**All characters are over the age of 18.**
Swish.
Another three-pointer sunk into the basket. My classmates cheered, although they could hardly be surprised. I led my high school's basketball team to the playoffs for the last three years and I intended to do the same this year. I already dominated on courts where the other team's talent had also earned them a spot in the playoffs, of course I was going to annihilate the group of nothings playing in this gym class.
"Nice one, Erik!"
"Beautiful!"
"Fuckin' sick, dude!"
"Watch your language, Davidson!" the teacher yelled as my classmates sang my praises. Honestly, I was used to this level of attention. Being an athlete year-round gave me muscles that guys are jealous of and girls drool over, and it helped that I was particularly gifted at basketball. Enough that I've been featured on the local news a handful of times and have had several colleges scouting me since my sophomore year.
"Thanks, guys," I said to the room in general. I looked around, meeting the eyes of the whole class as they smiled and clapped for me. Well, *almost* the whole class. Aspen, the class nerd, was sitting on the bottom bleacher reading a book and paying no attention to me or the game. He was short and lanky with almost no muscle on him. He had long, dark brown hair that hung down to his eyebrows, which he would often absentmindedly brush to the side. He'd also worn glasses as long as I can remember, although thankfully they weren't so thick that they made his eyes appear abnormally large. We'd been in the same class since fourth grade, and he never showed an interest in sports. Every time we picked teams, he would try his hardest to be invisible so he could be the alternate and sit on the bench and read. When he did play, he jogged on the sidelines and jumped out of the way of any ball that came near him.
