The Game

3: About a Year and a Half Ago

About a Year and a Half Ago

Sydney and I make our way to the great hall along with every other junior. Boys are standing in groups, talking. Girls are clustered together already gossiping about the hot, young professor. I roll my eyes and look through the crowd to try to find where to get my schedule. I notice a shorter boy in the corner, he's holding a bunch of materials in his hand and he's working on some kind of machine. Sparks fly out of the machine and the students around him jump back. They call him names and jostle him enough to make him drop some of his things, then they wander off to find a safer place to stand. I walk over to him, Sydney falling behind me.

"Where are you going?" She asks. "We shouldn't wonder too far, they will be handing out our schedules soon." She continues to talk but I tune her out and make my way to the boy. When I reach him, I lean down and help him pick up his things.

"Are you okay?" I ask, handing his stuff back to him. He looks at me nervously and flinches when I hand him his things. "I'm not going to hurt you. How old are you? You look pretty young." He stands up taller, taking back his stuff.

"I'm 15. I'm not young. I did skip a grade...or two but I'm not young." I nod my head, apologizing.

"I'm Natalie. This is Sydney" I offer, gesturing to Sydney. "What's your name?"

"Tom," he says. "My name is Tom." He reaches out his hand to shake mine, causing him to drop everything he was holding. I laugh but shake his hand then Sydney and I both bend down to help pick everything up. "Sorry..." He mumbles. "I'm not usually this clumsy. Thank you for helping."

I wave away his gratitude and ask, "so, you're a junior? Are you new here?"

"No," he says, pushing his glasses back up his nose. I smile, what a classic thing for a nerd to do. "I'm not new." But before he can offer up any more information, I sense another, more imposing presence approaching and I automatically step in front of Tom, my big sister instincts kicking in. I look up at the figure in front of me, my muscles tense and ready to be on the defense. The figure in front of me seems to look over my head, looking straight at Tom. Tom peeks over my shoulder and grins.

"You okay, Tom?" An older boy says, with a cap pulled over his hair, blocking it from view. He barely glances at me before looking over me at Tom. I step out of the way, the feeling of the threat that I thought was there, quickly dispersing. I turn to Sydney and she is blushing, her cheeks bright red. Does she like this boy? I turn back to him and instantly begin to judge him. He's tall, maybe too tall. His eyes sparkle with amusement, hints of purple scattered among the green. How strange. I've never seen that before. I look him up and down. His tall length makes his muscled appearance even more intimidating. For the first time, I notice how close he is to me and I take a step back. He glances down at me again and I am about to blush but I catch myself. I tilt my head at him, giving him a curious look and the side of his lips quirk up in an amused way, mimicking his eyes.

"Hey! New girl!" An arm is slung around me and I am dragged away before I can continue the unusual interaction with Tom and his friend. My eyes dart around the room trying to see where I am being taken and to find where Sydney went. I see her a few feet away from me, trapped under the burden of another burley arm, similar to the one holding me captive. But she doesn't seem to dislike it as much as I do. She is smiling and laughing, twirling her hair between her fingers. I roll my eyes then direct my attention to the arm around me. Quickly, I make my move. I grab his arm spinning around and pinning it to his back at a painful angle. I hear his wince and I bite my lip to keep a smile off of my face. Suddenly, I feel arms wrap around my waist. I struggle to break free but am lifted off the ground.

"Hey, hey, calm down, new girl." A new light and playful voice says to me. I grumble but the voice is so composed that I decide to trust it. I stop fighting and let myself hang in the air until the voice puts me down. When my feet touch the ground, I spin around and face the voice. When I see who it is I roll my eyes. Before I can say something to him, and something insulting at that, Sydney appears at my side.