(Not edited! Please don't leave editing comments.)
Chapter 4
Sander had a very analytical mind. He could see numbers in a way that I couldn't. He solved through the problems very quickly and once in a while he would stop and explain certain parts to me that I didn't understand. To say that I was impressed would be a complete understatement. Nate and all the other scholarship students had made it sound like most of the students who went to the school were rich and incompetent, but obviously Sander and Dayton didn't fit into that category. Working with Sander made a slight dent in my ego. He was not only wealthy but also smart. How could I compete with someone like him when it came to applying for college?
"Well Otter girl, it looks like we're done!" Sander announced once we got done with the last problem.
I looked up at him and smiled, he looked so proud of himself. "Is that what you're going to call me?" I questioned him watching him run his fingers through his blond hair once again.
Sander shrugged his shoulder. "I like to be unique. If we were in a crowded room and I called you by your given name you wouldn't know who was calling, but if I called you Otter girl, you would know it was me right away." He explained with a certain sparkle in his amber eyes.
"And you anticipate us being in a crowded room a lot?" I asked, feeling a smile play on my lips.
Sander raised a light eyebrow. "Well I would prefer to be alone in a room with you, but in case a situation ever arises where we need to be in a crowded room, I would want you to know exactly who was calling you." Sander's smirk was filled with amusement that was quickly becoming very familiar to me.
I knew my blush was evident on my cheeks, because I felt my body heat up. I usually stayed away from guys like Sander in my old school. Correction: there weren't any guys like Sander at my old school, and even if they were they would never have said anything like that to me. I stared at Sander at a loss for words.
Sander threw his head back and laughed loudly, drawing the attention of our classmates and teacher. Looking up at Mr. Peterson, Sander quickly tried to cover in laugh into a cough but I knew he didn't fool anyone. Mr. Peterson looked at the both of us through his glasses and then quietly looked back down at his paper.
I turned to Sander with an appalled look and saw a smirk on his lips. His large hand reached over and touched me on my arm. "Otter girl, if you are going to survive in this school, you better get used to hearing comments like that," Sander advised.
I shook my head and tried to will myself not blush even more. "I don't- it's just that I'm not used- well-." I stammered stupidly.
Sander gave my arm a quick squeeze before moving it away and crossing his arms across his chest.
"It's just that you aren't used to it?" Sander asked and when I nodded he smiled and continued. "I'm surprised. Were the guys in your other school blind?" He questioned plainly as though that was the only thing that made sense.
I shook my head at him again. "Of course they weren't." I whispered softly. Some groups were still working so the noise level was up in the classroom, but that didn't mean I felt comfortable chatting away loudly.
"Well were they all gay then?" Sander questioned leaning onto the desk. "Because I don't understand why else they wouldn't have made a move on you."
I scowled at him and shook my head yet again. "No," I said in a whisper again. "I'm just plain old Aria, there isn't anything too special about me." It was the truth.
Sander's amber eyes narrowed. "I don't know, I think it's pretty special to have gotten a scholarship to one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the nation."
I was taken back by that statement; I hadn't expected Sander to say something like that. "Thank you." I told him shyly, feeling that dented ego slightly inflate again.
Sander's amber eyes observed me for a few seconds. "Not used to flirty comments or compliments. I bet there are a lot of other things that you aren't used to." He stated trivially.
I couldn't think of anything to say to that, and thankfully I didn't have to because the bell rang right then.
"Pass the worksheets forward." Mr. Peterson announced as the students reset the classroom and packed up their things.
I shrugged my bag onto my shoulder and looked up hoping to spot Nate and Lynn, but instead my eyes connected with a pair of very accustomed blue iris. I let out a gasp as I realized how close Dayton was to me, and I took a hasty step back.
"Ow!" Someone yelped behind me, and I turned swiftly to find Nate rubbing his chest where I bumped into him.
I covered my mouth, and felt my eyes widen. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry Nate!" I announced not only feeling bad but also feeling ridiculously embarrassed.
Nate dropped his hand to his side and shook his head. "It's okay, I'm fine." He told me and then nodded towards the door. "History is on the other side, so we have to hurry." He informed me just as Lynn walked up.
