The Player Game

Chapter 14

Dedicated to the fan of the upload!  And an amazing friend.

Picture of new character (you'll see who it is when you read ;D) on the side.  And, yes, that is who you think it is.  HAWT.  -->

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE.  THIS IS IN THE WATTY'S! -->

A familiar ringtone blasts through the air, causing me to shoot upright in bed.  I blink at the morning light seeping between the gap in the curtain, and reach out for the noisy phone on my bedside table.  Pressing the answer button, I mutter sleepily into the device, “Hello?”

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Aaron’s voice causes a small smile to creep onto my lips.  He chuckles lowly, in a suspiciously mischievous manner.  I open my mouth to reply, but find the line dead.  Frowning, I look at the screen to find that he has ended the call.

Staring at the blank screen, I slowly place it back on the bedside table, before slipping a hand underneath my mattress.  My fingers search for a second before gripping onto a crisp piece of paper.  I pull it out from its allocated lair, smoothing out the creases across the page like ripples in water.  I search the page, my eyes landing on the fifth point on the list.

Let’s tell each other good morning and good night every day.  Smiling, I use a pencil to strike out the point, satisfied as I notice that there are now eight out of the thirteen points of The Player Game completed.  One week has passed since I snuck out of Aaron’s bedroom, meaning that we are already one month into game.

I spent the last weekend with Micky, Verity and Harry, on a sleepover. Aaron, unfortunately, has been grounded for the whole week for disobeying his mom's order to stay inside the house because of the gang violence. With him stuck inside and I only being allowed to go out accompanied by Micky or my dad, the only time I have been able to see him is in school. I have allowed myself in the past few days to cross out the 'let's go out on walks together,' point due to his insistence in escorting me to every class. Additionally, I've decided that the French kiss point was ready to be ditched after he kindly smooched both of my cheeks during lunch, leaving a smear of strawberry jam in place.

Grimacing at the thought, I push myself out of bed to get ready for another Monday morning.  Funnily enough, I don’t feel as scornful as usual about the early rising.  In fact, when I whip open the curtains with a smile on my face, the sun drifting in the sky greets me blissfully.

I dress quickly, skipping into the warm air.  The heat softly caresses my skin as I walk silently with Micky, all the way through the school gates, until the air conditioning of the school grabs me in an undesired cool embrace.

A shiver travelling up my arms, I force myself to sit through the four lessons before lunch.  Outside the window, the dazzling sunshine beams down on the school and the lime green grass waves gently, almost mockingly.  Inside, however, no one apart from me seems to be too bothered about the weather.  Instead, whispers ripple throughout the pools of people, picking up speed as lunch draws nearer.

“Have you heard?” a short brunette whispers excitedly as the English class squeezes out of the door.  My eyes pricking up, I stick close behind the couple of girls gossiping, following the river of people to the cafeteria.  “There’s a new kid.  Sasha told me that she sat next to him in Chemistry, and he is hot!  Like, smoking hot,” she empathises, her eyes bugging out of the sockets.  The girl beside her opens her mouth to reply, a vulture-like look on her face, but I quickly edge around them, not bothering to hear the end of the story.  It’s the same every time.  New kid is hot.  Girls stalk the new kid.  Next week, new kid isforgotten.