Uncovering What's Within

Bass flowed through my earbuds as I climbed the stairs of the bright yellow bus, while the sun started peaking over the horizon. Sighing, I made my way to the back of the bus as several other kids slid out from in front of me into the seats up front. I picked an empty seat near the back of the bus and placed my backpack next to me. The same routine I did every year since starting high school two years ago. Today marks the start of my junior year. It already started out terrible before I even got onto the bus, because it seems that I am the only junior who still rides the bus. Even my best friend, Julie, was able to buy her car over this past summer. She saved up money since freshman year, between her birthdays, allowances, and Christmases, to buy a somewhat decent blue 2006 Toyota Camry. It must be nice to have a large family like hers, to get money from during those holiday occasions, and to have a dad who is the general manager of the local Mom’s Market, the only supermarket in town.

Me? I lived with my only living relative, Aunt Bekah. Don’t get me wrong, I love my aunt, but she certainly does not make enough at the incense kiosk in the mall to put dinner on the table for both of us every night. Well from what I remembered it was an incense kiosk this month. Last month it was stocked with those self-adhesive bras and the month before that were candles. So, I finally convinced my aunt to let me get a job at the local fast food joint, Frank’s Fries; Home of the Deep-Fried Frank! this past spring. It sucked coming home smelling like deep fried anything, though it was worth being able to help out and have a little bit of spending money. She hated the thought of my brain being wasted away at such a place though. That conversation went on for several hours.

“No,” Aunt Bekah huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Her fierce chocolate brown eyes glared at me.

I growled, irritated with her, “But I want to help us out, Aunt Bekah! We need more than the 900 you make a month. That barely covers the rent of the apartment, utilities, and groceries in a month!”

She pulled her dull brown, shoulder length hair up in a high pony, which showed off her aging young face. She was only shy of 40 by five years, but the stress of raising a 5-year-old at the young age of 23 will do that to a person; especially when you weren’t ready to raise one. Aunt Bekah was always the carefree, fun aunt, being only 18 when I was born. So, when she had to play the bad guy too, she found it very difficult to say no. Over time, she was able to find her voice though. She loved me, however, she treated me more as a best friend than her niece she was the guardian over.

Her pulling her hair back meant business, no doubt. “I’ve told you, you’re too smart to be working fast food places! You should be at some place that works that big brain of yours. Someplace that will let you intern at a place like NASA or SpaceX later on!”

“That has been your excuse for a while now, Aunt Bekah! I need to help out some way and I would rather work there than at Mom’s. I won’t be able to do that if I can’t finish school, either!” I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring right back at her with my own deep, oak brown eyes.

She finally agreed after my calculations of how much more money we would have after my first month of working. See, I am some sort of genius according to not only my aunt, but my teachers too. And maybe the IQ test they had me take in the third grade. I was supposed to skip a few grades along the way, but I begged my aunt to talk them out of doing it. I didn’t want to be that freak, nor did I want to leave my friends. I am the reason they finally have some AP classes being offered at our small-town high school, White Mountain High School. Go Cougars! Hint the sarcasm.

I love school, but I’m not the peppiest person. Living in the small town of Meredith, New Hampshire didn’t offer much when it came to extra high school classes that could challenge me, nor jobs. With only a population of about 2,000; everyone knew everyone. It was not a surprise when everyone knew what happened to my parents 12 years ago. Sure, I heard the stories of their death, though I was only five when they got mauled by the black bear. I didn’t remember much before their death. All I remember was my parents dropping me off with my Aunt Bekah’s for the weekend as they went out to the White Mountain National Forest to go camping. They loved camping, especially my mom. It was their anniversary that weekend; hints why I got dropped off at my aunt’s house. They wanted some time by themselves but didn’t want to be too far away.

I miss my parents every day, even if I don’t remember much about them. The therapist says I have chosen to suppress my memories of them due to the trauma of losing them. Aunt Bekah was always so grateful that I didn’t parish that fateful day either because I don’t think she would have made it through her grieving without me. After all, losing my grandparents five to six years earlier didn’t help her in the process at all either. She had me to focus on during that time and that seemed to help her a lot. We had no one but each other now.

