The Captain

The Invitation

Puttin' my defenses up

'Cause I don't wanna fall in love

If I ever did that

I think I'd have a heart attack

Demi Lovato- Heart attack

__________________________________

"I've realized you've been in a good mood a lot lately..." Fiona smiled at Harris.

They were on their way back from a tiring and stressful day at school. Harris simply shrugged and scrolled through his phone. He didn't know what his sister was talking about.

Or he pretended not to.

"You're just gonna shrug?" Fiona asked stopping at a red light.

"Do you plan on talking all the way back?" Harris groaned relaxing in his seat. Mr Fletcher preaching through all of last period was enough, he didn't need a second episode.

"Yes I plan to if you dont get talking." Fiona shrugged looking at him.

Harris shook his head,

"As of now you've put me in a bad mood. You might want to check your sources of realization."

Fiona snorted and crossed her arms,

"Yeah whatever, why I'm I worrying myself with you anyway. Gloomy gnome."

Harris shook his head and leaned it against the window. His dad had said the same thing Fiona was saying, and Paul and regi and mason. Honestly, he didn't know what they were talking about. He was just his normal self. Maybe they were being delusional.

Him? Zoning out all the time?

They must be wrong. Okay Harris admitted he zones out but then not all the time. That would be exaggerating.

"I'm not a gloomy gnome." Harris sighed staring out of the window. Gloomy gnome his ass. He saw himself to be the jolliest player in the football team.

"I'm not saying you are always a gloomy gnome, just saying you are acting like one now. I just want to know what has been occupying your mind..... Or who?" She c****d her brows grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Harris snorted and slowly closed his eyes. He wasn't zoning out because of anyone. He barely has time to think about himself. The officials had brought in a letter on debunking the suspension and allowing the boys to go ahead and play at states.

That was what was occupying his thoughts.

Well maybe. Lesley was slowly getting a spot too, the dark haired boy was slowly creeping into harris' thoughts. Harris didn't know why but it just happens.

He blamed it on Lesley's obnoxious and smug personality.

"I bet you are thinking about her right now. Tell me, who's the lucky girl." Fiona smiled and started driving again as the lights turned green.

Harris laughed lightly finding what Fiona said funny. A girl. He wishes.

"And what's so funny?" Fiona asked confused. Harris simply shook his head and brushed her off. Lesley was far from that. What Fiona was insinuating wasn't even near the correct guess, at all.

"Trust me, that dipshit is far from a lucky." Harris snickered.

"Oh so its Lesley?!" Fiona cried fanning her face. Everyone in school knew of the nickname Harris had attributed to Lesley, and vice versa.

Harris' head quickly snapped at Fiona eye wide then slowly turned back again with a troubled look.

"No its not." He grunted.

"Oh really? Then why are you so worked up then?" She quipped.

Harris didn't know, he just didn't like Fiona looking at Lesley from his view that way. He simply didn't want to admit the fact that Lesley had been the one responsible for his intermittent zone outs.

"Just leave me alone." He huskily said folding his arms and clutching his phone tightly in his hands. He had a deep frown on his face. When was he getting his car anyway so he could stop asking for rides from his sister.

"Okay whatever. Keep it to yourself then. Dont come to me when you need rides." Fiona sighed hoping to use her car as bait so Harris would spill whatever he was thinking of.

"Really?" Harris scoffed.

"Oh yes." Fiona grinned evilly pulling into their drive way. "So you better get talking. Who's that responsible for those unconscious smiles of yours huh?"

"You are just being delusional, and I dont know what you are talking about."

Harris got out of the car with Fiona jogging after him.

"You know very well what I'm talking about. Come on, let me in on your love life." Fiona whined.

Harris didn't even bother replying to that one. Well for reason one, he didn't know what Fiona was saying she knew he knew. And reason two, he had no love life.

"Did I hear someone just mention 'love life'?" Their dad greeted them as they entered the kitchen. Mr cooper had a deep voice for such a slim man. He looked like a photo copy of his son, if you take of the goatee and subtract some inches in height.

