The Outcast ✔️

Chapter 10

Date: April 13th, 2021 (Tuesday)

Today was like any other day for Lauren. All the same boring classes. However, she was excited about Gym class. With everything that has happened in the past few days, gym has been a great distraction from thinking about her mom's cancer and having to live with a man who doesn't pay attention to her, also known as her father. 

"Are you guys ready to beat Caden and his team today?" Cayla said to Lauren and Sarah. They were walking towards the gymnasium.

"Oh yeah I am so ready," Sarah said.

"They don't know what's about to hit them," Lauren said.

The three of them walked into the gym bathroom to change into their gym clothes. When they walked out they sat on the floor with the rest of the class.

"Good afternoon class! So today is an exciting day. Caden and Lauren's team will be playing against each other to see who the basketball champion is for our class. The winner will be playing against the Champion of Mrs. Gilmore's class. They will be playing to 20 points. Let's start," Mr. Sims said.

Caden and Lauren's team both got up off the floor and walked to the middle of the basketball court.

"We are so going to beat you and your team, Caden," Cayla says.

"Yeah we will see about that," Caden said.

About an hour later

Lauren and Caden's team were tied 18-18. Both teams only needed to shoot one more basket and they would win the game. Currently, Caden had the ball. He threw the ball to try and shoot it in the basket when Lauren smacked the ball out of the air.

"Lauren throw it to me, I'm open," Sarah yells.

Lauren turns away from Caden and throws it to Sarah who jogs down the court and shoots it into the hoop.

"That's the end of the game. Lauren's team won 20-18. They will be playing against Mrs. Gilmore's class tomorrow," Mr. Sims said with excitement.

The three girls ran to each other jumping up and down in excitement. About a minute passed and they stopped. The three girls walked into bathrooms to change out of their gym clothes. Lauen was the first one out. Caden saw her and started walking over to her.

"Hey Lauren," Caden said.

"Oh uh hey Caden," Lauren said awkwardly. She mentally face palmed herself. She hates that she is always so anxious and awkward when people talk to her. She was also surprised that one of the most popular boys in the 7th grade was actually talking to her.

"I just wanted to tell you that you are actually really good at playing basketball. I wasn't expecting that. I'm impressed," he said. 

"Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself," She said while smiling.

"Thanks, well I got to go. See you around," He said before walking back to his friends.

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Lauren was full of energy and super hyper the entire ride home. She would not stop talking about anything and everything. The twins and Brett tried to keep themselves calm because even though they love Lauren and were happy that she was happy and not upset as she has been they were really starting to get annoyed with her. So when they finally pulled into their driveway after a long 40 minutes they were relieved. Nathan and Ryan were already home.

Lauren immediately got out of the car and ran inside.

"Nathan! Ryan! Guess what happened today?" Lauren yelled the minute she walked into the house. Nathan and Ryan were both sitting on the couch watching some kind of basketball game.

"Hmm, I don't know. What happened?" Ryan said, putting his full attention on her.

"My team won the basketball championship game for our class and tomorrow we will be playing against Mrs. Gilmore's class," Lauren said with so much excitement and a huge smile on her face.

"Wow, that's amazing Lauren! Good job," Ryan said trying to match her excitement, and walked over to her so he could hug her.

"Good job Lauren," Nathan said.

"Nathan, I bet I'm better than you at basketball," Lauren said confidently.

Nathan and Ryan just looked at her like she was crazy. Owen and Maddie just walked in when she said that and they started laughing. Brett just shook his head.

"Lauren, I don't know about that. I am 4 years older than you and I've been playing longer than you. I'm sure you are pretty good though," Nathan said. He was trying to not hurt her feelings and make her upset.

"Ok, whatever. I am hungry so I'm going to go get a snack," Lauren says and skips into the kitchen.

"Don't get me wrong I'm glad that she is happy and is feeling more comfortable around us but is she normally this talkative and hyper?" Brett asked Maddie and Owen.

"Sometimes. It's because she has ADHD so some days she can be full of energy and drive you crazy while other days she can be calm. We are used to her different moods and can usually handle them but Mom is way better at handling her when she is full of energy than we are," Owen said.

"Ah ok well then today should be an interesting day," Nathan said.

"Mom usually tries to tire her out by doing something that uses a lot of energy," Maddie said.

At that moment Lauren comes running into the room with a bag of cookies.

"Maddie! Owen! Have you guys tried these cookies? They are so good," Lauren said super fast while standing in front of the twins.

"Whoa calm down. How many have you eaten already?" Owen asked her.

"Oh umm like 4," Lauren said trying to avoid looking at him.

Owen and Maddie looked at each other. They knew if she eats a ton of sugar while already full of energy then she is just going to be way more hyper.

"Ok well, that's enough. No more. We are going to have dinner soon," Maddie said.

Lauren pouted but immediately stopped when they both gave her that look that always scared her.

"Ok fine," She says and hands Owen the pack of cookies.

"Hey, Lauren. Why don't you and I go outside and play some basketball?" Nathan said, looking at her. For one he wanted to hang out with his little sister since he hasn't gotten to see her much and two he wanted to get rid of some of her energy so she can calm down.

"Of course I do! Let's go," Lauren said. She was excited to play basketball with the brother she normally doesn't hang out with.

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Lauren and Nathan played basketball for about 2 hours when it started getting dark so they were heading inside.

"You are actually pretty good. Have you thought about playing on a basketball team?" Nathan said to Lauren.

"No. I've been told that I am a really fast runner and should be on the track team. Even mom said I should be and she keeps trying to push me to try out but I don't really want to," She said.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think that I am good enough to make a team so I don't even want to try and be disappointed."

Nathan stops walking and turns to look at Lauren. Lauren stops walking and looks up at him.

"Lauren, you shouldn't let your fear of failure stop you from trying new things. If you don't at least try you will never know your full potential. Who knows maybe you are amazing and could be in the Olympics one day but that's not ever going to happen if you don't try."

"I didn't think of that. I don't know though. Maybe I will try out for track next year, maybe even basketball. I will think about it."