Archer's Paradox | Slow updates

Chapter Six

It's been a month and I'm sitting with Alice at the lunch table. "We have to go to the Christmas party. Layla, please." Ally is trying to convince me that going to a party is an excellent idea. It would be good to go out but I'm having trouble controlling my attacks.

I started archery again. Josh takes me out now and then to shoot some targets with my bow. I missed doing that and luckily Linden has an archery field or else I would've sulked in my room the whole day. I'm very thankful for my bow and Josh told me Lucas engraved my initials on the handle. I made sure that Lucas got a gift for that.

"I don't know, Al. I don't like many people." I try to argue but Alice looks at me. Her face morphes into this scary intimidating look. "You are going. We are going shopping tomorrow when school ends and we are going to enjoy it." The sterness in her voice makes my eyes go wide and I swallow. "Ok fine." I huff and Noah gives a chuckle. I shoot him a glare and he quickly looks away. We've been chatting a while now and sometimes go out for coffee. Sometimes alone and sometimes with the gang. We went out last week and I accidentally spilled my coffee all over him. The worst part, it was hot and on his groin. His face was priceless but I felt so bad.

"Shut up or I shoot you with my bow." By now half of the group knows I'm an archer. Except Noah. I let that slip accidentally. "Oh you shoot? I also shoot. Guns." He smirks at me. "Maybe we can go do some target practice and I'll show you how good I am." I grin and the whole group laughs at our competitive attitudes. I've made excellent friends with Cooper, Grey, Dustin and Ally. Tori and Alice became my best friends with Noah being a special kind of friend.

I don't want to go shopping with the girls. Especially so close to Christmas. "Try on this dress. Now." Tori holds up a red dress with a halter neck. The bodice is made of lace and it falls in a A-line down my body. It's breathtaking. I try it on and immediately fall in love with it. The party is in two weeks and I found my dress. I wonder how Noah will handle it. I catch myself fantasizing and immediately shake it off. I've learned a few things about boys and also got my period. Since I've been eating well enough and my body is slowly returning to normal from the half anorexic stage I was in. It's shocking how much blood a girl can lose through her ...

"Noah will probably crawl on his knees for this." Alice comes to stand behind me and puts her hands on my shoulders. The slight touch makes me want to flinch but I resist. Time to be brave and beautiful.

I hope so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You still up for that shooting offer?" Noah's voice fills my room as I put my phone on speaker. "Yes, of course. You want to go?" I ask as I try to figure out my hair. "Well can we go now?" His voice is begging and it's actually kind of cute. "I just have to do a few things and grab my bow. What weapon will you take?" There's a slight pause. "I'm taking my dad's bow." Well there's something new. "I hope you know how to handle it." I laugh and he joins in. "We'll see what happens." Yeah. We definitely will.

I rush to get everything done before a knock on the door causes me to jump. Josh eyes me suspiciously and gets up from the couch to open the door. "Take a tablet when you're feeling down." He says before Noah steps inside and I quickly get my bow as he greets Josh and we head back out.

At the shooting range, I get a few unusable arrows and put them in my quiver. The arrows are unusable because they aren't made anymore so the range lets people ruin them. Carbon fiber tips and all. I watch as Noah lines up his arrows in his quiver and how he handles his bow. It's a classic recurve bow and has beautiful string work. His hands struggle to find the right places and his stance is totally wrong. I assess the range and draw an arrow. His eyes watch me carefully as I assume correct stance and nock my arrow. My bow is slightly tilted because it's an open arrowrest so the arrow falls out when held up right. I anchor my arrow with my index, middle and ring finger and aim silently at the bullseye. "Release." I breathe out after 5 seconds and the arrow sails towards the target. It hits the tiny red dot front and center and I lower my bow. Noah lets out a breath and I look at him with a smile.

"The floor is yours."

He takes an arrow and puts it in the arrowrest. I see him eyeing the nock on the string but he nocks the arrow successfully. His fletchers are turned wrong and he's going to either break them off or his arrow will sail in another direction. His body is slack as he takes stance with his feet turned sideways but not completely correct. He raises the bow and pulls at the string with all his fingers. So wrong. Maybe he watched to many movies before.

His anchor point is totally off and when he releases, he quickly lowers the bow. He did it all wrong and his arrow knocks against the handle. It flies towards the left side, away from the target. He looks at me slightly embarrassed. Can't believe Noah Huntington actually looks embarrassed.

"You did it all wrong. Starting from the nocking of the arrow to the stance and eventually to the anchoring and releasing." I say and he smiles at me. "Would you help me?" His eyes glint and I take my bow.

He just wants your attention.

It's cute though.

"Longbows are beautiful things and far less complex than a compound bow. What you did now could've broken your bow, if you had a compound bow. The cams and lims would've cracked and cost a lot to repair. The strings would've snapped and you would've ended up breaking a very expensive bow. With the longbow you only have the body and the string. That small ring is your bow's nock. You nock the arrow underneath it," I nock an arrow to show him.

"The fletchers should be smooth on the bow's side so that it doesn't bump into the bow." I turn to show him the sides and he nods. "Then you assume the correct stance." I place my feet 90 degrees away from the target and my shoulders are pulled back. "When you pull the string, use your three middle fingers. The index finger on top and the other two just underneath the arrow's nock. Don't smother the bow. Let your hand holding the body just barely grasp it." I show him how loose my fingers are and then I take it to anchoring. "You have to anchor the bow. You pull the arrow backwards towards your ear. Underneath your ear where it meets your jaw, that's an anchor point. Don't hold it against your face. You will die of pain." He chuckles and I continue. "Bend your arm holding the bow slightly away from the string. If it catches your skin, it burns like hell. Then you aim. Count to five and then release." I let go of the arrow and it sails towards the target, piercing the first arrow. Noah looks at me. "That's so awesome!" He exclaims. "Always keep your bow upright until the arrow hits the target. Bringing it down too quickly will change the speed and it wil drop a few feet away from the target." His face lights up into a smile. "You're amazing."

We spend the rest of the day shooting arrows until it gets late. "So uh, Layla, I was wondering ..." Noah trails off and I look at him from the passenger seat. "Would you be my date to the Christmas party?" He breathes out and I smile. "Is it a joke?" He frowns. "No, I real-" "I'd love to." I cut off his sentence before he embarrasses himself further.

Today has been a great day.

Noah had been so patient when I helped him with the bow and his hands never missed a moment to graze my skin. I'm getting used to the feeling of strangers touching me but with him, I feel slight surges of electricity underneath my skin. Maybe I'm also a believer in love at first sight.