Undiscovered Connections

Chapter 3

I trudged my way through the school gates, actually one of the earliest to arrive. I quickly make my way to the girl’s bathrooms. I need to get rid of the grease and smell of last night from my skin, some water under the pits and a splash on my face sounds ideal right now. 

As I slip through the bathroom doors, I make my way over to the big mirrors that cover one side of the wall with sinks underneath it. Lining the opposite side of the room are toilet stalls, all empty. I quickly strip off my white school blouse and start the tap, waiting until it reaches a warm temperature to dip my hands under and scoop up enough liquid to rub myself down. Avoiding making a mess as much as possible, I repeat this process on both sides of my body and then rub down my arms and neck for good measure. Water starts to trickle down onto the ‘Babe’ tank and drenches the top half. 

I then quickly splash my face with water, relaxing into the freshness it provides. Opening my eyes, I examine my face closely. My eyes have a slight bag underneath them from the lack of sleep, circles starting to form and would inevitably grow throughout the day with my continued lack of sleep. But my big eyes which are a mix of green and blue with some brown flecks are bright, a feature that never seems to tire even when I’m physically exhausted. My small mouth is turned down slightly at the edges as I frown at myself, noticing the absolute mess my hair has turned into. 

I run my hands through my hair, trying as best as I can to tame it without the added help of a shower, drier or even comb. I finally manage to get it into some semblance of tidiness and quickly tie it up in my signature high ponytail, making sure that the streak of blonde is tucked away at the back. I let a few tendrils of curls fall out, shaping my love-heart shaped face. It wasn’t great, but it would have to do. 

As I’m finishing up, a small group of girls enter the bathroom. Some people I recognise from my year but in other classes to me. This school was rather big, so it was very common to not know everyone. 

“Someone seems to be getting ready for the Games…” I hear one of them drawl at me. I look in the mirror at the reflection of a tall, slim blonde girl who is staring at me with a sneer on her face. “You really think a top like that is gonna get you imprinted? Pathetic…” she mutters the last part and all her friends snicker at her comment. 

Urgh, I am not in the mood for this. I have next to no patience and also do not understand why I am suddenly being attacked by this girl. Speak about insecure…

I grab my blouse and bag and swiftly move past the group of girls. I will not respond today, it’s just easier to say nothing, it’ll be more irritating for them that I didn’t react. Plus, my brain literally can’t think of a response even if I wanted to. With that, I exit the bathroom before I embarrass myself trying to come up with a good reply. 

As I’m leaving, I walk straight into something hard. No, not something, someone. 

Hands shoot out to still my body as I bump into them, gripping me strongly around my upper arms. I slowly turn my head up, and my gaze finally meets the icy blue, serious eyes of Logan. I gulp quickly, s**t. A light blush quickly makes its way to my cheeks. 

“Oh.. erm, I’m so s-sorry” I manage to stutter out, his intense look making me stammer. Great. Just what my poor over worked brain needed, a hot and broody (also quite pissed off looking) guy to contend with. 

His eyes move from my flushed face, gazing down my body. When his eyes reach my slightly exposed breasts and the imprinted ‘Babe’ they widen a little with a flash of something unfamiliar, maybe a little heat, but then he quickly snaps his eyes back up to my own.  

“You should be more careful, a little one like you could easily get hurt” he says condescendingly. I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard him speak, his voice is melodic and enticing… wow he should really speak more, that was so lovely to listen to… wait a second. Did he just call me a little one?! What does that even mean? Come on brain, keep up… doesn’t matter how nice his voice is! 

“Umm excuse me?” I quickly add in, trying to bring my brain up to speed, despite its tiredness. Come on Cassandra, I mentally shake myself, you need to be present, even if you are exhausted. “I don’t know what you mean by ‘a little one’ but I don’t like being called that. Plus, maybe you should be more careful – other people are trying to get around here!” I say with as much dignity as I can muster. 

“Well, I mean you are little, firstly. And secondly, you walked into me… not the other way round.” He scoffs slightly, with his beautiful voice and a small smile playing across his full lips. 

Ahh yes, he has a good point… I did walk into him. Well great, good job brain – I officially look like an i***t. 

“Pfft, okay well… I’ve got to go” I state, trying to save myself from further embarrassment. As I pull away from his arms, his fingers lightly brush the sides of my boobs and my blush deepens a bit. Definitely feels like he could have avoided that. 

I take a further step back and then hurriedly pull my blouse on. That has got to be one of the weirdest interactions I’ve ever had at school. I walk quickly down the hall, with the feeling of being watched and repeating in my head an order to not turn around and look. 

I make my way to my classroom for my first lesson of the day. Economics, this should be a nice dull morning… at this point the Games this afternoon seem like a blessing. I sit myself at the back of the classroom and settle down for the first lesson of the day. 

My head is nodding back and forth as I try to keep my eyes open and my mind awake through the last period before lunch. It had been a rather dull morning and I had remained rather unnoticed as usual at the sides of the classrooms. 

There was growing excitement from the rest of the school about the upcoming Games. All the girls were whispering and giggling with each other, assessing the boys and trying their best to primp and preen before the afternoon began. This was typical for this stage before the Games begun, all the girls who wanted to be imprinted on would do full make overs during the lunch break and practice asserting their ideas of femininity however they could. Some went one direction and would push up their boobs, shorten their skirts and generally expose as much skin as possible. Others would bake cookies or cakes and start offering them to the boys they liked in an attempt to show good domesticity, hoping to trigger an imprint. I even saw a girl earlier picking up a toddler to babysit throughout the Games, I think it was her niece, but either way it was an extreme length to go to prove her feminine qualities. 