I heaved a great sigh when a paper ball came out of nowhere and smacked me in the head, letting my train of thoughts subside. Closing my eyes, I focused on Alex Gaskarth’s voice as he sung my favorite song, Therapy, from the band All Time Low. Julie had told me I could ride with her and I wished I took her up on her offer. The only reason why I told her no was because she lived on the opposite side of town as me and the school was between us. It would have been pointless and a waste of gas for her to come and get me every day. I knew I didn’t need to add any other expenses into my small budget anyways. I would have felt bad not paying for some of her wasted gas. Finally, after another paper ball made me its target, the bus stopped in front of the school. I gathered up my backpack and placed the right strap onto my shoulder. I waited until everyone behind me had gotten in the line to get off before I got into the aisle. I took a deep breath of the fresh air as I got out onto the sidewalk.

Glancing up, I took in my small high school with the deep orange base color with the brown trim. Our school colors. The cheerleaders hated the colors because their uniforms didn’t stand out the way they wanted them to. It wasn’t much, but it felt like home. I weaved throughout the crowds of freshman and sophomores, as I made my way up to the side doors near the bus loop. I headed towards the hallway near the gym, where my locker happened to be. Near the boy’s locker rooms. It sucked. I could smell the stench from fifteen lockers away. I hated it, though I think Julie would change lockers with me any day, despite the horrid smell. The hockey team soon made their way down the hall towards their own lockers, which so happened to be closer to the locker room than mine. Something about being more convenient for them. They were making a bunch of noise that I could hear over the screams of the singer M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold through my earbuds. I tried so hard not to look, but I caved and glanced towards the left. There he was. The star of the hockey team; Trenton Asher.

His hazel eyes drawing any girl in, with his brunette, blonde highlighted hair blown out perfectly every day. Okay, I admit, I’ve had a crush on the boy since elementary school. What girl didn’t? I have this feeling every time he is near me. It is the need to go be near him for some reason, but I always fought this need. He probably hasn’t even given me a second thought. His bright white teeth showed as he smiled at Jake Lewis, who patted him on his back, not doubt calling him, ‘Trent the Dent’. The stupid nickname the hockey team gave him after he slammed a boy from West Forest High into the boards last year. I never understood the nickname, but who understands the male brains and their need for sports nicknames anyways?

Jumping at the tap on my shoulder, I turned around as my heartbeat started to slow slightly at sight of my best friend. Julie could have Trenton if she wanted him. She was beautiful. Her blonde hair hung in loose curls to her mid back, versus my shoulder length, pin straight, frizzed auburn hair. Auburn may not be my natural hair color, but I felt it suited me more than my brunette locks. She stood at a height of five feet and seven inches, much taller than my five-foot frame. I was tiny compared to her. Not just in size, but my frame didn’t carry all her full curves. She was able to afford the trendy clothes. Skintight, high waisted shorts that came a little above her mid-thigh and a white, long sleeved cropped shirt. I was so bland compared to her, with my ratty band tee, so faded you couldn’t make out what band it was for. My shabby, long sleeved, plaid over shirt, and my faded skinny jeans that had holes that were not there when they were made. All hand-me downs from my aunt. They were all slightly too big for me because my aunt was not as short or tiny as me. Julie looked like a super model and she knew how to do make-up too. I could careless when it came to the make-up department, but I always lined my eyes with that black eyeliner every morning and put on some kind of foundation to hide my blemishes.

I saw her mouth something, but I realized I couldn’t hear her over the guitar solo from Synyster Gates and the noise coming from down the hallway. I paused my music and took out my earbuds. The chatter between students was a little too much for my raw ears after the sweet music stopped.

“Sorry, Jules. What’s up?” I questioned, leaning on my locker.

“It’s okay, Ry,” Julie smiled at me, understanding how the music calmed my nerves. “I was just asking how your weekend went?”

“It went well, besides the fact that I got burned from the hot oil at work several times,” I gave a deep sigh, rolling up my selves to show her the fading blisters on my forearm.

