I woke up in the morning sweating all over again, not nice. After I had a shower I headed downstairs, successfully avoiding everyone this time.

I leaned against the hallway wall in boredom until Luca and Aaron came down the stairs ready to go.

"What are you doing out here?" Luca asked and I sighed.

"Avoiding everyone" I answered flatly and he smiled.

"Good idea...unless everyone includes me too" he said and I smiled at him.

"Um, back the fuck up here" Aaron snapped while glaring at him.

"And I think avoiding everyone at this point will just cause negative feelings" he stated and Luca rolled his eyes.

"You're just saying that because you don't want to get avoided" Luca teased him and they both had a staring match while I gave them unimpressed looks.

 "Well you are just saying that because you don't think you're in danger of getting avoided" Aaron retorted and Luca gave him a mocking smile.

"GUYS" I snapped incredulously and a few people that were in the kitchen came walking in.

"Don't tell me the two most mature people in the house were fighting? Our society is failing..." Alex said with fake concern and I sighed.

"Let's go" Aaron said before walking out of the door, and I gave Luca a look as I walked past him.

"What?" he chuckled and I ignored him as I walked out the door.

-

I couldn't find Erin today until our maths lesson. Not having a phone was really pissing me off.

I couldn't even talk to him in the maths lesson, as he was bickering with Alex for the whole of it. I was tempted to just make them sit next to each other rather then snapping across me, but then physical attacks would probably start.

I finally was able to talk to Erin between lessons, and I felt like I hadn't in ages. I couldn't even fit all my complaints about happenings in the fifteen minutes we had, which left me even more annoyed I couldn't just call or text him.

Luckily I knew where to find him at lunch and was heading over there when I heard someone call my name.

I turned around and to see Nate there with Hunter and a few other people I hardly know sitting at a table a few metres behind him.

"Yeah?" I questioned observing them all kind of cautiously and he smiled.

"Um, well, I think you know what I want to talk to you about" he said and I narrowed my eyes.

"Does it start with basket and end with ball?" I asked and he smirked.

"Maybe" he replied and I sighed.

"No."

"Why not?" he pouted and I gave him a look.

"I don't like teams, it's noisy" I explained and he sighed.

"Buy some earplugs?" he suggested and I smirked.

"Yeah, that'll work" I rolled my eyes and was about to walk away when he grabbed my wrist.

"Why don't you come play basketball with me after school, so I can find out if you're actually worth convincing" he persuaded and I scoffed before narrowing my eyes at him.

"I'm not a competitive person, saying you think I'm bad does nothing to motivate me" I explained with an amused smile and he huffed.

"Well, why don't you just do it for fun? Get away from the house for longer" he persisted and I sighed.

"Fine" I finally gave in and he smiled brightly.

"Great! Uh...You have English last don't you?" he asked and I frowned.

"How do you know that?" I questioned and he chuckled.

"I have friends in your class, they talk about the guy with the weird accent after lesson quite allot" he explained and I pouted.

"It's not weird, mine came first, so, theirs is actually the weird one" I protested and he raised a brow.

"Besides, I hardly ever talk in that class" which is true, there will be no socialising getting in the way of my English lessons, I love English.

"Yeah, they say you're very quiet, which is strange" he seemed to be in deep thought and I gave him a look.

"You're going to have to tell Luca or something; I'm grounded so I'm probably not even allowed to stay after school anyway..." I pointed out and he made a face.

"Yeah, I'll tell him, but that's it, I won't read his reply" he said and I rolled my eyes before carrying on walking and leaving him behind.

-

"You ever been asked out by a girl?" Erin asked me as we sat on the grass in boredom.

"Yeah, some of them seem to have no gaydar..." I admitted and he snickered.

"Just because someone has gay mannerisms doesn't mean they are always gay" he scolded and I raised a brow at him.

"True, some people say gay men sound like sassy black women, and they aren't always gay" I said and he huffed at me before chuckling.

"Yeah, that was exactly  what I was getting at" he commented sarcastically  and I smiled.

"How are you anyway? I've been complaining the whole time and haven't even let you speak" I asked and he sighed.

"I prefer it that way to be honest...I don't want to talk about how I am" he said gloomily and I frowned.

So, he's not okay...that's concerning...

-

"So, you're apparently good enough to get the coach's attention, but you can't even snatch the ball off of me, how does that work" Nate teased as I just stood there with my arms crossed in front of him.

We were in the indoor basketball court afterschool and it was annoyingly quiet, apart from the echoing sounds of the swimming practice next door.

