Chapter Three

4.6K 92 124
                                    

Laney Rose McKinley 🌹

   I held off on going to the nurse. I knew I'd be okay, and if I did have a concussion, I know how to deal with it anyways.

    I stayed in the bathroom for the entire lunch period and when the bell rung, I walked out and headed to find my writing class.

    Eventually eighth period came, the last period. I was thankful for this day to be over with. Eighth period was my gym period.

    I walked into the gym and looked around for the locker rooms, but when I saw two girls walking into the gym with gym bags, I decided to follow them.

     I got into the locker room and chose a locker away from them. I didn't want to invade their space. As I finished tying my last shoe and felt someone in front of me. I looked up to see the two girls, one smiling more than the other.

    "Hey, I'm Connie," smiley spoke, "and this is Julie."

     The Julie girl rose her hand and gave me a small wave. I waved back.

    "I'm Laney," I spoke. The three of us talked for a while until we heard pounding on the door.

"Hurry up, you two!" A boy shouted. The two girls rolled their eyes.

"Dean," they both said in unison. I let out a laugh and followed them out of the locker room.

The class stared at me. Were Connie and Julie the only girls in this class? Nervously, I looked down and place a strand of hair behind my ear. When I looked back up, my eyes met with Luis.

He gave me a smile and a wave. I waved back.

"Everyone, this is Laney McKinley. Don't scare her," the Coach joked as he walked into the gym. The boys immediately apologized.

I looked around and also noticed the boy that blocked my locker earlier, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, Ryan's cousin?" A boy with curly hair and a bandana on asked. I nodded, "he's a cool dude."

    Soon, the teacher started the class.

    "Today we are going to be continuing our hockey unit. It'd be awesome to go to the rink but the Dean won't let me," The Coach growled. The class laughed.

    "Wait, wait, Mr. K," Julie spoke up, "I think Laney here should show us some of her moves."

    Why'd I tell her I played hockey? This was going to suck. Mr. K grinned.

    "You play hockey?" He asked. I nodded and bit my lip.

    "Yeah, I do..," I trailed off.

    "Three laps, all of you. Then Laney can show us her skills," he said. I let out a nervous sigh as the others laughed, and started running.

     "How's your first day so far?" Luis asked as we ran in front of the others. I shrugged.

    "It's okay, I guess," I responded. The two of us finished first and stood there talking.

    "You should hang out with the team and me some time. I think you'd like them. That's if, you'd want to be our friends," he spoke. I nodded.

    "Seems like a good plan. I haven't made any friends yet today. And the team?" I asked him.

    "Yeah," he said, "we're all on the hockey team here. Maybe that's why they stuck you in this class."

Suddenly, someone smashed right into Luis. I quickly moved out of the way so I wasn't tackled to the ground.

I looked down to see the locker blocker and Luis on the ground, both groaning. I laughed but stuck my hands out to help both of them up.

"Jeez," Luis said as he rubbed his head, "get some breaks, Guy."

So that was locker blockers name. Guy. I had a strong feeling that his name would mean something more to me later, and I didn't know why.

"Sorry, man," Guy apologized. Luis playfully pushed Guy before returning back to our conversation.

"Anyways, we're the ducks. You already know me, and the girls. This dummy with no breaks is Guy, the boy hiding from Coach over there by the boy's locker room is Goldberg, Dean is the guy that thinks your cousin is cool. Beside him with the long hair is Fulton. Ken is the Asian dude that's running over there, he's really cool. Beside him running is Russ. Those two are buddies," he paused and Guy spoke up.

"The dude laying on the floor is Dwayne, and Averman is the one tying Dwayne's shoelaces while Charlie, our captain, tries to talk him out of it," Guy laughed. I let out a small chuckle. This class was wild.

"Adam, I forgot Adam. He's running late. He had to go check his blood sugar at the nurse," Luis added. I nodded. My sister was diabetic, so I understood having to check your blood sugar every so often, "and you haven't made any friends yet?"

I shook my head, "nope. I'm used to it though."

"You seem like you'd have tons of friends. You seem super nice!" Luis exclaimed. I smiled and shrugged, "well, how about sitting with us at lunch tomorrow? And until we graduate?"

I laughed and looked around to see the others around us nodding.

"Please?" Connie asked. I sighed.

"Sounds good to me."

    After gym, I stood outside the school with Connie, Julie, and Guy. Their buses didn't leave until 2:55, which there were only a few minutes until the three had to leave.

    I wasn't sure what bus I rode, and I wasn't entirely sure if a bus even came out my way. My grandpa was supposed to come pick me up, and I was hoping it was anytime now.

    "Are you doing anything later?" Julie asked me.

    I shook my head, "nope," I responded, "I have no idea what's around here to do though."

     Connie grinned, "there's a lot of things, including going shopping for homecoming dresses tonight."

    "Homecoming? I don't know... I've never been to a school dance," I admitted. The three looked at me in shock.

     "Never?" Julie asked. I nodded.

     "Never. Never been asked, never had money to even buy a dress," I laughed.

     "Are you going to go?" Guy asked. I shrugged, "what if someone asks you?"

     I thought for a moment, "I mean, sure, I wouldn't want to be rude, but who'd do that?"

     "What do you mean?" Connie yelled, "if you mean because if your looks, shush because you're so freaking gorgeous!"

    A smile rose to my cheeks, "reasons I'll tell you tonight."

     "So you are going?" Guy asked.

     "You know, just in case I decided to go," I responded with a grin. Suddenly, I heard a car honk. I turned around to see Connor in my grandpas' car.

     "He let me drive this!" He yelled out the window, "let's go!"

     I laughed and turned back to the three. Connie handed me her phone.

     "I'll text you later so we can figure things out," she said. I smiled and put my number in her phone. I handed it back and waved to the three.

     "Bye guys! Have a good night!" I spoke as I walked towards the car.

ruin | guy germaine Where stories live. Discover now