Innocent Bystander

Prologue: Gabe's Little Cousin

AN: Wooo, it doesn't say "Chapter One" in front of the title!!

Nolan Holloway had absolutely no clue what had just happened. One minute, he and his lacrosse teammates were plotting to jump Liam Dunbar because of his supernatural status. The next minute, Nolan was named captain of the team at Liam's request.

As Liam and Coach Finstock, the lacrosse coach, left the room, Nolan turned to his teammates - the ones he was actually friends with, that is - for guidance.

"Do - do we still beat him up?" Nolan asked, still astonished at what he was able to accomplish.

"Why wouldn't we?" Nolan's best friend, Gabe Valet, inquired.

Nolan and Gabe had been best friends since they were in diapers - and why wouldn't they be? Gabe was the only one who made an effort to understand Nolan and his - many - problems. He'd recently begun to feel threatened by the supernatural community, which consisted of werewolves, banshees, and what have you. It wasn't normal for Gabe to feel this threatened by anyone or anything.

"Well," Nolan explained, "He just made me captain. I'd feel kinda bad for hurting him after that."

"Don't worry about it," Gabe answered, "and besides if it makes you feel any better, I'll throw most of the punches. You do the talk-"

Before Gabe could finish his sentence, his phone started to vibrate. After looking at it for a moment, Gabe turned to the rest of the team.

"Everyone simmer down a sec," He requested, "It's the Ma."

With that, everyone grew silent to listen to Gabe's conversation with his mother, who he liked to call "Ma".

"Hey, Ma," Gabe said to his mother in a lighter tone, "Can I call you back? We're having a team meeting."

From where he was standing, Nolan could hear the muffled voice of Mrs. Valet, aka Linda, talking through the speaker. He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but by the muffled tone of her voice, it sounded important. After a few seconds of listening, Gabe spoke.

"Alice?" Gabe asked before going silent for another moment, "I thought she was transferring in on Monday?"

Alice. That's a name Nolan had heard once or twice before. Alice. Although Nolan had never met her before, Gabe had mentioned how he had a younger cousin named Alice Simmons - a pretty name to say the least. From what he knew, she lived in Regina Saskatchewan, and was, according to Gabe's parents, the sweetest human being ever. Nolan didn't know if this was true or not, but Gabe had never objected to his parents' descriptions of Alice, so he liked to think it was.

After a little while longer, Gabe spoke again.

"A'ight, I will," He told his mother, "Love you too. See ya."

With that, Gabe hung up the phone and put it back into his pocket.

"What was that all about?" Nolan's teammate, Brian Franklin, asked curiously.

"My younger cousin, Alice, is transferring in today," Gabe explained.

"Younger cousin?" Another teammate, Nick Boyle, who'd transferred in two years prior from Northern Ireland, inquired, "Just how young are we talking?"

"Freshman year," Gabe answered.

"Is she single?" Nick lifted one corner of his mouth in a smirk. It was normal for him to ask questions like that.

"Nick, what the fu-!?" Gabe retorted, borderline mortified.

"What? I'm curious!"

"He's got a point in asking," A third teammate, Carter Norton, added, "Some of us haven't found our soulmates yet."

"Forget that!" Nick joked, "I just don't wanna be lonely."

"Guys, come on now, we've been over this," Nolan groaned, "Girls are human beings, not sex objects."

"THANK YOU, NOLAN!" Gabe exclaimed, "Seriously if I catch ANY of you flirting with my little cousin, you're gonna get your @$$ beat! Is that understood?!"
The whole team nodded nervously.

"Perfect," Gabe responded, "Now, speaking of @$$ beatings... What do ya say we go whoop Dunbar's?"

On that note, the whole team roared in excitement as they, led by Nolan and Gabe, headed out the boys' locker room door and into the school.

The remainder of the story will be told from the first-person perspective of Alice Simmons.