Zephyr suffered through his final classes and quickly came to his favorite part of the day- basketball practice. He cheerfully changed into his shiny new uniform. His number was 30, with his last name, Lawrence, written across the back in blocky letters. Per usual, he had already aquired a nickname- Smokey. It was actually rather smart. They took the first part of his last name, which is Law, then who makes you abide by the law, police, and what were police called back in the day- Smokey Bears. So that was his full *name* for that season of basketball. Smokey Bear. It wasn't bad. Last year he was Looney Lawrence. That just didn't work out. Wars might have been waged. It was always worse because he tended to get known by his basketball nickname, so thankfully it was good this time. Zeph guessed it'd probably be half in half- people who called him Smokey and people who called him Bear. In any case it didn't matter. He got out on the court and warmed up first, then went into practice. Near the end of the time he was running acorss the court with the basketball when someone came flying out of nowhere and, he swore, tripped him- on purpose. He went crashing to the ground with a yelp, managing to bonk his head on the hard wood floor and twist his arm the wrong way behind his back at the same time. The world went fuzzy real quick, and the voices dimmed, but he could hear people rushing over. "I'm.. fine." He squeezed out before his vision improved a little and he saw blood all over the floor. His blood. Eugh. Zephyr clambered to his feet, fighting the dizziness, and brought a hand to his nose. Not broken! Hallelujah. Just very bloody. But that wasn't what was bleeding the most- he had a giant gash on his cheek now.. blunt force trauma, gotta love it. And his arm was almost fine. Not broken! Hallelujah. Just popped out of its socket. He groaned a little and cradled his arm while stumbling off the court, though his eyes scanned and caught on the player that tripped him. Guy from the other team- Robert Lank. The bully of the school. No way man. No one bullied the Bear. As he was being sent to the nurse's office- yay- he gritted his teeth and prepared for pain. 30 minutes later he came back out with an arm that had been popped in, a nose that wans't bleeding or swollen anymore, and an ugly wound on his cheek that was going to turn into a scar. Anger pretty much radiated off of him in radioactive waves as he went straight for Bob's locker to find the kid there. Robert turned with a sort of evil grin. "I see you fell on the concrete, eh? Looks like it hurts." He sneered, causing Zephyr to reel back and- whap. Punched the guy right in the nose. "No one makes fun of me. Or does this!" He gestured wildly to his face. "If you dare come near me one more time Lank, I will split your FACE open." He hissed. Robert deserved it. Zephyr then stalked away.

Sophia eased her breathing. Two girls ran over and kneeled beside her. "Are you ok?" Izzy asked as she pushed the other two girls away. She moved Sophia's shirt a little to reveal a nasty bruise. "Ouch" Sophia yelped when Izzy touched it. "Sorry" she said. "It's ok" Sophia forced a smile then stood. "I can make it back to my car. Thanks though" she pulled her bag to her shoulder. "Bye" she gave a stiff wave to some of the other girls before slowly walking to her car. She stopped at the door, her hand shaking as she opened it. She didn't feel safe driving, so she sat in the seat for a few minutes, holding her chest. The ball had hit near or right on her heart and she could feel her heart jumping and skipping beats. It was painful and made her lightheaded. +oh shoot! I forgot to talk to Zephyr!+

Zephyr wasn't in the best mood ever, but he felt much better now that he had gotten his message across. It wasn't as much that he didn't want to look bad in front of everyone, but more he hated people messing with him for no reason. He grabbed his backpack with his good arm and walked out to his truck, stopping by its side and gingerly touching the deep wound, then wincing a little. The side of his face looked like he got smacked in the head with a bowling ball- it was black and blue already, and he was still a little dizzy. He probably shouldn't be driving, but what was he supposed to do? Sit there?

Sophia drove home with the strong guilt of not talking to Zephyr. She got home within ten minutes of leaving. When she changed, she noticed how large the bruise was. It was purple and blue where the softball had hit her, but there was also a deep blue ring around it. She didn't dare touch it. She went to bed on her back, hoping and praying she wouldn't roll during the night.

Sophia awoke, struggling to sit up. "Ouch!" She pulled on a pale blue T-shirt and jeggings, getting in her car and driving to school. When she got to her locker, she began the task of finding Zephyr with enough time to talk to him. Blake and Izzy werent going to be there, so she was going to have to sit by herself during lunch.

Zephyr waited quite a while before he felt like he wasn't run over by a cement truck anymore, then jogged home (me not forgetting he didn't drive :D lol). As he got home he flopped right in bed and passed out.

