by Alex Grayson
“Wait!” I yell.
He turns back to look at me. The rain picking up speed. “Didn’t your parents ever warn you about talking to strangers?”
“They did, but I’ve never really been a good listener.”
“I can see that,” he says, turning back and continuing to walk.
I basically run the rest of the distance to him and when I reach him I pull on his sweater. He turns around and I look up at him. He’s tall, so much taller than I expected him to be. He looks like the kind of guy who can fight a bear and win. Seriously. “What’s your name?” I ask.
“That should’ve been your first question,” he says, finally smiling at me and I feel it down to my core. I smile back, feeling excitement course through my body.
“It was an implied question when I told you my name. Would you have answered if I explicitly asked?”
He shrugs. “Probably not, but it would have been a more normal thing to do.”
“Well, I’m not normal,” I reply and then cringe internally.
He smiles, again, and I’m mesmerized by it. “I can tell,” he says then turns around and walks away. I stand there in the pouring rain waiting for him to get into his car, but he doesn’t. Instead, he goes past the parking lot, crosses the street, and I watch until he’s out of my sight.
I turn around and head back to the bleachers. Taking a seat in the spot we abandoned, I can’t help but replay our interaction. I’m so captivated by it, by him, that I don’t even care about the rain that continues to fall on me like it’s lashing out in anger.
I don’t even know his name. But his smile and eyes are something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
2
A Week Later
“That was a good game,” Raquel tells me as she stands at her locker, which is right next to mine.
I nod. “Winning doesn’t hurt.” I take off my shoes and grab my towel.
“Sticking it to Bragan Prep is always sweet,” she replies with a big smile.
“Especially when you win all three sets,” I tell her. Bragan Prep is our rival school. Bragan High School is a public school, which doesn’t mean much because everyone here still has the same rich families. But Bragan Prep is a boarding school. It attracts people from this town but also people from all over. They’ve always hated us because we’re better at most sports than they are. Because our students get recruited more often. Because we’re just cooler. We hate them because having a rival is fun—and because they outperform us academically every year.
Our school likes to beat them so much that the entire volleyball team got to miss school today to warm up and get ready for the game. It was an away game, so we had to travel to them too.
“Did you see their faces when they lost?” Raquel says as she leans back against her locker, no doubt replaying the game in her mind.
“It would be nice if they actually scheduled the games at night so we had our people witness their defeat.” I honestly think that they know our team will crush them at volleyball and that’s why they always make the games happen at a random time. They don’t want our students traveling to their school. Instead, our side of the bleachers ends up being empty, while the other end has all the preppy students cheering.
In a way though, it makes the victory a little bit sweeter.
“Have you seen him?” Jenna rushes into the locker room and beelines for me. Jenna’s one of the cheerleaders. She’s short, pretty, and a genius. She’s a little boy-crazy too.
“Seen who?” I ask, waiting for my friend to tell me the latest gossip. “We just got here.”
Realization dawns on her face. “Oh, right. How was the game?” she asks, but I can tell she doesn’t really want a long answer—or an answer at all for that matter. The excitement dancing in her eyes shows me she’s dying to tell me about the person I was supposed to see.
“We won all three sets, seeing their faces… the defeat, so glorious!” Raquel basically yells.
“That’s great,” Jenna replies, waving her off, and Raquel looks disappointed at her lack of excitement.
Jenna ignores Raquel, who just turns around and walks toward the showers. Turning to me, Jenna starts again, “So, you haven’t seen him, then?”
“I haven’t seen anyone but our coaches and the douchebags over at B-Prep,” I reply, taking off my t-shirt and volleyball shorts.
She sits down on the bench. I place my dirty clothes in my gym bag and pull out the clothes I’ll change in to after a shower. “Don’t you typically shower right after the game ends?” Jenna asks.
It’s true. When a team travels, they usually get to shower at the visitor locker room but, “B-Prep’s showers weren’t working.”
“Somehow, I doubt that’s true,” she responds knowingly. She too has her feud with B-Prep. I think everyone does.
I nod. “I bet they just shut off the water supply or something. But anyway, can you tell me about the guy I was supposed to see? I need to hit the showers before my brothers ditch me.”
“I’d offer to give you a ride, but you live waaaay too far,” Jenna replies with a playful smile.
I live farther from the school than most people, which is why I typically rely on my brother for transportation. I wouldn’t want to make anyone else take the trek. When they leave me behind though, I have no choice.
“Yeah, yeah. Now, speak or I’m hitting the shower and ignoring you!” I warn.
“There’s this guy. This new guy. I’m pretty sure he started school today. He is soooo good looking,” Jenna says and I laugh.
“You and guys,” I reply.
“Seriously. If you saw him, you’d say the same thing too.”
Somehow I doubt that. “You said he’s new? It’s kind of late to transfer in.”
“I don’t know who got it done, I’m just glad they did. He’s a babe. I mean, he definitely would look better if he ditched the sweater but still.”
