Holding Back

07 | Nonchalant

Anastasia woke up with a heavy head, it was like if someone had hit her head hard. When she had forced herself out of the bed, her first instinct was to go down and check on her mother. The faint memory of her mother being drunk and passing out on the floor comes striking to her.

It was Monday morning, she slept no less than five hours and with her mother showing up at midnight while she shouted at Anastasia, it made impossible for Anastasia to go back to sleep. As she had thought, her mother had passed out on the couch, the bottle of alcohol was now broken into pieces.

Anastasia sighed, the frown on her mother's face told her that it was going to be one of the same day, her coming home late, her lashing out on her and yet again, she would doze off. She started to clean the mess that made her mother, not only did she break the bottle but there were clothes lying on the floor too along with the couch pillows.

Picking up the clothes and pillows was not a big task but picking up the pieces of glass had to be done cautiously. Anastasia winced in pain when a small piece of glass pierced her skin, she knew it was meant to happen. After a while, when she had finally managed to clean the floor, she took out the medical kit.

Cleaning her wound which wasn't much large but yet it was a bit deep cut, she bandaged herself in thoughts that she needed to get ready for school. From last week she had been trying to avoid Damien at all cost and he did not put any efforts to make her talk to him.

When she took a shower in haste, she threw a hoodie over, pair of black jeans and got her hair tied high up into a tight ponytail. Alyssa had offered to give her a ride to school today which was thankful for. Grabbing her bag and phone, she marched downstairs, she tried her best not to make any noise that would wake her mother up.

"Hey there was a pretty lady" Anastasia sighed in relief when she exited her house and upon hearing Alyssa who seemed to be sitting in her car with the window rolled down, her sunglasses on the tip of her nose, Anastasia smiled at her. "Well, you look pretty too" She sat down next to Alyssa, her head resting on the head of the seat. "You alright?" Alyssa asked, throwing her sunglasses into the dash box. Anastasia nodded, opening her eyes and fixing them in the road straight ahead of her.

"Let's go," Anastasia said while rubbing her eyes which were threatening to shut down at any moment. Alyssa turned the radio on, her eyes looking straight forwards, focused on driving. Anastasia regretted not bringing coffee along with her, she had only eaten an apple on her way to shower.

Soon, they were in the parking lot of the school. Alyssa unbuckled her seatbelt and Anastasia did the same, hopping out of the car the next second. "You are coming to the football game today, right?" Alyssa asked, walking by Anastasia's side into the school. "What? No" She answered, she had no will to attend the football, she never did.

It wasn't like she did not like football but Anastasia wasn't a big fan of football either. "Oh come on, it will be fun" Alyssa insisted, she wanted Anastasia to tag along, she wanted her best friend to relax for some minutes because most of the time she was being so very uptight. "I don't know Alyssa" Anastasia walked towards her locker, she hated to see Alyssa sad but she also knew that Alyssa was doing it for her and none other.

Before Alyssa could say anything they heard the warning bell, Alyssa quickly waved at Anastasia and ran to her own loker. "Hey" Anastasia was startled by the sudden voice, it was Maya Greg standing in front of her. Anastasia gave her a polite smile, trying her best to not come out rude. "Hey Maya" At that, Maya smiled back at her, it was Anastasia's chemistry class and so was Maya's.

"So, I heard you two talking, why don't you come to the match today?" Anastasia raised her eyebrows, Maya was eavesdroping on their conversation and it did bother Anastasia, she had no right to do so. "I just don't feel like going" Maya nodded, walking to the chemistry class in complete silence. When the two entered the class, thankfully for Anastasia there were only three seats available and they were poles away.

She took a seat at the back of the class, she could feel several eyes on her making her self conscious. Anastasia never, ever wanted the spotlight though there was a time when she did but that thought was buried deep down now.

With no other thoughts lingering in her head, she took her books out but all she could feel was Maya's eyes on her for the rest of the time.

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Damien kicked the football with a blank mind, unsure of where he was even kicking the ball. Sebastian had been standing some distance away from him, observing him. He looked completely lost, for the first time Sebastian couldn't understand what was wrong with him. Without making any noise, Sebastian walked towards Damien.

"Hey buddy, somethings wrong?" Hearing him, Damien stopped in his spot, looking back at Sebastian who stood some centimeters away from him. He just shook his head, denying that nothing was wrong. Sebastian observed his face for a second, turning away his head when he started to kick the football yet again.

It was an important match for him this weekend, he wanted nothing but to taste victory but with so much in his head, he wasn't so sure about winning the game. Sebastian made no further attempt to interrupt Damien, he was not on the football team but watching his best friend play and cheering him was what he preferred to do.

Damien had taken special permission from his coach to practice all day. In the morning he had totally forgotten about the match but as soon as he was greeted by one of his team mates, he came back to his senses. Damien was relieved because he wasn't going to see Anastasia today, the one good thing he was grateful for now.

"I gotta go" Sebastian gave Damien a nod before running off, away from the field. Damien sighed, he took the football into his hands, sitting down on the ground, taking his sweaty shirt off the next moment. He got up to pick the bottle of water from the other side of the field. "Well, well, well. Someone's looking smoking hot"

Damien looked at the voice which came from behind, it was of a female but never heard of. To his dismay it was Daisy Marbles, the girl who often found drooling over Damien and yes, he was well aware of the rumors that went around in the school about Daisy being obsessed with him. "Hello" He looked away from her, he certainly did not wish her to be here.

"Do you need any help?" Daisy's eyes travelled down at his naked chest making Damien realize that he was shirtless, he grabbed his duffle bag which had one extra shirt and immediately threw it over his head. Daisy smirked, moving a bit closer to him. "I would have helped, you just had to ask"

Damien sighed, he wasn't the person who would hurt women by his words but then, he did not like the way she was looking at him. He slightly pushed her away when she was starting to inch more closer and he himself took off from there, not uttering a single word to Daisy.

Walking towards the boys locker room with his duffle bag, he heard the bell ring, apparently it was lunch break and he was starving but he also needed to take a shower. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he ran into someone, his first instinct was to catch the person and so he did. It was the only person that he loathed the most, Olivia Green.