The Little Things [Book 1]

Chapter One: Kick Off

Mark McGregor.

For six days Thomas couldn't stop hearing that name over and over again. The first time he heard it was on the first day of the year. Rachel had flung his bedroom door wide open, not caring that he was still groggy from sleep, and had yelled out that name, before even saying a "Good morning!" or a "Happy New Year!".

Thomas was not sure if she expected him to burst into a thousand confetti from excitement or jump up ready to slay an imaginary dragon, but what he did do was fall back onto his soft pillow with a groan. She had been unfazed, sitting down next to him, and immediately she had started babbling on about this guy whose name kept on being repeated.

From what Thomas had gathered, Mark McGregor was a new transfer student, who was going to enroll in their school this last semester of senior year. Rachel Chevrolet, Thomas's best friend and the daughter of the Principal, had heard it from her father. Apparently, this guy had gotten into a fight right before winter break and now his parents were demanding a transfer, so he ended up in their school.

Each word that had left Rachel's lips had been more and more ecstatic and Thomas finally had given up and asked her what was so thrilling about this guy. "He's hotter than a supernova", that was all she had said.

For the next six days, every time those two hung out Rachel couldn't stop talking about this Mark. She hadn't actually met him, no one had so far. She had only seen a picture of him, thanks to her Dad, but according to her it was enough to fall in love. Even their chat was filled with her gushing on about him. Suffice to say, Thomas was getting pretty sick and tired of it.

"Do you think he's taller up close?" she murmured, tugging on her brown bangs. "Dad said that Mark was taller than him".

"Yeah Rachel, you've said that before," Thomas replied, with a slight roll of his eyes.

"Come on, you can't say you are not excited to meet him," Dean said with a raised eyebrow. "They said he broke a guy's jaw!"

"And don't forget about the concussion," Bryan added, nudging Dean with his elbow.

Dean was the tallest between the two, both being taller than Thomas though. He was also the fairer of them, with pale skin and platinum blonde hair. They often joked about how obviously he was the German one and not Thomas.

"Great..." drawled Thomas, "yet another violent asshole. Honestly, Rachel why did your Dad allow him to transfer?" At that, Rachel frowned. 

"When I asked him, Dad said that Mark made a compelling case," she replied with a shrug.

"A compelling case?" Thomas questioned, but he didn't receive an answer as all his friends' eyes focused behind him. With a half-bored expression, Thomas turned around to check out what they were looking at.

Mark McGregor.

That had to be him. It had to be him. Just one look and Thomas finally understood what Rachel meant with "hotter than a supernova". Tall, blond and gorgeous was the understatement of the fucking year. With a leather jacket and combat boots he stated his style before even lighting on the cigarette that he placed between his lips.

He stood by his car as he went through his phone and a little over half of his cigarette and still no one dared take their eyes off of him. Slowly, Thomas realized two things; first of, this guy was doing puberty justice; and secondly, the only thing that seemed off about him where the huge purple and yellow bruises that covered the biggest part of his face and neck.

The ugliest one was the one closer to his right eye. It covered from down his high cheekbone up to his brow bone. His sharp jaw was also littered with a couple smaller bruises, those being a little darker. Vaguely, Thomas could notice a cut on his lower lip and on the bridge of his nose.