“Doesn’t look like it was too bad, Ry,” she took ahold of my arm to examine it. She wanted to be a nurse after high school, so she has been volunteering at the hospital as a candy striper. Who knew those still existed? I certainly didn’t. “It should be healed over in another couple days.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled, taking my arm back from her.

“So,” Julie drew out the word as she smirked down at me. Her eyebrows did that thing, where she moved them up and down like she was suggesting something going on. She had noticed me looking towards the hockey team no doubt before she tapped me on the shoulder. “Isn’t he lovely?” She sighed, glancing that way now, with a slight dreamy look now.

“Sure,” I shrugged my shoulders and glanced towards my locker instead of the boys. I knew she wanted me to say Trent’s name, but I wasn’t going to fall for that. I never did. “Lewis looks pretty good from here to me, too.”

I glanced towards the team, then back towards her to see the blush run along her tanned skin. I knew I had turned it onto her now. She always had a thing for Jake Lewis, which is another reason why she never tried to go after Trenton. Though, I think she never actually went after him because she knew how much I liked him. I wasn’t going to say anything to her. That would just mean she won. I wouldn’t let that happen at all. Jake Lewis was different, he was taller and leaner, like your average day hockey defencemen. Though, he was so much more different than the star left wing forward, Trent. His blonde locks cut into a skater look, but from what I know he has never touched a skateboard before. His smugness was a little much for me too, but Jules liked that about him. And the fact she could wear heels next to the boy without worrying about being taller than him was a plus. The only thing negative about the defencemen was he had a girlfriend already. Heidi Rodriguez, co-captain of the cheer squad.

Focusing away from the boys, I took a look at my first class of the day and a bright smile lit my face. AP Calculus. This will be fun. My aunt bought me the textbook over the summer, but I hardly glanced at the thing. I already knew the material, so why would I need to study it over the summer? Jules took in my changed demeanor once her focus was back on me.

“AP Calc is your first period?” She guessed, giving me her knowing smile.

“Yep,” I popped the ‘p’, as my grin got bigger. “You know me so well.”

“Of course, I do. The only thing that makes you happier than lemon meringue pie are numbers,” she giggled, shaking her head, but then made a groan as she remembered where her first class was. “I have gym first period.”

“Well, let’s hope Coach Edwards doesn’t require you to dress out for the very first class.”

I grabbed all of my textbooks but my AP Calc book from my backpack and placed them into my locker. I noticed Julie still taking glances between me and the rowdy crowd a few paces down the hallway. The hockey team was still up to no good, from what it sounded like. She must have had gotten here earlier than most, because I already noticed her small bag was the only thing she was carrying, besides her gym bag. Of course, she arrived way before I did, thanks to that wonderful car of hers. I saw her watching me out of my peripheral vision as I grabbed the remaining materials I did not need and placed them into my locker.

“You know I could have brought you to school this morning? And every morning until you get your car?” Jules bit her lip, knowing what I was going to tell her next. It’s the same thing I told her when she first suggested this.

“Jules, I love you,” I sighed, shutting my locker, and getting ready walk away from her. I gave her one last look. “But I’m not going to take free rides from you when it is so far out of your way. I am fine with taking the bus to school.”

“I know you are Ry, but really-,” I held up my right hand, stopping her mid-sentence.

“Enough,” I shook my head. “I’m fine, now if you excuse me, I gotta make my way to AP Calc now, before I have to sit up front.”

Before she could give me another spiel of why I should get a ride from her, I placed my earbuds back into my ears and blasted my next song on my track. Breathing deeply, I let my annoyance go away as the voice of Danny from Hollywood Undead flood my eardrums and soothed me. I was annoyed she kept asking me the same thing she asked me when she first bought the car. I get it, but I don’t want to take her up on her offer of free rides, because I feel bad. Bad that she wastes so much on me and I can never repay her the way she has paid for me. I once again found myself weaving my way around the mass of students to my AP Calc classroom. Mr. Jenner was standing at the front of the class, writing the date down on the board, September 7th.

