Chapter 8

Gym was not at all how I envisioned it to be. After changing into the school's specific gym uniform, we filed on to a indoor basketball court and awaited instruction. The gym teacher ended up giving us freedom to play with the supplied balls. There were basketballs, soccer balls and volleyballs. I chose a volleyball and hit it in a small group of people I hadn't met yet.

"The net is up. Want to play a round?" Nevaeh asked me as she held a volleyball under her arm. I shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" I agreed. We were only here to pass time anyway. We volleyed back and forth a bit. I was actually pretty good at it, so I held my own.

"Watch out!" Someone yelled from across the gym. I was so focused on the match I had going with Nevaeh that I noticed too late that the ball was coming straight for me. I felt a hand on my waist before I was pulled into someone's chest. I heard the ball make contact, but thankfully, it wasn't with me. Looking up, I saw Braden holding on to me tightly. After things calmed down a bit, he finally let go to look me over.

"Thanks," I muttered timidly.

"You're already bruised up. Be careful. My mom would kill me if you got hurt on your first day at school," he said quietly before he walked away. I couldn't help the smile that made its way to my face. Braden acted cold and aloof, but he was more caring than what he let on to be. In that sense, he was a lot like his parents, and a lot like his future self. After gym, I continued following the schedule to the rest of my classes. Finally, we were released to go home. I was absolutely exhausted as I stumbled into the house. It was the most walking I'd done in a while. At my school in the future, the teachers changed classrooms while the students stayed in the class. I collapsed on the couch and closed my eyes.

"Thanks for your help today. I'll be sure to put in a good word with your mom. But I wouldn't have ratted you out if you chose to ignore me all day either," I said to Braden before he left. I opened my eyes to see him pause before turning to face me again.

"Even though you wouldn't have said anything, she has her own ways of finding things out. It's better to just play along with her instead of trying to sneak around it. My mom always follows through on her threats," Braden explained. I sighed and sunk deeper into the couch. Braden sighed before he came and sat near me on the couch.

"You seem to not remember a lot," he noted.

"I remember some things, but daily life is hard. I don't remember how school worked, but I remember math," I said the partial truth.

"And you remember your family," he reminded me.

"I remember some details, like what they do, but my actually childhood is fuzzy," I said. That was the truth. I didn't remember much from my childhood. I only remembered things from age twelve and up. I looked at him curiously.

"Why are you being nice to me?" I asked. He stood quickly.

"I'm just curious. You did come out of nowhere," he said before he cleared his throat and left. I smiled slightly before going to the kitchen to get a snack.