Falling For Her

Chapter 1: Julian

"We are ninjas. We are spies on a secret mission to destroy our enemy," Andy makes crashing sounds, kicking the potted plant that sits on the porch steps. It teeters a little but doesn't fall," I can't believe we're crashing a party!" he all but yells as we weave through the throng of teens. Cole hits his arm harshly to shut him up.

Coach sent us to this party. The coach of our rivaling high school's football team has a daughter and She is the one hosting the party. Our football coach decided to send his three most trusted players, Cole and I being Co-captions and Andy being a talkative bench warmer who we secretly brought along, to scope out the other team who will most likely be here today.

His suspicions were correct. I immediately spot my arch nemesis, Chris Campbell. The two of us have fought to be at the top for as long as I can remember. We're both quarterbacks, point guards, and first basemen. Some people might say we're evenly matched athletic wise, but I've always been a little bit better in my opinion.

Long story short the two of us hate each other because of it. And the hatred only deepens since our schools hate each other too.

"Hey, guys I see them!" Andy exclaims, pointing to Campbell and his team. Cole pushes his arm down.

"Subtlety is not your strong point," he mumbles. Andy mimics him in a high pitched voice.

By now, we've gotten closer to the team who are in the backyard. I pull my SnapBack down a little lower so the shadows cover my face slightly.

I lean against the house, trying to look casual. To me, this whole thing is pointless. Who cares what a football team does at parties, rivals or not?

I notice a small group of girls giggling, looking in my direction. Sending them a charming smile, my eyes settle on a blonde who is hanging slightly away from the others. She seems shy. It's cute.

"Hey!" Campbell calls. I look up slightly and see him tossing a football from hand to hand. My heart beats a little faster at the thought of being caught," you guys wanna play some catch with us? "

Cole and I exchange glances before shrugging. Andy nods his head eagerly, his shaggy sandy blonde hair flopping around, showing his goofy big ears.

"Sure," I push off of the house and walk over to them, keeping my head down slightly.

The game quickly escalates to a game of tackle keep away. It's ironic, since it quite obvious who we are. They must be dumb, or blind.

A big, scruffy kid throws the football to Andy. Bad choice. It flies past Andy's head and someone cries out. I look past Andy and see the blonde girl on the ground holding her head. Lydia Rose, the coach's daughter, is squatting down next to her.

Andy cringes," oops. Are you ok?"

The girl nods standing up without taking her hand off of her forehead," yeah yeah. I'm fine no worries." She says in a velvety voice.

In the dark, I can't see her very well but when she takes down her hand as the boys start tossing the ball again, there is a smear of blood on her head. The impact of the ball must have broken skin. Andy and Cole see it too and they pale. Both are squeamish.

I walk up to the girls," hey you're bleeding." In my mind, I face palm myself. Smooth Julian. Real smooth.

Lydia blanches and it's obvious she hates blood too, even though it's not very much.

The girl looks down at her hands and raises her eyebrows at the blood on her fingers,"oh! I guess I am."

"There's band aids in the upstairs bathroom,"Lydia wheezes,"I would take her myself but I feel like I'm going to puke." She directs it at me, obviously telling me to help the girl out.

I nod and smile, extending my hand for the girl to take. She swallows before taking it.

As we walk inside, I look around for the stairs. The girl seems to know where she's going and takes the lead. A few people wolf whistle, thinking that two people hand and hand walking upstairs are doing something other than getting a bandaid.

She walks me through the hallway, pausing in front of a door and opening it,"you know I can do this myself right?" She says.

I nod," yeah i know. But I want to help you." She stares at my with narrowed eyes before walking in.

By now the blood has dripped a bit into her eyebrow. I take off my hat and put it on the counter and the girl gasps quietly. 

"Julian Butler? What are you doing here?" I look at her in surprise. Well there goes my cover.

She has jumped up to sit on the counter and I finally can finally see her clearly.

Without taking my eyes off of her I reach for the toilet paper and ball some up. As I start to wipe off her eyebrow and cut, I notice there is something familiar in those emerald green eyes.

Applying a bit of pressure to her head, I but my hand on her hair to keep her from moving when she winces away. I let my eyes roam to the rest of her face as I do this. Freckles dance across her cheekbones and nose and long, honey blonde hair is swept over one shoulder. She looks so familiar.

"Do I know you?" I ask. Maybe I do, if she knows who I am.

She bites her full bottom lip," um I'm not really sure. I'm Adeline."

I feel the urge to repeat her name, to feel the sound on my own lips. But I don't.

"What's your last name? You sound familiar," I say instead. My mind swims to remember who this girl is.

She looks down as I remove my hand from her head and toss the toilet paper in the trash can. Squatting, I look through the drawers for the bandaids.

"Campbell," she murmurs. I freeze my movements. Shit. Of course she's Chris' sister. I should have known when I saw her eyes.

"Oh. Yeah, I know your brother," I say tensely. Slowly, a devious plan forms in my mind but I quickly dismiss the thoughts. I am not using a girl to throw Chris off his game.

Finally I find the bandaids and take one out. She scrunches her nose cutely at the sight.

"I'm going to look stupid with that on my face," she whines with a slight grin.

I laugh," there's no way you would look stupid in anything," I mumble under my breath. She must have heard me because she blushes deeply.

I open the bandaid, putting it on her cut," look at that. As good as new."

She smiles at me, hopping off the counter," thank you."

I shrug," no problem."

She starts to walk away, but I grasp her arm gently to stop her," wait!" I say without thinking.

Adeline turns, looking at me expectantly.

"I um-," I scratch the back of my head,"could I get your number?"

She laughs. Well that hurts," sorry, but I don't talk to rivals of my brother."

Damn it!

"How do you know we're rivals? We could be secretly best friends?" I say uncertainly. There is just something about her that forces me to not take no for an answer.

Adeline rolls her eyes," oh come on. You guys have gotten into three fist fights on and off the field. You want me to believe that?" I bite my lip, thinking.

"Well I-" I sigh," I really want to see you again."

She smiles,"well then you better keep your eyes open."

With that she walks away.