No wonder Aunt Bekah was acting off this morning. I may be good with numbers, but dates will go unnoticed to me. My mother’s birthday will be in a week. September 14th. Aunt Bekah always gets weird the closer it gets to the anniversary of my parent’s death and my mother’s birthday. We do the same thing every year. We visit her and dad at the cemetery to leave her some fresh flowers, then will go home after getting an ice cream cake to celebrate her. It’s hard for my aunt. She may not show me the tears, but I know she sheds them in the comfort of her own bedroom at night. My aunt always looked up to my mom, so losing her never settled well with her, even 12 years later.

I took my earbuds out of my ears and glanced around the room, finding a seat near the back of the room. Calculus is my favorite subject, but I hated being the center of attention when it came to showing off my skills. I am not one for being front and center. I have been ever since my aunt and teachers figured out how great I was with math. They had always called on me when my hand would be down, in order to answer the question when none of my other classmates knew the answer. Sometimes they even asked me if their math was correct when they doubted themselves. Even when they did not ask me if they were wrong, I never raised my hand to correct them. I would bring it to their attention when we were at recess or at the end of the day, when I was alone with them. It also did not help that I grew up being the girl who lost her parents to a bear, before they figured out, I was so good with numbers.

“Good morning, class,” Mr. Jenner smiled at us once the bell rang.

Mr. Jenner moved here over the summer from Manchester. He came here after Dr. Thompson, our principal, started searching for someone to teacher this course. We did not have many teachers in this small town that qualified to teacher AP classes. When he got here this summer, he moved into a house with his wife and two kids, down the street from Julie. Most of the women on Julie’s street wanted to be near him because he was a big city guy, but not only that. He was quite handsome, with his tall six foot-one frame, and his dark hair. My aunt said he was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Taking him in now, I kind of understood what she meant. I knew if I stood next to him, he and I would struggle just to carry on a conversation without straining our necks.

I took a glance away from him and moved my eyes around the room to see who else was in the class. To be honest, I did not think that there would be these many students in here with me. I saw Sadie Davis sitting up front, which surprised me. I never knew she was decent in math, but then again, I only mainly saw her out on the sidelines cheering on our fellow Cougars. She has been a cheerleader since our freshmen year, and she is the most recent ex-girlfriend of Trenton. They dated last spring but broke up right before summer. I took in her long box braids that had some purple weaved in with her black hair. A new look versus her short pixie cut from the summer. She was gorgeous, with her darker skin and long legs, which she loved to show off in a short skirt. Sadie could be a little much for me sometimes. She was all about school pep. I guess that’s how she made cheer captain last year, one of the youngest to do so in the school’s history. Most of the other captains were seniors, but after Gracie Douglas graduated last year, Coach Edwards thought that no one but Sadie could fill her shoes.

“Ryleigh Cayson,” Mr. Jenner calling my name drew my attention back towards him. He was glancing around the room, no doubt calling out names to do attendance.

“Here,” I spoke, raising my hand to show him where I was.

Mr. Jenner smiled at me with a nod of his head and continued with attendance. I wondered then if Dr. Thompson had told him about me. I mean, it was because of me that he had a job here. Dr. Thompson saw me coming here as the greatest opportunity to start up these AP classes. She had fought with the district for two whole years before they finally approved of them. I could have gone to West Forest High in the neighboring town of New Hampton for the AP classes, but my aunt really wanted me closer to home. Aunt Bekah fought right next to Dr. Thompson in many board meetings these past two years. I may have been the reason behind these new classes, so I probably shouldn’t be surprised when many other students will get the chance of taking them too.

“Alright,” Mr. Jenner’s voice broke my train of thoughts as he clapped his hands. He stood at the front of the room behind his desk with a bright smile on his face. “Now that I know the faces to your names, let’s get started!”

Most of the students gave him some apprehensive smiles, not used to his enthusiasm. Sure, we have our fair share of enthusiastic teachers here, but to be like this on the first day was a little strange. Especially when it came to math. Mr. Jenner started to walk around while handing out the syllabus for the course. As he walked around the room, he told us his life story. He grew up in Pennsylvania and got his mathematical science degree from Penn State. He’s forty. He moved to New Hampshire five years ago due to his wife getting a job at the main hospital in Manchester. She was the head of surgery there, but now she is the head of surgery here. I stopped listening from there when he set the syllabus on my desk.

