Shelby and Toni

Chapter Fourteen

**Toni's POV** 

"Fuck!" I yelled out as another shot bounce off the rim. "Goddammit," I mumbled to myself as grabbed the rebound and passed it over to my teammate, Sidney. 

"You good, man? That's like the fifth one you've missed in the past ten minutes," she said as she caught the ball. 

"I'm fine, just a little distracted," I said, which was an excuse I had been using throughout the day. When I went back to class I was extremely surprised to see that Shelby had skipped, she's never cut class, and her first time doing so was the avoid me, great. I had none of my friends in my next two hours, but I had Rachel in my fifth hour, which was gym, which usually I love but today we just got our locker combinations and went over class rules. Sixth hour I had with Fatin, who also skipped class, saying she "ate a bad burrito" whenever I texted to ask where she was, but I'm assuming she just didn't wanna go, and I didn't blame her. My last hour I had with Leah, who kept asking me what was wrong since I was barely talking. 

I was looking forward to practice all day since basketball usually cleared my head better than anything else, but I was playing like shit. I shot another time and it bounced twice back and forth on the rim before falling out, and I squatted down to try and contain myself. 

"Hey, just take a deep breath man, it's one bad practice, doesn't mean you're still not the hot shot of our team," Sidney said as she came over and put her hand on my back. I stood up and walked over to my bag and grabbed my water bottle. "Why don't we call it a day, we'll meet up same time tomorrow?" She asked as she followed me over. 

"You guys can head out, I'm gonna stay," I said as I put my bottle back down and walked over to my ball. 

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow," she replied, and the other girls grabbed their stuff and headed out. I grabbed my ball and picked it up, bouncing it a few times before taking a shot, it going in this time. 

"Thank fucking christ," I said as I jogged over to grab it and shot again, making that one as well. However, my run was short-lived, as I went on to miss three in a row. I walked over and picked up the ball before slamming it on the ground. 

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled out as it hit the ground.

"You really showed that ball," a voice from behind me said and I whipped around, ready to yell at whoever said that when I saw Shelby, standing there with a small smile on her face. 

"Hey," I said, my body relaxing and the anger that was ready to jump out dissipating. 

"Hi," she said as she walked towards me, "can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course," I said and we both headed over to the bench where my bag was at. She sat down first and I sat down, leaving about a foot of space in-between us, unsure which direction this 'talk' was going in. We sat there for a minute in silence, I was waiting for Shelby to say something, but I gathered that she didn't really know what to say. 

"Do you want me to go first?" I asked and she nodded quickly, which made me chuckle. "Okay, well, I think it's pretty obvious that I have feelings for you, or at least that's what I've been told. I've been really confused the past few days because it seems like you might have feelings for me too, unless I'm completely out of left field and if that's the case, just let me know," I said, waiting for her to say something, which she didn't. "Does the silence mean I'm wrong or-" I started when she spoke. 

"No, I mean, yeah- or," she started before pausing to gather her thoughts, "I have feelings for you too," she finally said, looking up at me. I felt my stomach rise and turn and I felt like I was in a dream. I smiled at her and she blushed before she looked back down. "But, you know my parents, and-" she started, and I felt my stomach sinking at that, feeling like I a pit in my stomach.

"You don't wanna disappoint them, I get it, we can just forget about it and-" I said, going to stand up before Shelby grabbed my hand and pulled me back down as she cut me off. 

"No, that's not it. I, I just," she said looking down before she looked up and at me, "I don't want you to have to deal with that," she finally said. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, a little confused. 

"Like...they're gonna try and blame you, they'll say you 'pushed your sin on me' or whatever, and I don't want you to have to deal with that," she explained and I nodded, understanding what that meant, but not getting what it meant for us. 

"So you don't wanna be together?" I asked. 

"No, that's not it, I just don't want them to be rude to you and I know they will once they find out," she explained and I felt my stomach turn with anticipation. 

"So you do want to be with me, but in secret?" I asked. 

"No, not at all...I just, I wanna take it slow, make sure this is real before I tell them, is that okay?" She asked and I reached over and grabbed her hand, which made her look at me. I smiled at her and she smiled back, her cheeks turning red. 

"Of course, take as much time as you need, okay?" I said and she gave me a small smile in appreciation. We sat there for a minute, and I felt dizzy from excitement as I stared at her profile. I couldn't believe that she wanted to be with me, but I wasn't gonna question it, I just want to make her happy and I was gonna do everything I could to make sure she was. 

"Do you wanna go back to your house?" She asked, looking over at me, catching me staring at her which made her blush again. 

"Uh, yeah, but I usually jog back home since Martha takes the car," I said standing up and grabbing my bag from the ground. 

"Yeah, no, we'll just take my car," she replied, scoffing at the idea of jogging all the way back to my house. 

"That's a good call," I said as we made our way in the direction of her car. Shelby grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together about halfway there. I looked down at our hands and back up at Shelby who was smiling at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. 

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here's the next part as promised!! hope you guys are liking the story so far!!! thanks again for your guys' support!!!