Sweater. Suddenly, that word brings my mind back to the guy at the bleachers. He mentioned he was thinking about playing football. Could it be that he meant here?
“Is he playing any sports?” I ask.
Jenna shrugs. “I don’t know. How am I supposed to know? I didn’t talk to him. He looks too brooding to have a conversation with anyone. Just walked around from class to class with his hands in his sweater pocket. He had his hood up at first, but one of the teachers told him he needed to take that off per policy.”
Too many things are the same for this to be a coincidence. It has to be him. I decide to play it cool though. “Maybe I’ll see him around,” I tell Jenna.
“I’m sure you will. He goes to school here, Kaitlyn. This school may be big, but it’s not that big.”
I smile. “True that. I stink though, so let me hit the shower.”
“I’ve gotta go too. Gotta go tutor Draymond’s little brother.” Jenna is always doing a million things. Not only does she have cheer practice and keeps the highest grades in our year, but she’s decided to add tutoring to her list too.
“Have fun,” I tell her. I don’t know how she has the patience.
I take the fastest shower in the history of showers and find myself fully dressed and out the door in a matter of minutes. My mind is spinning, remembering all the details about the guy seated on the bleachers. It would be nice to call him something other than “guy,” but he never gave me his name, so that’s what I’m stuck with. For now. Because if he is a student here, then I’ll definitely know more.
He wanted to try out football. He was thinking about playing football. That’s why he was watching the team. I mean, it would only make sense that he’d be watching the team he knew he would join. It has to be him.
I start walking toward the football field, toward the place where I met him on the bleachers. As I walk, I try to convince myself that it’s not him. That he’s not the new student. But despite how many times I tell myself that it can’t possibly be him, I already know that it is.
The sweater.
> Transferring in.
Hands in pocket.
Hoodie.
I mean, honestly, if this isn’t the case, then the world is cruel.
When I reach the bleachers facing the field, I notice that the players are gone. The only people still on the field are the head coach and a couple of the equipment managers. You’d think with how many people this high school employs, whose sole job is to worry about the football team, that we were an SEC college or something but nope. Still high school.
I still can’t believe that ever since I met him last week, I haven’t been able to get him out of my head. Maybe it’s the fact that he tried to ignore me for the most part. Or maybe his witty remarks, how he met my attitude with some of his own. My mind flashes back to all the times I got him to crack a smile.
It can’t be him. That would be too great and great things don’t happen to me often.
Shaking my head, I grab my volleyball bag and make my way over to the parking lot. Finding my brother’s car at his usual spot, I drop my bag on the floor and sit on the trunk. I’m relieved that the car is still here because it means that they’re still inside and I haven’t been ditched again. The one time I’m grateful that their practices run extra long some days.
I get off the trunk and search my bag for my headphones and phone. Finding the two, I jump back on. Scrolling through Spotify, I find my favorite playlist, pop my headphones into my ears, and listen to music.
I’m lost in the songs that play as I wait for my brothers to show up. I feel someone tap my leg and that startles me. I open my eyes, instantly ready to kick Nick for being annoying, but instead I’m met with him—the guy from the bleachers. He looks at me comically and says something.
I squint my eyes when I don’t understand what he’s saying. He points at my headphones and I roll my eyes. Feeling like an idiot, I finally take them off.
“Better now?” he asks, his hoodie no longer on and his hair dripping from what I assume is a shower. He’s got dark black hair. Not military like as I imagined. Still, it’s not as long as my brother’s either. It’s the perfect length to run your fingers through though.
I push that thought out of my head and respond. “Did you say something?” I tell him.
“Just wondering if you’ve been waiting for me at this parking lot for a week now,” he teases back, catching me off guard.
“You make jokes?” I ask. “I thought you were the serious type.”
“Dark and mysterious if I remember it correctly.”
“What are you doing here?”
“You ask too many questions, you know that?”
“Are you the transfer student people are talking about?”
“People are already talking about it?”
“I told you. You wouldn’t go unnoticed if you came here. You’re kind of easy to spot for the reasons I said before and also because you’re pretty tall and have broad shoulders,” I tell him then wish that just as easily as those words left my mouth I could shove them right back in. Who just tells someone that they’re big and have broad shoulders?
He smiles again, making me forget my regrets. “I guess you were right.”
“So you are the transfer student, then.” I don’t know why I keep asking when I already know the answer.
I remain at the top of the trunk. “So, when you said you were thinking about playing football,” I start and watch as he steps closer to me. “You meant here?” I ask.
He nods.
“So you knew you were transferring here.”
He takes another step toward me. “I wasn’t certain yet.”
“If you had been certain, would you have told me?”
He shakes his head.
“Are we back at non-words?” I ask, slowly lowering myself from the trunk. My feet hit the pavement and I’m so close to him that if either one of us took another step forward, this would look like a lot more than it actually is.
He smiles, a big bright smile, and I relax instantly. I don’t know why my interactions with him are like this. Usually, I get bored of guys easily. But he holds my attention. Maybe it’s the fact that whatever he gives me he gives in small doses. I feel like I have to earn everything with him. Words. Smiles. I wonder what else he’s willing to give if I work hard enough.
