HI!! I'm back again with another update everybody, thanks to everyone who's reading! I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever, and then my last update was so short, but I got busy. Now that it's summer break and I'm home more, I should be able to spend more time updating, so yay!!
Anyways, on with the story!
You cannot take away from me when I refuse to let you.
IT WOULD BE a disaster if the two of us got together, I told myself repeatedly. Cole and I aren't compatable, we're complete opposites in literally everything!
Yet a small part of me wondered if I was just lying to myself so I could feel better. A better truth was that he probably didn't think I was good enough for him. I could tell that much already, just by the way he looked at me. Obviously, I was looking at the picture wrong when I thought he'd ever felt anything for me, even during that almost-kiss that we'd had. He was probably playing me up because he pitied me or something, he couldn't actually be into me.
Recognizing my feeling, or, all forbid, acting on them, would end up with a broken heart and just another reason to be a laughingstock of the grade. Cole would never go for me after what happened in the eighth grade. I'm the epitom of unpopular.
"...HAYlee, come play with us!"
"Yea come on, it'll be FUN!"
I shook my head as the memories of that day resurfaced. Quickly as they'd come, I shoved them back down into the mess of emotions I never allowed myself to feel, much less showed anyone.
"Haylee? Earth to Haylee Erichson?" the voice of my student brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see a puzzled Cole staring at me.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," I murmured, redirecting my attention to the math problems before us. "Ah, which one are we on again?"
"Number twelve, 3x divided by 4 times 7 equals 6," Cole responded impatiently. "What's the answer?"
"That's not how it works, Cole. I've told you every single question, you have to figure it out and ask me for help when you need it!" I shot back, stressed by the way this session was turning out. Already I was becoming an emotional disaster.
"Wow, so she does have emotions," Cole teased. "You know, I haven't seen you be anything but neutrally calm since the sixth grade until I came along, you sure I'm not good for you?"
"Since when have you payed attention to me?" I answered, somewhat playful and somewhat curious.
"Since when have I not?"
Aaaand that makes it awkward. Sooo....
"Uh, do your math," I changed the subject quickly and gestured to the paper in front of him.
"What do I do first again?" Cole asked, looking imporingly at me.
"P.E.M.D.A.S., Cole. Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. Whatever you do first in an arithmetic equation, you do last in an alebraic," I explained calmly. "But do the x last. Like this."
I leaned down towards the paper and started to write. {A/N the / means divide}
3x / 4 X 7 = 6
3x / 4 X 7 / 7 = 6 / 7
3x / 4 = .857
3x / 4 X 4 = .857 X 4
3x = 3.428
3x / 3 = 3.428 / 3
x = 1.14
"Do I have to write all that down?" Cole whined after I finished and set my calculator aside. "Can't I just do it on my calculator?"
"Yes, you have to write it down. No, you can't do it on your calculator, that's called cheating and I don't condone cheating."
"It'd make it so much easier, though," Cole protested.
"Heh, nice try. Ask me to help you cheat again and you can kiss these lessons goodbye, buddy," I snorted, irritated that he'd even had the nerves to bring it up. "And algebra isn't about the answer, it's about the steps to get to the answer."
"Oh."
"Yea, ready to continue?"
/--~|:)|~--\
Later that night, I was sauteing vegetables in the kitchen to roast in the oven for dinner, when the door opened and the sound of heavy footsteps clomping on the ground made me look up and poke my head out of the kitchen.
A tall, broadly framed male figure stood in the entryway. His brown hair looked longer than I'd last seen him, and his muscles were bigger, but his green eyes still twinkled with kindness when he turned around.
"Hey, little sis," my brother, Isaac, A.K.A my best friend, offered me a classically cheesy grin.
I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his torso and latching onto him. "ISAAC!"
"Someone seems happy to see me," Isaac chuckled, his voice rumbling in his chest as he spoke.
"I cannot begin to tell you how much I've made a mess of my life," I mumbled into his chest, clinging tighter to him. I'd needed a hug so badly for so long, I wasn't sure I knew how to let go.
"Sounds like you have some stories to tell," my brother pulled away, gripping my elbows and examining my own hetechromic eyes.
"I do, and I bet you do, too," I pulled away and pushed him playfully, "How's college? Basketball in the big leagues as awesome as you think?"
"Well, I'm not really in the big leagues yet, but college ball is definitely different," Isaac replied thoughtfully.
"Talk and walk, I'm cooking dinner," I ordered, smiling as I turned into the kitchen. He followed me.
"College ball is more competitive, I think, and there's more on the line," my brother explained as I finished chopping the cauliflower and grabbed the olive oil from a corner spice rack.
"I would think. Do you have good teammates?" I questioned, pouring olive oil out of the spout in sqwiggles along the pan and then proceding to dump the vegetables on top.
"Yeah, they're okay. I haven't had anything big happen, but at the beginning of the year I did get punched in the face by the starting post."
"What was that for?" I asnwered, intrigued and a little nervous because posts were usually pretty big, tall guys that could reach the basket easily and take passes from their teammates above everyone else's heads.
"Well, Coach Poppy said that is he wasn't gonna up his game, she was gonna move me to starting post. It was a joke, of course," he told me.
"Hmm, obvously he didn't think so," I pointed out, sprinkling the veggies in garlic powder and then stirring them around with my spatula.
"Well Darren's been hit in the head a few too many times, I'm pretty certain he's missing some brain cells," Isaac laughed.
I laughed, too. "So Coach Poppy?"
"Yeah, she's my favorite coach, she really knows how to play ball. But I think we kinda exasperate her sometimes."
I laughed again, "I'll bet you do."
"Ever thought about playin' ball again, Haylee? You were real good, too, before ya quit," Isaac's accent became a bit more pronounced as he got riled up with the idea.
I sighed, "Isaac I already had to quit P.T. Anymore stress on my back and-"
"You quit P.T? Why?"
"I had to, my teacher, who also happens to be the sports director, is forcing me to tutor Cole Grimes in math because if his grades don't come up then they'll have to bench him."
"So he made you do it on Tuesdays and Fridays?" Isaac retorted, starting to sound angry.
"I am busy every other day, so he thought that those two would work. He wouldn't let me say no, Isaac," I argued.
"Why don't you tell him about the physical therapy? Mr. Paiter is a sport guy, is he not? He'll understand," Isaac insisted. "And I know you don't want to tell anyone because you don't want pity," he added when I opened my mouth to argue. "But he does need to know that your health is more important than anyone's grades."
"Doesn't that sound rude, though?" I asked.
Isaac shook his head, "Grow a backbone and get over it, kid. You gotta stop letting people walk over you because you think it's rude to stand up for yourself. It's not, I promise."
--
Hi, I'm back again and still sick! So yea, this is kinda an odd chapter, but I'm setting up for extra drama here so hang in please! Once again, thank you to everyone that's read this book and I'm super excited to see how this goes!
It would mean so much to me if you voted, and commented about what you thought!
Have a really great rest of your week and remember to stay healthy guys!
(Cuz getting sick sucks, I promise you)
-- Ivy :)
