Steal My Heart (Victor Blade)

Chapter 33

VICTOR'S POV

Things had been... weird. And that was probably an understatement.

Something had happened, because neither me or Avril were able to interact with each other anymore. We both turned red as tomatoes every time we simply exchanged two words, and things weren't the same anymore.

We'd disputed the match against Kirkwood, and won, but even while playing, I couldn't stop thinking about Avril and what I'd found out. I'd missed many occasions to shoot, and although we'd still won, I knew I had to fix this.

I just didn't know how. I didn't even know why it was happening.

I sighed sadly as I looked Avril working on a new defence technique with J.P and Wan Lee. I was sitting on the bench while they Michael shot balls their way. We'd been practicing every day ever since we'd found out our opponents were Genei Gakuen. Avril seemed focused, and never looked my way.

Ok, fine, I had a vague idea of what had happened. My feelings for Avril. That's what had happened. But that didn't mean things had to change... right?

I shook my head. I hadn't even said anything, and things had changed. If I said anything else, I'd probably blow everything up and push away my only friend.

The truth was... I was so scared to lose her. So many things could happen. I mean, what were the odds she liked me back? We'd always been friends, and we'd even started out hating each other. No, that wasn't the beginning of most romance novels.

Mainly, I worried about the Fifth Sector. I'd betrayed them, and they'd beat me up. I couldn't let them hurt her. I'd never manage to live with myself if something happened to her because of me.

So I had decided: I'd keep it all bottled in. At least until we defeated the Fifth Sector. That is if we managed. I shivered, thinking about what losing to the Fifth Sector meant. It meant losing Avril. That's what it meant.

I wasn't 100% sure why things were weird between Avril and I right now. I was trying so hard to hide everything, but she seemed to be hiding something too. And I missed our usual interaction. A lot.

Ever since that night, Avril hadn't showed up at my house anymore. The first night, I'd thought she'd just fallen asleep. But as the nights had multiplied, it became clear that Avril wasn't coming on purpose.

Why wasn't she coming? I didn't understand anything anymore. Of course, we never talked about it, we weren't even able to talk for 2 seconds without mumbling and blushing.

But I missed her presence, more than I thought I could. I'd often wake up in the middle of the night, thinking I could turn to snuggle with Avril, only to realise that she wasn't next to me.

"You good?" Riccardo approached me, handing me a water bottle. "You look like you're in a big dilemma."

I grabbed the water bottle. "I'm fine, thanks. It's nothing." My eyes immediately went back to Avril, who was explaining something to J.P. and Wan Lee. They were trying to perform this super complicated technique to stop the opposing team's killer shot.

Riccardo followed the direction of my eyes and paused. "You thinking about Avril?"

"What?" I asked, startled, looking at the captain of the team. We'd never been particularly close, but I'd heard from Arion countless times that he could read right through people. Guess he was right.

"I've noticed things have been weird between you two for awhile." He said, sipping on his water as I bit my lip, looking away. "You don't tease each other like you used to anymore. Wanna talk about it?"

I held my head with my hands, thinking. I didn't really want to talk about this situation altogether, and Riccardo was definitely the last person I'd talk with anyways.

"Not really." I sighed, as Avril, J.P. and Wan Lee tried the technique again, with no success. It was clear Wan Lee's mind was elsewhere.

"Well, if you ever need to vent, you can always talk to me. You're part of the team too, Victor." He warmly smiled at me, and my diffidence died down a little.

"Thanks." I smiled back, my eyes turning to Avril, J.P. and Wan Lee falling again.

"Ok, that's enough, guys!" Coach Sharp called, ending practice earlier than usual another time. "You all did good. Go home and rest!"

I stood up, walking to the lockers room. There was no point in waiting for Avril if we couldn't manage to get two words across.

"Victor, wait!" Avril's soft voice called out, as I turned around, startled.

"Everything ok?" I asked, trying to remember if I'd forgotten anything.

"We have the French Presentation for tomorrow, remember?" She panted as I shook my head. That's what I'd forgotten.

"Right, I forgot." I massaged my temples.

In reality, we'd known of the presentation for pretty much a week, but with our awkwardness, we'd been putting it off constantly.

I thought quickly. If Avril and I ended up alone together, we wouldn't manage to get anything to done. We needed a third person there.

"Wanna go to the hospital to study with Vlad again?" I asked and Avril seemed to sigh in relief.

"Sure. Meet you here in 20 minutes?"

I nodded as she ran off. Why did things have to be weird now? I just wanted things to go back to normal.

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AVRIL'S POV

Things between Victor and I were different. That's all I could think of while I held his waist awkwardly, sitting behind him on his motorcycle. The ride from the school to the hospital was only 10 minutes, but it seemed to be eternal.

I didn't understand why things were different. I mean, I did on my side. I liked Victor. And that literally changed everything. But what about him? Why did he blush as hard as I did every time we tried to talk?

Maybe he knew I liked him and didn't know how to tell me he didn't feel the same way about me. I slightly shook my head. Whatever it was, it was straining our relationship.

I just wanted things to go back to the way they were. I didn't have so many worries back then. Now I did. Like for example, what the hell was I supposed to do?

I didn't want to tell him. Because telling him meant losing him, and I don't think I could live with that. But at the same time, I hadn't managed to go to his house in days, and we both seemed to be stalling. Stalling what? I didn't know.

I sighed in relief as Victor parked his bike and quickly got off. I handed him the helmet, and he gently put everything away.

When he was finally ready, we started walking to Vlad's room, in complete silence. Neither of us knew what to say.

Oh boy, this is going to be long.