My body was still completely frozen, the small, panicked gasps I emitted making me look immobilized. What the hell.
Harry blinked and turned his attention to Holly when she tugged at his shirt's sleeve. I looked back and forth between the two of them as both figures slowly moved. Holly one way, and Harry another--my way. She looked at him in surprise and jogged up towards him, asking him something. He jerked his chin to me.
Of course, I snickered in my head. No don't come here. Go away.
"Hey, Tyler.." Finn rose from his seat, leaning over the lunch table to shake Harry's hand. I didn't look behind me but I felt the tension between Holly and I, and I felt the warmth radiating off of Harry's body when he stood next to me to shake Finn's hand. At one point, his stomach touched my shoulder and I cringed away. He noticed. "Are you up for basketball later? We're all gonna be playing a round after training."
"Um," Harry's deep voice said tightly, and I turned to see him catch a glimpse of my sister, "yeah. Why not?"
"Evelyn's gonna be with us today. Have you two met?" Finn pointed between the two of us, waiting for one of us to clarify. When I didn't answer, Harry had gotten the idea. The people sitting behind us strained to hear our conversation.
He cleared his throat. "Yes. Yes we have." I gave him a weird look but when I found him staring back at me as weird, I turned away. I felt Holly shift behind me.
"Great! Hi," Finn turned to my sister who straightened immediately, "Holly, right?" She nodded stiffly but didn't say anything. "You're Evelyn's sister?" Finn spoke.
"Yeah," Holly breathed and lowered her gaze.
I cleared my throat just for the hell of it but I caused everyone to look at me.
"We should...we should get going, now," Harry whispered to Holly. Her head snapped up to meet his and she nodded vigorously. I wondered why they were so nervous but said nothing.
"Right. I'll see you in the gym." Harry pushed his jaw to the side and Finn nodded him away.
Holly didn't look at me as she followed Harry to a front table.
"You two okay?" Finn asked me once they left.
I rolled my eyes. "How can I be? He's dating my sister and he's a prick. I don't like him."
Finn gave me an odd stare. "I meant you and your sister," he clarified.
"Oh," I frowned. "We're okay. Just had a small argument."
"...You have anyone to go with for the September Dance?" Finn blurted out. He wasn't looking at me, but instead fiddling and drawing patterns on the edge of his lunch tray. I was already abashed with the Harry and Holly thing earlier and I honestly didn't want to talk about another party but I didn't want to be rude.
"No, I don't think I'll go." I told him, tapping my fingers on the table.
Finn bit his lip and bounced his right leg.
"What is it?" I pushed, leaning forward. He looked up at me, dazed, and cleared his throat.
"Will you go with me?" he asked.
I paused and thought this through. The last time I went to a party involving Finn Harries I got kidnapped by a homicidal psychopath who's feelings are annoyingly unpredictable.
"Finn," I asked awkwardly, rubbing my arm, "don't you have a girlfriend?"
Finn cocked his head to the side. "No?" He shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment. "No. There are a lot of gossiping nowadays, eh? No."
"Oh, okay."
He began to blush. "So will you? I will stay with you the entire time-" He was getting into an uncomfortable topic so I blurted out; "Yes."
-
"Hey, Evelyn."
I spun around from my locker to face Finn.
"Hey, Finn," I smiled back, clipping my locker's padlock on. "What's up?"
Finn stared at me. " I thought we were gonna play basketball with the lads."
I frowned, remembering that Harry would be there. "Oh, right. Gosh, but I suck so bad," I moaned.
"Don't flatter yourself, it's just training." he said, shooting me another cute smile.
"Finn."
I turned around. A blonde girl was standing there with a huge grin settled on her face. She was really pretty, and I immediately noted her as a popular person. She knew Finn, too, so...evidence.
"Hey, Mykela, haven't had a good word with you for a while," Finn said once she skipped over to stand in front of us. "Always busy studying in the library."
"Shut up." She turned to me. "Hey."
"Hi." I waved quietly. "I'm Evelyn."
"Mykela," she nodded and smiled at me, "You two heading for the gym? I need to go try-out if ya'll are willing to come along."
Finn looked at me. "Yeah, we were heading there right now, actually."
"Great, we'll walk together." She gave Finn a strange look as we all began to head down the hall. Barely anybody was here since it was break. "Finn playing basketball after--how long? Months."
Finn and Mykela began walking away, "Oh, if I didn't go Tyler would be pissed." Fucking Tyler. "I forced him to come."
Once we reached the end of the hall, Finn decided to make a dramatic entrance and shoved the gymnasium doors loudly. The room inside was huge so the noise echoed loudly; catching everybody's attention for a moment before they returned to talking and practicing.
Mykela gasped and lunged to a set of bleachers on the far wall where some girls squealed when they saw her. Girls sat on bleachers, popular girls, and Mykela was one of them, probably the only kind one here. Some over them wore a little too much makeup but other than that, seeing these girls at the mall or cinema wouldn't make you think they were rude. Popular, but they seemed nice even though they weren't.
Finn looked down at me and, when he realized I didn't want to sit with the girls, pulled me to the center of the gym.
There were four huge sets of bleachers; two on one wall and two on another. But even so, as I hadn't realized, a group of about ten boys sat behind the girls. Some were standing by the edge of the bleachers, and Finn took me there.
