After his conversation with Lucy Dark, Evan can't think straight the entire rest of the school day, leading to him being knocked in the head with a basketball during PE. The thing is hard too, enough to leave Evan wheezing on the ground. Don't go into the light! He tells himself as his eyes start to shut into darkness. Conan Barber once did something similar to him before. On purpose. With a bowling ball. When Evan asked him why, Conan had just chuckled and said Whoops, butter fingers. He'd spent two weeks in the hospital because of that, getting his head sewn back together, all the while having the strangest dreams of his life. When she found out, Andy suggested they use Monster Blood as revenge- give Conan and his stupid bowling team a sample. Just imagine a whole team of giants. It'd be a riot! Andy laughed. Evan admitted it would be funny, but no matter how funny, using the Monster Blood always ended in disaster.
It's Amy Kramer, the short girl from Mrs. Maaargh's class, who pulls him up from off the floor. He's surprised when she seems to lift him rather effortlessly. He questions if he should start working out some more.
"You okay?" Amy asks
"Yeah, just caught me off guard, that's all." Evan says.
This seems to be enough of an answer for Amy, because she walks off almost immediately. Evan looks in the teacher's direction. Her name is Ellen. Ellen doesn't seem to have noticed what happened. Instead, she's currently snapping at Ricky Beamer for not taking part in the game.
"When you're in my class, you play, I don't care what kind of good grades you get. You won't get a good grade in mine, Beamer!" Ellen yells.
Ricky looks as if this comment amuses him, because his thin lips curl into a smirk. He raises a single dark eyebrow. He's not bad-looking, Evan has to admit, but it like he's trying to make himself look as spooky and mysterious as possible. His gray beanie still covers most of his hair, though thin, wispy strands of dark hair are poking out and covering parts of his eyes. Ricky wears a black leather jacket with tiny silver spikes on the shoulders. Underneath he wears a faded gray Radiohead t-shirt. His blue jeans have holes and tears throughout. If Evan had to guess, Ricky probably tore them himself rather than just bought them like that. No doubt he's probably sweating in this hot gymnasium, it's hardly gym attire but Ricky isn't showing any signs of weakness.
"I just don't see how this will benefit me in the future. As far as I'm concerned, this class is pointless. It's just for jocks and the feeble minded with nothing else going for them." Ricky says in a voice full of snark.
Typical nerd. He reminds Evan of Kermit.
Ellen looks like she's about to blow a fuse, but regains composure. "I'm glad you think so highly of us, Ricky, but at the end of the day, it's us athletes who are successful."
Ricky snickers wetly. "You're a high school gym teacher making minimum wage. You call THAT success? I'm going to be the one changing the world. Who gives a shit if I know how to dribble a ball?"
Evan imagines what would happen if Conan ever met Ricky. He'd be pounding him hard before Ricky got the chance to make another snarky comment like that. To be honest, it sorta made him admire Ellen for not doing the same. Although another part of Evan wanted to get to know Ricky some more. He seemed like someone who didn't give a fuck about anything and spoke their minds. It felt like Evan often fell in with that type of crowd. If Evan could get him alone, maybe he'd exchange some words with Ricky.
"Shut up and play ball, Beamer." Ellen snaps, gesturing to Amy to hand her the ball. She complies and Ellen tosses it to Ricky as soon as it enters her grasp.
Evan's surprised when Ricky catches it with both hands. He grips it tightly, curling his nails around it like a pair of claws. There's an intense look in his eyes and Evan watches as Ricky throws the ball behind his head, which successfully goes right through the hoop, bouncing several times as it hits the wood floor. Evan can hardly believe he managed it.
Ricky chuckles and Ellen looks pissed, like she was hoping he would fail. Instead, Ricky played her for a fool. Evan tries not to laugh himself but fails, letting out a genuine chuckle. Ricky notices, turning that cheeky grin of his toward Evan. It's kind of attractive.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I'll play your little games from now on. They're kinda fun." He says to Ellen. "Hey ginger, catch!"
Evan doesn't realize Ricky's referring to him until the ball is thrown in his direction. This time, he catches it though and before long, he finds himself going head to head with Ricky, who's able to play quite well despite his current attire.
As Evan passes Ricky on the court, he hears the boy whisper something. "Hey ginger. Got something I need to tell you."
"Kind of in the middle of something right now. Pay attention." Evan says, but he is curious.
"The game can wait. This is important." Ricky says.
"Fine. What?"
"Well, I don't mean to alarm you, ginger, but if I were you- I'd stay far away from the Darks."
