Chapter 69
969 Words
"My name's Denver. Nice meeting you."
He had that timid look on his face that screamed mystery. But his group of friends says otherwise.
"Yo, D!" Harper called out as he approached us on the bench. They were playing football on the field and he was sweating like hell. "Who's that girl you' with? Meet anybody cute? Oh, it's my girl."
"I am not your girl, Adrian," I rolled my eyes at his egoistic approach. "That's the last thing I'll ever be."
"I honestly don't remember her being this feisty when we were dating," he quips to his new buddy. "Anyways, this is Charlotte, my ex."
"Middle school dating doesn't count, Harper. And I've met your new recruit. Don't seem that different from the lot of you.”
"Oh, yeah? Thanks," he smirks, placing his hand over Denver's shoulder.
"Yeah, he's got the looks, minimal skill aesthetic, and huge ego-boosting techniques," I spat out before leaving the pair in the bleachers.
Adrian was left speechless, while Denver looked amused. They all are when they first meet me. I had that kind of charm.
"You weren't lying when you said she's feisty," I heard Denver say to Adrian before I went out of their earshot.
....
"You really dated her?" Denver asks Adrian again as they return to the football field. It was football tryouts and Adrian, the team captain, had been praying with high hopes that Denver would make the cut.
He was, after all, his recruit. It would be a shame for his recruit to not make it to Coach Ashton's high standards.
He saw his potential as he played last week's tournament for the opposing team. It didn't take a lot of convincing for Denver's mom after she heard about free scholarships and higher chances of playing pro ball.
Now, all he had to do was slip Denver into the team.
"Coach Ashton's not much for the skills during tryouts. I mean he knows it when he sees it, but he kinda looks forward to how the players follow the plays he gives. Kind of gives him the sense of how responsible and determined to learn the player is, you know?"
"So, now you aren't going to answer me? You were a huge show-off and disrespectful when Charlotte was in front of you. You can't show the same dissing attitude with me asking questions about her?" Denver muses, looking at the blushing Adrian.
"Just forget it, man. I'm telling you, she's not worth the trouble."
"Oh, I think I can determine if the trouble's worth, all on my own," Denver continues, not missing a beat. Adrian stops in his tracks to face the young man. "Unless, of course, if you still like her and would like to date her again. Then, I'd respectfully back off."
Denver holds his hands up, teasing Adrian, who continues to get flustered by the minute. Grasping a hand on his chin, he answers his brazen new recruit, "I don't want to date her. I've already gone down that road and it wasn't pretty. I don't like her. Her mere presence sends me off in alarm because she is not a force I dare reckon with."
"What?"
Now, come on, Adrian, afraid of a little girl?
"She's evil, okay? Not mean girls mean, I mean, Rachel McAdams is mean in most movies she's ever been in, except for mean girls. And she's manipulative and gets her way in a relationship, and there is no room for mistakes when you're dating that straight-A freak."
"You look flustered, bro," Denver observes.
"I just don't like her. She broke me and my last girlfriend up. Unintentional, they say. But didn't feel that way to me."
"Whoa, that's just evil."
"I know. That's why I said drop it."
It was more than Adrian had ever said about Charlotte, even in one interaction, even when they were dating. Denver was a pushy new recruit and he was hoping that wouldn't affect his chances with the coach.
"Coach Ashton!" Adrian called out.
"Hey, boy, who have you got there?"
"This is my homie, Denver. He just moved to town. Great arm."
"Is that so? Let's see it on the field. Denver, you're up!"
....
"So, how's the new guy?" B asks as she sits on the seat next to mine. The bell had rung but Mrs. Bedford wasn't the punctual kind of teacher.
"Not too bad," I answered, contemplating. "But it won't be long before he becomes jock-s***h-huge-ego bad. He's Adrian's new recruit."
"Is that so? I thought he looked hot."
"Robert Pattinson hot," I cough out, looking around for signs of my boyfriend. "But he also seems very impressionable. The kind that Adrian can so easily mold into the jerk that he is."
"Sucks," Beatrice said, rolling her eyes and returning to her seat. Just then, Mrs. Bedford arrives.
The first class on the first day of the new school year was dull. Mrs. Bedford wasn't known for her enthusiasm for teaching, nor was uninteresting science trivia.
We headed down to the next class that the five of us shared. Although it sucks that Rossalyn still wasn't back from Brazil. We had gotten her enrolled and everything. She just had to show up to class, but alas.
"It's my first day but you're a very prominent character in it. Repeating, too," Denver chuckles as we meet at the same time at the door of our next class.
"Yes, what a small world," I smiled back, cutting my way into the room.
James and Charles were already seated at the back of the class and there was only one chair left vacant near them. I looked at Beatrice and I saw that she had already taken the seat in the front row, and had saved another one for me.
- Writer
