Seventeen

MARK

Mark, bouncing on the balls of his feet in the airport, was beyond excited. He stood next to Dale, Imogen, Kaya, Reese, Kaden, and Tessa while all seven of them stood at gate fourteen in terminal two. They were waiting for the black haired Nepalese girl. Adhara's dad had come back earlier to go back to work, but Adhara had been in Nepal for three weeks, and Mark missed her more than he thought he would. He didn't know why he liked her so much. Maybe it was her striking features, or her intriguing character. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was so mysterious in general, but Adhara wasn't just mysterious. She was weird, smart, and anyone could tell that she had a good heart.

Mark was almost too lost thinking about Adhara to realize that Kaya and Imogen rushed forward at the same time towards the door where passengers were exiting the plane. Dale and Tessa followed suit while Kaden and Reese just kind of awkwardly hung back while watching their girlfriends reunite with a friend.

Mark didn't know exactly what to do.

Once Adhara and the rest of girls rejoined Mark, Kaden, and Reese, Adhara regarded Mark with her strange violet eyes.

"Hey there, Delilah. Huh?" Adhara cocked her head at Mark, making him relive the stupid pick up line from a song he'd tried to use on her on New Year's Eve.

"Uh, yeah! Genius wasn't it?" Mark rubbed the back of his neck, trying his hardest to keep his cool while their friends were smirking and wiggling their eyebrows. "So, how was New Yo -- I mean Nepal! Oh my god." So much for keeping his cool, Mark thought.

"New Yo Nepal was great, Akagi." Adhara was smiling slyly at the Japanese boy. "Although I will admit that I missed you and your dumb antics a little than I thought I would."

"Score." Mark grinned at Adhara and he swore he heard Dale lean over to Kaden and say, "Wow, Akagi is finally getting some."

Eventually, the friends left the terminal to find the baggage claims where Adhara's bags would be. And once they got them, Mark and Adhara walked out of the airport, close together with their hands brushing against each other's.

***

Dale and Mark bounded into the cafeteria, Dale on her skateboard and Mark running beside her with his face painted purple and gold. Tonight was Mark's first soccer game of the season, against their school's rival, and he was determined for the crowd to be huge.

"ALRIGHT SPARTANS, LISTEN UP!" Mark bellowed excitedly, while Dale rested her arm on his shoulder, grinning. Almost the entire cafeteria was quiet, except for a couple annoying freshmen, to which Dale muttered, "Goddamn freshmen."

Mark continued on without missing a beat. "Tonight is Olympic High's first soccer match against, yes you guessed it, Roosevelt High. And even though I am the most blessed striker this school has ever seen, a large turnout in the crowd would really help us take down those uncreatively named Scarlets. I mean, seriously, who starts a school and decides that their mascot is a scarlet?" Mark earned a few laughs from the student body. "Also, there's going to be a killer party at my house for those who come to the game, and you'll need to pick up a program from the concessions as an invitation."

When Mark was finished with his little speech, his entire soccer team stood up and cheered for their team captain, JV and varsity combined, and a lot of students in the cafeteria applauded Mark as well. The Japanese boy took a dramatic bow.

Mark and Dale sauntered over to their usual table with Kaden, Tessa, Reese, Flynn, and Amelie. While Dale picked a couple of fries off of Tessa's and Reese's trays and a strawberry off of Kaden's, Mark only looked over at Adhara laughing with her friends. Every once in awhile, her violet eyes would flick over to Mark's table, but never once did she make eye contact with the soccer player.