I’m not the type who’s attracted to someone right away, but I haven’t been able to get him out of my mind. It’s been a week now. A whole week and I’ve thought about him before going to sleep each night. “What’s your name, again?” I ask, looking up at him. His dark eyes look down at me. “You’ve got really great eyelashes,” I blurt out.
“Thanks. Again sounds like I’ve told you my name before, which I haven’t,” he replies.
“Can you tell me now?” I ask.
“I see that you’ve met Chase, our newest addition,” Nick comes up from out of nowhere and puts his arm around bleacher-guy, well, Chase, I guess, is his name. Funny enough, I feel like I’ve been chasing him this whole time.
Chase takes a step back quickly. Then looks at my twin’s arm around his shoulder. “This is your brother?” he asks.
Nick nods excitedly. “More than just a brother. We shared mom’s womb. I’m older though,” my brother brags.
“By like two seconds,” I reply, already annoyed.
“Get your arm off,” Colton says, joining the group. “I’m sorry for my brother, he thinks everyone is instantly his friend. He has no understanding of personal space.”
Nick rolls his eyes but drops his arm. “And my brother has no humor.”
Chase just stands there in between both of my brothers. “How was the game?” Nick asks me.
“We won,” I tell him.
“Good job, little sis,” he says, smiling widely. If I had something other than my phone and headphones in my hands I would throw it at him. He annoys me so freaking much.
“Can we go now?” I ask, hoping my embarrassment can end. Chase goes to school here now, so I can catch him on another day. Tomorrow even. Just when my brothers aren’t around.
Colton nods and walks past us to the driver side door.
Nick walks to the passenger side and like always, I’m left behind. “Well, Chase. At least now I know your name,” I tell him, opening the door and getting inside the car.
I put on my seatbelt and get ready to put my headphones back on when the door to the left of me opens. I look up to find Chase getting into the car. “What’s going on?” I ask, confused.
“We’re going over the playbook with him at home. He needs to be game ready since we have a game next week.”
Chase closes the door, finds his seatbelt, and slides it on.
Colton turns on the car, and Nick turns on the radio.
I look to my left and catch Chase looking at me. When I look at him though, he looks away.
I tap him on the leg. “So, you’re already coming over to my house. Didn’t your parents teach you not to go to stranger’s homes” I joke.
“Gotta learn the playbook and these are my teammates,” he replies, then looks straight ahead. Seconds later, the guys start talking and once again I fade into the background.
3
A Month Later…
Right, so now I’m angry. I’m angry at Chase, Chase Boulder, as I discovered his last name while watching him play football and seeing him wearing his jersey. Chase is at my house almost every other day now, but that’s not what pisses me off. “So wait, he’s here right now?” Jenna asks as she lies on my bed and I sit at my desk. We have a project to hand in to our history class and neither one of us has been doing a good job of focusing.
“I’m sure he is. He’s here all the time.”
“Why do you sound so mad?” Well, I’m mad because ever since he joined the football team and started hanging out with my brothers, it’s like I don’t exist. I get it, it was like that the first day he met me, but I swore I had melted the ice from his personality.
I was wrong though.
He’s cooler n
ow than he was that first day on the bleachers and not cool in a good way.
“No reason,” I tell her, lying.
She gives me an incredulous look. “Right… if you’re not mad, then I’m not really a cheerleader,” she says, laughing.
I throw a pillow at her. “Okay, I’m a little mad.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw him first.”
“So you called dibs and now your brothers are taking over?” she jokes.
I give her the dirtiest of looks I can muster. “I don’t mean it like that.”
“So then what?”
“I just mean, I saw him first. I met him that day at the bleachers. I even forced him to talk to me. Then, when I saw him the next week, he was actually a lot more relaxed. He used more words. He even joked a little. I thought more would come from it, but the moment my brothers came into the picture, it’s like I no longer exist.”
Jenna takes a deep breath. “Are you sure he’s pretending you don’t exist?” she asks. I get why she’d doubt it; I have a very strong presence. Most people can’t ignore me even if they wanted to, but he’s really good at it for some reason.
“When he comes over he always catches a ride with my brothers. It’s literally the two of us in the backseat and I feel like the tension in the car, which Nick and Colton obviously can’t pick up on, makes me feel like I’m going to explode.”
“So are you guys just quiet the whole time?”
“Yup. I look at him. He looks at me. Then we each look away and don’t speak. We get in the house and the boys go downstairs to the basement. I assume they talk about football and play pool or watch TV or whatever it is they do.”
“You’ve never gone there to hang out with them?” she asks.
“No girls allowed,” I tell her.
“That’s crap. It’s the twenty-first century.”
“Tell that to my brothers. Anyway, he just hangs out with them and that’s it. I see him in the halls and he smiles at me sometimes and other times he just walks by me and doesn’t say a word. It’s so exasperating,” I tell her, rising from the chair and dropping face first on my bed.