Her Unknown World

Chapter 2

Lockers slamming shut has such a distinct sound and so does the sound of your coach yelling at you.

“Let’s go ladies!” Coach Smith came into the girl’s locker room to get us all out to the gym. She is a tight ship kind of lady. If you’re on time, you’re late. You better get there early or you’re running. Lucky, or should I say unlucky, for me I’m always right on time. Which causes me to normally have to run a couple laps around the gym before jumping into warmup drills. I don’t mind running, actually I love to run, but I never understood why it was meant to be a punishment.

“Everyone head on out to the track. Today we’re conditioning.” All of the girls groaned but I didn’t mind. I could actually use a good run. I found it to be a great way to clear my head.

“Can you slow down for just a second.” April huffed beside me.

“Sorry A,” I slow my pace just a little, coming around on the fifth lap.

“I just don’t want the hotties on the football team thinking I can’t keep up.” We both let out some giggles at her remark.

That was a benefit for having conditioning, the football team practiced on the field right in the middle of the track. Most of the time, the guys would end up with their shirts off and the team was mostly filled with ‘them.’ You couldn’t help but let your eyes wander over every now and then.

On the bleachers, the girls that are always with that group, are watching the guys practice. Some of them are giving aggressive stares to some of my teammates that have made it all too obvious that they’re watching the guys. Gosh, possessive much?

“I’m going to run this last lap. Want to join?”

“Ha. You’re funny.” April says with a chuckle. “I’ll meet you inside.”

I just give a shrug of my shoulders and start heading around the track. Coach keeps telling me to tryout for the track team and I’ve debated it a couple times, but decide against it. Track requires concentration and I get too lost in my thoughts.

Most of the time I think about my parents, especially right after the accident happened. Now, I try to focus more on my future. I have been working my butt off in school to earn a scholarship and grants. I know that if I keep..

“Oof.” I collided with what felt like a brick wall, landing me smack back on my butt.

I look up to see none other than Liam Moran staring down at me. His dark hair is faded in on the side, leaving the length for the top. The dark tone to his hair made his emerald green eyes really stand out. He has his six pack on full display with his shirt draped over his shoulder.

“Sorry about that.” He reached down to offer me his hand to get up. I don’t know why I was surprised with his kind gesture. Maybe it’s because his is ‘the king of them’ and I was just a low commoner.

“Thank you, but it was my fault.” I said, shaking my head. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

I looked down to see that he had yet to let go of my hand. It felt as though static electricity was moving between our hands. I’m nervous that if I were to move my hand away that I would shock him, but holding it there any longer would be beyond awkward.

The girls in the stands started to bring their focus over towards us. Kristin, Liam’s girlfriend, was shooting daggers at me with her eyes. There was no need to start any drama from just getting helped up from the ground.

I finally brought myself to pull my hand back from him and instantly missed the feel of his hand in mine for some reason. I could have sworn that I heard a growl leave his lips. It made me snap my head up to look up at him to try and see if he felt the static also. Maybe I did shock him by pulling my hand away, but instead of seeing the same breathtaking emerald eyes from earlier, I was met by a pair of black eyes. I blinked quickly a few times and saw his eyes were green again. The sun must have gotten in my eyes, making them look different to me.

“Thank you,” I said again as I moved to go around him and back to the gym. His eyes never leaving me as I go around him. I could feel his eyes watching me as I walked away from him. It took everything in me to not turn around and look back at him.

Once I was through the door and out of his sight, I ran to April. Crashing through the door to the girl’s locker room, I got a mix of surprised or annoyed looks. I rounded the corner where April was finishing pulling up her brown hair into a ponytail.

“I held Liam Moran’s hand.” I almost yelled at her.

“What?!” She mirrored my excitement.

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t really say held per say.” I moved over to sit on the bench just behind her.

“Ok, now you’re really going to have to explain.” April sat beside me. I went into my complete embarrassing story of running right into him and falling to my butt. Once I finally got her to stop laughing at me, I explained how he helped me up and just held my hand there.

When did I become such a fan girl? I never had any interest in Liam before. He’s always been attractive, there’s no denying that, but something was different.

“Did you melt into a puddle? I truly don’t think I would have survived.” She giggles.

“I managed to stay on my feet.” Looking around I noticed that no one else was left in the locker room. “We should probably head out before they lock us in here.”

I lied down on my bed, letting my arms fall to either side of me. It had been a long day at school and finished with me making a fool of myself in front of Liam.

My mind drifted back to him. Why did we have that static between us? Was it just in the air or was it something only I could feel? And why did he growl at me? Even with these strange things that had happened, what was even stranger was how much I wanted to see him again.

I took a deep breath to calm my mind. I have got to pull myself together. It was just a hand hold, not even a hold, it was a touch. It was literally him helping me up from the ground. Get it together, Cecily.