Loving Kiera

12| Lemon pie

Shane

Etilda handed me a bottle of gatorade. I chugged it down after muttering a muffled thanks.

Practice was ten minutes away, and the guys and I were on our way to the field. Sylvester was doing better now, concerning Debbie's abrupt move which caused his heartbreak.

Etilda, Michal and Veronica were chattering behind us. Theo and Michal were walking hand in hand, stealing kisses along the way. Cameron threw a bag of chips at them, asking them to get a room. They glared at him, but took his advice. Somehow. They kept it PG for a while.

Chris was chatting with Sylvester and bouncing a ball. Their laughter drifted to me once in a while. I had no idea what they were talking about though.

Once on the field, Chris lowly whistled, looking over in the direction of the bleachers. I followed his line of sight to see Kiera and the Afro-american sitting on the bleachers, side by side, sharing a bottle of pringles.

I froze.

"What the-"

"Who is she?"

"She's as fresh as my granny's early morning lemon pie-"

"Does she go here?"

"Oh my fucking heart-"

Their words flew all about, overlapping each other's. I didn't know who said what. I was frozen as I watched her, such a shame that no part of my body seemed to be functioning.

"Don't you dare approach her, Chris, she's mine-" Cameron warned an urgent Chris, who shoved Cameron aside.

"What do you mean she's yours? You don't even know her!" Chris replied heatedly.

"I don't know," Cameron said. "Just stay away from her."

"In your dreams!"

This was what I feared all along. My friends would jump at her as soon as they saw her.

All along, they hadn't noticed her, but now they have, and I was as helpless as ever.

"Shane?" Etilda tapped my shoulder, unfreezing me. I turned to look at her. "Do you know her?" She asked. "She's watching you."

"Who?" I was confused for a moment. Etilda tipped her head in the direction where Kiera sat with the Afro-american, and I got the point. But I ignored Etilda.  Instead, I walked over to our coach as he approached us on the field. The rest of the team members were coming, and practice would start soon.

I talked with Coach Winston for a while, and as we took our positions to begin practice, Etilda, Michal and Veronica left for the bleachers.

"What do you guys think you're doing?" Coach Winston boomed. We were all positioned and ready at our posts, so we stared at him, confused. "Exercise before game, boys!"

A collective groan arose.

"Give me fifteen laps." He said. We all began running around the field.

I was the first to finish, and when I was done, I sat on the grass and ran my hands through my hair, panting. Sweat dripped, burning my eyes in the process. Coach could be so difficult sometimes.

I walked over to the water stand, took one and poured it on my face for relief.

To my surprise, Kiera and the Afro-american hadn't left. They were still on the bleachers, chewing pringles and swinging their legs and laughing as if they had no care in the world. Watching them from this distance, they looked so carefree and happy.

I knew they bullied Kiera along with her new friend. Veronica wouldn't stop gossiping about it all the time. It took all in me to not snap her head off when she took off blabbering about the new geek. I knew I had to stop this nonsense sooner than later. Jefferson certainly couldn't contain me once I decided to face those lowlifes. I would break any bone that as much as touched her.

Soon, practice began, and I played with all the skills I had in me. Because, I knew she was watching my every little step.

Kiera

Cammilla gasped out of nowhere, her eyes widening in surprise as she said, "this can't be happening."

"What can't be happening?"

She moved her hand in a tiny gesture. I followed the movement to see the popular squad making their way towards the field, Shane with them, and I felt my heart clench, also wishing I could vanish into thin air.

They looked perfect, like right out of a movie. Five gorgeous boys and three girls who all looked like they were created in a different manner by God than the rest of the human race.

Two were brunettes, one was blonde. One girl was missing from the picture though. They were usually four girls and five boys when they had lunch at cafeteria.

"What are they up to?" I asked Cammilla. I had no idea what they were coming to do on the field.

"Practice, duh." She rolled her eyes, and even though I was shaken, I couldn't help but let out a laugh. I shouldn't have missed it; it was so obvious. They were dressed in their jerseys and sport shoes, except the girls, of course, who were dressed like models from Dior or something.

"My bad," I replied with a raise of my hand, making her laugh.

Our eyes narrowed simultaneously behind our glasses as a guy with blond hair and one with brown hair exchanged words quite not-so-friendly. The blond shoved the brunette. More words were exchanged.

"What the heck?" I said. They had been laughing just a while ago. "Why are they fighting?"

"These are boys for you." Cammilla shook her head. "They are dumb creatures."

I nodded sincerely. Boys are dumb.

I had tried very hard to not look at one particular dumb creature from the start, but like a moth to a flame, I couldn't resist. I rested my eyes on him, and my expression softened.

It didn't hurt to admire someone from afar, right?

His beauty was unnatural and so unreal, and I was so caught up in looking at him that it was too late when my eyes met with one of the two brunettes. She watched me with curiosity mirroring her features, then turned to talk to Shane.

Ever experienced a moment when you want something but then you don't want it, at the same time?

Because in that moment, I wanted Shane to look at me so badly, to remember I fucking exist. But at the same time, I wanted to be invisible to him, so that I wouldn't have to deal with with the aftereffects when his blue gaze landed on me.

Well, he did look at me, and my heart thumped so hard and fast I feared it might explode. But nothing happened, yeah, this was reality. He went right back to his business so quickly that I doubted if he even saw me at all.

I lowered my head and looked at my inter-locked fingers resting on my lap.

"Hey," Cammilla called out softly to me, shaking my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." I replied and put a pringle in my mouth.

"You're not. You look pale."

"I don't look pale."

"You can't even see your face."

"I don't look pale."

"Whoa, relax." She raised her hands in mock surrender. "I just care about you, okay?"

"I know you do." I sighed. Things were getting too complicated for me. If I couldn't break free of my bullying, at least I could break free of my obsession with the blue-eyed prince.

With that thought in mind, I got up, ready to leave, but Cammilla held my hand. "Can we watch them practice?" She asked softly. "Please?" She added when I hesitated.

Oh, Cammilla, I wanted to cry, you have no idea what I'm going through right now.

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Ann out. ;)