DRAWN TO LOVE

Chapter 5-6

Olive POV

He parked the car and glanced at the school building, a sigh slipping past his lips. Business management. Not because he loved numbers or theories, but because one day all of this his father’s company, the legacy built brick by brick would fall into his hands. The thought was both heavy and thrilling. He wasn’t just here to learn; he was here to prepare to rule.

As he walked through the quiet hallway, almost too quiet, his footsteps echoed against the tiled floor as he searched for the right classroom. He glanced at the folded schedule in his hand, trying to match the numbers on the page to the doors around him.

“Then, out of nowhere, she came flying around the corner.”

The impact was sudden she collided into his chest, books spilling from her arms onto the floor with a sharp thud. He steadied himself easily, but she gasped, stumbling back.

Books scattered across the hallway floor, to a stop against his shoes. He bent quickly, reaching for them, and that’s when he looked up.

For a moment, the noise of the corridor faded. The girl standing above him hair falling slightly into her face, was drowned in baggy clothes made his chest tighten in a way he hadn’t felt in years. She was… breathtaking.

When picking a paper among the books, he ended up seeing the name written on it.

And then it hit him. Recognition.

A flash of memory from grade six, playground laughter, pranks he played on her, cruel words he’d tossed at her thoughtlessly, never realizing how deep they might cut. Back then, he had teased her, pushed her, bullied her not because he hated her, but because he hadn’t known how to deal with the way he liked her.

Now here she was again, curves hidden under layers of fabric, trying to disappear into the hallway. And yet, to him, she lit up the space.

He handed her the last book, fingers brushing hers for a second too long, his breath caught somewhere between apology and awe.

When she finally looked up at me. “God her eyes,”, carried oceans in them calm yet endless, pulling me in with quiet force. It wasn’t her baggy clothes or the curve of her mouth that undid him it was her eyes. Blue, piercing, alive. They dragged memories from him he’d buried years ago. He’d teased her once to hide how much those eyes unsettled him. But now, standing here, he couldn’t look away.

“Thanks,” she said. Sliding past me.

Her hurried steps echo through the hallway as she tries to catch up with class. “As if she’s not already late,” I said to myself.

I spotted her ahead, hurrying down the corridor with her books pressed against her chest. For a moment, I only watched, the sway of her baggy clothes hiding the curves he remembered, the girl she had become wrapped in layers that didn’t fool him.

Then he realized where she was heading. The same classroom. Their classroom.

His heart thudded, equal parts nerves and determination, as he quickened his pace. Each step closed the distance until he was right behind her, just as she reached for the door handle.

She hesitated. He didn’t say a word, just stood there, close enough to catch the faint scent of her shampoo, close enough that if she turned, she’d find him waiting.

In that instant, he almost forgot about the professor inside, about the risk of walking in late. Though he knows he won’t be scolded cause he’s new.

All he could think of was her, the girl he used to tease in Grade 6, the one he never admitted he liked. Now she was here, within reach, and for the first time in years, he wasn’t about to let her walk in without him.

As we walked in all heads turned to look at us even the professor stopped his lecture gazing our way.

“Late again,” says the professor. His voice was sharp enough to slice through the silence. “Care to explain why Miss Davis?”

I didn’t care to listen to what he was saying was only staring at her. Sizing her from head to toe. She’s still short probably 5’1 or 5’3 I think.

Her hair, darker now, tumbled around her face in loose waves, catching the light every time she turned her head. He remembered it being shorter when they were kids, tied up in simple styles; now it framed her features in a way that made his chest tighten.

And then there is her body. The baggy clothes did their best to swallow her figure, but they couldn’t hide it completely. He caught glimpses of the curve of her hip when she shifted her books to one arm, the softness in her frame that the oversized fabric tried to disguise. She was fuller, chubbier than before, but it wasn’t the kind of softness that dulled beauty. No. It was the kind that drew his eyes in, the kind that made him realize she had grown into herself while he wasn’t looking.

Until he saw her move, that was when he shifted his attention back to the professor.

“Care to introduce yourself?” Asked the professor.

“I'm Oliver Thomas,” I said glancing her way, but she was not listening. She was busy scribbling on her notes only God knows what.

“Find yourself a seat to settle in,” said the professor.

The classroom quieted down as a girl I believe she's the popular girl in school I would say, flicked her wrist for one of her loyal followers to give up a seat. She expected him to sit beside her everyone did. Whispers stirred as a desk was freed in anticipation.

“But he walked past it.”

His steps slowed by the girl he had bumped into earlier, the chubby one still looking unsettled with her note jolting some words down as she listened to the professor but her mind wasn't entirely on what the professor was saying. He knows fully well she noticed how he ignored the girl who pulled a seat for him. The room fell quieter as he pulled out the chair beside her and sat down, deliberately ignoring everyone with disbelief written on their face.

“Her friends gasped”. Brittney’s lips parted in disbelief, as though no one had ever dared choose differently before.

The girl beside him shrank a little under the sudden attention, cheeks pink, but he didn’t waver. Leaning back in his seat, he folded his arms like someone who had just torn down an unspoken rule.

“Hi, I’m Olive,” Oliver Thomas, said.

“Wait what,” she shouted. I know she wasn't listening when I introduced myself earlier.

He withdrew his hand, because he knew that she wanted to pretend not to know him, and he already saw through her.