Changes and Choices

Falling. Again.

       
         Why is it difficult for me to catch my breath? Okay calm down, Riley. You're just overwhelmed because there's a lot of people here, and you're new. That's it.

Tucking my hair behind my ear, I walk away, heading towards the benches. While setting my bag next to someone else's, I hear someone yelling "Hey, newbie!" from behind me before I feel a hand patting my back.

I turn around to see a girl with golden brown frizzy hair and blue eyes, along with three other girls standing quietly behind her. They seem to be studying my every movement, looking me up and down. I shift, not really knowing what to do with my hands, clearly uncomfortable from the attention. It feels like I'm being thrown into the spotlight with no idea what to do or how to act.

"My name's Sadie. And this..." she points to a pretty brown haired girl with blue eyes "is Natasha."

"You can call me Nat" Natasha says, a warm welcoming smile on her face, she seems really sweet. Her kindness makes me relax a bit.

"I'm Cassandra." A girl with pink hair says. She's way taller than I am. I mean, they're all kind of taller than me to be honest. It kind of intimidates me, especially since this is basketball. "You can call me CC." She adds.

"CC" I repeat, frowning. The name's kind of odd, but if that's what she wants me to call her, so be it. They seem like they're trying to be my friends, so I'm pretty sure I'll get used to calling her that.

"Yeah, it stands for 'Cassandra Coleman'." The last girl, a blond with dark green eyes says, looking excited. She smiles widely and it's so contagious that I can't help but smile too.

"My name's Jennifer. It's so nice to meet you! We rarely have any girls here. They're mostly boys." She says and makes a disgusted face. The other girls laugh and I can't help but join them. They all seem very sweet and I'm glad they came up to talk to me, or else I would've been super nervous to initiate conversation.

"It's so nice to meet you guys. My name's Riley." I introduce myself, smiling. I'm trying to make a good impression. They smile back, nodding.

We start walking towards the court slowly. "You'll get to know every single one of those assholes soon enough. They're all just so-" She gets cut off by Sadie yelling "Hey, watch out!"

Huh?

I feel something hard crash into me, sending me to the floor. The wind knocks out of me and my head hits the ground, hard. I feel a sharp pain in my ribs, along with painful throbbing in the back of my head.

"reckless.." Jen finishes her sentence.

"Oh my goodness, are you okay?" I hear CC say, concern evident in her voice. The rest of the girls lean over me, watching. They help me up and I'm really grateful for their help. When I stand up, I feel a bit dizzy but I guess that's normal for someone who's almost had a concussion.

"You shouldn't have done that, buddy." I hear a familiar voice, and turn around to see Aiden. I guess he's talking to whoever ran me over. He puts his hand on my shoulder and I shrug it off, rolling my eyes.

"What is it with people, crashing into me today?! I was only walking, and slowly at that! Both times!" I huff angrily.

I turn around to look at the other asshole who doesn't watch where he's going, and I see him again. With his disheveled black hair and his sparkling green-hazel eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asks, worry evident in his voice.

"I'm fine." I mumble.

"It's because you're so short." Aiden states and I frown, a little offended.