Facing the Obstacles

"Are you ready to go out there and win?" Nathan asked me, as we were walking to our basketball game. We had all made it on the team and it was our favorite thing to do, besides music.
"Psh, I was born ready!" I grinned.
We walked up to the gym and noticed the other team was already there. Our team stood there, watching them.
"Come on, time to warm up," our coach said, unlocking the gym door.
Both teams, including the four of us ran in and began stretching and shooting hoops. Some kid on the other team kept running over and stealing our basketballs.
When the basketball stealer went to the locker room to get something, another player from their team ran over. He had black hair, darker skin and when he smiled, dimples formed.
"Here are your basketballs, guys," he said, handing them to us and flashing a smile. "Sorry, that kid has a really low swag level, but I'm trying to boost it as much as possible, don't worry," he winked.
As the kid walked out, I bit my tongue from laughing. He glared at us the whole time and the black-haired kid yelled to him, "Who you mad at, honey?"
I had to nearly stuff my fist in my mouth; I liked this kid. When I looked over and saw the other three on the ground, dying, that's when I couldn't take it anymore. I burst out laughing and before the basketball stealer could kill us, the whistle blew for us to go to the locker room.
I walked up to the black-haired boy and introduced myself. "My name's Tom and this is Nathan, Zach and Cameron." I said, as they all waved to the boy. "What's your name?" I asked as the five of us started towards the locker rooms.
He flashed another smile. "My name's Michael."

"Tom, pass it to Zach! PASS IT TO ZACH!" my coach yelled at me from the sidelines.
I could not concentrate. Everyone was yelling at me and I had a headache. I put up the 'time out' signal and when the whistle sounded we ran to the sidelines.
"Coach, I need to sit out for a bit, I'm not feeling my best," I said, wearily.
"Okay fine, Cameron, you're back in."
Cameron nodded as the whistle sounded again.
They started playing again; Nathan passed to Zach and they ran down to score. As Zach shot the ball, he accidentally fell on top of that annoying jerk and the whistle blew as he yelled at Zach.
When they started the time again, they ran down to the opposite side of the court. As I watched Zach, the kid ran up behind him and before I could yell out, he was strangling Zach. Zach gasped for breath and the referees ran over, but the kid would not let go.
I walked over the the scene. "Stop you idiot!"
"Fine, I'll stop," he replied, and letting go of Zach, he turned him around and punched him full in the face. Zach collapsed in pain and Cameron, Nathan and I started to lunge at the kid. The coaches held us back and as we thought all hope was lost, Michael ran over, yelled, "YOU FRICKIN' JERK!" and punched him.
The kid started crying in pain. It did not look good, it seemed as if he'd broken his nose. The coach let go of me and I helped Zach up. His lip was swollen and bleeding and a bump appeared on his forehead.
"The game is over!" the referee yelled to the crowd. "Please leave right away."
As everyone left, the kid's parents came to quickly escort him to the hospital. Cameron, Nathan, Michael and I all helped Zach walk over to the locker rooms. When we got there, we all sat in silence.
"Michael... you saved my life... h-he could've killed me," Zach's voice echoed off of the brick walls.
A shiver went down my spine, because it was true. If he wanted to, that kid could've killed Zach. And that scared the crap out of me. Nothing scared me more than the possibility of watching someone I cared about die before my eyes.
"Michael, I like you," Nathan said, voicing what we were all thinking.
"People have said that."
As Michael walked to his locker, he pulled out two drumsticks and started playing a funky rhythm on the bench.
"You play drums?" Cameron asked him.
"Every once in a while... keeps me busy."
"Dude, that's so ironic because we need a drummer for our band!"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"No way, bro. I'm dead serious."
"BRO!!!!!!!" he gave Cameron a huge hug.
"They'll get along great," Zach smiled at me.
We all walked out of the school, shoulder to shoulder.

When I got home, Heidi practically jumped on me. "Is Zach okay?! Is he hurt?!"
"You heard what happened?"
"YES, NOW TELL ME HOW IT HAPPENED!"
As you can probably guess, Heidi has developed a severe crush on Zach and I find it adorable.
I smirked.
"SHUT UP!" she yelled in a serious voice, which resulted in her collapsing in giggles on the couch and staring at the ceiling.
"Do you think he likes me?"
"I don't know..."
"Okay seriously, what happened?"
"Some kid strangled him and then punched him, just because Zach accidentally bumped into him."
She gaped at me in horror.
My mom walked in to hear what happened as well and I filled her in.
"Oh and would it be alright if Zach, Cam, Nathan and my new friend Michael spent the night tomorrow?"
"Sure, as long as no one's punching anyone else," she said, going to make dinner.
Heidi turned to me. "You love me, don't you?"
I chuckled. "Just don't bug us too much."

"Halla! Michael in the house!"
I looked up from where I was sitting playing the Wii with the other three. I couldn't help but smile and that's why I liked him so much. Michael sat down as Heidi walked into the room. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a graffitied top and tons of makeup, obviously for Zach. She plopped down on the couch next to him.
"Hey, what's new with you?" she smiled.
I swerved off the road in the racing game I was playing, stifling my laughter.
"What's so funny?" Nathan questioned.
"Nothing," I said, wiping tears from my eyes. I looked over to find Heidi glaring at me.
"It's too quiet, I'm putting music on," Heidi announced.
"Speaking of music, do you guys want to go practice with the addition of Michael now? We have to get him in on our songs sooner or later," I said.
"Could I listen?" Heidi wondered.
"Sure, let's go."
We all walked out of the house and I closed the door behind us. It was getting darker, but we started towards Nathan's anyway. The others were ahead of me at this point and as I was trying to catch up, my world began spinning and then everything went black.

I'm walking by Zach, this is crazy! Heidi thought to herself.
"Hey, where's Tom?" Cameron asked me.
"He's behind us," I replied, looking behind me. My eyes widened as I recognized a figure lying on the sidewalk and my heart sped up.
"TOM!" I screamed into the dark night.