Great. He wants us to present to the class regularly to know if we have a conceptional understanding of the concepts being taught. That is the last thing I want to do. I hate presenting in class. Sometimes my thoughts do not match the words coming out of my mouth. I have a hard time expressing how I arrived at an answer because my brain may not have worked it out the same way as everyone else. Which makes me struggle putting words to my thoughts. I sighed and leaned on my hand as I flipped to the schedule break down. I smiled seeing day one. This course will be super easy. I reached into my backpack to pull out my graphing calculator. I saved up most of my extra money this summer just to buy it. Julie had to buy a few movie tickets and meals of mine when we hung out, until I had enough for this calculator. Another reason why I did not want free rides to school. I already had too many over the summer.

Much to my dismay, AP Calc did not last as long as I wanted it to. English was my next class, which went by just as fast as my first. Ms. Lopez was not as excited as Mr. Jenner, but she is also in her early sixties, so I do not picture her getting too excited about many things these days. Physics was my third period, which I was looking forward to since AP Calc ended. Mr. Negaard, who moved here four years ago from Norway, made class very interesting. He had us do an introductory lab, which was quite fun for the entire class.

“Alright,” Mr. Negaard grinned at all of us. His blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Today is going to be a thought-provoking process. I will be putting you all into pairs because my classroom budget was a little tight this year, so we don’t have enough frictionless turntables for all of you. I want you all to take turns and stand on the turntables and try to turn the table in a full circle without moving your feet or with the help of your partner.”

I had gotten paired off with Steven Kapel, the goalie of our hockey team. He was very different than the rest of the team. While all the other boys were rowdy, he was very shy and very reserved. I went to the back of the room and stood near him. I took in his taller frame. I barely came up to his shoulders. I returned the smile he gave me as I took in his deep brown eyes and brown hair. I focused back onto Mr. Negaard as he started handing out the frictionless turntables to each group. Steven got ours when it was our turn to go up. He returned to our spot in the back of the room quickly. He placed it down on the floor in front of me and I grabbed the sheet of paper that we were supposed to use to write down our thoughts and observations.

“I’ll go first,” Steven’s voice sounded from behind me. He had a slight Canadian accent laced with his norther one. His parents moved here about ten years ago from Canada.

I nodded my head, signaling him that he could go first. I wrote my name on my paper before he stepped onto the frictionless turntable. Steven stood facing me and then stared down at his feet. I quirked an eyebrow as I watched as he tried to think about how to turn in a full circle. Heather and Kyle that were nearby already started. Heather stood on the turntable and moved her shoulders and upper body to the right, but the turntable went in the opposite direction. I took a moment to glance back at Steven, who still stood there staring at his feet. It took him a few minutes before he did anything. Before I grew bored of waiting, he finally moved. He did the same thing Heather did, but he moved his shoulders and upper body to the left. As he turned his upper half to the left, his feet moved towards the right. I wrote this down as he continued to try in the different direction.

“What are you noticing?” Mr. Negaard questioned as he made his way towards us.

“No matter how hard he tries to move, his lower half always goes in the opposite direction as his upper portion,” I answered, smiling back at him.

“Yes! Now, have you tried Ms. Cayson?” He glanced back at me from looking at the rest of the class.

“Yeah, go ahead and try Ryleigh,” Steven suggested as he made his way down off the turntable. Mr. Negaard smiled and then left to make his rounds again. “I think I’m too tall and weigh too much to make it turn.”

“I don’t think that has any effect on what is happening,” I sighed, but made my way towards the turntable.

I stood onto it, facing Steven. I did exactly what he did. I turned my upper half to the right, my feet went to the left, but when I moved my body back to being straight, my face was back to looking at Steven. I did the opposite from before. This time turning my upper to the left and my feet turned towards the right. When I straighten my body again, I still faced Steven. He gave me a confused look, as he glanced around the room to see that it was not just us getting this result, but so was everyone else. I stepped down and walked back to the lab table. I looked back down at my paper to write down my thoughts.

