The Heavier the Chains...

Chapter 5

The unfairness of our judgements.

Kenzlee~

There was nothing worse in the world than teenage co-ed high school gym class.

Whether you had your eye on someone or not, no girl wanted to sweat her makeup off in front of a bunch of cute guys.

No girl.

Even if you weren't worried about looking like a Halloween experiment gone wrong, no girl wanted to be the girl that the other girls didn't want on their team.

High school gym class was the worst.

Then, in the middle of my miserable thoughts, The Good Lord looked down upon me and said, "Okay, Kenzlee, I'll cut you a break today because I owe you from that thing that Satan did earlier with Talon Draven," because the boy's coach announced, "Ladies, Coach Hiller had an important meeting she had to attend, so it's a free-for-all this period. You ladies are free to exercise however you want as long as it's with body motion and not sitting down on the mats gossiping." I immediately went in search of a basketball, and figured that I'd spend this period shooting hoops, minding my own damn business.

I walked over to the ball cage, and just as I picked up a basketball, I heard a voice behind me. "Hey, there."

I turned around and came face-to face-with a very cute guy with dark auburn hair and green eyes. I wouldn't necessarily classify him as a Ginger since his hair was so dark, but even so, it worked for him. He was taller than me, but that wasn't saying much since I was only five-foot-one. I had to tilt my head to talk to him. "Hey," I greeted back.

He smiled and showed a row of perfect teeth. "I'm Jason Fuller," he said, introducing himself. "I'm captain of the basketball team." He looked pointedly at the basketball in my hands, and I laughed.

"I'm Kenzlee Mitchell."

Jason nodded. "Alex's cousin, right?"

Small world.

Or school, I imagined.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "We're cousins."

His hand came up and started rubbing the back of his neck, and I thought it was a sweet, nervous, endearing gesture. "So, you like basketball?"

Before I could answer, a male voice boomed from behind me. "Jason, my man, whatcha up to?" I turned my head, and two of the best-looking guys that I had ever seen entered my vision.

Holy crap. What did this town have in its water?

You could tell they were brothers because they shared the same chocolate-colored hair, the same bright hazel eyes, and their bone structure was right on. If they weren't brothers, then they were closely related, somehow.

I turned back towards Jason when he answered, "Nothing much. How about you guys?"

The shorter one, only by an inch or so, replied, "Well...see, Jason, we were over there, ready to do our health-conscious duty, when we noticed you over here talking to Draven's girl. So, well, we decided to come over and join the party."

What. In. The. Actual. Hell?

Jason's eyes flicked towards mine really quickly. "What do you mean, Draven's girl? This is her first day of school, for fuck's sake."

I shook my head. "I'm not-"

The taller guy interrupted me as if I weren't present. "Doesn't matter. She's Talon's. If you have a problem with that, take it up with him."