"Okay, partner up!" Our PE teacher Mrs Butler called out as we entered the sports hall. The tennis racket in my hand felt light and worn out, though I knew from experience that no matter how much it was falling apart, it would still hurt to be hit with.
Not that I'd ever been hit myself, I was used to people staying right out of my way so thankfully I'd never quite been in range, however my general clumsiness did mean I'd managed to injure a few other students throughout my time at school. They were lucky I wasn't very strong.
Still, I gripped it warily, trying my best to keep out of anyones way as they all scrambled to find a partner for todays lesson.
Standing still amongst the madness, I figured I'd wait for everyone to find a partner and whoever was left would be stuck with me - an unfortunate result of being clumsy meant that I was not particularly gifted when it came to sports.
"Hey, Emilia!" I looked up to see Charlie heading my way sporting a grin on his face. For a moment I was unsure that he was talking to me, after all, that was the first and only time he had ever gotten my name right.
"Um, hey." I greeted him, surprised.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to-"
"Emilia!" Another voice called, cutting into whatever he was going to say.
Turning around to face the newcomer, I was relieved to see that it was just Noah, who held an identical racket in his hand, and though I figured he had probably never played tennis before, somehow he already appeared totally confident.
"You'll show us how to play, right?" He asked, smiling at me. I felt my stomach do a backflip as I caught that dimple on his left cheek. Jasmine and Travis must be in this class too.
"Of course." I smiled back, knowing that I'd only have to tell them the bare minimum, of course they were going to be good at playing tennis, in the same way that they are good at everything.
I turned back to face Charlie, having almost forgotten for a second that he was there. "Sorry, what was it you were saying?"
Charlie almost looked forlorn, his eyes glancing between myself and Noah. "Never mind." He stated, a sharp edge to his voice. "I'll catch you later."
I frowned as he turned his back and walked away, what had caused his sudden change in mood?
"Come on." Noah said, placing a gentle hand against my back and pushing me forwards slightly. I saw Jasmine and Travis stood at one of the courts on the far end of the sports hall, and headed in their direction. I noticed that Noah's hand lingered for a moment before he retracted it, sending an odd and unwelcome chill across my skin at its absence.
As we reached them, Noah and I headed around the other side of the net. I took my position on the left side, and Noah mirrored where I stood on the right. Following our lead, Jasmine and Travis did the same across from us. Travis was opposite me, though I noticed that his attention was diverted.
Following his gaze, I noticed Charlie on the court next to us, swinging his racket around, though his lips were pressed tightly together as though he was annoyed about something.
It would give us a good opportunity to observe him, if he was the one, would he perhaps have some kind of enhanced physical ability? Maybe not, but it's something to look for, at least.
"Okay, Jasmine you have the ball so you serve. Just throw it up and hit it across the net." I instructed, watching as the tossed the tennis ball in her hand up and down a couple of times.
Once she got a feel for it, she threw it a little higher and this time swung her racket around to meet it.
I managed to leap out of the way in time as the ball whizzed past my head at a terrifying speed before hitting the stack of nets behind myself and Noah.
"Um." I gasped, moving back to my original position as the ball rolled back towards us. I scooped it off of the ground. "A little more gentle, maybe?"
Jasmine frowned but nodded. Travis was still staring off at Charlie, his eyes narrowed in scrutiny. Noah on the other hand, was watching me, specifically the ball I held in my hand.
"Like this." I said, and threw the ball up, hitting it with my own racket. Surprisingly enough, my serve actually made it over the net and towards Jasmine. Who simply raised her free hand and caught it, nodding to herself. "Only when you serve it to someone, that person will hit it back over the net, and then you return it a few times."
"Alright." Jasmine settled herself into a slight crouch as she prepared to serve the ball again. "Gentle." She repeated to herself, and then served the ball back to me.
I managed to hit it and send it towards Travis, who, despite the fact that he wasn't looking, managed to hit it back so that it went towards Noah.
This continued for a few moments, until I missed the ball. It didn't surprise me that it was me that broke the rally, everything seemed to be so effortless for them.
The ball rolled over towards Noah, who picked it up. "Who serves?" He asked.
"Er, I guess it doesn't matter. Do you want to try?" I asked, watching as he shrugged in response.
"You mind showing me again?" He asked, once again smiling at me with that dimple that made me feel as though I was melting.
"Sure." I nodded, and he walked over to me to hand me the ball. As he gave it me, his bare fingers brushed against mine with the lightest of touches, and it were as though a flood of energy filled my body.
As though the energy had been pure adrenaline, I suddenly felt the strongest need to impress Noah with my serve, and for that brief moment I was filled with confidence that I could serve and earn a point for our team at the same time.
So, as I tossed up the ball, preparing to swing my racket and serve, a few things happened.
One, my racket made contact with the tennis ball.
Two, all three of my friends quickly turned away from me to stare at Charlie as though something were about to happen.
Three, a rogue tennis ball smacked into the side of Charlie's head, causing him to stumble and curse as he rubbed at the spot where the impact had occurred.
