BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
I let out a loud groan as the sound of my alarm clock brought me out of my deep sleep. I didn't change position, but instead just whacked the clock with my arm. It hurt like hell, making me want to scream. I failed to hit the snooze button however, and the insisting ringing continued to fill my eardrums.
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
"Shut up!" I moaned pulling the duvet over my head to drown out the sound.
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
It got louder. I couldn't take it anymore, so I sat up in my sleepy state and rubbed my eyes. I frowned in concentration and pressed the snooze button. Ah, 10 minutes of pure heaven awaited me...
"BIANCA!!! Are you up???"
Or not.
Fuming, I shot up in bed and shoved the covers off me, pulling my bedroom door open. "WHAT?" I demanded angrily as my Mom stood in the hall, hands on hips.
"There's somebody on the phone for you!" She said in sing song. "HURRY UP!" Her tone changed entirely.
I suppressed another groan and mumbled angrily to myself as I went into the kitchen to the phone. It was one of those phones that was connected to the wall with a long twirly cord. "Yeah?" I said, twisting the cord around my index finger.
"Bianca, is that you?"
"Yeah. Who's this?" I demanded, a yawn escaping my lips.
"It's Ethan, from-"
"I remember." I cut him off. "How did you get my number?"
"From the phonebook," he said, amused. "Duh! Hey, you don't sound so good- are you sick or something?"
"I just woke up," I snapped. "Now, is there a purpose for this phone call or do you just feel like a chat?!"
"Oh yeah," Ethan chuckled to himself. "Will you meet me before school starts? I wanna practise for the track team try-outs."
I felt a smile tug at my lips. "Ethan Blake, captain of the football team wants help from little old me?" I pretended to be surprised. "Well gee, I'm touched."
"Cool so you'll come?" He asked, hopeful.
"Sure," I said. "I'll be there in twenty."
I hung up the phone and went back into my bedroom. Our new house was considerably larger than the old one in Boston and I had my own en suite bathroom. I grabbed a fluffy white towel and shut the bathroom door behind me. I took a quick hot shower, then wrapped the towel around me and blow dried my hair. After I'd dried off, I got dressed in turquoise denim short shorts, because it was a boiling day and a simple white Hollister top with the little bird symbol in the same shade of turquoise as the shorts. I slipped on my white converse and left my hair loose in beach waves. Then I put on a little eye make-up for a change. I wouldn't be caught dead with that foundation gloop on my face.
As I was applying mascara to my eyelashes, I froze and stood staring at myself in the mirror. What the hell was I doing? Was I putting black stuff on my lashes for Ethan? I mean seriously, when did I ever wear make-up before? I shook my head, confused and grabbed my bag before getting in the car with my Mom to go to school.
"You look nice today," said Mom as I slid into the passenger seat. She started the engine and reversed out of the long driveway. Then she swerved the car onto the road and we got moving.
I shrugged. "Thanks Mom..." I said.
"Is it for that nice boy who rang you this morning?" I could practically see a hopeful glint in her eye as she said it. She had always wanted me to have a boyfriend and not just guy friends.
"I'm just helping him with his running," I told her quickly. "You know, since I made the team."
"And I'm so proud of you honey!" She said with a smile.
I smiled back as she pulled into the gates of Grove High. "You can just leave me here," I said, waiting as the car came to a halt. "Bye, see you later." I called, jumping out and slamming the door.
She drove out of the school and I strolled around to the back of the school where the running track was. I could see that Ethan had already arrived... And he was shirtless! I rolled my eyes. He had knee length running shorts on and his six pack abs on show. I walked up from behind him. He was leaning over, catching his breath with trickles of sweat running down his back.
"Boo!" I said, crouching down next to him. He didn't flinch.
"I heard your footsteps." He explained.
I laughed and joined him on the ground. "Ew you're all sweaty, Ethan!" I said, smiling.
"You like it?!" He grinned, pretending to hug me. I pushed him away, laughing.
"Are you ready to go, or what?" I said.
He nodded and stood up. "Okay," I said, thinking of what he should do for practise. I took out my phone and opened the stopwatch. "Run 100 metres, 'kay? I'll time you," I told him.
