball, but didn't see how the ball changed directions so quickly.
The captain of Medeia's team stared at Medeia. She had seen what Medeia did because she was right next to her. After a few seconds, the girl screamed" Nice spike Medeia."
This turned everyone's attention to Medeia. Medeia shrugged as if it was no big deal while everyone stared at her.
" I'm moving you to the front of the team," the captain stated. The rest of the team nodded their heads while the captain pushed Medeia to the front.
"We might even win this," one of the team members whispered while others agreed with her.
In the end that was what happened. The team one with a ten point lead with Medeia's help. The other team had tried to catch up to Medeia's hits, but were too slow to do so. They tried to return them, but Medeia hit to hard. Most thought Medeia was invincible. They girls ended the game and went to the locker room to change. Once Medeia changed into her jeans and shirt,, she walked out the locker room to see the boys playing basketball.
The boys continued their game because there were still five minutes left and they were tied. Medeia scanned the teams for Alex. She spotted him on the opposing team's court surrounded by at least three guys. Medeia was curios. Why did they have a heavy defense against Alex?
It was later apparent why Alex was surrounded while no one else on his team was.
Alex's team had the possession of the ball. The one who was dribbling the ball was running to the other end of the court to make the last shot. As he was about to position himself to make a shot, the ball was swiped from his hands. Medeia noticed that it was the captain of the opposite team that had taken the ball.
The captain was running full speed to across the court to make the last shot. Three players of Alex's team were standing in front of the basket to stop the captain from making a shot. Instead of approaching the players head first, the captain made an abrupt stop and took the opposition to make a three point shot.
That's smart of him. If he had headed head first towards the players, he would have been taking risk of losing and that would have been most likely to happen because there were three guys protecting the basket. The team had thought he was going to do just that and were surprise to see him stop. He stopped just enough to be able to make a three pointer and far enough for no one of the opposite team to be able to approach him in time. Medeia calculated while nodding her head.
The captain was about to make the winning shot when the ball mysteriously disappeared from his fingers. He whipped his head back and saw a figure running back to towards the other basket. He started to bark out commands to his players who were already running towards their basket so the figure couldn't make a shot. The other team started to run as well.
The person who had the possession of the ball was none other than Alex. No one saw how he received the ball, but to them it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered at the moment was to either stop Alex from making the shot or to support Alex in making the winning shot. Except for Medeia.
Medeia was entirely focused on the game. Her eyes were surveying the court when she turned her eyes to where she had seen Alex before being guarded by three players. The players were caught up in the game as well and had taken a few steps nearer to the other court where all the other players were.
They had left a hole in their circle of guarding and Alex. When that happened Alex took his chance and ran where the captain was to make his shot. None of the other players had noticed this. Not even the ones who were suppose to be guarding him.
Alex was half way across the courts in a flash. His speed was impressive and was hard for Medeia to keep up. When the player was in a shooting position, Alex jumped behind the player to reach the ball and had literally swiped it out of his hands. The action was smooth and agile. Medeia was surprised he was able to pull it off without anybody noticing.
All the players had rushed off the other end of the court and were stationed in the positioned that their captains had assign. There were now four players blocking the basket and at least two players of each team at the edge with Alex's teammates blocking them. The few who were free were trying to capture the ball in Alex's hands, but kept failing wither by Alex switching hands when they tried to reach it or when they came at both sides, by dodging them and running further.
The rest of Alex's team was to the side. They weren't trying to help Alex, but were just to side ... observing Alex. They didn't lend a helping hand to him, but only tried to block the players who passed their defenses. Either they had confidence in Alex's skill or wanted to see him lose even if it cost them the game.
Alex wasn't bothered by this, but kept running towards the basket avoiding the players who tried to snatch the ball away from him. In the end, he came across the four players who were guarding the basket. He didn't stop, but kept running straight toward them.
Once he was in front of them, Alex jumped and the players did the same raising their hands, trying to block him. The players were all taller than Alex making their jumps higher than his, but instead of shooting Alex moved to the right still in the air where no one was blocking the space. His form of shooting was unusual. While in the air, his back was if he was going to lie down and his hands on the side of the ball to his chest preparing to shoot. And so he did.
At that angle most thought he wasn't going to make it in the basket. Surprisingly, the ball made it in with a whoosh right after the timer went off. Most of the boys just stood there on the court in stunned silence. Alex had landed gracefully in his feet like a cat and didn't make any movement either.
Once they did start moving, the winning team erupted in cheers. They talked to each other about the game and how they had won the match. Throughout this Alex was not included in the conversations even though he was the one who made the winning shot.
No one made a move toward Alex while they headed off to the locker rooms. The captains were talking after congratulating each other on the game. The captain, that Alex had snatched the ball from, told the other captain, " Next time he's on my team ok." he stated.
The other captain looked at him and snorted. " That's if he shows up next time. Who knows when he going to be absent again."
Medeia heard this and wondered what they meant about Alex being absent and meant by it. Most of the girls had already gone home. Medeia was one of the few who was still there because she watching the boys game which had ended a few minutes after school had ended.
I should start heading home. Before Medeia left the gym, she scanned the building. Alex wasn't inside there anymore. I wonder how he was able to slip away from me when the door was right in front of my vision. Medeia shrugged it off started outside to the school's courtyard.
Most of the student's had left the school already and were either walking home or being picked up by their parents. Medeia was at the gates of the schools and turned left. She started her walk home and let her thoughts take place.
Hmm... the game was interesting. The boy were good players and were focused in the game at the end and were determined for one of them to win the game. The captains tried their best to tell there team where they were supposed to be and what to do. But Alex didn't need to be told.
He was guarded by three players, but was still able to gain the upper hand and retrieve the ball from the other team before they could make score. He took the first opportunity and was able to take the winning shot. Medeia's mind started to calculate his actions.
Alex.. he's ambidextrous. When the other were trying to snatch the ball away from him he used both hands to his advantage. His reflexes and eyesight were excellent. He was able to dodge when there were multiple people against him and observe what their actions and movements were.
His own movement were smooth and quick. Once when he got the ball and the other when he made the shot. When he was making the shot, his body was in an interesting from. Some thought that with the angle he had shot at that the ball was going to miss, but at that angle it was just perfect for the ball to go in.
Was it luck? Or had Alex calculated the whole thing? If it was the latter then he would have had to predict the whole scenario in his head before he made any decisions. Did he do that? Was he able to run through a scenario that was just like that through his mind and all the possible aspects to it? Or maybe it was all just instinct?
Medeia had many more questions about Alex in her mind now after seeing him play in the basketball match. She wondered when she would finally be able to receive some answers about him. She had already decided to be his friend no matter what. But was that enough?
Alex wasn't a person who opened up easily to anyone. What made her so sure he would tell her about himself and answer her questions? Medeia sighed. Maybe she would never know the answers to her questions. She didn't know when she would have to move again. It could be in a week, a month, or even tomorrow. She was pressured on time and wanted to have at least some answers to her questions.
While Medeia was walking, she saw a figure with a backpack slung over his shoulders. The figure looked familiar to Medeia. She continued to stare at the figure wondering where she had seen him before. Then the person turned around to met her eyes with him.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. It was Alex Rider. Maybe now she will get some of her questions answered.
A/N: So how was it? Any thoughts? Review please and tell me what you think. I'll try to update soon.