And four, I watched as my own tennis ball shot across the court at an alarming speed before smashing into the concrete wall across the room, breaking into pieces.
And nobody else was watching.
I wasn't even sure how I had kept my eyes focused on the fast moving ball. Or how I had possibly given it enough force for that to occur.
I felt my fingers loosen up on the racket, and heard the dull thud as it fell to the ground. I watched as Noah turned to face me with concern, and how suddenly I could hear ringing and how I felt sick to the stomach before my knees gave out beneath me and I was falling.
Before I hit the ground, two strong arms had caught me. And though my vision was just black I could still feel, and I found myself clinging to the arms which had to belong to Noah, because he was the only person whose touch seemed to give me energy.
After a moment I loosened my grip on him and my sight returned to me. I found myself laying with my back against the wooden floor, with a crowd around me peering down into my face.
"Coming through!" I heard Mrs Butler call out as she pushed her way past the other students. "Goodness, Emilia! What happened? Er, Noah is it? Take her to the nurse would you?"
I was only vaguely aware of her words, but I could feel Noah's hands on me again, pulling me up into a sitting position.
"Can you walk?" He asked, his perfect features contorted with concern.
"Yeah." I nodded, suddenly feeling fine. Though I felt fine physically, my mind was muddled and I welcomed the excuse to leave the class, so I pulled myself up to my feet and allowed Noah to lead me from the hall.
What had happened? The passing out part didn't confuse me so much, I knew that I had been feeling ill recently, but right before that? The tennis ball... I must have been hallucinating. That's the only explanation.
Noah wasn't touching me now, but even just walking by his side seemed to make me feel better. I wondered again if they weren't entirely human, and if they had some kind of effect on humans around them? Maybe I truly had hit the ball that hard, but it had only happened after touching Noah's hand and getting that burst of energy. Even now, being close to him made it so that I didn't feel as ill.
It was certainly a theory, if there was any truth to it, I couldn't be sure. But it seemed plausible.
When we reached the nurse, she instructed me to sit down on the bed as she asked what was wrong.
Noah answered for me, "She fainted in PE."
The old woman frowned, "Do you think you might be ill dear? Perhaps you pushed yourself too far in PE?"
I nodded. "I think I'm ill. Truth be told I've not been feeling great lately, it's like I'm constantly exhausted even though I've been sleeping loads, and now I've started throwing up and passing out."
The woman whose name I didn't know appeared concerned at my response. "I'm afraid there's not much I can do for you aside from send you home and recommend you go and see a doctor. Go home and get some rest, staying here won't do you any good."
I nodded, though I hated going to the doctors, I hated the idea of being ill more. Especially at the moment, when I had better things to be doing than taking the day off to lie in bed.
"I have a free period next, I'll take you home." Noah told me. I knew that he was lying, we were supposed to have maths next period together, but I knew that he wouldn't even need to catch up, so I let it go.
* * *
Having gone to sleep so early, I suspected that I would wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to fall back to sleep, but of course given my exhaustion that wasn't the case.
Aside from a brief moment where I woke up anyway. The clock told me it was midnight, and though I was only awake for a few seconds I was sure it was a dream because I swear I saw the corner of a white wing pass my window, and the only birds we have in Entilin are pigeons that are not even close to the pristine white that I had imagined.
In fact it was definitely a dream, because later that night I dreamt of following it.
I knew I was dreaming because as I climbed out of my bed I didn't feel cold, and when I walked past the mirror there was no reflection. But still, I wanted to see what was attached to the wing, because there's no way it was just a pigeon.
Heading round the back of my house to get to the other side of my window, at first I couldn't see anything. But then I saw it again. Up in the trees, hidden behind branches. It wasn't as pure white as I had thought, it seemed to glisten with silver.
I walked towards it slowly, reaching out a hand as though to touch it.
Closing my eyes, I took a few more steps forwards and then my hand enclosed around something soft. Opening them again, I found the silky silver feathers caressing my fingers, and I stroked them gently, realising they were part of a much bigger wing.
Trailing my hand further along the massive wing, feeling its incredible strength, it almost seemed to flutter as I touched it.
And then my hand met something else. Something harder that didn't give way to my touch like the feathers had. It was warm to the touch, and it took me a moment to realise that it was flesh.
It was my eyes turn to take in the strange creature, and it took me a moment to process that what I was seeing was a human body attached to a set of magnificent white wings.
A word was on the tip of my tongue, but the only word that I could think was beautiful.
Acting purely on instinct, I wrapped my arms around the creatures waist, and felt its arms encircle me too. They seemed strong and familiar.
And then the wings did a single beat, and we were flying.
I raised my face up to the creatures', and with a jolt I recognised the beautiful face that seemed to perfectly match the beauty of its wings.
Noah?
For a second it felt as though I were falling, but my eyes opened and I was just laying in my bed, waking from a beautiful dream.
I wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but I felt as though I had a better grasp on my own feelings at least.
There were butterflies in my stomach just from the thought... but it was time to admit something to myself.
I liked Noah. And not just in a friends kind of way.
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