STARGIRL

16. Control

It's said that Arabella had a train ran on her by the football team. It's believable.

It wasn't cold, but the weather was starting to change. Washington had this stigma of always being cloudy and rainy and now that fall was beginning to creep up on the small town of Olympia, Maddox found himself training harder for basketball season.

It was coming up in the spring again, this time against other school districts and not just his own. The young man found himself running his 8th lap on the track, his earbuds were blaring Blackbear.

Aside from training, Maddox also just needed to clear his mind from everything going on with him.

He realized he was in a constant battle with himself and he was trying his hardest to honor his father's advice. So working out was his distraction.

He couldn't avoid her though because before he knew it she was standing by the bleachers waving for him to come to her.

Arabella exposed her teeth in a wide grin, "X!"

He took in a deep breath. Maddox pulled the wireless earphones out of his ears and let them rest around his sweaty neck as he made his way towards Arabella who was impatiently kicking the floor beneath her with the front of her sneaker.

She raised her head, "Hey," she softly greeted as he got close to her, "It feels like you're ignoring me."

Maddox shook his head before running his hand through his drenched hair, "No, just been busy training."

She shook her head, "I'm just joking."

"So what's up?" Maddox concluded, trying to avoid staring right into her dark brown eyes. She lightly placed her hand on his chest, "Wow, you're fucking drenched."

"Arabella-"

"Right." She replied quickly, "Guess I can just be abrasive but I mean, if you like it-"

"What? What is it?" He interrupted a bit irritated with her flirting, Arabella raised an eyebrow and scoffed at him, "Calm down I just wanted to know if you copied the chemistry notes from class earlier."

He nodded, "Yeah just, I'll give them to you later-"

Arabella frowned, she could sense something was wrong with him and in a way, she didn't care, but she did. She couldn't explain it at all.

In a way, Arabella could see a friend in Maddox. Something she was never used too before, she didn't know what comfort was or what empathy was but she was trying her best to be a good friend even though she would eventually give it up as soon as Stanford returned the documents to her.

"There's something wrong isn't there?" She asked catching him off guard, he was a bit surprised she would even ask.

Maddox clenched his jaw and shook his head, "Everything is shit and if I don't come clean it'll just keep eating at me."

"So?" She coaxed him on giving him a small shoulder bump.

Maddox looked up at the cloudy sky and wiped his arm against his forehead, small droplets of water beginning to make contact with their skin.