not everyone is a freak (steddie)

balls in laundry baskets

Steve leaned back in his chair and took his notebook out, along with a pencil and a pen. Tommy usually didn't do any of his schoolwork so he just sat there and spoke the entire class. Once the class was over Steve went back to his locker and put his books inside of it. While he was walking to his next class, he picked up a sheet for basketball tryouts. It started today, and Steve obviously didn't have anything to do, so he was going to go. Steve's next class was math. He walked inside and sat down in the front. Tommy wasn't in this class so Steve was actually able to pay attention. The teacher greeted each student as they walked in and handed them a worksheet.

Eddie sat with his head down during the whole class. He was bad at English- he never ever understood it. When the bell rang Eddie got up but Wendy stopped him. She handed him a note that said "call me :)" on the front and it had her number on the inside. Eddie stared at her for a moment and just shoved the paper into his pocket. "Okay-" he muttered and walked out. He grabbed his books out of his locker for the next class and went into the class. It was science. Surprisingly, Eddie was good at science- only because it was usually hands on and not all paper assignments.

-time skip: end of the school day-

Steve walked into the gym of the high school and handed the coach his paper for the tryouts. A few other people we're in the gym already, including Tommy and Billy Hargrove. Steve sat down on the bleachers and watched as some of the students tossed balls into the hoop and some of the others were stretching their arms and legs. A few minutes later he noticed the new kid walk into the gym. He didn't have a sheet to give the coach, so Steve wondered why he was even there. He walked to the other end of the gym and sat on the top bleacher.

Eddie usually went to the gym so he could write new D&D campaigns with nobody trying to speak to him or anything, but today he wasn't so lucky with that. He pulled his Walkman out of his book bag and slipped the headphones over his ears. He dug through his bag some more and clicked a Metallica tape into the holder, and then pressed play. He grabbed a pen and then a decently sized binder, which had the word "D&D" in big, bold red letters. He started writing in the binder and banging his head slightly to the music that he was listening to.

Steve eventually had to get up and start to play. He was decently good at the game, since it was the only sport that was available at the middle school that he went to. Billy Hargrove kept bumping into him- on purpose, he assumed- but he just had to ignore him or else he'd get points deducted and that could cost him being able to get on the team. Steve made almost every shot that he went for, which turned out to help tremendously in the end because he was one of the first ones the coach said were in. Once the coach said that Steve was on the team he was finally able to sit down and drink some water.

Eddie finished writing the campaign shortly before the tryouts ended, so he was able to watch everyone. He enjoyed watching them play since it amazed him how talented some of them were- but he was intrigued by Steve especially. The way he ran across the court and didn't really let anyone stop what he was doing, Eddie found it interesting- he was really dedicated. All the students on the basketball team were doucebags though. They usually believe that the world revolves around them and that absolutely nobody is or ever will be better than them. Eddie eventually heard Wayne honking his car horn outside so he quickly ran down the bleachers and while he did, he dropped a few pages of drawings he's done for previous campaigns. He opened the double doors to the gym and hopped into Wayne's car. "Hey kiddo, how was your first day?" Wayne asked as he drove out of the parking lot. "It was good...real good. I think I like this school."