“Do you know Newton’s Third Law of Motion?” I asked, glancing back at Steven.

“Every action has a reaction?” He gave me a nervous look, not knowing if he was right or not.

“Kind of,” I smiled at him, giving him some reassurance. “There is a little more to it than just that phrase. Here, stand back up on the turntable and I’ll explain more.”

“Alright,” Steven shrugged his shoulders, stepping back onto the turntable.

“Newton’s Third Law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Try to turn it again,” I walked closer to him as he stood on the turntable. Steven turns his upper body to the right causing his lower half to turn to the left. “So, when your upper body turns to the right, your lower half has an equal and opposite reaction.”

Steven stared down at me once he straightened out with a thoughtful look. “That makes sense, but why does it not happen if I turn while standing on the floor?”

I grinned while rotating my upper body to the right to mimic what he just did on the turntable, “Because the floor provides friction, which is an added force at play that prevents our lower half from turning the opposite direction. On the frictionless turntable there is no friction to prevent our lower halves from turning the opposite direction.”

“Okay,” Steven nodded his head, still looking somewhat confused.

I thought of another way I could better explain it to him and as I glanced around the room, I noticed a poster of a picture of someone shooting a large potato gun. This made me think about our last year world history class together when Mr. Martin showed us some clips of someone shooting one of the cannons used in the Civil War. I knew I could help him better understand Newton’s Third Law of Motion.

“Steven,” I bit my lip as he turned to look to me from writing down his observations. “Do you remember the clips Mr. Martin showed us last year of the historians shooting off that cannon?”

“Yeah,” Steven rose one eyebrow in questioning on why I was bringing this up.

“Do you remember how much recoil there was when the cannon went off?” I asked, trying to think of how to word this without going too much in depth.

“It had a lot of recoil,” he nodded, still looking at me curiously.

“That’s Newton’s Third Law. The cannon has this great force from the explosion that takes place when it is fired, which causes the recoil that pushes the cannon back,” I explained, keeping my eyes on his expressions.

Steven thought about it for a minute and then he smiled at me, “I think got it. So, the force of the explosion within the cannon that fires the cannonball, causes the recoil that pushes the cannon in the opposite direction?”

My grin grew at his understanding as I nodded. By the end of the class, Mr. Negaard could not have been prouder that the majority of the pairs already knew about Newton’s Third Law of Motion. He also said he had a treat for us tomorrow dealing with the frictionless turntables again. I was looking forward tomorrow to see what he had in store for us. Steven had thanked me for my help before he left.

I made my way to the cafeteria after physics with a slight pep in my step. I felt very lighthearted after that enjoyable lesson because Mr. Negaard did not disappoint when he said it would be thought-provoking. Lunch was not eventful like last year’s first day lunch. The senior class last year made most lunches memorable with their senior pranks. They decided it would be a decent idea to place thousands of styrofoam cups filled with water around the cafeteria floor on the first day. Dr. Thompson was not happy when several students stepped on some causing them to slip and fall. This only caused more of a mess for the janitors to clean up. It took at least over an hour for them to dispose of the cups, which led everyone to be behind in the lunch schedule and Dr. Thompson had no choice but to cancel seventh period that day. Today, lunch passed as normal and I sat with Julie as normal out on the back patio.

“How have your classes been so far today?” She asked, nibbling on the ham sandwich her mother made for her.

“So far so good, physics was quite fun,” I smiled, picking at the side salad I got. “We had a lab today with frictionless turntables and we had to work in pairs to describe what was going on.”

“Who did you get paired with?”

“Steven Kapel,” I took a bite of my cheeseburger. It wasn’t great, but not too bad for school food.

“Really?” Julie’s eyes widen at the thought of me being paired with the goalie.

I gave her a confused look, “Why are you so shocked?”

“Well, it is Kapel,” she shrugged her shoulders. “He’s not on anyone’s radar really. I mean, you know he’s not the favorite on the team.”

