Lockers and Love

Chapter Ten

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. Movie critique included Tony talking with her throughout the entire class about different film-makers and the movies they made. She listened intently to his enthusiastic comments on films. This made her smile. He clearly had a strong love for the films. When the class was over, they made their way out of their class and met up with Tim and Abby at their lockers. Tim and Abby had lockers right next to each other with Ziva's being 3 lockers to the left of them. Tony was 2 to the left of her, as well. Tony and Ziva made their way to their lockers to retrieve their books and things and they all walked to the gym. Tony looked through the door window and saw Fornell already in there setting up everything for their game. He turned to Ziva and took off his letterman jacket and handed it to her.

"What are you doing, Tony?" Tony smiled as she was handed the jacket.

"Well, I can't wear it during the game. Could you hang onto it for me? That way they know who you're rooting for." Ziva smiled and stared into his sparkling green eyes. She nodded and as he walked away, she wrapped the jacket around her and smelled the scent that could only be described as Tony. Her smile became brighter, completely ignoring Tim and Abby who were standing beside her smiling as if they had won the lottery. They didn't say anything as the three of them made their way into the gym and found a seat on the bleachers. Ziva looked around and noticed some people from her classes. She noticed Jeanne in the corner warming up with the other cheerleaders. She smiled as she caught a whiff of Tony's scent on his jacket. She liked how his scent surrounded her. How her heart started beating uncontrollably. She couldn't help herself as she pulled out her phone and tapped Tony's name in the messages app.

Ziva: Good luck tonight. I know that you will do great. :)

She wasn't expecting a response, but she received one immediately.

Tony: Knowing that you're in the stands cheering me on will make me do much better. ;)

Ziva: I am getting many looks from your jacket.

Tony: Don't worry about that. They know who you're rooting for.

Ziva: Good luck tonight, Tony. See you after the game.

Tony: Sounds good. Talk to you later.

Ziva put her phone back into her pocket. She couldn't help but think about his flirting throughout their conversations. She blushed as she thought about him in that way. Maybe letting him in wouldn't be a bad thing. She was away from all the violence of her country, maybe now she could live a little. She was away from her father and his control. She could be a teenager now. She could decide her own future now. If Tony wanted to be in her future, then she was perfectly fine with that.

She turned to look at Tim and Abby. They were looking at Tim's phone. She turned back to look at the court seeing as they were talking way to advanced for her. She noticed Jeanne glaring at her. More importantly, at the jacket she was wearing. She let out a small smirk and looked around the gym again. 15 minutes later, the "enemy" team started warming up on their side of the court. She noticed how many guys sent her appreciative glances. The only person that could do that was Tony.

'Wait, what?' Tony wasn't hers. They weren't together. Why was she thinking this? Sure, she loved being around him but she also just met him. Maybe, later on, they could explore something along that line, but as of now? No. They were just friends.

'Keep telling yourself that.' Her thoughts made her blush. The announcer, who was one of the seniors in the beta club, came on the intercom and welcomed everybody to the game. He announced the other team, Washington High, and proceeded to read off all of their names. Up next, was their team. They went by numbers and the boys were called out onto the court.

"NUMBER 7, GERALD JACKSON!" The crowd around her went wild as an about 6'1 guy came out of the tunnel. He kissed his hand and sent it to the bleachers.

"NOW FOR OUR POINT-GAURD. NUMBER 8, TONY GIBBS!" Ziva sees Tony run out and he looked around the gym. When he layed eyes on her, he smiled. Ziva returned the smile and sent him a slight wave. He returned the wave and made his way in front of her, seating himself on the team bleachers below her. This was a new experience for her. She had never gone to an outing like this before. She would always be stuck in the backyard fighting a stupid wood thing. Or, she would be with her father and learning every language he could possibly teach her. She liked this new life. The ability to go out and have fun pretty much whenever she felt like it.

She tuned back into the game and Abby turned to talk to her.

"This is called the tip-off. It's where we see who gets possession of the ball first. Our basket is on the right, there's is on the left. We gotta beat them this year. They always crush us and teepee our school statue out front before they leave school grounds. Probably have toilet paper stashed away in the back of their bus." She smiled as Abby was very enthusiastic about beating this team.

"You seem very enthusiastic." Tim let out a laugh.

"She's always like that." Abby punched him lightly in the shoulder and he just kept laughing. Ziva started as well. Were they a couple or were they just good friends? Again, she tuned in to the game to see Tony on the court in the back while 4 other players stood in a circle in the middle of the court. The ref tossed the ball into the air and what Abby called the center from our team, jumped and caught the ball and passed it to Tony. Tony then dribbled the ball down the court and passed the ball to his left to another player. He then charged to the goal and was passed the ball and he layed it up, causing the ball to go through the net. The crowd cheered around her again and clapped. She looked at the scoreboard and noticed that there was the number 2 now under MFHS. She looked at Abby.

"Why are there two points? Shouldn't there only be one?" Abby let out a chuckle.

"True. There's a chance to get from 1-3 points from shooting. What Tony just scored was a two-pointer. If he goes behind that arch and shoots, he'll get 3. When there's a foul, the person that got fouled will go to the line and will normally get two shots. That's one point each shot." Ziva nodded her head, understanding. This was an interesting game. She was beginning to love to watch it. Especially since every time, Tony would score, he would at Ziva and wink. She smiled and blushed a light shade of red. She could definitely get used to this.