His Number One : The Sequel to Chemistry

Chapter 2

"You know," Tyler said as he tossed his basketball into the air. He caught it as it headed downward. "Word's going around who the captains this year are gonna be."

Kaylin stared down at the gray concrete they were walking along in the great city of Atlanta where the streets were never clear. Cars bustled and honked past them with every step they took. They were walking home from the orientation, crossing no more than one busy road. It had been a long and somewhat emotional day for the two friends, and they were more than ready to get home.

Kaylin looked up from the concrete and over to Tyler. "Really?"

"Mhm."

She rose her eyebrows in interest. "Who are they saying the captains are gonna be?"

Tyler grinned an obvious grin at Kaylin, implying something. But she couldn't figure out what he was hinting at. "Who?" she repeated; this time with much eagerness.

"You!"

Kaylin sucked her teeth and fanned her hand downward against the air.

"What? You don't believe me?" Tyler asked.

"I'm a junior," Kaylin started. "I can't be captain."

"Says who?"

Kaylin opened her mouth to answer, but closed it once she realized she didn't have one. The thought of being captain never occurred to her. She was undeniably the best player on the team. But never would she have thought she was good enough to be captain.

"See," Tyler smiled with another toss.

"That doesn't mean anything," Kaylin denied. She was trying not to get her hopes up, just incase it weren't true. "Who told you that."

"A little birdy."

"Does this little birdy have a name?" Kaylin pressed.

"Yep," Tyler answered catching his basketball. They had reached the point where they departed into their own neighborhoods. Their neighborhoods were right across the street from each other.

"What is it?" she asked.

Tyler shoved the ball between his arm and chest as they turned to face each other, and said, "Little Birdy."

He smiled as Kaylin rolled her eyes in great exasperation. "Tell me, Ty."

"I was kidding," he finally admitted with a playful smile. "No one said that."

Kaylin's face fell. She felt stupid for believing him, especially since this wasn't the first time he's played with her like that. She was actually hoping that he was telling the truth for a change.

Tyler tried his best to sustain from laughing.

"You think this is funny, huh?" she asked nodding her head as he laughed silently. "You wanna know what's funny?" she continued. Her eyes went down to the basketball underneath his arm, and without second thinking, she knocked the ball from out of his arm's grip.

Tyler quickly turned towards it, mouth agape, and watched it as it bounced across the street into his neighborhood. "Kaylin, what the f*ck!" he exclaimed as he turned back around to face her.

With a devious smirk and a one shoulder shrug, she calmly said, "You better go get it." Her smile grew bigger as she watched Tyler sprint across the street. The fact that Tyler's neighborhood had a hill at its entrance wasn't helping either.

Kaylin walked into the front door of her house minutes later, placing the only thing she had in her possession, her textbook, down on the kitchen table.