The next day he groaned with pain as he got up, stumbling over to the mirror and looking rather horrified at his reflection. He looked like Frankenstein's.. Monster. Not Frankenstein. The actual monster. He cringed. The wound had closed overnight and now looked like a red scar. Around it was a beautiful spectrum of colors from purple in the middle, to blue, to pale, to red. His face looked like a Picasso painting. He sighed heavily and pulled on black jeans, a plain black t shirt, and a plain black sweatshirt. Zephyr then pulled the hood over his head. Nope. He was going to hide from the world forever. He ran a hand through his hair before driving to school and going to his locker, his shoulders hunched slightly as he practically burrowed himself in his locker to avoid being noticed. The one good thing. He noticed Robert had a big purple bruise. +serves him right+ Zephyr thought with a small huff. He took off the hood and slapped on a black cap, pulling the brim low to wreathed his face in shadows

Sophia pulled herself into her first class, not even noticing Zephyr. She suffered through that class and even suffered through her art class- they were painting. She walked out, her hands and arms covered in paint. It looked like she dipped her arm in a bucket and called it good, or that she was doing hand prints on paper. She walked to the lunchroom, grabbing her lunch and sliding into the seats by herself. She silently ate, glancing at her backpack before ultimately pulling out her notebook and drawing.

Zephyr had a greaaat time being ridiculed by students. No way would people want to sit with him today. Suited him fine, he just wished he didn't have to face plant into the floor to do it. He struggled through the classes, managed to stay alive, and pulled his cap lower as he walked to the cafeteria, grabbing food before sitting at a table by himself. Somehow Peter noticed him and came over. "Dude- nuh uh. I saw that. Robert TOTALLY tripped you. But hey, his bruise looks mighty good." Pete whipped Zephyr's hat off with a grin. "Aww cmon Zephyrus, don't glare at me like that." Peter all but giggled as Zeph gave him the best death glare ever. "I look like I got mauled by a t-rex." He huffed, snatching his hat back and plopping it on. "Shoo." He snorted. Peter chuckled before going to sit with his other friends. Since he had eaten quickly he left early, heading to the rest of his classes before showing up at basketball practice. His coach walked over. "Zephyr, you probably shouldn't be practicing today- you suffered a nasty head injury." The coach said. Zeph's eyes widened. "You can't keep me from practicing! Coach, I'm the captain of the team. I need to be here." He argued, but got talked down quickly as the coach sent him elsewhere. Zephyr sighed heavily and went out to go watch softball or something. Then he could think and hide his face some more. Pulling the cap even lower, he kept his gaze on the ground as he plopped in the stands.

Sophia thoroughly enjoyed getting pushed by a girl in the hall. She bumped into the lockers, putting her hand over her chest which just made the bruise hurt worse. She made it through the rest of the day before marching herself to the field. She changed, but when she came out, she noticed a guy sitting in the stands. She couldn't tell who it was, but she shrugged it off and started warming up. She tossed the ball high in the air to work on her catches. The coach praised her before pairing the team up. She threw the ball back and forth while doing other drills. To her surprise, the pain wasn't too bad. "Everyone go to your bases. If you don't have one, go to the dug out. " Sophia walked to first base and stood, her glove ready. She watched the ball as it was pitched then hit. She sstretched her leg to put it on first. The player at second threw it to her and she caught it, getting the runner out. After about ten minutes of fielding, she was finally able to hit. Coach warned her that it may not be the best idea, but she shrugged it off, putting her helmet over her head. The pitcher threw it to her and she swung. The metal bat gave a loud *bing* when she hit it. She took off around the bases, making a home run before practice ended. Sophia stopped in the dugout to take a sip of water.

Zephyr lifted his head slightly to watch, with increasingly growing interest, how the softball people did it. They seemed to be really good. Sophia was the best, in his opinion, but it didn't matter. At this point, his opinion was as useless as the G in lasaGna. He watched how they batted, ran bases, caught, and ran. It looked complicated to him. All in all, he preferred a backyard game of football or kickball, then a real game of basketball. Those were his three favorite things. He would probably be really good at wrestling, too- actually, Zephyr had been meaning to try that. If someone dropped out on the team, he would totally hop in. As Sophia got up to bat he, again, watched with interest as she hit what seemed like a great ball, then made a home run. Interesting.

Hee bruise was starting to take a toll on her, but she pushed on, running back out onto the field in time for one last bat. "You up for it?" Coach asked. Sophia nodded and grabbed her bat. She stared at the ball, swinging at just the right moment. It soared to second base, but by the time the girl caught it, she was already half way to first base. The first basemen missed the ball because of bad aim from the second basemen, so Sophia kept running. She pushed herself faster when she got past third. She was going to make it. She was. The girls were throwing the ball all over the place as two other girls made it to home. Sophia slid just as the catchers foot hit the base. "SAFE!" Half of the team screamed. It was just practice, but they were pumped up for their first game that would be in two weeks- the day after prom. Sophia pulled herself up and brushed off the dirt, careful to not hit her bruise. "Good job Sophia. As always" the girls said almost in unison as she grabbed her bag and water and walked past the bleachers.