Arden

34. Taken

34. Taken 

Life is full of surprises...

***

I finished putting my hair in a ponytail as I walked onto the field for practice. Everyone already started their drills. The soccer game on Tuesday was very serious for some reason.

Armani explained that Windsor High School was one of Green Brook's biggest rivals. Coach had been rough on us all week. Through the past crazy months, soccer was the only thing that remained the same.

The best sport on Earth.

I looked over to Hayden and his group of friends. They were doing their drills, nothing strange. As I watched Hayden dribble the ball between cones, he passed it to Nate and when he looked up, he gaze caught mine. Like he knew someone was watching him.

For a while, we just stood there, not moving, not doing anything. His face was expressionless, as always. I'm pretty sure mine was the same.

My anger I had for Hayden... it was natural now. Nothing about him settled good with me. Nothing at all.

At that moment, I heard two familiar voices that made me tear my gaze away from Hayden's. Zane and Armani.

They were having a conversation about something. They both approached me still talking.

"That's ridiculous, you're lying." Zane shook his head at her.

"I'm not." Armani laughed. "Hey, Arden."

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked.

Armani opened her mouth to say something but Zane cut her off. "Alright, Arden, I have a question for you."

I raised my eyebrows at him. What were they arguing about now? "Be honest who has more muscles," He started "Me or Perri?"

Perri?

"Really this is what you guys are arguing about?" I asked as I picked up the soccer ball and played around with it in my hands.

"Answer the question." Zane folded his arms in front of him. I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"This is a dumb conversation. Conversations about comparison almost always end up negatively." I said. "Especially at this age."

"I told him." Armani tsked as she took the ball from me.

"This is not the time for your cute little fun facts. Now tell me I have more muscle than Perri."

I pursed my lips and walked over to Armani. "I don't wanna say that."

Zane squinted this eyes at me. "Why not?"

I shrugged. "Maybe because Perri has more muscle than you." I said quietly. I snickered at Zane's face. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

"I told you!" Armani hunched over with laughter.

Zane shook his head. "You both are dead to me." He came forward and picked me up over his shoulder.

What the hell?

"Zane, put me down." I laughed.

"Absolutely not. You disrespected me, plus I get a view of that cute little ass of yours."

"Zane!"

Armani was still laughing. "Sorry, Z, did we hurt your huge ego?" She snickered.

"Hilarious, Mani." Zane began walking and I saw from the corner of my eye, he swept Armani up like she was a towel.

"Zane, you're impossible. Put us down." I said hanging from his shoulder.

"Silence." He told me as he began walking again.

"Excuse me?"

"No, go ahead and keep talking. I'll just have to give a spanking."

Yeah, okay. "Whatever." I scoffed, as I swung upside down. To tell the truth, it was fun.

Zane put me down and the blood rushed back into the rest of my body. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Zane pulled me into his chest.

Close. So close. I feel my body react to the way our bodies were pressed up against each other.

He brought his mouth next to my ear. My whole body shuddered as I felt the warm aura he was giving off. "You're so tempting, you know that?" He whispered in my ear.

I just shook my head dumbly as I hung onto his shoulder. Everything flew out my head, all I knew was that his body was close to mine.

I gasped when I felt his lips press gently onto my skin. My grip became tighter when I felt him place kisses near my ear, down to my jaw, then my neck. It felt so good.

Zane's thumb stroked on my waist gently. "The things I wish I could do to you." He groaned in my ear.

Is it normal for your body to burst into flames, because all I'm feeling is heat.

"Gross, you guys know I'm still here, and I can hear you."

Zane let out an irritated groan before pulling away from me. "Sorry, Arden. There's a dumpster behind the school, I'll just take care of her." He said while shaking Armani around.

I laughed and so did Armani. Zane began walking off with her when Ali came rushing towards us. When he approached I noticed something strange about him. Well...odd.

He was sweating, he looked like he had just gone through Hell itself. His expression was one of worry and he was practically pulling his hair out.

I don't think Zane noticed this. "Hey, Ali. Whats-"

"She's gone." He gritted out sharply.

We all paused and Zane put Armani on her feet.

"Ali, what's wrong?" Armani asked. I then noticed that his eyes were glowing green. He looked worried, terrified, anxious.

"She's gone- she's fucking gone!" He shouted as he paced around the field.

Zane realized that this was in fact serious and walked up to him. "What happened?" He asked.

"They fucking took her- she's gone!" Zane held onto Ali as he was pacing and Armani and I locked gazes.

Ali looked like he was about to explode, erupt into a thousand pieces.

His eyes were still shifted and I could see the fury behind his eyes. Ali's angry, and when he's angry...he fights.

I then noticed that he had something crumbled up in his hand. "Ali, calm down and tell us what's wrong."

He was grunting and if I didn't know any better, I'd say a big green guy we all know was about to pop out. Zane held onto Ali as he grunted and struggled to stay calm.

I couldn't move. I just stood there, watching him as he slowly lost his mind.

Armani however, noticed the paper in his hand and slowly walked up to him. She pulled your the paper out of his hand and backed away.

She came over to me and we watched as she unfolded the paper, trying to make thought what was written.

Nothing.

All we saw was a necklace. A blue-turquoise necklace that had a heart charm. It looked extremely familiar, as if I've seen everyday...

Just haven't paid much attention to it.

My eyes shifted as I thought about where I've seen this before. "Oh no." Armani gasped.

Then, it hit me.

"Oh my god." I whispered.

"They have Nikki."