Illéa High

Ladders

Marlee's POV

Carter is here. Carter is here at my school. No one knows our history together. I haven't even told America.

(Throwback: Summer Before Sophomore Year)

I've seen him before. Those toned muscles, that beautiful face, that sloppy hair, those inviting eyes.

"Hi, I'm Carter Woodwork," the handsome gentleman in front of me says and holds out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Marlee Tames," I respond and held out my hand for him to shake.

"I see you running around the park a lot," he mentions. I blush. He's noticed me. "Not to be creepy," he adds on in case a I took it the wrong way, which I didn't.

"Yeah, I like to run to clear my head and just relax," I squeak out. This Carter guy has an effect on me, and I don't know why.

"I come to the park to hang out with my family," he picks up the conversation. "I go to the guard school across from Illéa High. My family lives across town, so every Saturday morning we meet up and just hang out," he explains farther.

"That's very sweet, I can tell you're close with your family, wish I could say the same," I comment. I wish I could have taken back the last part of my response, I didn't want him to know too much about me, not quite yet.

"Well, I won't push for anymore information, but I'm sure everything with your family will work out in the end, hopefully."

He says everything just right! He's a true gentleman. The way he looks at me sets my body on fire and my face to go red, really red. No other guy has ever had this effect on me; I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

"So... would you like to go out sometime?" He finally asks after a few more minutes of small talk.

"I-I would love to!" I say calmly with a smile. I mentally high five myself for staying calm.

"Great! Could I-Ummm-get your number?" He asks shyly. I giggle a bit, because I didn't think he was the one who was the shy one in this conversation.

(Present day: Sophomore Year, Gym Class)

We make eye contact and there's a glimmer in his eyes. I didn't know how to interpret the glimmer. He could still be mad at me, or he could have forgave me and forgotten about what I did to him.

I glance away and and push him from my mind. He wouldn't make me feel helpless again. I wouldn't let him.

"Marlee!" Keke, one of my football teammates, yell over to me. I snap out of whatever spell I was under and rush to aid my team.

My team and I crush the team we played that day and we were all feeling the hype. Mr. Joseph blows his whistle once, meaning to check the charts to see who we were playing next.

Team 3

"Hey Marlee, looks like are teams are playing each other," America tells me while she looked at the charts with me. I smile and give her a thumbs up.

I study America's team. She has Maxon, Kim, Kammy, Timmy, Ruth, and most importantly, she had Carter on her team. I try to push him out of my mind again, but I can't seem to. It's hard not to think of someone when they are standing less than fifty feet from you, and you are facing them.

A guy named Tyler who was playing our quarter back called the plays. I wasn't thinking straight. I fumbled the ball multiple times, I didn't run my fastest when it counted, and lastly I let Carter Woodwork back into my head.