Define Normal

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I discovered quickly that basketball wasn’t my sport.

Generally, I was pretty good at multitasking. For example, I could pick a lock, disarm a gun, and hack a security system almost simultaneously. Dribbling a ball while running up and down a court and trying to avoid Michelle’s wandering elbows seemed to be out of my depth.

I did manage to avoid taking any hits from the egotistical cheerleader but I never quite got the hang of dribbling the ball.

The gym teacher kept rolling her eyes in my direction and she’d stopped blowing her whistle for traveling after the sixth time. I kept trying though and I was starting to improve a little bit. I was concentrating really hard, enjoying the challenge of doing something new when all of a sudden, Michelle and four other girls were surrounding me.

“She’s not enough of a threat for all of you to focus on defending her,” the teacher yelled but the cheerleaders didn’t move.

Michelle smirked at me and swiped at the ball but missed, scratching my forearm instead. “Oops, sorry.”

I narrowed my eyes, noting the lack of sincerity in her voice. The coach was blowing her whistle and yelling at us but no one paid attention. I threw the ball over their heads and the short girl who’d wished me luck earlier caught it. Her eyes were wide as she looked from the ball to me and winced when she noticed that I was surrounded but didn’t move any closer to us.

“What in the hell is going on here?” the teacher asked as she moved closer to the group.

“Nothing, Miss Young, just trying to give Jade some pointers.” She turned to give the coach a sweet smile. “Maybe we could work with her off to the side while the next group takes a turn on the court?” she suggested.

I shook my head in Miss Young’s direction but she was mesmerized by the cheerleader’s evil words and freakishly beautiful smile. “That’s an excellent idea Michelle.”

I groaned and Miss Young swung her gaze to me, her look disapproving. “You should be more grateful. These girls are offering you a helping hand and trust me, it’s not always this easy to make friends around here,” she said before blowing her whistle and moving towards the girls still sitting on the bench leaving me in the clutches of the five cheerleaders who were looking at me with murderous intent.

Michelle gripped my arm, digging her nails into my skin as she dragged me off to a corner of the gymnasium. I briefly wondered if Mrs. Young thought it was strange that we didn’t even have a ball to practice with but I got the feeling that she didn’t care.

“I’m getting the feeling that you’re not going to teach me about basketball,” I said as Michelle pulled me to a stop on the far side of the gym.

“You’re smarter than you look,” she sneered.

“I can pretty much guarantee that I’m smarter than you,” I mumbled but apparently all the cheerleaders heard because Michelle gasped and the four other girls turned to look at her with shocked expressions on their faces.

“What did you say to me?” Michelle hissed, leaning close to me and tightening her grip on my arm.

I looked her steadily in her pretty blue eyes. “You should really let go of my arm now.”

She let out a ladylike snort and tossed her hair over her shoulder, squeezing tighter. “I’m not letting go until I get my message across. You need to stay away from Jordan, bitch.”

“Who’s Jordan?” I asked, my arm starting to lose circulation. If she didn’t let go soon, I was going to make her let go and I didn’t think that normal high school students knew how to break a cheerleader’s wrist in less than a second.