One Thousand Words

Chapter Seven

||Chapter Seven||

To be honest I've never had good coordination. So when I do see any potential danger coming my way, my initial instinct is to freeze, which, when you think about it, is probably the worst thing you can do. Nonetheless, my eyes close and I raise my arms up in a protective stance to defend myself from the upcoming ball whipping through the clean cut air.

I wait for it to hit me. But it never does. After a few seconds pass and I feel nothing but the crisp air wrap around me, I slowly open my eyes and lower my arms back to my side. Standing in front of me is James, with a ball in his hand and a displeased expression on his face when he sees the offender that kicked the ball this way.

I look over as well, expecting to be angry and annoyed, but when I see his face, I'm not. Because the boy who shot the ball flying in my direction is Eric— Eric, the boy with golden blond hair and clear blue eyes, and a smile that radiates from a mile away. Eric, who I've liked for years now and who probably wouldn't ever purposely hurt anyone.

But then I look over at James and I feel something inside me cripple. He actually caught it. Everytime I think I know whether I want to hate him or not hate him, he just does something unexpected and proves me wrong. I see how tenses his muscles are and the way he glares at Eric. It almost makes me want to quiver and run away. If it was a pure physical fight, James could probably have Eric down within five minutes at the most.

"Hey, sorry about that," Eric jogs over, pushing passed James to get to me. I don't know how to react because this is the closest he's ever been to me since freshmen year, the day I started liking him because he helped me pick up the books I'd dropped on my first day of school. "Are you okay?" He asks.

I glance over at James because I can't think of anything to say and for some reason I can always think of what to say when I see James. But it isn't the same. The stuff I direct at James is out of spite and anger, for the most part. It's not the same because this is Eric and with him, I actually want to make a good impression.

"Yeah," I stammer. "I'm fine, totally fine," the words fall out before I have a chance to stop them.

Stepping between us James shoves the soccer ball into Eric, pushing him back and away from me as he does so. "You should probably practice some more. Obviously your aim isn't that great," James taunts and I want to smack him upside the head for being so rude to Eric. I'm beginning to turn into Lisa.

Oh god, Lisa. I totally forgot about her. What do I do now?

Eric ignores James's warning and steps in front of me again, flashing me a kind smile that melts my heart. I can't help but smile back and I know my face is entirely red and this is embarrassing but I can't help it. He sees me, he notices me, he actually wants to talk to me. "You're Ava, right?" He asks and I scream internally because he knows my name. "We're in the same physics class."

I nod my head. It's all I can do.

"Right, I don't usually forget a pretty face," he winks at me and I don't know how much more I can take. "So what are you doing with him? Are you two together?"

My jaw drops and I dart my eyes at James who rolls his. "We're not," he interjects. "But she's busy, and if you don't want to be benched during the next game, you should be too," he threatens.

"Sorry, captain," Eric says dryly before turning back to me. "If you ever get bored of this asshole, you can always come find me," he offers, smiling at me one final time before going back to the field.

I can't help but let out a weird and alien like wheezing sound as my legs begins to crumble and my heart attempts to leap out of my chest. It doesn't help knowing that James is still here, judging me like the meanie he is.