I entered the lecture hall after the stressful morning I had. I was exhausted from life at this point and it was a horrible way to start this new school year. In my head, I kicked myself for not being more strong. For not being more prepared.
I checked my watch, 10:53. Perfect.
I looked around and due to the fact that I was on time, I had a decent selection of seats.
Several girls and guys were trying to catch my eye, probably in hopes I would sit next or near to them. I scanned the hall before I landed on the one person who's head wasn't turned my way and she also conveniently sat towards the back.
Decision made, I made my way over and sat in the seat next to her. The first thing that struck me about her was her hair. It was a deep brown and pulled back into a ponytail. It had small waves in it and complimented her slightly tan skin perfectly. What the fuck? I looked away quickly, before I gave in and looked at her again.
I was about to look away again but before I could, her dark brown eyes snapped onto mine and I could've sworn I saw something resembling strong dislike in her features. She looked away.
After Professor Twine made it clear that we were to stay in these seats for the foreseeable future, he said, "Now, you will probably get to know this person next to you rather well, as I enjoy collaborative work." I could have sworn the girl's passive expression turn into a glower when he said that. "So, we might as well get started now. Turn to the person beside you and introduce yourselves everyone."
I turned to her and gave her a grin that always won me favours and said, "I'm Thomas. Thomas Verner." Her face remained the same, neutral, bordering on frustration. I was confused. "Your name is..." I prompted.
"Valerie. My name is Valerie Fawkes." She reluctantly replied. Her voice was smooth and she had an accent that I recognised as British.
"Where are you from?" I asked her. She gave me a confused expression, like I was supposed to be grumpy or mad at her or something before she said,
"North London. Camden. I don't know if you've heard of it." She tucked a baby hair behind her ear, still looking like she strongly disliked me. I wasn't sure why.
"Oh no, I have." I hadn't. Why was I lying? "I'm from the Upper East Side." I found myself saying.
"Figures." She sighed and turned away as Professor Twine continued speaking.
Later in the lesson, I still felt that odd tension that seemed to only be coming from her. In an effort to start conversation, I said, "Do you know what book we are studying?" I knew the answer.
Again, she gave me that confused look. Like I was being weird or something before she replied with,
"Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen." He answer was clipped and she made it clear she no longer wanted to speak to me and she turned back to Professor Twine.
She was strange.
For the rest of the lesson, I found myself stealing small glances at her but she didn't look at me once. I frowned at this thought.
By the time it had reached the end of the lecture, she packed up in record time and hurried away, acting as if she needed to put as much distance between me and her as possible.
As I left class, I saw her chocolate ponytail weaving through the crowd before she linked arms with a freckled brunette and they walked off.
"Verner!" My best friend, Marcus Williamson called after me.
Slightly annoyed, I turned to him.
"What are you staring at?" He asked me.
"Nothing." I lied, and quickly turned my head away from Valerie.
"Do you want to get lunch before practice?" He asked me and I nodded in agreement, falling into step with my best friend.
---
"Coach says that you have a really good chance at becoming captain, you know." Marcus said, in between mouthfuls.
"Hm?" I mumbled, looking up from my phone that currently had google open with pictures of Camden Town on the screen.
"I said, Coach wants to make you captain." He repeated.
I stopped, mid-eat, "But I'm only a Freshman."
Marcus nodded at me.
"He knows, but you were so good in high school that he's already considering you. How great is that?"
"Great." I mumbled. Just another responsibility lugged onto me.
I loved ice hockey, I really did, but with me trying to earn my degree, English Lit, the situation with my brother and now being captain of the ice hockey's team, I was unsure of how I was going to manage. More and more responsibilities seemed to find their way to me and I wasn't sure that I liked it all that much.
"Also, before I forget..." Marcus trailed off.
"What did you do?" I sighed.
"Well, technically it's not not allowed so it isn't even that bad."
I gave him a look. "Just tell me what you did, Marcus."
"Okay, so she was like really pretty so I couldn't say no and she wants to do this for her friend so I said sure, they could use the rink for a bit while we're practicing." He finished.
"You loaned out the ice rink?!"
"...yeah." He sighed defeatedly.
"You know that the ice rink is for ice hockey players only."
"You don't understand how pretty she was, man. I couldn't say no. She had these cute little freckles and she had glossy brown hair!"
I sighed, defeatedly. My best friend was an idiot.