Without looking back at Dayton I followed Nate and Lynn quickly out of the classroom. I couldn't for the life of me understand why Dayton seemed so interested in me, and even more than that, I couldn't understand why I was so affected by him.
History was unsurprisingly boring. I have never been particularly interested in the subject. I didn't enjoy learning all the dates of years of when major catastrophes took places, or learning the names of those that were responsible for the catastrophes. I knew that history was important, but when it was simply read out a textbook it was quite tedious. Our History teacher was the least energetic person I have possibly ever seen. He simply sat behind a desk during the whole class period and read out passages from the book. I was actually shocked that I didn't fall asleep in the class, as many of the other students did.
When the bell rang indicating the end of class I sighed bitter sweetly. I was happy that I managed to get through History, but my next period was P.E.
"Oh my god. That was the most painful class I have ever sat through." Lynn announced with an exasperated sigh.
Nate and I nodded our heads in agreement. "We used to have another History teacher, his name was Mr. Quick. He got fired after a couple students found him getting busy with another student. He was fired right away, and the school opened up an investigation and found that he was sexually involved with multiple students. They didn't have much time to hire another History teacher so they just settled in on our current teacher. There's been a lot talk about getting a new teacher though."
"Oh my god!" Lynn said again, with more energy this time. "Those poor students must be scarred for life."
Nate nodded his head, "I'm sure they were." He said and then turned towards me. "The locker rooms are down the hall to your left. They should have already placed your gym clothes in your locker, but if for some reason they haven't you can talk to Ms. Barnett, she takes care of all that."
I gave Nate a small smile and resisted the urge to groan out loud. "Thank you." I told him and started towards the locker room, dragging my feet behind me. I wasn't looking forward to P.E. Sure I could jog, and pick up a few pounds but my hand-eye coordination was zero. I couldn't catch or throw things to save my life. At my old school P.E was graded on pass or fail, and seventy percent of our grade was from participation so I always managed to just barely pass.
As I got closer to the locker room I pulled out my schedule with my locker number and code on it. When I filled out my registration form to start school, I also filled in a P.E. form with my various sizes, so that the school could order my P.E uniform. As soon as I entered the locker room I took a sharp breath in. It wasn't just because of the pleasant vanilla smell in the air, but also because of what some of the girls were already wearing.
Back at Westside, my old school, P.E clothes had to follow certain guidelines. For the girls, we weren't allowed to wear tight fitted shirts, and our shorts had to go past our middle finger when we stood straight up with our hands by our side. Clearly those guidelines were not in effect at this school. I obscurely found my locker and pulled it open after punching in the code a few times. Nested within the locker was a black duffle bag with the school's logo on it, and inside the bag there were a wide variety of school paraphernalia. I looked past the water bottle, and the baseball hat to find a grey sports bra, a matching grey tank top and shorts that were so small that they could be construed as underwear. I also found a pair of black tennis shoes in the bag that were exactly my size.
All the girls around me looked so comfortable in their P.E uniforms, and I couldn't help but think that this was something I would probably wear to bed in the summer. I certainly would have never worn something like this to work-out, ever. As I pulled on the shorts under my dress, I silently thanked some higher power for the fact that I was hair free in the places I should be as a girl. Once I had the shorts in place, I looked around me before pulling my dress over my head. I knew the girls around me obviously didn't care about their state of undress but I was always very self-conscious in the locker rooms. I quickly put on the sports bra and the tank top, before undoing my lacy trim bra and pulling it through the arm holds.
Once I had my outfit on, I felt a small smile tug my lips. The P.E uniform wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. The tank top was tight, but it was also long enough that I wouldn't have worry about it riding up over my stomach, and the shorts, were short, but they were comfortable. I unzipped my boots and carefully placed them in my locker before slipping the tennis shoes on. I grabbed a pen from my bag and wrote down the locker code on the inside of my wrist before shutting the locker. I was pretty sure that I would remember the code, but just in case I didn't, I wanted to make sure I had it somewhere.
I always had a habit of slipping hair ties around my wrist, much to my mom's dismay, but today it worked out for the best. My long blond hair definitely needed to be tied up if I was going to partake in any athletic feat.
