Teaching River

Damen

MYSTIQUE

It was Thursday afternoon and we were sitting in the auditorium, trying to learn the musical songs since the whole choir was featuring in the musical, apart from those who were chosen to actually feature as main characters who obviously needed to participate.

"Okay from the top, Mandy you start..." said Mrs Harmony.

And so Mandy began to sing and her melodic voice began filling the room as we all started singing with her as well, our voices joining in as one, creating one gorgeous masterpiece of a song.

After a few more attempts at the song, Mrs Harmony stood up with a smile, and clapped her hands. "Beautiful! Absolutely perfect! And so soon! Wonderful! Okay because of your amazing work today I'll let you go early!"

And by early she meant one whole fricken hour earlier! Jay was only going to take me home after his public speaking practise. Honestly, I had no idea what to do with myself until then since I had also already completed. I sighed, and began walking aimlessly until I heard someone with a sweet voice call after me.

"Hey Misty!" I turned around to see Mandy, who, during the weekend, had dyed her hair a deep cherry red. The red actually suited her much more than the blue and made her eyes pop out even more.

"Um... hey Mandy..."

"Are you going home now?" She asked kindly grabbing my arm in a friendly way. Her icy blue eyes shone in an excitement I had never witnessed in anyone. In fact, her expression sort of resembled that of a child's.

"No, Jay has public speaking."

"GREAT! You can watch football practice with me! Everyone else is either on the cheerleading squad or at home so I usually sit there like a loser, alone. But now I have you!" She squealed.

Football... yawn. She had, however, asked nicely, and I had nothing to do, so eventually, I decided to ignore the fact that I would probably be bored senseless and join her.

"Okay, fine, let's go." I said with a small smile.

She dragged me to the football field to the red benches where we sat comfortably- well, as comfortably as we could. We were quite close to the boys practicing football and the guys and gals practising cheerleading, so much so that I could see everyone clearly. I could even see River running like crazy and Christian as well, which was surprisingly not surprising. They seemed to be practising quite hard. Especially River who was drenched in sweat. His face was pulled into a very stern expression. It was the second time I had seen him pull an expression not resembling some sort of s****l or flirtatious emotion. It was quite refreshing.

During the rest of my analysis of the football team, I noticed someone I had not yet met or seen around school. He was quite handsome and looked to be of Asian descent, with shiny, soft looking brown hair, dark brown eyes and an absolutely adorable smile which possibly shone brighter than the harsh rays of sunlight attacking us. He had lean muscles, was quite tall and, I had discovered his name to be-

"Damen, kick us the ball!" Skyscraper said.

Damen, passed the ball to River who passed it to Christian and so on and so forth. But I couldn't concentrate on the game, I could only concentrate on Damen. He did not look like the type of guy to sleep around with Jenny behind his back at all. He looked so gentle and pure.

The boys kept on playing, oblivious of Mandy and I, until Skyscraper turned around, and his eyes caught mine in an intense stare. It was unnerving to be honest.

His stare began relaxing, and his lips formed a smirk. "Hey Misty!" He said, with a friendly wave, as though we were the bestest of friends.

I waved back and then Damen, who had noticed River's absence from their practising also looked at us. River turned to him, said something inaudible, and then Damen nodded in realisation.

"Hey Misty! I'm Damen!" He yelled and waved as though I didn't understand English.

I waved as well, then I noticed how Damen's breath hitched in his throat as his eyes wandered to Mandy who wasn't at all paying attention to the boys, and instead waved at her cheerleader friends. Maybe there was more to this Damen than I knew.

Eventually, the long practice ended after the boys got distracted by Mandy and I because we were their beloved spectators. I, however suspected it was due to their curiosity, regarding me, the new girl whom River had not been able to seduce.

The boys pulled their shirts off and decided to pour cold water onto themselves to cool off and wash away the sweat they were coated in. I was about to pack up and walk away when...

"MYSTIQUE! HEADS UP!" But I was too late. Water cloaked me from head to toe and even my bag was soaking wet. I turned around and spotted the person, or should I say people.

They. Were. So. Dead!

I dropped my bags, and ran towards both Sckyscraper and Damen. They were really going to pay! 

Mandy, who was just as wet, soon joined me in chasing the boys around the field with the baseball bats which we grabbed from the red sports equipment bag.

"Girls aren't waterproof you idiots! This water is cold!" Mandy yelled. She was running after Damen who looked like he was having the time of his life. I on the other hand was in hot pursuit of Skyscraper who was running slow on purpose to mock me. It was all because he had long legs, that's why he was faster.

"Hey slow poke! What will you do if you catch me? Miss goodey can't do anything bad to anybody!" He said in a squeaky mocking voice.

"But you aren't anybody, you're Mr Pain In My Behind Skyscraper! And I intend to..."

And just like that I let the baseball bat go and roll under Skyscrapers feet, sending his tall self plummeting to the ground with a huge, loud thud.

He lay there, his bare chest smudged in shades of brown and green with sand and grass. I couldn't help but laugh so hard that I too fell to the ground, right next to him, holding my stomach. Skyscraper, who was at first extremely mad, also started laughing.

"You sneaky little b-"

"Language!" I said through my panting.

Suddenly I heard someone fall down beside me.