I mean good luck to them but count me out. 

It wasn’t just the girls who were getting all excited though. All around the boys who were 18 or over were flexing their muscles, being overly flirtatious and competitive. Earlier, when I was walking between classes, I could hear the mock screams and giggles of these two girls who were being picked up by one guy, one of the school’s jocks, who was showing off his strength. It’s at this point that the boys all become a bit bull headed, light banter easily tipping over to heated arguments and fights. It’s always better to avoid groups of guys at this stage, they usually get so pumped that they can’t stand being around each other for too long without having tensions rise.

The bell rings for lunch break and around me everyone hurriedly packs away their things, the excitement in the air is palpable. I slowly pack away by books, trying to avoid as much as possible the crush of bodies pushing their way into the corridor as everyone heads to the cafeteria for food. 

I wind my way through the corridors, quickly heading for my locker where I can deposit my bag and books and grab some money for food. 

As I’m shoving my things into my locker, I feel a warmth at my back as an arm comes up to the other side of my opened locker, essentially trapping me in. I turn to face the jock I had seen earlier, the one flirting with all the girls. I think his name is Peter, but I’m never one to keep up with the school’s sports teams. 

“Hey baby, I saw you this morning… you know that tight little top looked so hot with some water on it.” He smirked down at me, looking rather obviously at my chest. Leaning in closer so I can feel his breath on my ears he whispers, “You’re one of the quiet ones, I like that. Look out for me later baby, I’m sure you’ll be impressed at what I can do and no doubt you’ll want to be around me when my testosterone is up.” He pulls back, giving me a wink. “Oh, and don’t hang about for it, I’ve got lots of offers…” as he walks away, he looks pointedly down at my boobs one last time, smirking and sauntering off. 

Well, that was gross. I don’t even know the guy, you show a little bit of skin once and this happens. I knew that the Games made the boys a lot more cocksure but bloody hell, I do not want to be randomly stalked just because the boys think they hold all the power today. I slam my locker angrily and storm off to the cafeteria, the sooner this day is over, the better. 

The rest of the lunch break goes all too quickly, and I soon find myself pressed from all sides as the school makes their way to sports grounds for the beginning of the Games. As an 18-year-old girl, I was separated from the rest of the school and put into a line with the other girls of imprinting age. We were all meant to sit right at the front of each event, close enough for the boys to notice and imprint if they could. 

Settling into my front-row seat, I look down at the long line of girls on either side of me. Everyone who wanted to be imprinted was sitting as straight as possible, chatting, gossiping and doing their best to look as feminine as possible. I slightly curled in on myself, getting as slouched and small as possible. If I was lucky, I could snooze through most of the Games which usually didn’t last too long and then head home. 

Just as I think this, a voice booms over the speakers. Our principal announces the beginning of the Games, this time round it would consist of 3 different rounds and at the end there would be a social mingle for all students of imprinting age. The first round was going to be a tug of war, the second would consist of arm-wrestling competitions one-on-one, and the third and final round was a good old-fashioned race. I’m not sure who came up with these events but apparently, they were the most natural ways to produce higher levels of testosterone, so I guess that was why they were all chosen. They always made sure to put the guys in competition with each other and always did events that got the adrenaline pumping, helped by being watched by the whole school. 

The guys started filing their way onto the fields, all starting some stretches and warm-ups. It looked like some were already squaring up with each other and there were a few bloody noses which indicated that fights had broken out whilst they were waiting, their testosterone levels rising already. 

I quickly scan the group, not sure exactly what I’m looking for when my eyes fall on a group of four guys. They had separated themselves slightly from the rest of the boys, they were all warming up and chatting jovially. I could distantly see them all laughing, clapping each other on the back and joking around with Dylan clearly instigating the jokes. My eyes hesitate on the group one last time, when the claxon goes off signalling the beginning of the first round. 

At this point I fashion a pillow out of my bag and close my eyes. Praying for a quick end to the stupid Games. 

I’m drifting into sleep, letting the shouts and activity around me zone out and become quiet background noise as I snooze. Suddenly, there is a happy squeal from a girl seated a little to my left, I snap open my eyes, already switching into flight mode. That’s when I notice a guy running as fast as he could towards her, he’d apparently just finished the tug of war and had noticed the girl close to me because he had the slightly glazed look of someone who had just imprinted. 

He ran over to the girl and scooped her up, looking fiercely into her eyes and then walking swiftly away with her as she giggled and swooned uncontrollably. Urgh, so it’s begun. 

Over the next round, more and more girls were imprinted on. With the arm-wrestling getting testosterone levels to higher peaks, it seemed like the frequency of imprints was going up with more girls excitedly getting picked up and swept off their feet. 

Luckily with a bit more time passing, things appeared to be slowing down, and as I had stayed conspicuous the whole time I had gone unnoticed by the boys and even the girls around me who still excitedly chatted to each other. 

I close my eyes again, hoping to get some last moments of sleep before the Games ended and enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. 

“And now we have the final round of the Games. Please, gentleman, make your way to the beginning of the track! We will be starting the race shortly” came the announcement from the Principal. 

I sigh slightly, relieved that the last event will be a quick one with a short race and I can get back to my room, finally! 

I hear the starting gun echo around the school field as the guys start racing. And just like that, it was over! The Games had finished, now all I had to do was get through the post-Games mingle and then I’d be free!