"Hello there, Arden."
I turned to see Tai, my best friend since middle school standing there with his hand in his pockets and a bored expression on his face like always.
"Hello Tai." I replied as I pulled out a few text books from my locker before slamming it shut.
Tai fell into step with me as we walked down the fairly crowded hallway.
He was quiet for a while, clearly spacing out.
It gave me a moment to take in his appearance today.
Wavy brown hair that sometimes covers one of his eyes, tight black jeans, a band tshirt and doc Martins.
His chocolate brown eyes looked puffy like either he was crying or didn't sleep well and every few seconds, his thumb grazed his lips like he was deep in thought.
"Did you hear about the new kid?" He said now as he played with a key chain attached to a belt loop on his pants.
"No, in the middle of the term?" I asked.
It was weird for someone to transfer in the middle of the school year, especially at a school as prestigious as this one.
"That's what I heard from my mom." Tai said.
His mom was one of the teachers.
I hummed lowly.
"Well we'll see. What's your first class again?" I asked now.
Martial arts yours?"
"Same." We fell back into silence.
My mind drifting back to my parents, and subconsciously I touched my necklace.
It was a birthday gift from them a few years ago.
We walked into the gym where most of our class was.
We fell into line after we changed into our gym clothes.
"Everyone seems to be here now-" Our homeroom teacher, Miss Ellison cut herself off, looking around the room."Where's... ah ! There you are, come up here."
She was talking to someone in the crowd of students and after a second, a dark haired boy appeared beside her.
He looked familiar.
"This is Oliver. He's new here and I hope that everyone here will make him feel welcome." Miss Ellison said.
Ah, it was the same boy I met at that cafe yesterday.
He didn't say anything, instead he nodded stiffly at everyone before returning to his original spot.
After Miss Ellison gave us our assignments, I threw a 'I'll be right back' to Tai who I'm not even sure was paying attention to me and walked over to where Oliver was sitting by himself.
"Hey." I said.
He looked up at me, a smile crossing his lips.
"Hey, Arden right?" He said.
"Right." I said, unintentionally staring at him. I mean the boy was beautiful.
He rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Um.. you can join my team if you want,seeing that you are alone." I said, snapping myself out whatever trace I was in.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, we are one off anyway."
He stood up, his height taking me back abit.
I didn't realise he was so tall, probably about 6ft maybe taller.
"Okay then." He said as he grabbed his backpack.
We walked back over to my team, the new person catching their attention.
"Hi! I'm lily, nice to meet you." Lily, my friend of 3 years jumped up and pulled Oliver into a hug.
At first he was shocked but after a second, hugged her back, this huge smile on his face.
"Likewise." He chuckled.
Everyone started introducing themselves, launching into a variety of subjects as though they've been friends for years even Tai spoke to him and he's usually very standoffish.
"Okay! Are the teams ready?" Miss Ellison's voice cut through the conversation, drawing our attention to her.
When noone objected, she said."Okay then, teams fight!"
"Fight?" Oliver asked confused.
"Oh yeah, forgot for a moment that you're new." Yuko said, running his hand through his long black hair. "Within our teams, we fight each other but not fight to hurt or kill. It's more of a way develop our skills."
"Yeah, everyone who comes to this school goal is to become a well rounded and respected individual also you never know what you may encounter so thats the main purpose of this class, got it?" Lily added.
Oliver nodded slowly like he like understood.
"Okay, I got it. So who would i be fighting?" Oliver asked.
We all looked at each other.
"Since we don't know what your skill level. You can fight me." I replied nonchalantly.
He looked down at me." You are a girl."
"So?" I snorted." Trust me, I can take it."
He sighed." Fine but I don't condone hitting women."
I rolled my eyes, putting abit of distance between us and everyone stepped back.
If I'm being honest, I'm curious to see what he can do is.
"Whenever you are ready." I said before I could react, he ran at me and round house kicked in my direction.
I deflected it with one swift movement.
Now what, I wasnt expecting was his hands grabbing me by the wrist, flipping me as I saw the room upside down.
I let out a cry of pain as my back connected with the padded mat on the floor.
I back flipped out of the way, landing perfectly on my feet.
I rose an eyebrow at him.
I back flipped again out of the way when he ran at me again but instead of landing perfectly, I didn't land at all. I was sat in Oliver's arm.
I was beyond confused
A smirk on his face as he looked down at me.
"You should look where you are flipping" He stated, I realise that we're at the very edge of the boxing ring.
How was he able to move that fast.
He stepped back, placing me back on feet.
"Thank you" I said.