I was just about to head out of the locker room when an acquainted voice called me. I turned around with a smile to find Sally walking towards me.
"I didn't know you had P.E." She informed me as she came closer.
"We must have missed seeing each other's schedules." I told her as she stopped just a few feet away. Passing around our schedules this morning was so hectic that I wasn't surprised that I missed seeing a few. "I'm glad you're in this class too, I didn't think I would know anyone." I added in honestly.
"Me too, I hate P.E." She said making a face.
I laughed at her. "Me too!" I exclaimed, feeling glad that I had someone else to share my pain with. "We will endure it together."
Sally smiled at that. "Let's go, Miss. Bash will make us run an extra lap if we're late."
Sally and I walked quickly towards the turf football field.
"Start stretching girls, we are going to do two laps around the field first and then we will go over the curriculum." Miss. Bash, who was a very muscular woman, instructed us.
"The girls and the boys have different P.E teachers. We usually end up collaborating with them, but our curriculum is separate from theirs." Sally told me before I could even ask her about it. I didn't see any of the boys yet, but the girls were slowly plopping down on the yoga mats placed right next to the turf field.
I was just starting to really stretch my muscles out when Miss. Bash blew her whistle. "Time to jog. You will do two laps around the field and then meet back here." She ordered us in a gruff voice, and I instantly heard the whining among the girls. But it didn't seem like Miss. Bash cared, because she just blew her whistle again indication for us to start.
Jogging was something I could do. Not as well as I would have liked, but I was confident in myself to jog two laps without turning bright red, or sweating like a pig. Though, I probably shouldn't say that because pigs have insufficient sweat glands like most other mammals, and they don't actually sweat much, or at all.
We were half way done with our laps when I noticed a group of boys coming out from the locker rooms. They were dressed in grey t-shirts, and black basketball shorts. I didn't pay much attention to them because I was trying a corner and they quickly disappeared out of my view. Sally and I tried to keep pace with each other as we finished off the final lap.
Miss. Bash waited for everyone to come back before quickly going through the curriculum and her expectation from us. It was really hard to hear her, as the chatter from the boys filled the air.
"We will just do a few basic drills today." Miss. Bash walked us over to the part of the field that was set up with bright orange cones and tossed a soccer ball at us.
I sighed out loud.
I didn't enjoy playing any sport, but I absolutely hated playing soccer. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching the sport, but something out kicking something in a uniformed pattern didn't seem natural to me.
As we got in lines to do the drills I watched the boys throwing around a football. They all seemed like they were having too much fun. They all had bright orange or yellow flags hanging from the waist band of their shorts. I felt the girl before me move so I turned towards the soccer ball and felt the air around me change. The girl before me screamed and ran off to her left. I stared at in confusion for a second before turning to where she was looking. I frowned when my eyes rested on something that looked like a golf cart moving towards me. I didn't understand why the girl before me screamed until the cart got a little closer and I saw that there was no one in it. I willed myself to move, to take a few steps away from where I was so that I could avoid the golf cart, but my body wasn't responding.
"Aria!" I heard Sally's voice come from a distance, but I couldn't get myself to look behind me. I was focused on making my body listen to me. I wanted to move.
"Aria!" Another voice yelled. Before I could even try to register who that voice belonged to I was swept off my feet and placed firmly against something hard.
I looked up in confusion and saw bright indigo eyes looking at me. "Are you okay?" The same voice that called out my name asked me.
I quickly pushed back from Dayton, and stood up before looking around. Everyone was staring at me!
"I'm fine, thank you." I mumbled, trying to avoid eye contact with Dayton. I turned towards the golf cart and saw someone jump into it and slowly bring it to a stop.
"Why didn't you move?" Dayton's voice came, bring my attention back to him. His eyes were searching my face.
I bit my lip feeling embarrassed to be in such a situation. I could feel everyone's gaze burning into me. "I... I tried to..." I began but couldn't think of the words to explain how my body wouldn't let me move.
