Falling For Him ✔️

Chapter IX. BLOOD, BRUISES, AND BRAWLS

"They're planning something," Jack said, eyes narrowed as he wrapped the towel around his shoulder frowning. "I know it."

Axel, alongside the rest of his baseball teammates, rolled his eyes. They'd all texted in the groupchat to meet by the pond, despite the late hour. It was currently midnight, the moon high in the sky, shining down on the group of boys softly.

"You say that everyday, Jack," muttered Benji.

Nathan swam up to the edge of the dock, pushing himself onto the wooden edge, where Axel was laying down, eyes closed. "Jack might be right," he said. "Whenever I walk up to them they always stop talking about something. It's kind of obvious."

"That's cause they're talking about you, dipshit," Axel mumbled, grinning to himself.

He peeked his eyes open, glancing up at the night sky, the stars dancing and twinkling in the velvety darkness. Over the small pool of water was the sky, which was a black tranquility, offering Axel a moment of peace and quiet.

Well, not the quiet part. The rest of his teammates didn't necessarily know how to be quiet. Axel assumed they'd learned it from Jack; he never liked the silence.

He could hear their squeals and yells as others pushed them off the deck and into the frigid water, resulting in a large splash that dripped water all over Axel.

"What could they even do to us here?" Marcus, a boy with a deep brown skin, the opposite from Jack's pale, ivory skin, asked.

He was always one of Axel's favorites from his team. He worked hard, had never been an asshole to him, and always helped Axel pick up the empty water bottles thrown on the field and in the dugout after games and practices.

Jack dropped his wet towel onto Axel's face as he spoke his next words. "I don't know. Sharpie on the face?"

"That's a pretty lame prank," Nathan said as Axel chucked the towel back at Jack, hitting him square in the face. "And don't you think it'd be a bit obvious to the coaches if all the baseball players woke up one morning with sharpie all over our faces?"

"Do you think Will or Danny would tell us, Axel?" Benji asked.

Axel's eyebrows furrowed. Would Will tell him if they were planning anything? He shrugged. "Probably not," he said. "Would you tell them if they asked you?"

"Good point."

Axel rolled his eyes, sitting up from the position he was in. The wooden dock did not make for a great pillow.

"Don't worry about it too much, Jack," Nathan said. "If they actually do anything, we can just do something else back, right?"

"If they do anything to us, I'm going to riot," he mumbled.

Marcus laughed. "If they do anything to us, they'll get suspended. Same for us."

He was right. If any of them-even if it was just a response to a prank-retaliated back, they would probably be suspended, no matter how little the prank might be. He frowned. The harmless pranks had always been a lot of fun; they'd helped him and his entire team relax and bond over their mutual hatred for the basketball team.

He wondered if by the time this two week camp was over and they returned back to school after their spring break anything would actually truly change. He doubted it. Most of the basketball players were assholes, though surprisingly Axel found himself not completely hating two of them.

Will and Danny were nice enough now that they weren't continuously teasing and annoying Axel on a daily basis. Well, scratch that. Will definitely still teased and annoyed him, he was just...