"You're welcome" He waved his hand
"Arden! Stop playing with Oliver, either train or change partners " Miss Ellison barked in our direction before turning her attention back to some other students who looked like they were about to fight to the death.
"You should train with someone else." I said.
I walked away not waiting for a reply, I could feel him staring after me. I walked over to Tai was sitting, he was usually excused from these classes because of his anger issues so he just observes everyone else.
"Interesting 'fight'." Tai said, using air quotes."but was it really a fight when you were purposely avoiding his attacks as miss Ellison said, you were just playing with him. Why is that?"
I sat beside him on the bench, resting my head back on the cold cement wall.
"No real reason, just didn't feel like trying today."
He chuckled.
"I don't believe you but okay."
I looked over and saw Oliver sitting alone again but he looked more amused this time as he watched his new classmates.
When lunch time came around, I found myself staring off into space, barely paying attention to my friend group.
"Look there's Oliver, I think we should invite him to sit with us." Lily said, already handling over her food tray to Yuko to carry and walked off towards where Oliver was sitting alone.
He glanced up when she approached him and this cheeky smile came across his face as he stood up, flinging his backpack on his shoulder.
I paid no attention to him as he joined our group.
I sat between Tai and oddly enough Oliver who smirked at me but didn't say attention, then turned his attention to whatever it was Hallie and Lily were talking about.
I had tuned out awhile ago.
A rather warm hand touched my leg, the sudden touch made me jump but thankfully everyone was preoccupied with their own conversations to notice.
It took a minute to realize it was Oliver who touched me.
I looked up and he wasnt even looking in my direction, he was talking to Yuko.
'Is this a mistake?' I wondered.
I put my hand on his, moving it off my leg.
Well that was confusing.
I stood up, catching everyone's attention.
"I'm just going to the bathroom." I mumbled.
"I can come with you, if you want?" Lily offered but I shook my head.
"I'll be back in like 5 minutes." I said over my shoulder as I sped walked out of the cafeteria.
I walked down the almost empty hallway, turning a few corners and after a few minutes, I stopped at the football field.
"Abit late." A familiar deep voice said.
"Better late than never." I replied as I leaned back on a nearby wall."So why am I here?"
Evan Renner, smirked at me. "I just wanna be friends."
"Why? We come from two completely different cliques so what's your angle?" I said.
"No angle. No hidden agendas. I promise." The star boy of our grade said.
"Fine." I pushed myself off the wall, walking past him but he caught my hand.
I looked at his hand gripping my wrist and a strange feeling went down my back.
"I'm not doing anything after school, how about we hang out? Just meet me by my jeep yeah?." Evan said, this cute boyish smile on his face.
The heat from him touching me was distracting...
All I could manage was a weak "sure".
He let go of my hand.
"Great. See you later." Evan winked at me before walking away.
I shook my head.
Get it together Arden.
I walked back into the cafeteria and little to my surprise,everyone was in the exact same place I left them.
Guess I wasn't gone that long then.
"Long bathroom break." Oliver commented when I sat back down.
He turned slightly towards me, an amused expression on his face.
"What?" I rose an eyebrow at him.
"Nothing." The smile on his face grow, honestly it was actually starting to creep me out.
"Really?" I challenged, fully turning myself to face him.
He noticed this.
"What's up with your wrist?" He asked, not breaking eye contact.
"What are you-" I looked down and paused.
My right wrist was red and bruised.
I stared at it dumbfounded then it hit me.
Evan.
It could only be from when he grabbed my wrist.
"Oh..." I trailed off, racking my mind for a lie." I hit my hand on the sink in the bathroom by mistake."
Lame.
A more serious look came across his face.
"Looks like you were grabbed." He stated, drilling holes into me with those piercing blue eyes of his. " if that's what you said then I have no choice but to believe you."
I stayed quiet.
"And sorry about touching you earlier, I was just curious."
"Curious? About what?"
"If your skin is as soft as it looks." He smirked." And I was right.."
He ran his hand slowly up my leg, stopping just below the hem of my shorts.
I stopped his hand but also lost my train of thought.
The bell rang.
"See you later Arden." Oliver leaned down and whispered in my ear, making a chill go down my spine.
He stood up, throwing goodbyes to my friends or rather his friends now also before walking off on the direction of his next class.
I sat there for a moment while everyone else grabbed their stuff. All I could think about was that momentary closeness, those big blue eyes... his hand on my bare skin.
"Coming Arden?" Tai's voice cutting through my thoughts.
"Yeah." I mumbled as I joined the group.
Interesting start to my week.