“Which I never understood that,” I sighed, not getting sucked into the Non-repel Kapel nickname for Steven, which he got for letting too many pucks passed him. “He is the goalie after all. The person we rely on the most to not get shots through. We should be happy he has a decent save stats. I mean 0.639 save percentage is not bad at all.”

“How many saves did he have last year?” She quirked an eyebrow up, giving me her ‘yeah, but…’ face.

“He had 133 saves out of 208 shots on goal,” I stated with certainty.

“He could have done better, but you know Coach Oliver can’t put in Freddie,” Jules cringed at the mere thought of Freddie being in the goal.

Steven got a nasty concussion last year, leaving the goal to our backup, Freddie Fitzpatrick for two games. Two games that we lost miserably to the other teams by a large margin. First game was six to three, second game was eight to four. Our Cougars had to work very hard to get those three and four points in those games. Freddie is a lovable guy, but he is no Corey Crawford or Marc-Andre Fleury, when it came to being the goalie. Nor did he come close to Steven’s save percentage. We would have been in the playoffs if it weren’t for Freddie. Coach Oliver never has let Freddie live it down since then. Not even the team let him live that down either. Coach has been very adamant in not letting Freddie play in a game since then.

Once lunch finished, I made my way in the opposite direction than Julie. She had English for fourth period, while I had French. Mademoiselle Reed has been the French teacher since I was a freshman. She teachers all the French classes, so her class was very ordinary. After French, I had gym, my least favorite class. I may not be the best at sports, but I could hold my own when needed. Coach Edwards, however, did not make gym fun. She was one of those gym coaches that was very strict. She had us dress out on the very first day and we already started playing basketball inside. If you choose not to dress out, you would be given a detention. The only time I did not have to dress out was when I broke my arm in the spring of my freshman year. I had a nasty fall after trying to skateboard. Julie’s older brother, Kevin had tried to teach us both how to skate, but neither of us really picked up on it. I had fallen off after simply skating down the road, going too fast for my liking, and tried to stop, only resulting in me falling backwards and landing on my wrist wrong. I never picked one up since then.

Gym had turned out okay, up until I walked out. I may be alright at sports, basketball being one of them, but I don’t care much in playing any. My classmates always underestimated me because of my height. I knew how to shoot a basketball though. Physics played a key roll in shooting the basketball from the free throw line. It was all about the calculation of the launch angle, how far away I am, and my height. Simple. I had about a 65 percent chance of making a basket knowing how much arc I needed. The boys enjoyed having me on their team when we were playing H.O.R.S.E. Today had been one of those days when we played. As I went up to make my second shot, something in me made me stop mid shot. My arms hung in the air as the basketball fell through my hands.

“Ryleigh?” Jonathon questioned, waving a hand in my face.

“S-s-sorry,” I stuttered, coming back from the pull for the moment. “I have to go.”

I could feel his eyes on my retreating form, but my mind stayed set onto getting out of the gym. I faintly heard Coach Edwards calling out my name as I pushed open the gym door. I looked both ways in the hallway, only to see nothing. I did hear something though, coming from my right. It was the pull. Something was drawing me down the hallway to the commotion. I didn’t have to go too far because it was coming from the weight room. Opening up the door, I drew a quick breath as I took in Trenton and Freddie tangled together. The rest of the class and Coach Oliver shouting at the two to separate. It did not help any, Freddie still had Trenton in a chokehold. I could hear them though. The two tangled boys were as clear as the shouting in the room.

“I told you,” Trenton breath labored after speaking the three words, but he pushed through to get out the rest. “It wasn’t me!”

“I saw you,” Freddie tighten his hold the slightest, glaring at Trenton. But he couldn’t have been speaking no more than a harsh whisper into his ear. “You were out there in the woods with her.”

“That’s enough!” Coach Oliver growled, pulling Freddie off of with the help of Greg Jones, the captain of the hockey team. “I’ve had enough of you Freddie!”