"PLEASE Mandy! I'm so sorry! Don't hit me! I have a photoshoot tomorrow!" Damen begged with his hands up in surrender.

"Hey! Model boy! Shut up! How would you like it if I threw ice cubes at you!" She yelled grabbing her shirt and wringing out the water on him.

"Damen you do modeling?" I asked as Skyscraper helped me to stand up. He literally pulled me up as if I were nothing but a tiny, thin blade of grass.

He got up too and ruffled Mandy's hair to which she protested.

"Yeah, I'm kind of a model." He said as if it was nothing. Quiet honestly I could see him being a model, he had the face, lean muscles and height. And there was something about him that just seemed charming.

"Yeah! I'm so proud that he's my best friend!" Mandy said. Clearly someone was severely friendzoned.

My eyes widened and I stared at them. Poor Damen.

"Oooh, I would be proud too if my best friend was a model!" I said trying to break the awkwardness. 

"Oh but I am a model... in theory! I'm that good looking!" Skyscraper winked.

I rolled my eyes and said, "You're not my Best friend are you?"

He chuckled, "But I could be! Think about it... River and Misty, partners in crime. And for my wedding you could be my best man!"

"And what about Christian?" I said in disbelief.

"He could be my other best man!" He said. I could see that a part of him was serious, and a part was joking.

"Yeah no. Maybe later on you could claim to be my besty and I would believe you!" I laughed.

But my laugh was cut off by Jay.

"Misty, you ready?" He asked standing next to me.

He then greeted Damen, Mandy and River as old friends would and then he turned to me and his brows creased.

"Why are you wet?" He asked confused.

"Ask Damen and River!" Mandy hissed out. It took and entire half an hour for them him what had happened since everyone interrupted everyone else.

"Wow! That must have been funny. Now if you guys don't mind, I have to take Misty home."

We waved goodbye to everyone, but my mind lingered on Damen until we were in the car.

"Whats wrong Misty?" Jay asked noticing my dazed expression as he turned on the car. Why didn't my parents want to buy me a car!

"What can you tell me about Damen and Mandy?" I asked.

He looked at me shocked, but then he recovered and sighed.

"It all started when Damen moved to our school. He was a sweet, shy kid, smart, sophisticated and always determined. In fact he still is. He just covers it up because of... Mandy. He fell in love with her the moment he saw her, unfortunately the feelings weren't mutual. In fact she was dating some jerk, jock named Oliver. When Damen found out, he changed. He stopped wearing glasses and started styling his hair differently and gyming. He even joined the soccer team, all for her. After that he gained the attention of all the girls in the school, including Jenny. He saw it as an advantage and started hanging around with her to get close to Mandy because she and Jenny were close. Mandy and Damen did eventually become close, but everything changed when she broke up with Oliver. It was so messy that Oliver was expelled and moved to a new school. It was then that Damen decided to become what Mandy needed, a best friend. He was always there for her and suppressed his feelings because he just wanted her to get better. But everyone knows how in love he still is with her... everyone except Mandy. You have to admire Damen though, even though he sneaks around with Jenny, he would rather give up his love for friendship with the girl he loves just to make her happy." Jay said.

And even though I felt sorry for Damen, the name Oliver, had my blood turning icy as my mind drifted to yet another person in my life who had a huge impact on it. However, I brush away the thought, sure that it was a pure coincidence that her ex's name was Oliver, just like someone I knew.

"But why is he still sleeping with Jenny?" I asked.

"He never did. The furthest those two have gotten was kissing, but he still feels guilty for sneaking around with Jenny behind River's back. Jenny however, tells everyone they are sleeping together so that Mandy will never go for him." He said.

"Why?" I was so curious and could not swallow my many questions.

"That's a story for another day, we're here at your home. And besides it would be better if you asked him yourself." Jay said.

I sighed reluctantly.

"Fine..." I was slowly about to exit the car, but Jay pulled me back in.

I was surprised to see his blue eyes staring at me with a strong intensity which forced me to look away. But, as I stared at the seat of the car, I suddenly heard a familiar voice at the back of my head.

"Look him in the eye..." it said deeply.

So I took his advise and looked up into Jay's blue eyes, which now, I noticed, had slight green flecks in them.

"I really like you Misty, I really, really do. You're so different from other girls, you are humble, kind, good and really smart... And at times, feisty and shy and too innocent for your own good." He said stroking my cheek gently.

I could literally hear my heart beating in my eardrums and my breath hitched in my throat as I closed my eyes, feeling his fingers softly graze against my face.

"I like you too..." I hummed out.

"You do?" He asked biting his bottom lip.

"Yeah of course. Wasn't it obvious?" I asked slightly giggling.

"Well... no. You seem like a hard person to please. You didn't like River and every female is attracted to him... that's why I thought you wouldn't like me." He said softly.

"But you are not River, you are Jay." I said. Then I gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Something very bold, reminding me of who I used to be.

Jay had a large beautiful smile on his face and his cheeks were flushed. I wish I could have stayed longer, but realised that this was as far as my confidence would take me today. So I began moving away and fiddling with the door handle.

"Bye Jay, and I really like you! Don't forget it!" I said getting out of the car. I never turned back to look at him because my cheeks were flaming hot and all I could think of was River. He was really influencing me and starting to grow on me, and I hadn't even been here that long.