"Hey dad." Harris sighed and threw his bag on the island table grabbing a stool.

"Hey son." He smiled at Harris. Fiona was too busy stuffing her mouth with pancakes to greet. It was like her routine now.

"Where's regi?..and why are you cooking?" Harris gave his dad an incredulous look. He had on an apron with a spatula in hand.

Their father was mostly away so he never cooked, only on occasions. And the last occasion was when regi's wife was in labor and he had to attend to her, which was 6 years ago.

"Well I'm cooking because regi is out to get his dinner dress and so will you guys be in no time." Mr Cooper smiled. He flicked his wrist and checked his watch. "He should be back in an hour."

Fiona quickly and groggily chewed on the pancakes filling her mouth so she could speak. When she heard the words 'dinner dress' her excitement was turning wild.

"Why do we need dinner dresses?" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hands grinning like a giddy 7 year old.

"Well it turns out we've been invited to a dinner ball next week." He flicked out a matte black invitation card with white cursive inscriptions embedded on it.

"Oh my god by who!!" Fiona was bouncing up and down now. If there was to be one thing that never escaped her interest, aside food of course, then it was parties. Fancy balls, dinners, gatherings, basically any occasion that requires you to wear a fancy gown. She liked things like that.

Harris barely gave their conversation an ear. The last thing he'd go to was a ball. He meant, seriously? What was this, 16th century?

"Its being held at the Christensen's residence. Hosted by Mrs Maria Christensen. She's my partners old boss." Mr cooper explained giving the card one more glance.

"Wow I can't wait!" Fiona quipped up excitedly fanning herself. This was her thing. All she mostly attended was weddings and fancy gatherings, not a ball! An actual ball!

Harris snorted cynically at Fiona's reaction. He didn't even bother joining the conversation. He wasn't going. He had to finish his new level of call of duty.

"So you guys go out tomorrow and grab some dinner dresses. Regi will give you my credit card when he gets back so you don't use any of your own money, you hear me?"

"Yes daddy!!" Fiona exclaimed almost dying out of excitement.

Harris looked up from his phone glancing between the two,

"You guys know I'm not going right?" He stated.

Mr. Cooper sighed. He and James have been partners for long and they went way back. His family couldn't just not refuse to attend a party he had invited them to like that.

"You are attending that party Harris, and that's final." Mr Charles cooper stated.

"But I don't want to go." Harris retorted challenging his dad with a look.

"And why is that?" Charles raised his brows in question.

"Because I hate balls!!" Harris cried.

Fiona snickered with her mind thinking dirty. Come on! Its funny!

Harris shot her a dirty look before concentrating on his dad.

What difference did it make if he showed up or not? Who the f**k was James' old boss anyway. Harris barely gave a pickle about James himself.

"You go for the ball then I give you back your car. Is that fair?" Charles asked trying to compromise. He didn't get why teenagers were so stubborn.

As much as Harris hated parties he couldn't say no to the offer. If its going to get him his car back then it was worth it. He'll just show up and disappear after that.

What's the worst that could happen?

He sighed and dropped his phone on the table,

"Okay dad." He mumbled.

"That's what I thought." Charles said walking back to the stove.

Fiona was just so excited they were finally going for a ball. She couldn't just wait.

"Wait and one more thing..." Charles said looking back.

"What is it!" Fiona perked up not being able to contain her excitement. There was more?!

"Its a masquerade ball." Charles smiled.

Fiona let out a deafening scream of excitement startling the males in the room. She just couldn't deal with it anymore. She run up to her room fervidly screaming all the way.

Harris groaned lulling his head onto the table in despair. Now they have to wear masks and look like hippies? Could the universe just tease him anyway worse than that?

The worst part about all this was how Fiona wasn't keeping calm about the upcoming party. All through the day and the next she kept talking and dancing around the house like she was in a barbie movie. The much worse part was when they were driving to and back from school. She won't even be silent when they got to school. She will gather her fellow cheerleaders discussing what to wear and fantasizing about meeting her prince charming. How she had so much energy to do that was beyond Harris.