Ethan nodded, did a couple of stretches and bent down, ready for me to say 'go'.
"On your marks, get set... GO!" I pressed the start button as he surged forward down the running track, pushing himself to go quicker. Then as he passed the 100 metre mark, he slowed down to a stop.
He joined me on the side. "How was it?" He asked me.
"Not bad- 11.92 seconds. Usain Bolt got 9.58 at Berlin, but it's still pretty good!" I said.
Ethan scowled at me. "Oh yeah, that's fair. Compare me to the world record holder, why don't ya?!"
I laughed. "Anyway, I have some pointers for you," I said, slipping my phone back into my pocket. "You wanna lift your knees higher, like this." I showed him by running on the spot with high knees. "It'll make your steps go further, 'kay? And also try using your arms more."
I grabbed hold of his bare arm with my hands and manoeuvred it into a 90 degree angle. He smiled as he watched my hands. "Try moving them back and forth more, it'll push you forwards, for a better and faster run. Got it?" I waited for a reply, but he continued to watch my hands, smiling.
"What?" I demanded.
"You have nice hands," he told me, gripping them with his warm ones suddenly. I felt an electric wave run up my arm at his touch. He caressed my hands softly before looking down at me. "I'm attracted to girls with nice hands." I watched his lips as they curled into his signature smirk. Then I averted my gaze back to his eyes, icy blue eyes rimmed with a deeper royal blue.
I quickly took a step back, remembering what Amy had said: "He's just luring you in." But I couldn't help but want to kiss him. I felt like hitting myself- I shouldn't have been thinking about that. Stupid Bianca.
"What's wrong?" He asked me gently.
I couldn't stop myself from looking at him again. He was running a hand through his thick blonde hair, his eyebrows creased slightly, looking worried. I turned and started walking away quickly. "Nothing," I answered. "C'mon, we better go before the bell rings."
More like, we better go before I kiss you. Because I seriously couldn't stop myself from wanting to place my lips against his.
It was so frickin tempting.
***
The day passed quickly in an uneventful whirl of teachers, homework and friends. I hadn't given much thought to the English composition that Mr Andrews wanted me to write- yeah, I was the kind of person who left assignments until the day before they were due. You would think that I'd be more careful after I got detention in my first year as a freshman for not having my French homework finished. But hey, life goes on.
Although I had a love for writing, ideas didn't come to me very easily so I couldn't just put my pen to a blank page and hope for the best- nope my creative skills didn't work like that. That's why at half three, when the last bell rang I had found a vending machine in school and was kicking the bottom of it angrily.
"Hey, don't take your anger out on the vending machine!"
It was Nikki. She was watching me with a worried expression as I continued to kick the machine. "Damn it, my energy drink is stuck!" I told her.
Nikki raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "Calm, Bianca. Be calm." She slid her tiny hand under the flap on the machine and yanked the drink out from the spot where it had wedged itself in. Then she handed it to me with a defiant look. "You're welcome," she said. "Now, come on. We've got try-outs for the running team, remember?" Then she glared. "Well I do. You don't, but you have to help coach, right?"
I nodded and took a long sip from my energy drink as we left the building and went to the locker rooms. "So have you seen Amy today?" I asked Nikki. I hadn't spoken to Amy all day. She didn't show up for English or lunch, but I saw her at her locker a couple of times.
Nikki sighed loudly. "Yeah, about that... Amy's kinda pissed with both of us." She told me.
"How come?" I asked, trying to think whether or not I'd done something to annoy her. However, my conscience was clean.
"She's angry with me for telling you about her losing her v-card to Ethan, and she's angry with you for obvious reasons..." Nikki trailed off as we reached the locker rooms to get changed.
"What do you mean?"
She laughed. "Well, duh. Your little secret meet-up with Ethan before class. It's been going around the school all day!" She said as if it was obvious.
It took me a second to process what she was saying. "But I was just giving him some pointers for the tryouts. You know timing him while he did the 100 metre sprint cos he rang me this morning, that's all!"