"Aria, are you okay?" A new voice sounded from being me, and I turned to look at Miss. Bash walking up to me. "The maintenance guy left the cart in neutral instead of park." When Miss. Bash was close enough she placed a gentle hand on my arm. "It looks like your ankle is swelling a little, I'm sure you just rolled it but I want to send you to the health room." Miss. Bash's gentleness was so unexpected, given her tough exterior. I frowned at her and looked down at my ankle and saw that it was indeed swelling up. I hadn't even realized that it was hurting until she mentioned it, because I was so focused on my embarrassment.
"I'm okay." I told Miss. Bash in answer to her question. "Can you tell me where the health room is?" I asked her, because I didn't know how to get there, and I didn't want to get lost in this humongous school, especially with a hurt ankle.
Miss. Bash smiled at me. "I can walk you over, let me just chat with Mr. Stevens quickly." She told me indicating to male P.E. teacher who was in charge of the boys.
Before I could say anything, Dayton stepped forward. "I can take her Miss. Bash. I technically shouldn't even be participating in class today."
I parted my mouth and narrowed my eyes. I didn't want Dayton to walk me. I hoped that Miss. Bash wouldn't allow him to get out of class.
Miss. Bash squinted. "That's right you have a game tonight." She stated, and then turned her eyes to my ankle. "You might want to support her as you walk so that she doesn't put more pressure on her ankle." She told Dayton before turning back to me. "I think an ice pack and an ibuprofen is all you need to heal." She noted, and gave my arm a gentle squeeze. "I'll see you tomorrow."
With that she turned and walked back towards the other girls. I watched her back for a few seconds before I turned towards Dayton.
"If you just tell me where it is I'm sure I can find it." I told him, crossing my arms across my chest; the pain of the ankle was slowly being registered by my body.
Dayton's dark bow rose slightly, and his blue eyes sparkled. "I have a hard time believing you after this morning."
I scowled at him, unsure of what he was trying to say. "What happened this morning?" I asked.
Dayton's lip lifted into a smirk. "I found you with a map remember? You were staring at it for a good five minutes, before I intervened."
I furrowed my eyebrows deeper. "So? I'm new to the school. I just couldn't figure out where my next class was." I told him defensively.
Dayton's smirk grew more evident. "It might have helped if you didn't have the map upside down."
I gaped at him, and felt my body heat up. "I didn't have it upside down!" I exclaimed, even though I wasn't really sure.
Dayton's chuckle hit my ear and I felt a vibration go through me. "You had it upside down." He told me again more pointedly this time.
My arms tensed across my chest. "If you knew I had it upside down why didn't you tell me?" I asked him feeling that embarrassment creep up again. Why was it that Dayton was always there to witness every single one of my embarrassing moments, from the minute I stepped into this school?
He shrugged at me casually. "I enjoyed seeing the faces you made as you tried to focus. I would have let you continue to try at figure it out, but you were biting your lip so much that I thought it would be a shame to have it bleed out." The amusement in his voice was starting to get way too familiar.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and pouted. "Well that's not very nice."
Dayton's cobalt eyes fixed their gaze on me intently. "I never said I was nice."
I shook my head at that statement. "But you offered to walk me to the health room." I thought that was something only nice people did.
Dayton shook his head and stepped towards me. "I only offered because my coach would kill me if I continued to participate in P.E. with my game tonight. And the only alternatives I had were to either watch while the rest of my classmates played, or head to the library by myself. Neither option seemed particularly enjoyable to me." Dayton slid an arm around my shoulder and I instantly felt my body stiffen. "Relax," Dayton whispered softly. "We need to start walking now, and Miss. Bash told me to support you." I felt Dayton's hand slip from my shoulder to my mid back.
I quickly stepped away from Dayton forgetting about my ankle. I felt the pain shoot through me but I ignored it. "I don't need any support, I can walk by myself." I told him and tried to prove my point by taking a step away. I slowly raised my foot with the hurt ankle and took a step forwards, trying hard to not wince at the pain. I could feel Dayton's eyes on me, and I felt pushed to take another step.
"You're right you can walk by yourself." He said and took a long step towards me. "You don't need my support at all, let's go." He ordered, and before I could say anything he turned and started walking quickly towards the locker rooms.
I swallowed down my pain and took another small step forward and looked up to see Dayton even farther away. Feeling the pressure to catch up with him, I tried to take quicker steps but each step just shot pulses of pain through my ankle. I was a few feet away from the lockers when I looked up again and saw that Dayton was walking back towards me.