"Oh, Sam's back already?" Finn turned to Mykela with a happy grin. He took off, leaving me by Mykela.
"It's his cousin," she confirmed. "I'm gonna say hello. Come?"
"I'll just sit here," I told her and she nodded before taking off after Finn.
I sat on the front bleacher awkwardly, trying not to stare at everyone too long just incase they caught me watching them or felt my stare but still tried to find Harry. The fact that he was here still hasn't sunk in.
"Hello."
I looked up from my hands to find a boy standing in front of me. He was standing only a dozen inches away from me so I had to tilt my head back to look at him, plus he was tall, well over six feet. He gave me a shy smile.
"Are you Finn's friend?" he asked. He held a basketball under his right arm, staring at me with soft blue eyes, blonde hair.
I nodded. He asked for my name.
"Evelyn. You?" I asked him.
"My name's Luke," he told me, still smiling. "May I?" He was pointing at the seat beside mine.
"Sure." I scooted over.
Luke sat down beside me and began to bounce the basketball between his legs. I took my eyes off of him for a moment to face the small group across me. Several girls were staring at me, and one of them was laughing. I turned away from their gazes.
"Jackson is your brother, right?" Luke asked and I nodded. "He and I are friends. He's a good person."
"Yeah," I agreed quietly. "You trying out for the team?"
"And I hope I don't get in." He shook his head and laughed nervously. It was a quiet chuckle. "I like basketball but the other schools' teams are too good. Finn only wants me on the team because I'm tall and I could reach the hoop."
I laughed with him. "Yeah? You are tall, though."
"You're small," he blurted. I faked a glare and he shrugged, turning away.
"Hemmo," a deep voice called from across the gym, "you gonna practice or what?!"
"Just a sec, Ed." Luke called back to the boy. He was about the same height as Luke and had dark eyes and dark hair. He rolled his eyes and turned away.
Luke turned to me and held the ball up to me. "Wanna play?"
"I play worse than anybody," I told him and shot him a smile. I shook my head.
"I'm not playing without you," he said, surprising me. I blinked at him and he blushed. "I think we can make a good team."
"Maybe later," I said. "I'll watch you play."
He pouted his lips, hesitating. But then left.
I watched him leave as Finn strode up to me.
"Hey," he said quietly. "Who were you talking to?"
"Your friend, Luke," I said and jerked my head at him. Luke smiled at us and turned away to his other friend--Ed. "Listen, Finn. I'll just watch you play. I don't feel so good."
Finn looked confused and he stared at me for a while, but then he nodded frantically. "Yeah, okay. I wont force you."
I whispered a thank you and he went to join his friends in the center of the room.
I whipped my head around as I heard a thump behind me. Harry sat right beside me. I gasped and threw myself backwards but he grabbed my arm in a vise-like grip and caught me from falling off the edge.
"You scared the shit out of me," I grumbled quietly and yanked my arm back.
"Big words for a small girl," Harry chuckled and leaned back on the edge of another's seat. His hair was slightly damp with sweat, swiped back. A drop stuck to his temple and he struggled to wet his dry lips.
"You shouldn't be speaking to me when Holly is a few feet away," I told him sternly.
Harry grinned and turned to my sister. She was already looking at him but she turned away.
"Why does it matter?" Harry turned back to me, far too close to my face. I swallowed the lump in my throat and scooted back but he followed.
I breathed out slowly. "Because you're dating my sister, aren't you?" I twisted my head to the side, keeping my voice quiet because I knew the girls behind me were listening. How rude.
"I kissed you that night, didn't I?" Harry smiled, dimples in his cheek. How I miss that smile.
"I've been meaning to ask you about that," I swallowed again, looking at his hands, "why you...did it."
"I can kiss my soulmate."
"And date my sister?" My voice had gotten a little louder--not from anger but surprise. He sounded serious and firm. "She's, like, four years younger than you."
"I'm just playing around with her. No big deal," he said nonchalantly and leaned back on his elbows. I felt so angry at that moment that he thought pulling at my sister's emotions was amusing.
I shook my head lightly and rolled my eyes. "I'm praying the cops finally find out what your stupid face looks like," I said out loud.
"That wasn't nice. You should be nice. Being rude is a sin," he joked hypothetically and laughed at himself. It was a nice sound.
I stood up and he made no move to touch me as I walked down the stairs by the seats. Finn saw me and pointed back down at the seats with a scowl. I moaned and stomped my foot down like a child. He laughed from the other end of the hall and rapidly pointed at Harry. I spun around and he was wiggling his eyebrows at me as if nothing happened. I glared at Finn and went back to sit down.
"Hi," he chirped.
"Don't talk to me."
Harry yanked his shirt off and threw it on top of a duffel bag. I heard someone gasp behind me and resisted to throw my shoe at her face.
I flicked my hair behind my back and pretended to steal glances at Finn throwing the basketball on the ground and pushing it down with the tips of his fingers when it bounced back up. "I'm, uh, watching him," I jerked my head towards him and smiled dreamily, "play. Y'know...play.."
"Mhm," Harry pursed his lips.
We didn't speak for only a few seconds until Harry turned back to prick-mode and stalked off behind me. I turned for only one second and he was already sitting next to Mykela, coincidentally. She scowled at him when he attempted to say something to make her laugh. Then a smile broke onto her gorgeous face, and that's when I stopped looking.
-:-:-:-