Nikki's mouth opened like a fish and then closed again. I almost laughed, but she looked serious. "But everyone is saying that you guys are secretly meeting up and making out and stuff..."
Now it was my turn for my jaw to drop. I quickly jumped up on the bench, half-dressed to see if anyone was in the locker room. It was just us, so I joined Nikki again. "What are you talking about?" I squeaked. "I did no such thing!"
She shrugged. "Bianca, this is California- gossip spreads like disease and the stories tend to get a little warped along the way." She told me.
I finished getting dressed and we made our way to the track. "But I don't get it!" I said, exasperated. "Who spread the rumours?" Realisation hit me hard. "You don't think it was..."
"Ethan?" Nikki finished for me. "It could have been. You never know with Grove High. But don't go jumping to conclusions."
I let out a tired sigh and we jogged over to where coach was standing with a small group of students. "Hi girls." He called out to us. "Numbers are small this year," he said with a sigh. "But hopefully it won't matter when we have new talent like you on the team."
I smiled, but I was preoccupied with worries about the rumours. "Line up kids!" Coach yelled. About twenty boys and girls lined up, craning their necks to avoid the glaring sun beating down. Coach handed me a clipboard with all of their names on it, and a biro. He lowered his voice so that only I could hear. "We're going to do the 100 metre sprint with them. Take this stopwatch and I want you to write down the time they get, okay?"
I nodded, understanding his instructions and watched as he called out the first name. It was in alphabetical order, so the first to be called was a lanky girl named Jordan Arnold. She had stick thin legs and the shorts that were designed to be snugly fitted were baggy on her. She flashed me a smile, tied her mousy brown hair back and bent down on the starting point.
Coach blew his whistle and I started the stopwatch. Surprisingly for her height, Jordan wasn't a great runner. Her legs were all over the place, as were her arms.
She ended up with a mediocre time of 12.85 seconds. "Thanks Jordan," Coach called to the girl and he called the next name. "Ethan Blake?"
Ethan gave me a small wave. I wasn't sure whether I should wave back or not. What if he did start the rumours? Instead I just smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He stood on the starting line and waited for coach to blow his whistle. As soon as he did, Ethan was off sprinting faster than I'd seen him before. He took my advice and lifted his knees high, and also moved his arms to give him maximum speed. He passed the line and I stopped the time. 11.39- an improvement.
"Good techniques, Blake!" Coach called as I jotted down his time.
Nikki didn't do particularly well in the sprint, but she came out top on the long distant run. By sunset the tryouts were over and I had collected everyone's scores to determine who had made it and who hadn't. Coach and I had decided on the ten people who had made the team, so it was my duty to call out the names.
"Okay," I said, scanning the list. "The ten people who have made it on the team are Ethan Blake, Yasmin Davis, Fiona Ferguson, Charlie Grayson, Finn Harris, Nikki Li, James Parker, Carter Price, Austin Solmes and Katy Wright." I smiled at Ethan and Nikki for making the cut. "Well done everyone!" I looked at the dismayed faces of the people who hadn't made it. "There's always next year!" I called after them cheerily.
Everyone filed off the track talking amongst themselves. Some voices excited and happy, but others not so much. I caught up with Nikki and hugged her. "Congrats Nik!" I gushed.
"Thanks Bianca!" Nikki was overjoyed. She practically skipped all the way to the locker rooms. "I'm surprised I made it, but I guess it was the long distance that did it for me, right?"
I nodded. "Your energy seems to go on and-" I stopped in mid sentence when I saw who was standing, waiting outside the girls' locker room. It was Amy. Her deep red hair was twisted into a long braid and she stood stiffly by the door with a grim expression.
Nikki waved and squeezed my arm comfortingly. "Hey Ames! Didn't know you were waiting for us." Nikki rushed over. "I made the team!"
Amy's face brightened briefly. "Well done Nik." She said. "I went to the library after school." Our gazes locked for a moment and she beckoned me over. "Well, hi there B. Haven't seen you all day. Where've you been?" Her voice was unusually pleasant and she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She stared coldly at me.
