Enemies to Lovers

Staring at ...

Chapter 1

It was the first day of senior year. Elmo was rummaging through his locker when a small, orange haired girl appeared from nowhere. 
"Hey Elmo!"
"AAAAHHHH! Zoey, you scared Elmo!!"
"Well sorry for being so excited. It's senior year! And I haven't seen you in a M o n t h."
"Yeah, yeah, Elmo's sorry. I've just been busy with football conditioning and orchestra practices," he said looking to the right.
"Elmo, are those people bothering you again? Because during football practice, I can just have a "chat" with them with a baseball bat present."
"Zoey, it's fine, just leave it. The football team are friends."

Elmo was pale, tall, and medium build; a redhead with short wavy hair. He is an overly social and outgoing person (most of the time). Elmo always got taken advantage of because of this; until that night in freshman year.

"Speaking of friends… After school do you wanna hang out with Rocco and I?" 
"I would love to but Elmo has a lot of things to do."
Staring daggers at the ginger, "What things?" Zoey queried.
"Okay, I have nothing to do. Just, does Rocco have to be there?"
"He is the best person you will ever meet Elmo! You gotta hang out with him some time."

Rocco is a shorter, nerdier kid. He has shaggy, dark brown hair that was the shortest at the sides.  He has round cheeks and has had hearing aids since he was 6 years old. Rocco always kept to himself and reserved; that's why Zoey was such a good friend for him and why Elmo found him to be malevolent looking. 

"Elmo has enough to do in his free time. Just face it that Rocco and Elmo will never be acquainted and that's fate."
"Well, speak of the devil. Look who's coming this way!" Zoey motioned for Rocco to come while smiling an evil smile.
"Hi Zoey! Hi Elmo! Are you ready for the last year of high school?" Rocco asked sweetly.
"Elmo is going to be late for class." With a slam of his locker, Elmo rushed off to his first period.

The day went by in a blur. The typical greetings and "how's it going"s throughout class periods. When football practice came, Elmo was unamused. He just had to practice as hard as he could, even if he could feel the eyes staring at him. 

Once the team filed into the locker rooms, Elmo began his usual internal conflict.
["Elmo will just change in the stall.
But I'm so tired, I could just change by my locker.
But they get weirded out.
I don't want to make them uncomfortable. 
I might as well use the stall."]
With aching muscles, Elmo got his clothes and trudged to the bathroom stalls. 

Finally heading home, Elmo caught sight of the cheerleaders. He has sat through one of their practices since Zoey was the squad's captain. Walking by he saw them practice a waterfall. Zoey was the highest point on another girl's shoulders. The closer he looked, the more he saw Rocco,middle bottom. He was standing, half bent over, with his hands on his knees and arms locked. Rocco was holding the girls up with no effort. It was surprising to some that he had been cheerleading only for a year prior, even though Zoey would use him as her step stool for her antics when they were younger. (She eventually made a theme song about Rocco's strength)

It was astounding to watch. One minute passed, then two. Until three minutes later when Elmo realised what he was doing.
He mumbled to himself, "Tch, staring at a rock."