I stopped for a minute to let the pain subside in my ankle, as I waited for him to get closer.
"I thought all you scholarship students would be smart." Dayton stated, as he came closer. "But, clearly I was wrong."
I gasped at him. "What does that mean?" I asking, knowing very well that he just pretty much called me stupid.
Dayton crossed his arms across his chest and glowered down at me. "Smart people know when to accept help. I get being stubborn, but resisting help when you are clearly in pain is just foolish."
I tried to think of how to reply to that, but Dayton just walked beside me and placed a warm palm on my back. "Put your arm around me, and lean towards me as you walk."
I turned to look at him and searched him eyes, but there was no amusement there. He was looking at me with a bit of annoyance and I felt like someone had just punched me in the stomach. I knew that I haven't known him for even a whole day yet, but Dayton always seemed so light hearted and jovial. So seeing that annoyed look on his face and knowing that I caused it, made me feel guilty. With a slight hesitation I placed my arm around his and felt his hard back flex underneath me palm.
"Every time you talk a step with your hurt foot, lean towards me and it will help ease the pain." Dayton told me and slowly started walking.
I did as Dayton told me, and realized that he was right. "I'm guessing you get hurt a lot, given that you play football." I said, knowing that that was probably why he knew how to ease the pain.
Dayton turned to me and his infamous smirk was back on his face. "How did you know I played football? I could have had a soccer game later."
I shrugged my shoulder, which was a little awkward. "It wasn't that hard to figure out." I told him. His comment about the game this morning, and the way he threw the football were clear indicators of the sport he played.
Dayton kept a steady pace as we talked through the hallway where the girl and boy locker rooms were. "Just a tip, don't ever tell a guy that anything about him is easy to figure out. We pride ourselves in being mysterious. It bruises our ego to know that we aren't as mysterious as we thought we were."
"Oh." Was all I was able to say, because I didn't know how to reply to that. I knew without a doubt that I didn't bruise Dayton's ego even a little.
Dayton was quiet for a while, and I could hear the sound of our footsteps as we walked. "I do get hurt a lot."
"What?" I asked him quickly, before realizing that he was replying to my statement from earlier.
"I do get hurt a lot when I play football, even with all our gear." He said adding more pressure to the palm on my back as we turned a corner. I have never been this close to a guy before, or I guess I should say I have never been this close to a guy who wasn't my family, or a friend that I have known since kindergarten.
"Then why do you keep playing?" I questioned him seriously. Why would anyone purposefully partake in something that leads to injuries?
I heard a chuckle beside me and turned my head slightly to look at Dayton. "I keep playing because I love it. When I get hurt, it doesn't really seem so bad, because I got hurt doing what I enjoy. I don't think we can do anything in life without a risk, we just have to accept the risk if we want to do what we love."
That sounded strangely profound, and it was weird to hear those words leave Dayton's mouth. "Have you ever broken anything while playing?" I asked, not quite sure why. Maybe because I didn't think that anything short of saving the life of a loved one could be worth breaking your bones for.
Dayton shook his head beside me. "Not while playing football, no." He said as his hand slipped a little on my back. "But I have broken a few bones horsing around."
"What's a few?" I asked, getting the feeling that my few and his few were way different when it came to this topic.
"I've broken a couple fingers, ribs, my wrist, my leg, and my nose." Dayton's voice came so nonchalantly that I couldn't help but gasp.
"That's not a few." I told him as me led me around a corner once again. I turned towards him and looked at his profile. "And your nose doesn't look like it was ever broken."
A loud throaty laughter sounded beside me and echoed through the empty halls. "It amazing what a plastic surgeon can do." Dayton said as he led me into a room.
I had a hard time believing that Dayton would ever get any form of plastic surgery, but I didn't get a chance to tell him that as a woman in scrubs came up to me.
---------------------
Hi guys, I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've just had a lot going on in my life, and couldn't find the time to write.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to VOTE and COMMENT if you liked it!
Do you guys like Dayton so far? How about Sander? Who do you prefer?
Thank you for taking the time to read! I really appreciate it!