The Casanova's Class Clown

Prologue

"Doesn't basketball practice end at six? It's only around four." She stated, knowing full well of the time since she had just checked her watch recently.

Oliver looked away, his arms still around her though, before he shrugged. "I got captain to let me get out of it early." She didn't think too hard about the small red in his tanned cheeks.

"Why?" She asked, this time it was her turn to be perplexed.

"Because..." He trailed off, as though uncertain on how to proceed, before he sighed and answered, "I saw what happened, and I thought it wasn't cool to just gang up on one person like that. When you ran off, I told them to back off and they did before I followed you. I didn't know you came to this place. I always thought I was the only one who knew about Troffer Brook."

Her face went red from embarrassment when he said he had seen her terrible ordeal, her mind completely disregarding his last two sentences. Worse, he had actually told Ruby Faint to get off her back!

Great! Just great!

Now what was going to happen to her? Obviously, more teasing, more shunning, more bullying, duh! Maybe she should just stop going to school there and start packing her bags and move to the ocean and live like a hermit for the rest of her days... Yeah, that sounded like a pretty good idea. Actually, it sounded like a great idea!

"Um... Anderson?"

She wiped the tears out of her cheeks harshly before she jerked her head up to Oliver with a straight face. "What?"

He stared at her then, Emma waiting for him to say something, but he never did, and instead looked away and said "Nothing."She cocked a brow at him. Well, talk about second-thoughts. Speaking of second-thoughts, she sure wasn't having any with his arm still around her shoulders. She liked it. It felt like a warm blanket, and she liked warm blankets. They were always so warm and... blanket-y.

She looked at the gently flowing stream across from where she was then, birds singing songs and insects most probably singing their own songs, leaves and grass fluttering by the wind, peaceful, calming silence...

Maybe she won't move away to the ocean just to live as a hermit. She could just live like a hermit here!! Yeah! That was an even better idea! Living off the land in this place was sure to be better than by the ocean. She didn't even know how to swim, so what was she thinking?

"What are you thinking about?" Oliver asked her then.

She answered truthfully. "That this place is way better than the beach." Oliver nodded agreement. "And that I could probably pull off living like a hermit here."

She grinned when he looked down at her as though she was crazy, then cocked a brow when he smiled in realization.

"What?" She asked.

He grinned wider. "You finally smiled. Good."

She frowned, just to spite him.

He shook his head at her, and only then did she realize that they now sat next to each other, his arm around her, their back leaning on the trunk of the acacia, the brook as their view. Perfectly enough, she felt at peace.

"So," She heard Oliver say, "You come here often too, right?"

She nodded. "Every lunch break and afternoon I get."

"Oh, so we just miss each other. I come here early every morning and after practice. Sometimes, when I just want a break from other people, I come here too."