Reincarnation (Angel Beats)

Mr. Heartbreaker

The boy, his blue eyes filled with a sort of crooked charm, caught the football in his hands and ran nimbly across the field, dodging a slew of the slower goons on team. He laughed as he scored a touchdown, pumping his fist in the air and whooping loudly.

He was your average popular jock. The heartthrob of the school, the carelessly handsome guy who would date that pretty blonde cheerleader with a makeup-caked face and dump her later without batting an eye. The boy who got decent grades on all of the tests, chewing enormous wads of gum and folding paper airplanes in the seat closest to the dusty window. The lazy athlete with the attention span of a flea when it came to anything other than football.

The girl sat alone on the bleachers, her red baseball cap tipped to cover her eyes and hide her peachy bare scalp. She was the loner that everyone was obligated to pity, the girl freshly released from the hospital, done with chemotherapy, left to fumble with words and try helplessly to fit in again. Gray windbreaker blowing around her frail shoulders, she stared at the jock with hollow pink eyes, resting her chin on her palms, a math textbook lying forgotten on her lap.

The boy gave her a sideways glance and a small smile. There was something peculiar about her that made him want to stare at her a little longer, regardless of the fact that she was nowhere close to being one of the busty beauties he typically went after.

"Hey, Scott." His friend gave him a small affectionate cuff on the shoulder. "Stop paying attention to that little brat. Gotta put our A game on for the match on Friday."

Scott snapped back to attention, flashing him a broad grin. "Don't expect anything less of me, Ryan. Destroy those losers, right?"

"Bingo! Oh, and I heard you dumped Sandra last Friday. She was crying her eyes out in the girl's locker room and wailing love ballads all day yesterday. What a wimp." Ryan snickered, clapping him on the back. "Honestly, she should have seen it coming."

Scott shrugged. "She's pretty and all, but honestly? Not my type. Way too clingy."

"Then who is your type?" Ryan teased, lips curling into a smirk.

Scott aimed a half-hearted punch at his shoulder. "Oh, fuck off."

Dodging another punch, his teammate stuck his tongue out at him and danced away, saying in a singsong voice, "Okie dokie, Mr. Heartbreaker."

The girl eased to her feet, swinging her bag over her shoulder and climbing clumsily down the bleachers. He watched her closely as she trudged across the field, and wondered why he felt such a connection to her, that girl he'd barely spoken to, small and meek like she wanted nothing more than to melt away into the walls. The girl who was forced to the corner of the cafeteria among hordes of laughing, talking high schooler, the girl he hadn't seen since she disappeared for leukemia treatment before Christmas break

Before he could stop himself, he was hurrying after her, red-faced and panting from the effort. As irrational as it sounded, he needed to hear her voice, needed it like his life depended on it. He wanted to throw his arms around her and hold her close, whisper that it'd be alright-

His fingers hovered over her shoulder.

Just before he could touch her, however, she whipped around, eyes widening at the sight of him. Flustered, she shied away from him, shuffling backwards and staring determinedly at the asphalt. "Excuse me? Did you need something?"

"Hey, it's Eileen, right?" He laughed sheepishly, holding out a hand to her. "My name's Scott. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, um....yeah, you too," she murmured, grasping it cautiously, like it might burn her if she wasn't careful. "Well, if that's all you wanted, I'd better get going. See you around, Sco-"

"Wanna get a drink? You know, a coffee or something?" he blurted out. A moment later, though, he was ready to bang his head against the wall- what the hell was he thinking, saying something so utterly stupid out loud?

He softened when she giggled, however, her rosy eyes filled with light. "Sure. I'd love that."

a/n: i present to you, yui and hinata!