Limitless

Chapter 2

Emma wasn’t the kind of person that I would usually take the time to get to know, but the more I actually got to know her, the more I liked her.  She seemed to innocent and was actually pretty funny, especially when it came to gossiping about other girls or insulting people.  Her insults were stupid, but for some reason made me laugh - probably because of the casual way that she said them.

We sat in homeroom together at the end of the day and she told me about all of the girls in the classroom.

“That girl,” she began, looking in the direction of a really skinny girl with caked-on makeup and curled brown hair.  She batted her dark eyelashes at the boys that surrounded her. “Jelisa.  She’s bulimic but for some reason that doesn’t scare the boys away.  And she-“ she nodded toward the same shrewd girl who took a look at my schedule earlier that morning. Half of her posse was still hovering around her.  “-is Phoebe, the principals daughter.  Complete twat.”

I laughed. “The principal or Phoebe?”

Emma smirked and looked at me.  “Both.”

I sat back in my desk and looked around.  “Well I know the principal.  He and my dad are BFF’s.   I just never met Phoebe.”  I watched her as she leaned to one of her friends, whispering in her ear, and then flipped her short bob as her friend pretended to laugh.  She spotted me looking at her and immediately contorted her face, scrunching up her nose like she smelled something nasty and turned her back to me.

“So how long have you and Liam been dating?” I asked Emma, ignoring Phoebe. 

She stopped scribbling in her notebook and thought for a moment.  “Threeeee…ish years?”

I raised my eyebrows and nodded. “That’s impressive.  Where did you meet?”

“Well, Liam and Harry both came over to America in high school as part of our Foreign Exchange program.  Liam and I fell in love and he decided he wanted to stay here a while.  I don’t know why Harry is still here.  God love him but the boy looks absolutely miserable half of the time I’m with him.  The only time I see a REAL Harry Styles smile is when he’s on the lacrosse field.  Hopefully you’ll catch a glimpse of one today.”

Right then, the bell rang.  Emma and I walked to our lockers and put our books away. We stood and talked as people rushed out of the building and when the hallways were nearly clear we turned to walk to the lacrosse fields. 

It was a gorgeous sunny day outside but there was just enough wind to keep us from getting too hot or sweaty.  Emma led me up the bleachers and dropped her backpack.  I watched as she took off her polo and lifted up her tank-top to reveal her stomach (and belly ring, I might add).  She kicked off her shoes and laid across one of the benches in the sun.  After putting on my sunglasses, I sat down on the bench in front of her and leaned back.  My hand dug through my messy backpack for my box of Marlboro’s and my lighter.  When I found them, I took a stick out and placed it between my lips, but before I could light it Emma snatched it from my lips and broke it in half. 

“Nah girl.  I can’t let you do that.” She threw the halves off of the bleachers. “People die from that shit. I’m going to help you quit before you die.”

I watched her silently as she laid back down on the bleachers and adjusted her tank.  I chuckled after a moment and put the rest of the box back in my bag. 

After about 15 minutes, the boys finally started to file onto the field from the gym.  They must have been doing warm-ups in the gym because their shirtless torsos glistened with sweat as they jogged out into the sun with their helmets, gloves, and sticks.   They began to line up and whip the heavy ball between groups of four or five of them, laughing loudly and talking about drama from that day.  Harry and Liam stepped onto the field last, carrying crates of pennies along with their helmets, gloves, and sticks.  They both climbed onto the first step of the bleachers and began to sort out the pennies, occasionally turning to watch the other boys as they threw the ball.  I couldn’t help but admire Harry’s broad shoulders and shimmery, muscular back as he shook out the jerseys.  The way each muscle moved… Liam blew a whistle, snapping me out of my trance and signaling for the team to gather.