“But he started-,” Freddie shut up with the look that Coach was giving him from his hold. Freddie scuffed, shook Coach off of him and nearly missed shouldering me as he left the weight room in a huff through the other door.

Greg helped up Trenton, who struggled to breath in. The pull in my chest subsided, but my senses never relaxed. Coach asked him if he was okay before he looked towards the door at me. I got ready to defend myself on why I was here as he pointed his finger at me. I froze in my spot as the rest of the classes’ eyes shifted to me. My eyes stayed on Coach though, trying to control my beating heart. Man were my cheeks on fire. I still did not have anything planned to tell him on why I was standing in the doorway.

“You,” Coach Oliver quirked an eyebrow my way, probably thinking if I belonged here or not, or why I had showed up to class so late. I opened my mouth to tell him some lame excuse as to why I stood here at the weight room door slightly still pushed open by my hands. “Take Trenton here to the nurse so she can have a look at him.”

I blinked a few times, trying to decipher if he was actually talking to me. Before I could even nod my head or speak, Trenton stood in front of me, blocking my sight of Coach. My gaze shifted up towards his. His hand rested slightly on his throat, massaging the red skin. His eyes landed on me with a slight smirk, making my heart skyrocket in my chest. It felt as if my heart became an actual rocket right before takeoff as it planned to leave my body and this planet. If I thought my cheeks were on fire before, well now it felt as if they were as hot as the surface of the Sun. Not realizing how long I stood there frozen, I soon felt a hand on my shoulder, giving me a small nudge out the door. I snapped out of my small trance once his nudge registered in my brain and I moved out of the doorway. My cheeks now equaled a blue star status, more from embarrassment than anything.

“Ry,” Trenton’s voice strained with the simple syllable.

My head whipped towards him as we continued walking down the hallway. It did not surprise me he knew my name. We had been in the same class since we were in elementary school. Most the kids knew my name. Some even called me ‘Brainiac’. What surprised me was he called me ‘Ry’. The only ones who called me that were those close to me. Maybe that was the only thing that he could choke out. Before I could take another step, his hand lightly grasped my upper arm. My heart was now gone, into outer space, gone. Taking a breath, I took my gaze off his hand on my arm and towards his face. My lower lip found its way in between my teeth as his hazel eyes searched my face. I noticed he wanted to say something, but his hand found his throat again.

“Hey,” I sighed, gaining his attention. “I wouldn’t try to talk right now. He had you in that choke hold for a while. It will take a while for you throat to go back to normal.”

Trenton’s head shook for a moment, before he sighed, and put his gaze back on mine, “Why were heading into the weight room?”

His question threw me off for a moment after not hearing his voice so strained as before, but him taking his hand off my arm made me slightly disappointed as I answered, “I heard the commotion from outside the door.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I started walking down the hallway, making our way towards the clinic. The lie came flowing out of my mouth without much effort, but my heart. I could hear it thumping within my ears. I could feel him to the left of me now, making that dull pull feeling rise slightly to the surface.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Trenton’s voice sound as normal as it could be, making me take a breath. How did he sound so normal so quickly?

“That’s your problem, then,” I shrugged my shoulders once again, keeping my gaze forward. Trying to keep my heart in check.

“Come on, Ry,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, why were you there?”

“Seriously,” I glared at him, not understanding why he doesn’t believe me. “I heard y’ all outside while I was heading towards the bathroom and I stopped. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Whatever, Ryleigh,” Trenton shook his head. We came to a stop at the front office and he turned towards me before opening the door. “Thanks for walking me up here, but I think I am good enough to go in by myself.”

“Okay,” I sighed, nodding my head as I watched him push the door open and went inside.

I’m not sure what it was about Trenton that drew me to him. I felt that pull within my chest. The same pull I felt the night my parents died. I knew something was happening, but I knew I couldn’t protect them that night. So, I vowed that day when I felt that pull again, I would listen to it and follow it. Today had been different though. This pull made me go on autopilot. Like someone else had been controlling me to go to Trenton. Well, I may not know who this pull was towards, but I assumed it had to be him. Something didn’t feel right, almost as if something much larger was about to happen.