The next morning, Tomas' dad, Rob came to pick him up, I got up and got dressed for school. My mom drove me to school before she went to work, I walked into the double doors. Ashlyn ran into my arms "Casey!" I looked up from my phone "You're back?" She nodded her head "Where's Tomas?" I shrugged "I don't know. He's here somewhere." She crossed her arms and smirked "Okay what don't I know? Spill now." I continued walking toward class "Not much. How's your grandma?" She grinned "She's fighting, she's looking up."
We walked into math class, I sat at my desk Ashlyn asked "Was he on the bus?" I shrugged as I pulled out my notebook "My mom drove me to school and he lives with his dad now." She sat at his desk "What happened with his mom?" I zipped up my backpack "If he wants to tell you then he will, I don't want to say anything he doesn't want someone to know." The teacher came into the classroom "Everyone take your seat please." Ashlyn went to her desk, Tomas walked in late with an excuse note from the office, and he took his seat next to me. Mrs. Monroe gave Tomas and me a warning "No talking you two. I won't put up with it today."
I put my thumb up to let her know I heard her, he looked at me and asked "Do you have a pencil?" He seemed to be in a bad mood so I didn't say much. I reached into my backpack and handed one to him. We sat quietly the whole class, we actually did our work for once; after class during the passing period; Tomas took off with a few of his friends. Ashlyn came up beside me "What's going on with him? Are you two fighting or something?" I turned to her "Ask him okay? We are fine." She followed me to the gym "Did you tell him you liked him?" I stopped "He just needs some time to cope with what's going on. Has nothing to do with me. He doesn't like me, okay." I knew he did but the way he was acting seemed otherwise.
She grabbed my arm before I walked off "He likes you Casey, quit being down on yourself all the time." I got upset with her "I have tryouts for volleyball after school. I'll see you at home." I headed to the gym, I changed quickly in the locker room and headed out to the gym to speak to the coaches. Tomas jogged up "You're trying out for volleyball? That's what Ashlyn told me." I nodded my head "Yeah I am. Look I didn't..."
I was cut off when the coach blew her whistle "Come on guys start your laps." We walked out to the track, he asked "I know what you wanted to say and Ashlyn told me you wanted to respect my privacy. I appreciate it." I looked at him "Not my story to tell." He sighed "I thought you were mad at me earlier." I giggled "Why would I be mad at you?" He shrugged "I asked you for a pencil in math and you seemed agitated at me." I tied my hair up in a ponytail "That was you. I didn't say anything." He sighed "I had a bad morning, it wasn't you." I adjusted my ponytail "It's fine." Then I started jogging, he hollered "Casey!" He ran to catch up with me "You just leave me behind?" I smirked "This is leaving you behind." I started running, he ran to catch up with me, I stopped and he ran into my back, I laughed "We are going to get in trouble."
Our coach blew her whistle "In the gym!" We started jogging back to the gym, we went inside and volleyball courts were set up. He smirked at me "Looks like you can show me how good you are." I playfully rolled my eyes "Keep dreaming. We won't be on the same team." The coach assigned us teams, I was right, we were assigned different teams; a girl named Alisha came up "Casey, right? I heard from Ashlyn, you're trying out for volleyball?"
I turned around "Yeah I am, why?" She smiled "I hope you get picked." She tossed the ball at me, I served it to the other team. I started getting competitive and another girl on the other team challenged me. I almost missed the ball until I slid on the gym floor and hit it up, I scraped my knee, and Alisha helped me up "Wow, that was amazing. Have you played before?"
I looked over at Tomas, Kylie's best friend, Amanda was talking to him. Alisha looked over at him "Kylie has that girl do everything for her." I got up and turned my back to them "If she wants him, she can have him. We're only friends." Alisha looked at me confused "I could've sworn he was your boyfriend. The whole school thought so." I was surprised "No. He told Kylie we were but..." I paused. She grabbed the ball from one of the girls on our team "Hit her in the head or I will. He's too good for Kylie or Amanda." I grabbed the ball from her and served it at Amanda's head, I covered my mouth; Tomas looked at me and tried to keep from laughing.
Alisha high-fived me, Amanda got angry and came up to me "What is your problem?" I shrugged with a confused face "My aim is a work in progress. I'm sorry." She got in my face "Kylie may not like you, but I have some respect for you, so don't lose it." The coach came over "What's going on ladies? Why aren't we playing?" I gave her a warning stare, which she took seriously "She's working on her aim Mrs. it was an accident."