"Look, okay, it's only for half an hour, towards the end of practice. She said that they just wanted to have a little fun, that's all." He said, shrugging.
"Did it ever occur to you that they could be some crazy fangirls coming to watch us?!" I pointed out, frustrated.
"I wouldn't mind her watching me." He grumbled, taking a bit out of his sandwich. "And considering it's just going to be us two practicing with Simon, I didn't think that it was that big of a deal."
Marcus, Simon and I had booked the rink to get some extra practice in before we officially started on the team. We were the only Freshman on the team so we needed the head start. The only problem was, I did not like Simon. Honestly, the only person I somewhat liked and was friends with, was Marcus. That was it.
Marcus and I have known each other for about 10 years. His family moved into the house next door to mine and after I kicked a ball over to his fence and he kicked it back, we became friends.
Marcus is the only guy I know that understands that I don't really like people. Maybe that's why we get along so well.
"Do you at least know their names?" I asked.
"I know hers, not her friend's."
"And?"
"Mable. Mable Fernbrier."
---
"Come on, Verner!" Jesus Christ, I hate people.
Currently, Simon, Marcus and I were on the rink, doing a couple of drills, trying to get some good practice in.
Simon was at this moment, yelling at me to... I don't even know, the guy is a douche.
Marcus gave me a look, clearly finding him annoying too and that was rare for him. I made a mental note to make sure that next time we practice, it would just be me and Marcus.
I was about to throw my hockey stick straight at Simon's blonde hair when I heard a knock on the glass of the rink.
I looked over to see two brunettes. One had freckles and glossy hair. Mable. My eyes slid over to the other, her eyes were already locked onto mine, her usual dislike alight in them. Valerie.
Maybe she was like me and hated people too.
Marcus skated over, "Mable. This must be your friend." They had now moved over to the door to the rink where they could properly talk and I found myself following.
"Thanks so much for this, Marcus, we won't be long, promise."
"Maybe we shouldn't do this. We don't want to interrupt your practice." Valerie said, giving me a wary glance.
"It's no trouble." Marcus said. I shot him a look that meant It kind of was. He pointedly ignored me but I know Valerie noticed.
"No, it's fine. I can see that Thomas doesn't want the intrusion." Valerie said with a smile. I could see Mable let out a small sigh.
"You know Thomas?" Marcus asked, looking at Valerie.
"Valerie and I sit next to each other in English Literature." I replied coolly.
"Valerie." Mable said, brows shooting up. "No one calls her Valerie, her name is Val." She said simply.
"Yeah, well it's Valerie to him." Valerie mumbled, barely audible.
Marcus gave me a look that said We'll talk about this later. I had no intentions of doing that.
While we were having our mini stand-off I could hear Valerie say, "Mable, I know what you're doing and it won't work."
"What?" She replied innocently, "It's not ballet, Val."
"No, it's not ballet. But it is quite similar and you know it." What? Ballet?
"I'm not doing anything, Val." Valerie looked sceptical. "And besides, you could use a little fun after the bad morning you've had."
What bad morning? At this comment, Valerie's eyes moved to me. I suddenly got a crazy burst of confidence and was about to ask her what her bad morning was when Simon skated over.
Great.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" He asked, looking the girls up and down. Slimeball.
"Mable and Valerie are going to use the rink for a bit." Marcus replied.
"Oh cool. If you need help, I can always teach you to skate." Simon said, winking at Valerie.
I decided then that I really hated Simon. Valerie seemed to agree because she looked repulsed.
"Does that usually work?" She deadpanned, following Mable onto the rink. "I think I'll manage." I found myself smiling at this but when she caught me, I quickly wiped the grin off of my face.
"Oh, come on, it will be fun." He said, unfazed.
"Simon, we're practicing, remember." I pointed out, grumpily.
"Thomas is right." She said. I liked the way she said my name. "And my type is brunettes." I looked at her. I didn't really have a type but I decided that I like brown hair too.
Mable laughed at this and Marcus' eyes drifted over to her. Jesus. They skated off. It took a while for Valerie to get the hang of it, but once she did, she moved with such grace that it left me a bit dumbstruck.
They both moved with such natural ease and when Mable stuck one leg in the air, laughing with Valerie, I remembered. Ballet. They were ballet dancers. Get a hold of yourself. I silently reprimanded.
"You're staring." I heard Marcus say from behind me.
"I'm not." I lied.
"I am." He said, looking at Mable.
---
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you liked Thomas' pov!
Word count: 1811