Elysian House: A Light In The Dark [Sequel]

Chapter 9

Turns out making the team wasn't totally insane when I found out the next day that the try out hadn't gone entirely bad. Reese was the one to tell me, with a fiery look in her eyes and I knew she was quite pleased about the result. I wasn't so sure Rick would be happy to find out about it, considering he asked me to lay low.

And I knew now that Mr. Jay was wary of me. He probably didn't want to spend any extra time with me. So I decided to put in a request for a class change, so that way we didn't end have to spend as much time together.

Which meant that I was now part of the practices at the end of the day. When everyone else was at the food court, or in their dorm rooms, I was headed for the field.

I had gotten changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that I wore to gym. With my bag hanging off of my shoulder, I headed to the field.

Reese was there, kicking around the ball with Joan and Anna and laughing. Mr. Jay was busy reading off of a clipboard to notice me coming.

But when I stepped out onto the field, I noticed Jane was sitting in the bleachers. I walked over to her, since I didn't notice anybody doing anything of importance.

Jane looks up and when she sets her eyes on me, I see something flash in her eyes. Gone too quickly for me to decipher the emotion, but whatever it had been made my stomach clench. A little voice inside my head whispered that she was afraid.

Then I remember gym class and how I decimated a whole wall for the sake of a mediocre exercise with her as my partner. She could look at me now as some sort of animal.

"Hi," I say, hoping to show her that I wasn't an asshole. I give her a smile, as best as I can.

She smiles back, but it's strained. She didn't appear genuinely happy to see me and that made me feel worse than before.

"What... uh, what are you doing out here?" I ask, as I take a seat by her.

She glances down at my hands, like she was nervous I'd hit her. "I'm just overseeing. People get hurt a lot during this game and I like to make sure nobody gets hurt."

Well that is a bit strange, I thought.

"Yeah, well, nobody asked for your opinion," she says and I realize I said it out loud.

"Oh! Sorry. I was supposed to think that, not say it," I trailed off, feeling stupid for telling her that because it made things feel even weirder and more strained than before. "I'm... really sorry about what happened during gym class that one day. I, uh, don't know how I did that. And I'm sorry if I freaked you out."

Jane goes quiet and I wonder if she is going to tell me to go away or move away in fear. Finally, she cracks and talks. "It's... okay. But thank you for apologizing."

"Hey! Alyssa, c'mon! Let's get you going," Reese called out to me from the soccer field. She waves her hand happily and I stand up from the bleachers.

"I hope I see you around," I say to Jane before I take off toward Reese.

Anna grabs my arm when I approach and squeezes me with excitement. "It's so cool you're part of the team now. I thought you'd end up with the martial arts kids because you hang out with that Luna girl all the time."

"Is it only a Luna thing?" I ask, more as a joke.

"Its a Lycan thing," Reese said. "Now let's go, the faster we get out there, the faster I can see you kick ass, Walker."

The rest of the team fell to the center of the field, ready to start practice. I stood in between Reese and Joan. Victoria stood not too far away, making eye contact with me and raised her eyebrows, possibly in surprise.