Silhouettes

Part 6

The whole car ride to the stadium I swear the redness of my face doesn't fade a bit. I keep stealing glances at Noah, but he keeps his eyes glued to the road. This is a good thing, I guess, but I still wish he would look at me. As we pull up in the carpark next to McClelland Stadium. We walk up to the front desk and I start digging around in my bag for money but Noah winks at the guy behind the counter and pulls me right past it. I shoot a wide eyed look at Noah but he ignores it and makes his way inside, going this way and that in this insane labyrinth of corridors as I follow like a lost puppy. He must know the way well. We reach the end of a corridor and Noah pushes the door open.

A wave of pure noise hit me and I try to restrain myself from covering my poor ears. Noah walks straight in and to the bleaches and into the first row, where 2 seats have been reserved. I'm not kidding they actually have 'Reserved' signs on them. That's obviously why I didn't have to pay. I gaze round, amazed by the sheer amount of people here. Who knew that so many people came to watch 10 sweaty guys run up and down a court for god knows how long. I turn around to look for Noah and I see that he's already made it to his seat in the middle of the front row. I quickly walk up the first few stairs and try to get to my seat, squeezing past people and finally making it to my seat beside Noah. His eyes flicker from the clock to the court and back, as if he can already see the game.

"Um, Noah?"

He jumps a little but quickly recovers, looking at me.

"I don't really know much about basketball, can you explain some of the rules? Please?"

I don't particularly want to know the rules, but I do want him to start talking to me again.

"Well, lets see. There's five players on each team that can play at any one time but the teams can have subs. It starts off with a jump ball, which is where the ref throws the basketball up in the centre circle and two players have to tap it to one of their team mates outside the circle..."

He's still explaining it. I'm sure I said basic rules, but Noah is pretty much giving me the entire rundown of the game. He's still explaining it when a team with all black uniforms except for light grey scratch marks down the sides run out onto the court and start warming up. The crowd cheers and Noah's head snaps to the court. He smiles hugely and grabs my hand, throwing it up into the air and cheering. I jump, startled, and fall off my seat. Backwards.

Noah quickly reacts and grabs my shoulders, stopping me from falling. I pull myself back up and shoot him a smile before turning my attention back to the guys doing warmup. The other team have run out by now and are warming up on the other side of the court. There's a few I recognise on the Panthers, as most of them go to Ravenwood High with me.

'Why am I even here?' I think to myself. Well, I know why I'm here, and the reason is sitting next to me. I pull my phone out to text Isla to come rescue me but Noah grabs my wrist and stops me.

"You can't use your phone now, you'll miss the game!"

I look up and see that they're about to start playing. There are 2 really tall boys standing in the centre circle. I look at Noah, confused, but he's staring intently at the court. He takes this game way too seriously. I sigh and lean back as the whistle blows and the referee throws the ball up. This is going to be a long game.

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Adrienne