Wonderwall

Chapter 2 ~ Kiss Me

This feels like falling in love

Falling in love

We're falling in love

Sattle down with me

And I'll be your safety

You'll be my lady

~Ed Sheeran, Kiss Me

A stampede of students trampled through the hallways eager to be done with their morning classes and hungry for lunch. Sophie hastily threw her English binder into her locker and shut the green locker door her hands rubbing against the rust speckles as she did so. English had been terribly boring and Sophie had resorted to doodling miscellaneous shapes in the margin of her paper as the teacher droned on. Tessa of course loved English and delighted in everything they did. In truth Sophie didn't enjoy school. She didn't like any of subjects except Art but that was because it encouraged creativity. She told herself it didn't have anything to do with a certain green eyed boy.

Her friends let out a chorus of "hello's" as Sophie approached the grassy area where they ate lunch when the weather was nice. Sophie listened casually to the various ongoing conversations as she bit into her blueberry bagel. She added in her part to the conversations when it was needed but Sophie was generally a quiet and reserved person.

Her ears perked up a bit and she leaned in to listen as Will mentioned the name Gideon.

"That git, Gideon, is back. All the way from Spain. As if we didn't have enough problems already with one Lightwood running around at this school."

Lightwood? That was Gideon's last name? Gabriel Lightwood had been in their grade since Sophie could remember but she'd only heard faint mentions of his brother.

To Sophie's surprise Jem was in agreement with Will and exclaimed, "I saw him yesterday at the end of the day. He must have come from the art wing and he was smiling like an idiot as I walked by. He makes Gabriel look sweeter than gingerbread."

Sophie gasped silently as she digested this information about Gideon. The Lightwoods weren't the best of families. Benedict Lightwood Gideon's father was very influential in their town. His never ending supply of money bought him anything he couldn't obtain by persuasion. Sometime, around five years ago, Barbara Lightwood had passed away. The loss of his wife had left Benedict bitter and it had spread to Gabriel too. Rarely could Will and Gabriel be the same room without one of them provoking the other into a fight. Sophie wondered how Gideon felt in the mess of it all. He didn't share the same bitterness she associated with the rest of his family, but he was a Lightwood.

Jessamine interrupted her line of thought, asking "Sophie? You look like you know something about this."

As if Jessamine hadn't already given Sophie enough reasons to detest her everyone turned awaiting Sophie's reply. "Well he was in my art class yesterday." Sophie paused for a second. She contemplated what she should say next. With another glance up at the impatient stares she decided she wouldn't judge Gideon based on other's opinions. "He seemed nice."

Sophie expected some sort of an uproar but instead she was met with dead silence hanging in the air. Jem was the first to recover, "What?" he exclaimed clearly astonished. Sophie managed to stammer out the tale of how he'd helped her stack the chairs back up yesterday. Jessamine waved it off like it was no big deal now that all the drama was over but she couldn't say the same for the others. She got a clear as glass message from the looks they gave her and considered herself warned.

Sophie trained her focus back towards her food now as if the conversation didn't interest her anymore. She hoped a distraction would pop up so her friends wouldn't feel the need to interrogate further.

A distraction came in the form of Gabriel Lightwood as Will spied him across the field talking to Cecily. Will leapt up and began cursing out a stream of words that would put any hardened sailor to shame. Jem, being the level-headed one, blocked Will from charging over and hitting Gabriel.

Will had hit Gabriel before and Sophie knew he wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Tessa knew this too and went up beside Jem calmly telling Will it would do him no good to go over there. It must have worked because Will grudgingly sat down again but no one could miss the murderous looks he kept shooting at Gabriel.

"Here you go!" exclaimed Sophie as she tossed a hair elastic towards Tessa. She caught it with ease and the two girls hastily laced up their cleats before heading out the doors. Sophie internally groaned as she saw the poor state the fields were in. She could hardly run across the lumpy as oatmeal field never mind pass a soccer ball. She caught sight of Cecily in the distance. She jogged over, sure-footedly.

Sophie noticed that the team was more hyperactive than usual. Amidst all the chattering she asked Cecily "Why is everyone is so...excited?" Cecily shot her a look that made it clear she thought some of the girls were acting like idiots and quietly told Sophie "The fields are overbooked so we're practicing on the same field as the guys. We're scrimmaging against them at the end too. Woo hoo." Sophie nodded in agreement to Cecily's sarcasm. It wasn't they couldn't have fun and act like teenage girls but if this happened every time their team was around boys then they were screwed.

Sophie had never understood why girls were so reckless in giving their hearts away to boys. Wasn't it better to get to know them first and see if they were more than the sum of their parts? In truth Sophie wished that was how it was because no one would ever give her chance; not with her looks.

She knew it was foolish to assume everyone was so materialistic but time and time again it was proved through her interactions.

Roughly an hour later, the two teams assembled for the scrimmage. Gideon jogged behind the coaches with a pile of red pinnies in hand. His coach murmured a quick instruction to him. Gideon walked across the line of girls, handing each a red pinnie as he walked by. Sophie, at the end of the line, zoned out slightly. She jumped with a start from Gideon's touch as he handed her a red pinnie. Their hands paused, entwined, and Gideon stared straight at Sophie. His eyes searched her face for a hint of emotion. Sophie willed herself to hold a calm expression and give no clues as to the desire and near panic she was feeling inside. Finally she could hold it no longer and allowed herself a small smile. In return Gideon smiled too.

Out of the corner of her eye Sophie sensed movement and realised everyone else was heading out to the middle of the field. Her hand dropped for Gideon's hold and she spun furtively on her heel.

Realization set in as Sophie joined the rest of the girls. Her eyes widened as she thought of the events that had just happened. She hoped no one had saw them, staring into each other's eyes like lovebirds, and willed herself not to let it happen again. She desperately wanted it to happen again, though.

Gideon trailed behind Sophie following her retreating figure. He didn't quite understand Sophie yet but he sensed there was more to her than she let on. He couldn't help but notice that she tried so hard to fade into the background. She tried to disappear like a trail of smoke. Even with her friends she kept quiet. Gideon didn't know Sophie. He had no idea of the troubles in her past that haunted her even now but he wanted to know her.

Cyril, one of the defenders, nudged Gideon as he ran past. Like a snap of fingers, Gideon emerged from his reverie and got into position. The first kick of the ball signaled the start of highly competitive scrimmage.

Gideon strategically placed the ball on the corner of the field as he prepared for a corner kick. The girls had proved more ruthless than he had originally thought. Practice had ended ten minutes ago but both teams were playing until the coaches noticed because the score was still only 0-0. Although the small scrimmage didn't count in the stats, the winning was awarded braggingg rights and that was enough motivation for them all.

Yeah, I've been feeling everything from hate to love from love to lust

From lust to truth I guess that's how I know you

So I hold you close to help you give it up