"I really like Fiona." Mason said taking a seat beside Harris at the bleachers. "How is she able to be always talking and happy all the time?" Mason laughed.

Harris snorted, "baffles me too."

She was with her vixens excitedly ranting about the upcoming party. In a way Harris was glad she was happy. Fiona wasn't always like this, it took years before they could finally break her out of her shell. She used to blame their mothers death on herself because Anna had died giving birth to her. Fiona as a child would get those episodes where she'll just break down and cry the whole day and it will have to take two people to console her and make her feel better. Sometimes it lasted for two to three days and Harris was always there for her. They would miss school together trying to get Fiona back on track. Their father never knew of this because he was always away making money.

Now harris was just satisfied she was happy.

"What is he doing here..." Mason asked with a frown.

"Who?" Harris asked turning to look at Mason.

"Lesley." Masons tone seeped with venom.

On hearing Lesley, harris' head quickly snapped to the direction Mason was glaring at. Walking onto the field was Lesley with a soccer ball in his hands coming for practice.

"I thought he wasn't supposed to be here when you're here." Mason said.

Harris gazed at Lesley not taking his eyes of him. "Same."

"Then what is he doing here?" Mason demanded.

"He's here because I told him to come." Wolfhard's voice resonated beside them. The boys had been concentrating so much on Lesley to see the coach walk up to them.

"Lesley is a good soccer player." Wolfhard looked at Harris. "I want you to be practicing with him so you guys can learn a thing or two from each other. You have to play knowing each other’s weakness so you can help yourselves out on the field."

Harris wasn't happy with what the coach was saying. In as much as a thing or two had changed between him and Lesley, that didn't mean he enjoyed the dark haired boys company, and vice versa.

Lesley was standing idly in the middle of the field looking at them with a bored look on his face, like he was forced to be there. Because he was.

"I dont think its relevant to practice with him. I could practice with someone else." Harris said not ready to have another banter with Lesley that hot afternoon. He didn't want to be around Lesley at all.

"No harris, I've decided this." Wolfhard was aware the boys were not getting along. Because one, they fought at the finals and two, when one came for practice the other miraculously doesn't show up. Wolfhard wasn't ready to have his players fighting and throwing punches at each other at states when they were supposed to be working as a team.

"Your practice begins today, now." Wolfhard instructed and took his leave.

Harris groaned really hard and threw his head back in agony. Slowly and taking his sweet time as possible, Harris got up from his seat and made his way to Lesley.

Lesley took a deep breath on seeing Harris finally walk up to him. He was only doing this because Wolfhard said he could skip practice after that for the whole of next week.

"Do you mind? Some of us have lives you know?" Lesley repeated the phrase Harris had used at him when he turned in late for the biology project.

Harris scoffed cynically, "And what life is that exactly?"

Lesley shrugged, "You wouldn't understand. Your little brain wouldn't."

Harris couldn't believe some days ago he actually cared about the dipshit standing in front of him. What was he even thinking? Lesley was a d**k. He will always be. It was like a permanent tag on him.

"You know just go back to wherever you came from." Harris hissed as Lesley kicked the ball lightly to him. He rolled it under his foot before passing it back.

"If passing the ball back and forth is what you're gonna do then I think I'll pass." Harris sighed.

Lesley then kicked the ball with more velocity making it speed up to Harris. Harris not expecting a kick like that had to quickly attend to it making it smash into his ankle. He shot Lesley a dirty look. Lesley simply smiled cunningly.

Harris kicked the ball back not as faster as Lesley had hit it. Before Lesley could hit it back, sherry, a brunnete obsessed with Harris quickly bobbed up to Harris and stood between him and Lesley.

"Hey Harris..." She greeted him seductively.

Harris barely paid her any attention. He's been telling sherry he wasn't interested since 10th grade but the girl seemed to be taking no for an answer.

"How have you been...." She trailed of running her finger down harris' chest. She continued to give Harris seductive winks as she licked her other finger smiling weirdly.

Lesley cringed.