Our coach snapped her fingers "Bell's about to ring, get changed." I waited for Tomas, he asked "What was that about?" I looked into his eyes then down "Told you I'm not that good." He chuckled and whispered, "Nice aim though." I looked back up with a smile "She's a part of Kylie's clan and thought I'd be of some help to you. But we should get changed, bells going to ring."
We went to change and met after class, I asked "How's your dad's?" When I glanced at him he had a huge grin on his face "I love being there. He has a huge house and he's chief of police. I never knew that." I bit my bottom lip "Glad you like it there; you didn't deserve what your mom did." He changed the subject "So can I come to your tryouts later? Then we can hang out at my dad's house for a bit. Ashlyn can come too." As much as I wanted to say no because I'd be embarrassed if I messed up in front of him I said yes.
After school, Tomas and Ashlyn sat on the bleachers watching my tryouts. I ended up doing good without any mistakes and I ran up the bleachers to them "I won't know until tomorrow. But how do you guys think I did?" Ashlyn stood up "You did amazing. I think you made it." Tomas stood up "Good job, I think you made it." A guy in a police officer uniform walked up the bleachers to us "Tomas, you guys ready to go?" I turned around to look at him "You must be Rob?" He smiled "You must be Casey? We didn't get to meet the other morning."
He held his hand out to shake mine "It's nice to finally be able to meet you, I've heard many stories." I laughed nervously "I hope they were good ones." I looked at Tomas, Rob said "Of course they were." Tomas started walking down the bleachers "We should get going." Ashlyn smirked at me as we headed down the bleachers, as we were walking out I asked her "What's the smirk for?" She nudged me with her shoulder "He talks about you. He likes you."
I rolled my eyes "Yeah right. I did him a favor, of course, he'll talk about me to his dad." She raised her eyebrows "Don't be so sure his dad isn't the only one he talks to about you." We got in his dad's truck, and drove to his house; Ashlyn texted us in a group message "When are you guys going to tell me what happened while I was gone? You're both acting so differently." I looked up from my phone to catch him smiling at me from the front seat. I glanced at Ashlyn and looked back at my phone "Nothing happened, drop it, Ash."
We pulled up to Tomas' house and got out, Ashlyn crossed her arms "I don't believe either of you." Tomas looked away as his face reddened "What's there to lie about? Come on guys." As he walked off, I whispered "Will you drop it? I'll tell you later." She gave me a proud smile like she already knew "Of course I can." We walked inside; the house was a two-story; newly remodeled home with a modern style to it. Rob left back to work, we sat on the couch. Tomas looked at Ashlyn "We called the police on my mom hints why I live here now. Casey convinced me to tell someone and I guess we've gotten closer since then." Thank you for saving me from explaining later.
She looked at both of us and smiled "You didn't have to tell me; I was just kidding" I glared at her as she smiled at me like she knew why I was. She looked at her phone "My mom's on her way. She gets crazy when I don't let her know where exactly I am." Tomas joked "Casey is the only one with a normal mom." Ashlyn smiled "Right? Like Sharon is the sweetest person ever." He frowned "She is so caring; I wish my mom were more like her." Ashlyn giggled "Kylie was trying to tell me you two were dating, it's like she doesn't even have her own life."
I sat quietly and waited for him to answer "I pretended to be her boyfriend because she was bullying Casey." Ashlyn smirked at me "Kylie doesn't know how to leave Casey alone. She likes to be the main attention and she thinks Casey gets all of it." She looked at her phone as it pinged "My mom just pulled up, see you two later." She got up and left, I sat quietly and waited for him to say something. He looked at me "Why are you so quiet?" I shrugged "Just don't have anything to say." He sighed "I'm sorry if I made things weird between us, I just thought you felt the same way toward me."
I sat quietly, he said my name "Casey?" I looked at him "I don't want to ruin our friendship with a relationship." He turned his body to face me "What makes you think it'll change?" I leaned back "Relationships aren't for me. If I said yes it risks our friendship. I'm not ready to risk it." He stared at me without saying anything, I started getting nervous "I should get home before my mom flips." I grabbed my backpack, gave him a quick hug, and headed for the door. I walked home to clear my head, he just lived up the street from our apartments so it wasn't too long of a walk. I knew the second we had any kind of relationship, Kylie would ruin it. That's why our long friendship came to an end.