A couple of weks later

Adam continued to breathe heavily from exertion as his teammates patted him on the back, as he was subbed off with a minute left in the fourth quarter, and his team up by 20. It was the first game of the season for the Azure Rocks basketball team, and the season was off to a great start. The fans were cheering in the stands surrounding the court, and the cheerleaders led by Heather and Chelsea, kept their noise levels high. Adam had watched over the past couple weeks as Chelsea had become more integrated in his group of friends to the point where she was now invited to every event that they planned. Her other friends were now never seen together with her, though they still remained on the cheer squad. It was good to see Chelsea every day, and it was even better to see her getting along better with Vicky, after they had a private chat. Chelsea had called him later that night to talk about the less sensitive things said, and Adam was happy with the progress that Chelsea was making in turning around her character. Before people used to think of her as a snob, now she was much more down to Earth, and it showed in the way people treated her now. "Good game Adam!" Brandon put his fist up as he grabbed a towel and sat beside him as he was subbed off as well.

"Thanks Brandon, both of you played well also." Adam said to Brandon and Zack who was walking over to them as well. The bench and the whole gum cheered as Lee knocked down a jumper with ten seconds left, basically icing the game. The horn blew, and the game was over, Adam had one his first game as a member of the basketball team. The cheerleaders took center court as the crowd started to file out, and the opposing players went to their locker room.

Adam and the rest of the home team had just finished changing and showering, and started to file out of the change room and head home. Adam along with Brandon and Zack walked out of the change room to the appointed meeting spot that his friend's had agreed they meet at after the game. Sure enough, there was Chelsea, Madison, Ashley, and Heather all changed out of their cheer leader outfits. Chloe was there, and so was Gavin, Lisa and Vicky. Vicky had her pad of paper and pen with her as she was reporting on the game tonight for the school newspaper. "Good game tonight boys!" Heather said and the other agreed.

"Thanks guys, means a lot. You cheer leaders were really good as well." Adam said

"They're always that good, they're a treat for the players as well." Brandon said looking at Ashley.

"Well we're doing our job as long as we're not a distraction." Madison said.

"Well I don't know, I did catch Adam a few times checking Heather out." Zack teased.

"What? No I didn't." Adam spluttered, as Heather gave him a grin, remembering how she had modelled the uniform for him in the cheerleader locker room.

"It's ok Adam, the whole building was staring at Heather, not just you." Brandon assured his friend, but Heather never took her eyes of Adam.

"Anyways, I'm thinking of having a celebration party tonight, what do you all think? It's Friday night, so we don't need to worry about school tomorrow." Zack said.

"I'm down." Adam said, and was joined by most of the others as well, only Gavin and Vicky couldn't make it. Gavin was having some family over later that night, while Vicky had to finish up her draft and send it to her editor for tomorrow's paper.

"Ok great! Any of you need a drive to my place? I've got room for four in my car." Zack said.

"I'll walk over with Adam." Chelsea said as she looked at you questioningly and you shrugged in agreement.

"Ok great! See you guys soon." Zack said as they made their ways over to the parking lot, either in Zack's car or Brandon's. Adam and Chelsea walked side by side down the now familiar path to Zack's house. Adam had learned a lot about the surrounding neighborhood, and learned that most of his friends like himself live in the residential area surrounding the school, which made it easy to arrange after school activities when everyone lived so close together.

"What's up?" Adam asked as they walked to Zack's house as the sun set.

"You played a great game today Adam." Chelsea said moving a stubborn lock of hair out of her face.

"Thanks. You were great up there with Heather, Ash, and Maddie. I'm pretty sure you distracted the other guys so much that we won. There was no way on paper we should've won that game." Adam said excitedly.

"I'm glad you liked it." Chelsea smiled at him. Adam took her hand and squeezed it.

"You were so beautiful up there."

"Yeah, but you couldn't keep your eyes off Heather could you?" She joked.

"She just has this, I don't know, aura about her that basically says she's super hot and she knows it, it drags you in." Adam said.

"I know how it is, I have to be with her during practice every other day." She said dryly. "I wouldn't be surprised if she turned me into a lesbian." She looked at him "Or at least bi." Adam laughed and wrapped Chelsea up in a hug. "You know, I like your short hair, it looks better than when it was longer." Chelsea said reaching up to touch his now short hair.

"Urgh, I wouldn't have cut it if not for basketball. My family back home had been telling me for a while to cut it, but I just kept putting it off. I liked it though, I thought it was pretty cool."

"It was pretty cool, but now that I see you now, you're even more handsome than you were before." She said sweetly.

"You're such a sweetie." Adam said as he leaned down to kiss her lightly. "So tell me, any luck with some of those boys I see following you around?"

"Them? Nah, you know me better than that, they're not my type."

"True, true. I think though, you're still hung up about Tony." He told her.

"What, that jerk? Hah, like I would even spend the energy it takes to think about him." She huffed.

"You're mad because he rejected you right?" Adam asked

"He's such a great guy, but not as great as you obviously." She said with a smile

"Obviously. Continue."

"Why would he reject me?"

"I asked myself that very same question. How could someone reject such a beauty, on the outside and inside too, if you know what I mean."

"Adam!" Chelsea said blushing furiously making Adam chuckle.

"But seriously, I went to ask him, and he told me he said no, because he thought you were dating me." Adam told her.

"What?! How would he think that? We're just friends."

"Well, if you look at it from another perspective, we don't really act like friends. Our friends know the truth about us, but no one else would, from just looking at us."

"Damn! I'll talk to him Monday." She said rubbing her temples. Adam saw that stubborn lock of hair slipping back onto her forehead again, and swept it to the side with his fingers before it could frustrate Chelsea again.

"Thanks Adam."

"Your welcome."

"You know Adam, you've been getting a lot of looks your way from some of the girls in our classes and even in the cheer leading squad."

"Your kidding me?! Really?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? You're one hunk of a man." She teased.

"Oh shut up. What do they say?"

"They talk about how tall you are, and how handsome you are, and your dreamy eyes. You know all the things I say to you."

"I don't even think I look that great, I'm tall true, but I'm thin."

"You're plenty handsome enough for Ashley and Maddie it seems."

Maddie I've known about, with the way she smiles at me and magically drops things in front of her that forces her to bend over and show me her tight little ass. Ashley I didn't know about though."

"Yeah, it was a little bit of a surprise for me to, I'm starting to think there may be trouble in paradise where the two of them are concerned."

"Jeez! I don't even know, all these girl issue are way over my head. If I just had to stay with you alone I would be happy."

"Oh, that's so sweet, unfortunately, these aren't the kind of girls that let go of what they want, you'll have to deal with them eventually."

"Great!" Adam said sarcastically. They finally stood in front of Zack's door as they rang the doorbell. When it opened, they were ushered inside by a visibly drunk Brandon who ushered them inside, then wobbled back to where the sounds of people talking came from.

"High school parties, better get used to them." Chelsea said.

"Yay!" Adam said sarcastically. "Are these a pair of panties?" Adam asked as he looked at an object on the ground. Chelsea looked down at it, then up the stairs to see a light peek out from under a closed door.

"Guess you won't be going up there. Since Brandon opened the door, I'm guessing that's Zack up there. Maybe Zack and Lisa are reconciling?" She asked.

"I hope so. Let's go check out this party, I feel the need to get drunk tonight." Adam said as he followed the sounds of voices into the basement.