I was never good at one on one, I prefer working with a team, but, teams are too noisy. So.....it'd have to be a really quiet team, and then I'd like it, because I hate dribbling, and that way I could pass most of the time instead of tripping over because I'm clumsy.

Yes, I did actually find a team like that once.

They were all girls, but still, that's what made me love basketball.

Ugh, why can't males be quiet and not try to show off every five minutes. I want to be a girl so bad some times, especially when I'm left glaring at guys playing basketball and trying to score backwards or flinging the ball all the way across the court like the hulk is standing there waiting to catch it, because no one else could ever catch one of them!

Plus being openly gay and messing up on the court when they're all being competitive is not a pleasant thing to be, and the fact whenever I played in a team they'd all be older then me didn't help me start liking teams either.

Long story as to why everyone I spent my time with was always older than me, I'll tell you later.

Mainly because Nate is now giving me a look as I seemingly daydream in front of him.

He then suddenly threw the ball at me and I caught it just before it reached my face. I lowered the ball to glare at him and he smiled.

"So you are awake, its hard to tell" he remarked and I sighed before narrowing my eyes and aiming for the basket behind him.

The ball went in with a clean swoosh and he was just staring at it for a few moments.

"Ahhh, you're a shooter. That makes sense, even though you're antisocial coach still wants you on the team...we're really bad at offence...so...shoulda' guessed" he commented and I scoffed.

"Antisocial? I am not antisocial I'm...reserved" I defended as he went to get the ball and he raised a brow at me as he picked it up.

"You're afraid of noise and being snapped at by competitive males " he stated bluntly and I narrowed my eyes at him before sighing.

"Maybe so, but that's not changing anytime soon so you're wasting your time" I warned before turning away from him.

"Ow" I complained when he threw the ball at my head and watched him with a glare as he picked it up.

He threw it at me again and I caught it with a tssk.

"Stop it" I ordered and he chuckled before managing to snatch the ball out of my hands making me grind my teeth.

"Nate" I warned and crossed my arms at him, leading to me being unprepared when he attacked me with the ball again.

"Right. Give me that ball!" I huffed and he grabbed it before dribbling it away from me.

I went after him and he just turned away from me every time I went for it.

Ugh, this is why I hate one on one!

I blocked the ball with my arm the next time he threw it at me but he grabbed it again before I had the chance.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked and he just smiled at me.

"If you want me to stop you're going to have to take it from me" he said after he threw it at me again and I rolled my eyes.

I narrowed my eyes at him before suddenly going for it. He snatched it away from my reach just in time and I ended up falling flat on my arse instead.

"Balance is not your strong point" he said before bouncing the ball off of my head and I huffed before giving a small amused smile.

I stood up and stood there for a few moments before he flung the ball at me again, then caught it before dribbling away from him with it and standing a safe distance from him.

I smiled triumphantly at him and he crossed his arms.

"Well, are we playing one on one or not? Why don't you try get a basket" he encouraged and I looked to the hoop, it was a bit far away so I'd probably fail. It's not like I have anything else to do though.

"You're not getting it in from there" he stated and I shrugged.

"You think" I commented before aiming, and grumbled when he jumped in the way.

"Not going to make it be that easy" he said with a cocky smile and I bit my lip before trying to dribble past him. I blocked him with my arm when he went to snatch the ball before turning around and immediately finding him in front of me again. He's fast...

I turned away from him and just stood there bouncing the ball, making him sigh after a few minutes.

"You going to stay like that all day?" he asked and I smiled.

"Yep" I replied and blocked him from snatching the ball when he stepped forwards.

I turned away again when he tried to move around me and he growled in annoyance.

"Not so fun now is it" I commented and he huffed.

"Well you're not even playing properly now so" he complained and I chuckled as I turned away from his reach again.

"Hmmph, fine!" he said before grabbing both of my arms from behind and making me tssk.

"Oi! Cheat!" I snapped as I tried to keep control of the ball.

"From what rules? You're not playing basketball!" he defended and I started doing 'keepie uppies' with my feet instead of holding it in my arms.

"Ergh" he commented before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me over, landing on me with an uncomfortable thud.

"This isn't rugby, even if it isn't basketball" I stated and he rolled his eyes.

"I don't think you do that in 'rugby' either. It's more like...Judo" he teased and I narrowed my eyes at him.

It then fell silent and the lack of distance between our faces made it kind of....tense, or maybe it was just me being awkward.

He just smiled after several moments before standing up and offering me his hand.

"I think I'll show you how to dribble, because you need some help" he said teasingly and I rolled my eyes as I let him help me stand.

It wasn't just me who noticed that, right?