As He Held My Hand

1. The Knight and the Girl Who Almost Fell On Her Ass

 Gabriella Wilde who portrays Gemma Willis >>>>

1. The Knight and the Girl Who Almost Fell on Her Ass

Gemma's POV

The first years of World War II seemed to go in Hitler’s favor. With his blitzkrieg, he had gained control of much of western and central Europe. Victories over Britain and Russia remained elusive, however. When the United States entered the war, the Allies agreed to fight until –

A high pitched beeping interrupts my reading, signaling that the class is over. I slam my history book closed, happy to be done with reading about World War II. As I’m slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I take notice of the puffy white flakes that are coming down quickly. Snow. Great.

I grab my History textbook and leave the classroom in a bit of a hurry. If I don’t get out of here soon, I’ll be stuck in the never ending line of traffic that is also trying to get out of here before the snow gets too bad. I arrive at my locker and twist the lock so it hits the last number of my combination, swinging my locker open with a small bang.

I grab my coat, tug it on over my shoulders, and put my backpack back on, all in under 20 seconds. I maneuver through the clogged hallway, trying to get to the front entrance so I can get to my car, which is parked in the senior lot at the other end of the parking lot.

I push open the front doors and I’m greeted by a huge gust of cold air. It’s snowing pretty hard out, and I’ll be lucky if I can get home by 2:45, seeing that it’s 2:05 now.

I can barely make out a few feet in front of me, the snow is coming down so hard. I finally spot my car, and begin to speed walk towards it in an attempt to maybe get out of here faster. My mistake.

I completely miss the large patches of ice in between me and my car, so it’s logical that I would lose my footing and slip. I take one large step onto the ice and prepare to lift my other foot off, which is when my foot slips out from underneath me and I feel myself falling.

Except I don’t fall.

I feel a pair of warm, strong arms wrap around me in one swift motion, preventing me from falling flat on my ass. I open my eyes. There I am, face to face with none other than Grant Baker, the jock notoriously famous for playing with and eventually breaking girl’s hearts. A womanizer, I guess you could say. After all, almost every girl at North Bay High had fallen for him one way or another. And each and every girl always ended up heartbroken. Each and every girl but one.

I, Gemma Willis, was the only girl that hadn't been pining over Grant since the first day of high school. Nobody ever really paid any attention to me though. I wasn't anything special. I never saw anything I particularly liked in Grant. He was self-righteous, self-involved, and most importantly, self-centered. He lied, he cheated, and not only on math tests. He played dirty, and didn’t give you a second glance if you made him mad.

I guess that’s why we hadn’t made eye contact since the eighth grade when I told on him for cheating on a test. Bad call on my part.

So when I finally open my eyes that had been squeezed shut out of instinct for fear of falling, I’m definitely not expecting to see Grant's eyes staring back. And the thing is, he doesn’t let go of me right away. In fact, I swear I see a small smile before he smirks and gives me a sarcastic "Nice one, Grace."

He allows me to stand up, makes sure I’m steadied, and then continues to saunter through the parking lot to his car. I stand there for about five minutes, practically ruining my chances of getting home early, before walking to my own car and getting in.

I can't believe that just happened.

I was so close to him, I could feel the cloud of his warm breath on my lips. The snow fall was still coming down hard, in thick sheets so I could barely see what was ahead of me. But there in his arms, I felt warm and comfortable and safe.