"Hey I'm in the middle of practice." Harris snapped pushing her off lightly. If sherry didn't like the easy way he was going to go the hard way.

"Ok my prince. I'll call you then." She whispered seductively and winking repeatedly before finally taking her leave, swaying her hips with extra velocity because she knew Harris would be watching.

"Girl next door..?" Lesley asked not believing what he had just seen. He cringed again.

"More like b***h across the street." Harris huffed.

Lesley laughed audibly at Harris' dilemma resting his hands on his knees.

"This is not even funny." Harris snapped with a creased brow.

Lesley stood up straight again with a hint of mockery in his eyes, "you're right its not funny. I'm just glad it bothers you." Lesley snickered.

Harris shot him a dirty look before receiving the ball. He hit the ball so hard if Lesley hadn't dodged it would have smashed his head into pieces. Lesley stared at the ball eye wide as it disappeared of into the woods before he snapped his head back to Harris and striding towards him.

"And what the hell was that!" lesley inquired.

Harris smirked also taking steps closer with the scent of Lesley's Axe filling his nostrils.

"I missed." He smirked.

They were so close that their fingers were brushing now. Harris didn't know why but he began to feel a tingle at the touch. He quickly pulled his hands back.

"You don't wanna start this Cooper.." Lesley said not backing out.

He stared into Harris light green eyes not taking his eyes of him. Something about Harris' eyes always seemed to tick his interest. He wasn't sure if it was because of the light shade of green or the person they belonged to. Standing up close to Harris now, he realized he had missed some features of him. Harris had small eyes with very long eyelashes for a boy. His nose was slender leading down to his thin lips which was always pursed into a thin line. His light dirty blonde hair would tussle with the least amount of wind running through it which makes his hair fall into his eyes from time to time. His skin looked extremely soft even for a boy too. He notices how Harris creases his forehead when he's deep in thought, how his eyes lit with fire when he was mad, how they glowed and glistened when he was happy, how he silently munched on the bottom of his pen during a test, how little things made him really happy...like good grades and light humor and Mac and cheese at lunch.

Lesley imaginarily kicked himself for even realizing all that.

But he wasn't the only one having weird realizations.

Harris also stared at the dark haired boy taking in features he had never paid attention to. Lesley was clearly taller than him but not too much. His dark hair always stayed in position and Harris wondered how he could make it work like that. His skin was slightly pale and if you looked closely, you'll find the 4 tiny freckles that dotted each side of his nose. His chocolate brown eyes were deep. If you stared too much you'd get lost in them. This was why Harris wasn't a fan of looking Lesley in the eye. He had grown to notice how dark and wild they got when Lesley was angry.... And its been a while since he had seen that.

"Is this a practice game or a staring contest." Fiona appeared beside them smiling one toothy grin.

She had noticed them from afar and on realizing that the boys hadn't broken into a fight yet, she knew something had changed. On the regular it took them only ten seconds to break loose.

Lesley quickly averted his gaze from harris and towards the grass which seemed to be the most interesting thing at the moment. Harris also looked anywhere but lesley with his cheeks heating up.

"Oh...did I interrupt something." Fiona faked concern still not able to hide her smile realizing how her brothers cheeks was turning a light shade of red. Her suspicion was growing day by day.

"Actually, I'm glad you came. I was on the verge of mutilating his face." Harris said with his new found confidence. Lesley scoffed shaking his head unbelievably.

"Well I'm sorry to interrupt but Harris and I have to leave now. We have a little something to do." Fiona said grabbing Harris by the wrist and pulling him away. As much as Fiona didn't want to interrupt their special time, they had an appointment with the tailor and they were already late.

Harris glanced over his shoulder to look at Lesley and as if on cue, Lesley looked up to meet his gaze. Harris quickly looked away completely flustered.

What was happening to him?

He didn't understand why so many changes were happening to him, especially in the presence of Lesley. There must be something wrong with him. He thought of how their light brush of fingers had sparked a tingly feeling down his system. How he was suddenly thinking of Lesley's looks. There was definitely something wrong with him.

There had to be.....