As he left the bathroom, he made sure to run down the hallway. Cinnabar needed to hide from him now. While it might be a weaker Lock than Noah's, it would still make the blushing Ryder obsessed. It would only last about 24 hours. If he could hide from Ryder for long enough, everything would go away. Today was Friday. Cinnabar would not be coming back until Monday. He quietly made his way back down to the cafeteria. There were still a few minutes of lunchtime left. He now had a nice $22.50 in his pockets. That would let him treat his date to a really good time. When the period was over, he went back to class with Noah and Maroon. Both of them asked where he had gone of to. "I told you I had to use the bathroom." he said. "But you didn't come from where the bathrooms are." Maroon pointed out. "That's because there was a huge crowd. I had to go to the upper floors." Noah sighed and said "Whatever happened doesn't matter. Just focus on getting through today. We just have to wait for Danielle's practice to finish and then we have the dates." Noah was totally ready to go.
The rest of the day passed without issue. Mary, Jessica, Jane and Greta walked over to the group. Noah went over to Danielle. "I'll be in the bleachers during practice. If you need some time to change your clothes before we go to the ice cream parlor that's fine with us." he said. Danielle tilted her head and asked "Us?" Noah nodded and explained the rest of the people coming. She looked over at the large group around Maroon's desk and said "I got it. I don't usually take that long." She was getting her things together. Noah left her to it. He walked back to the group. "We should make our way to the gym. I have never seen a basketball practice before." he said. They did not look too excited for it. They simply wanted to get their ice cream. Noah thought that it was normal for the girls that were not sporty to not be interested in basketball. It was just natural for them. Regardless, it was time for them to go down. Everyone had their things ready. When they got down to the gyms, they had not started yet. They sat down on the bleachers and waited. The hour long practice started five minutes later.
Noah, Maroon, Cinnabar, Mary, Jessica, Jane and Greta were watching Danielle's big practice. Many of the girls were not used at being spectated. Because the policy of the school made practices open to students, the girl's basketball coach could not shoo them away. Instead, he made the girls that were distracted run laps. That gave them the message that they needed to focus on what he was saying. Luckily, they were able to pay attention to him. Danielle had a pretty good showing. The coach blew his whistle signaling the end of the week's practices. Danielle looked up at the group waiting for them. "I'll get ready and then we can go." he said. Noah nodded at her and said "Don't worry about it. We'll wait." She then went to the locker room. When she returned, she was in regular street clothes. She looked pretty good. Danielle just smiled and walked over to the bleachers. They did not want to wait any longer. It was time to go and enjoy their ice cream. Jane and Greta were going to buy their own cones. They had their own money. Noah, Maroon and Cinnabar were paying for the rest.
