Voice Addiction

Chapter 7 - Oscillation and Pressure

Chapter Seven

Oscillation and Pressure

The voices of the excited crowd echoed throughout the unfamiliar gym. The sitting stands were getting fuller and fuller by the minute with anxious parents and cheerful schoolmates. Some had face paints with the colors of the respective school, others, less extravagant, were content to just hold a flag or a poster or even just wearing clothes with the desired colors. The environment was of that excitement typical of sports. The school mascots and the cheerleaders were already on the court, cheering the crowd and being very successful at it.

Sophie was lost in a sea of faces she had never seen before. She didn’t know anyone. She sat in one of the tallest stands, for she was one of the first to arrive. She sat timidly and alone – she hadn’t told anyone she was coming. Not even Adrian, though he suspected. When he asked her, the day before, if she had thought about his invitation, she said she may go but probably wouldn’t. He took that as a yes. And he was right. She knew she was going, she just didn’t tell him because she was still somewhat trying to punish him for bailing on their meeting. She hadn’t even told Charlotte, because she would insist in coming along, but after another week of daily talks with Adrian, she finally felt at ease about meeting him, and she wanted to do it on her own. The only one who knew was Aaron – because she asked him to drop her there.

She sat there in some pretty regular skinny jeans, a long tank-top with a longer thin jacket on top of it, a scarf and a pair of comfortable tennis-shoes, her hair as savage and curly as ever. Absolutely no green. She wouldn’t waste her time trying to impress him again. She felt pretty anxious herself, she was finally going to see him, and in his element nonetheless. Before the game started she watched the cheerleaders with a little knot in her stomach. They were all beautiful and talented – one of them must be the girl Adrian had spent that night with. Looking at the girls, so pretty and flexible, she wished she had made just a little bit of effort.

Soon enough, the teams entered the game field. Her heart could compete in the Olympics as it raced in anticipation and she immediately looked for the home team, searching for the guy wearing the number 7 on his back – Adrian’s number. It wasn’t easy, for as soon as the teams got onto the field, the public all rose up, clapping their hands, calling player’s names, whistling and cheering them on. In between all the heads, bodies and raised arms, she finally saw him – and she immediately sat down again.

She couldn’t believe it. He had been telling her the truth. The arrogant jock had been telling her the truth. She peeked one more time just to make sure she’d seen him right.

Yup. There he was. He was – and there really wasn’t another word she could think of at the moment – hot. Incredibly hot. All her hope and fears were now reality – Adrian was a really good looking guy. Worse – he was painfully aware of it, apparently.

He was taller than her, which wasn’t that difficult since she was considerably short, but still not as tall as Aaron, which again wasn’t difficult because her brother was a living tower. His skin was a beautifully tanned tone and beneath his clothes, she could tell, was an athlete’s body, not too lean, not too muscular, but toned – just perfect. He had an attractive boyish face and bright eyes, though due to the distance, she couldn’t tell if they were blue or green. His hair was dark brown and very messy in a very attractive way and she couldn’t help but get the embarrassing urge to lock her fingers in it. Oh, God.

Damn.

Maybe he lied. Maybe it really wasn’t him. He could be just messing with her. Yeah, that could definitely happen. For all she knew, he could really be the tuba dude (who really rocked it at the beginning in a fantastic solo performance, by the way).