I'll Meet You Halfway (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Set the ball for me Lin!" I told my best friend/teammate as I dashed near the net, bracing myself.

"Get 'em." Linda mouthed to me as she set the ball, sending it into the air. I bent my knees and jumped up, controlling myself so that I wouldn't go overboard, and spiked the ball into the opponent's side of the court but not before giving Linda a wink.

"Score!" I mumbled as my feet landed on the wooden floor without so much as a thud. The audience cheered and howled and I felt myself being engulfed in a tight group hug from the rest of the team.

I laughed at their enthusiasm and energy considering that we just finished playing a tough volleyball game against a strong team. "Nice spike, as always, Elle." Linda exclaimed as she tightened her grip around my waist. I gazed down at her and smiled.

I was about to tell everyone to break it up so that we could go change and eat out to celebrate when my heart clenched, sending jolts of pain throughout my whole body. I staggered, and if it weren't for their bodies squished around me, I would've fallen down on the floor.

My breaths were now coming out as short gasps. I cursed inwardly. I knew exerting more effort than usual would come and bite me off my ass later, but why did it have to be this soon. Noticing my sudden change in movements, "Elle? What's wrong?" my best friend asked. I couldn't look at her as I was tightly squeezing my eyes shut and I was clutching at my chest because of the pain but I had to respond because she'll worry and she'll definitely get suspicious.

"Uh, I-It's just, my body feels sore right n-now. Yeah, so maybe I could go ahead?" I explained as I forced my eyes to open and look at her, mustering a small smile. She looked worried and unconvinced but she, thankfully, nodded.

Linda told the team to break the hug and it took everything in me to walk without stumbling to the ground. I trudged towards the doors of the gym at the fastest speed that I could make. I thought that I couldn't go on any longer as I just made it out through the doors as I felt my body start to collapse to the ground so I braced myself for the fall. But before I could hit the cold cemented floor, I was caught by arms that encircled around my waist.

I heard a sigh of relief and I was lifted off the ground and carried, bridal style. I was still clutching my chest since the pain was still present and it was getting worse by the minute. "Nicholas." I spoke in a whisper. And as he understood the meaning behind my plea, he ran at a speed that was fast enough to earn him a place at Olympics.

We reached the nearest bathroom and I was not surprised to see Justin standing outside with a scowl etched on his face.

"You never listen." I heard him mutter under his breath as he looked at me. Although it was very quietly spoken, he knew that I could hear him. I gave him a smile that I always gave him whenever something like this happened. It was a don't-worry-about-it-I'm-fine kind of smile but I think it came out as a grimace since my heart chose this particular time to clench painfully.

I grunted, making Nicholas flinch and he hurried inside the boy's bathroom with Justin following inside, then closed the door. Nicholas placed me on the counter and I started tugging at the wrist band on my left wrist. I let it fall on my lap and started unlacing the bandage around my wrist. When my wrist was now unwrapped, I started leaning my head towards it but stopped just as my lips touched the unhealed wounds.

I let my gaze fall over Nicholas and Justin's pained faces. "Pl-please, you know how h-hard this is for m-me. You need to-" I spoke through ragged breaths. The plea that they heard underneath what I just said made them flinch and if a pained expression could possibly turn even more pained, theirs twisted more.

Nicholas nodded but I could tell that he didn't want to and Justin had a scowl, still, on his face. He was always the one who would back out last. Stubborn lad, you see. But they knew that they needed to leave me to tend to myself. I gazed at Justin and opened my mouth to convince him some more when another jolt of pain attacked my body making me hunch my body forward and squeeze my eyes shut. When it became bearable, I opened my eyes and saw Justin and Nicholas heading outside the bathroom with tensed postures.

I felt so guilty for making them go through this every single time my body demanded what it needed. As the door shut close, I wasted no time and brought my wrist to my mouth. I licked at the throbbing wound and bit my wrist, letting my fangs sink into my flesh and I sucked and sucked until the pain slowly faded into light stings, until it eventually left like I hadn't been to a very exhausting game, like I haven't been racking in pain.

My pain was relieved. My thirst was quenched. My hunger was satiated.

It's not unusual really.

Well, for a vampire like me.