The Double-Tap Accident

Chapter Twelve: The Physics Part Will Never Sit Right With Me.

Chapter Twelve: "The Physics Part Will Never Sit Right With Me."

MS. GREEN WAS RIGHT. I hated it.

While I was capable of many things, construction was a career I would never find myself wanting to attain.

The last time I had ever done something close to what I did today, I had almost hammered my finger off. The result led to me sitting off to the side telling stories and handing my sister the pieces she needed to assemble my bed frame.

My joints ached. My body hurt. My fingers were sore with calluses that I haven't seen in years. I knew that the second I woke up tomorrow morning I was going to constantly wince in pain. The fact that I was contemplating doing this again made me realize how idiotic I had to have been to even go through with it. There were a few more sessions throughout the school year but at this rate, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.

Apparently, I looked worse than I felt. Yasmeen spotted me once I got through the front doors of our house. Her eyes went wide, "Why do you look like you've been hit by a train?"

"Because I've been hit by a train, a car, a bus—any vehicle you can think of. That's what I feel like." I groaned, dropping my backpack on the ground and reaching for my friend to grasp her into a pathetic hug.

Mariam appeared, bundled in her coat and holding a bristol board in one hand. Her camera bag was in the other. "Damn, what the hell happened to you?"

"I helped build a house today," I muttered, looking over at her outfit as she started putting on her boots near the front. In fact, Yasmeen was bundled up ready to leave the house as well. She was wearing her back hijab, clad in a bubble jacket and a scarf for the cold weather.

That's when I groaned, remembering that tonight was Aven and Iman's game. Mariam could tell my memory decided to start working, already slipping out of her boots. "Go take a shower. Don't stand and look at me like that. We promised Iman we'd be his cheerleaders and you know how grouchy he is when people don't deliver. So go, go, go."

We made it in time for me to see both Iman and Aven on the court. When we approached the bleachers, a raised hand stood out in the crowd. Dev. He was sitting in the stands. Mariam, Yasmeen and I joined him, making easy conversation as the game started.

Mariam held up the sign for Iman as the team played against the opposing university I don't recognize in blue. When Iman hit the ball over the net, my friends and I cheered loud enough for everyone to stare at us but even Dev joined in, all of us yelling. The familiar sound of the shutter from Mariam's camera was heard next to me as she got up and left the bleachers a few times, taking a couple of pictures as the game moved along.

It's when a familiar figure with a buzzcut sauntered over to us when her camera came down. The sign for Iman in Mariam's hand wasn't being held up anymore. The shutter from her camera was no longer heard for the rest of the game.

I knew the two had been talking through Twitter ever since the day of my physics midterm but if they had met up between that time, I had no clue. It didn't matter. They hit it off easily. Kyle sat down next to Mariam as Yasmeen took the sign from her.

I wasn't sure if Iman saw Mariam and Kyle together but if he did, he didn't show it as they won the first set. When they were moving onto the second set in their purple and yellow jerseys, my eyes stuck to Aven as the team switched sides.

We texted a bit over the weekend, but it was mostly sending different songs or albums to each other. Aven didn't label his playlists with anything I expected. That was the first thing I had noticed when I first got a hand of his account. He labelled them with numbers. R&B was '2', throwback was '3'. Music that I considered hype was '9'.