In Another Life ▻ Fiona Gallagher

02. chapter two

FLASHBACK

Julian stood toward the middle of the football field with his friends from the team, strategizing a few plays that the group intended to use at the next game. His hand waved in front of the face of one of his teammates, seeing that he was distracted, his gaze elsewhere. "Jake.. bro, eyes over here, huh?" he said with a little laugh.

He stole a glance to what the other boy had been looking at then, noticing as the track team was running practices on the track surrounding the practice field. It figured, the funding at the school was shit, and he highly doubted that the school could afford to provide more space for the different teams to practice.

His eyes scanned over the team, watching a few of the girls line up to do a sprint, which was when he saw her. Long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, slender frame, and an expression on her face like she was ready to mow down anyone who got into her way.

"Jake," Julian started, glancing quickly at his friend before looking back toward the girl, "who is that?"

"That's Fiona Gallagher.. I wouldn't bother, though. I've heard enough about her to know that's a road that you do not want to go down," Jake replied.

It wasn't hard for a girl to get a reputation in their school. If a girl so much as made out with a guy, she was labeled as easy. If she had more than one boyfriend in the span of a school year and had made out with both, then she was a slut. It was pretty unfair if you asked him, but there wasn't much that Julian could do about it apart from ignore the rumors and make his own opinions of everyone.

That was just what he intended to do with Fiona Gallagher.

——————————

Practice was over after not much longer, Julian finding himself mildly distracted most of the time. He had definitely figured out just what his friend had been staring at, considering he himself had been doing the same when he wasn't actively running plays.

The football team started to grab their things and head to the locker room to shower up, but instead of following, Julian hung back, waiting for track practice to finish as well. Once it did, he moved from his spot on the bleachers, slowly moving over to where he spotted Fiona.

As he walked up to her, he stopped as they were about to meet, then watched, a bit dumbfounded, as she continued walking right past him. His brow furrowed and he moved to catch back up with her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Fiona, hey. Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

"Do I know you?" the brunette asked, lightly shrugged his hand from her shoulder. It was easy to see that he was part of the football team, and if this was some sick joke that they were planning, she refused to play into it. She'd much rather just get a shower and go home. She was sure that her brothers needed her to make some dinner, anyway.

"No.. no, you don't. I'm Julian. I'm on the football team, and I saw you during practice. You're really good. What are you clocking? You've got to be close to the record time," he rambled.

"Thank you. Do you always ramble like this, or are you just dehydrated?" she spoke, continuing to walk and noticing as he fell into step beside her.

Julian's brow wrinkled at her question. He had been rambling, hadn't he? Damnit. "What can I say? Maybe you make me a little nervous," he shrugged. It was a line, sure, but he was being genuine — she was much more intimidating than he'd originally thought.

Fiona's eyes rolled almost automatically, but she couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his words. "Oh, really? Is that what you tell all of the girls?" she asked, finally taking a moment to look over at him fully.