I gulped, worried that she was hiding her fury with that fake smile. "Hiya." I shuffled on the spot.
Nikki saw that I was uncomfortable and spoke up intuitively. "We better get changed. My mom's waiting in the parking lot." She grabbed my hand and started dragging me inside.
"Can I talk to you a sec, Bianca?" It was Amy. I cursed under my breath and left Nikki.
Why was I so afraid anyway? Because Amy had been so serious about me staying away from Ethan and now rumours were flying around about him and me having a 'thing'? It was no big deal, right? I smiled to myself and turned to face Amy who was no longer smiling for Nikki's benefit.
Man up, Bianca.
"What do you want, Amy?" I sighed. "I've really got to get going, so could you hurry up?"
Amy stepped away from the wall and moved closer to me so that I could smell her sickly sweet perfume. "Oh don't you fret, B. I'll get straight to the point." She paused for effect. "What's this I hear about you and Ethan, huh?"
"I don't know, what did you hear?" I played dumb.
"That you two were being naughty behind the school this morning..."
I scoffed. "I see. So giving him tips for the track tryouts is naughty, is it?"
"Yeah right, and after I personally told you to stay away from him. And after Nikki spilled the beans about our little love affair," she said.
"You could hardly call it a love affair, Amy."
She blinked. "Harsh. But true. Anyway, that's not the point. I've known you for only two days Bianca, and already you're sneaking around with the captain of the football team? It's really not giving you a very good image."
"I wasn't sneaking around! For the love of God, Amy I was helping him practise!" I said with an angry scowl.
"All I'm saying is, if you don't want to be called a slut, than-"
"How many frickin' times do I have to say it so that it'll sink into your head?! I WAS HELPING HIM PRACTISE!" I said. I really wasn't cut out for this whole girlfriend thing. Guy friends were a whole lot easier.
At that moment Ethan and Finn, the guy with fancy black hair walked out of the locker rooms by us. "Yeah she's right," Ethan said. "It's Amy, isn't it? She was helping me practise for the tryouts. And thanks Bianca, you did a great job." He waved to me before continuing on his way.
I looked at Amy. I was on the brink of coming out with a smartass comment when I saw tears well up in her large blue-grey eyes. She pushed past me and ran into the girls' bathrooms. I stood frozen to the spot, feeling guilty. Then I sighed and entered the bathrooms.
She had locked herself in one of the cubicles. "Amy?" I called. "You okay?"
I heard her sniffle. "Fine." She mumbled.
I knocked softly on the door. "Can I come in?"
She didn't answer, but the door unlocked and I joined her in the small cubicle. I slipped in and locked the door again after me. She was sitting on the closed toilet seat, her head in her hands. I sat up on the window ledge as she sighed. "I really thought he loved me, y'know." She drawled. "But as soon as he got what it was he wanted, he was gone in a flash. I guess it was just puppy love. I didn't mean anything to him."
I wasn't sure if I was meant to say something or not. "I'm new to all this girl stuff." I told her. "Back home I just had guy friends. I don't know what I'm meant to say, or when to say it. You see, I'm not good with the deep emotional stuff. I'm not good at comforting people, in fact I'm pretty shit at it. I don't understand fashion and today is the first time I've worn mascara: Hence the panda eyes- I didn't realise that I couldn't get water on my face."
Amy laughed loudly at my mascara comment. "You're wrong."
"What, I can get water on my face?" I questioned suspiciously.
"Well that's not what I meant- but yes you can. It's called waterproof mascara. I meant you're wrong about saying that you're not good at comforting people. Because you are, and you just made me feel better by making me laugh." She flashed me her pretty smile.
"See, I have so much to learn," I mused. "I'm probably not meant to make you laugh. We should both be hugging and crying in each other's arms, or some shit like that, but instead I'm making you laugh? So much for deep emotional stuff. I'm no good at it."
"Clearly." She giggled.
I pretended to be offended, but ended up laughing. "C'mon, I'll give you a lift home, Ames."
We both stood up, stretched like cats and left the bathroom. "I'm sorry for being such a shit friend."
"You swear a lot."
"No shit Sherlock."