Chapter 18: xvi

TATE SUTTON SHOOK his head at the sight.

Carter and Tim fanned out to either side, eyes widening at the mess that laid in front of them. A few boys from the team managed to get out a few gasps.

"What the fuck?" Carter seethed, running a hand through his bedhead hair. Tate laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"The old man wasn't kidding when he said the place was a mess." Tim whispered, referring to the Head.

Tate winced when two boys opened up the windows, harsh sunlight from the break of dawn hitting his face. There was hardly any speck of light when they'd been forced to wake up and clean this before school started, so sudden brightness wasn't something Tate wanted to have right now.

Dante crossed his arms as he leaned onto the wall for support. "I can't believe he's making us clean this. We might've left a few muddy footprints once or twice but it's pretty obvious we wouldn't mess our own locker room up."

"You got that right." Murmured Tate, crouching down to pick up a ball. "What I'm more curious about it is, who the fuck would do this?"

"Do you think it was those jerks from Alberta?" Tim questioned, motioning to Carter with one hand. Carter went over to help him.

"The guys from Alberta are jerks but I doubt they'd do anything like this. And even if they did, they wouldn't be able to get past security right? It's not like they're easy to miss, all of them are practically the size of bodybuilders." Dante reasoned with, snorting.

Carter stopped to look at the debris of their locker room again. Half of the lockers were opened up, a plethora of their own belongings thrown on the floor haphazardly. The pen containing all the spare footballs was open, leaving the footballs to roll around the premise.

"Then, who did this?"

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RYAN BLAIR ran the last lap in a frenzy, blonde hair in place with a tight rubber band, flowing uncontrollably behind her.

When she finally stopped, hands on her knees for support while she caught her breath, her mind wandered back to the vandalized football locker room.

After puffing out a few puffs of air in the cold weather and simultaneously letting her hummingbird heart rate go back to normal she sat on the bench, grabbing her water bottle.

She chugged harshly, chest heaving. Archer came to sit beside her, towel wrapped around his neck and sweat drooping off of his blonde hair.

"Give that water bottle a break." He joked, hitting the back of it lightly. Bad decision on his part, as the bottle tipped out of Ryan's control, splashing the remaining water on her collarbone.

"Whoops." He said lamely.

Ryan exhaled, counting to three. While she didn't mind a shower, this wasn't what she was exactly picturing. "Can you please," she asked, desperation lacing her voice. "Go die in a ditch?"

"You used that line already."

"And I'll say it again, go die in a ditch. You're a walking disaster."

Arch said something in return but Ryan spaced out when she overheard some of her friends talk about the 'locker room incident'.

"—who the fuck would vandalize a locker room? And why'd they suspend the team? This is fucking bizarre, aren't most of the guys waiting on scouts?"

"Oh shit." Arch said, just realizing. Ryan turned her head towards him, setting her empty bottle down.

"If they're suspended, and if no one knows for how long, they could miss out on a lot of matches. And it's senior year, scouts from uni's are coming. If they don't play —"

"They could miss out on scholarships." Ryan finished his sentence, putting two and two together.

"Something's off." He deduced, taking a swig from his own water bottle.

"What are you talking about? What's off?"

"This whole situation, don't you think so too?" He answered. "Football has always been the number one extra-curricular that gave ALH the most number of trophies and news articles."

"And?" She prompted.

"What I'm saying is, it's important for our school to send out a high number of people to the Ivy Leagues this year. And half of the people who'd qualify for that are in the football team. A suspension puts them on permanent record and not to mention the fact that if they're barred from attending matches they'll miss out on potential scouts. So how did a mere vandalism on a locker room, get them suspended?"

". . .did you hear that from someone else? There's no fucking way you had the brain to figure that out."

Arch shot her a look of deadpan before wiping sweat away. "I'm being serious here." He insisted.

"I know, and jokes aside I'm curious as well but I guess the Head has his reasons?"

Arch shook his head. "Whatever they were, either this decision was made hastily or there's something else going on."

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"HEY," RYAN chirped with fake enthusiasm for the boy in the front of her.

Tate glanced at her wearily before punching in the combination for his locker. Instead of the usual blazer hanging off his arm, he was wearing it this time, which almost made him hard to recognize.

"Hey." Was all he said.

"Are you okay?" She leaned against his neighbors locker for support and pushed one of her palms further inside her warm blazer. She propped her other arm up and pushed the books in her hand on the surface of the locker.

"So-so." He answered easily. "The locker room was a mess and we're not done cleaning it but we'll get there."

"Don't tire yourself out. It's not like it has to be cleaned in a day."

Tate raised a brow, "are you worried? About me?" The corners of his mouth quirked up in a mid laugh. The boy snorted and went back to grabbing his books from his locker.

"No!" She denied it immediately, head shaking violently. "I'm just — concerned."

"Sure Ryan." He snorted again.

"What do you have now?" She changed the subject, referring to his class schedule.

"Chemistry."

"Lucky you, I have Physics." She exhaled, and then added with a slight tingle of bitterness lacing her tone, "with Veronica." Ryan hadn't said it for him to hear, but he heard it nonetheless.

Tate raised a brow. "Give her a break, she's trying her hardest."

"What?" Asked Ryan, stunned. "In what?"

Ryan couldn't believe her ears. What did Veronica Woo have to try hard in? She was practically perfect.

He cursed under his breath momentarily, shaking his head. "Nothing, it's nothing." He pat her shoulder and smiled, although Ryan could see it was slightly forced.

She furrowed her eyebrows but let it go regardless.

"You have physics right? Let's go, I'll walk you there."

Ryan opened her mouth to reply but he interrupted her again, "it's on the way, let's go."

She nodded, reaching for the books she kept on top of the lockers, standing on the tiptoes of her Suede Gianvito Rossi boots. Her ponytail hit her slightly in the face when she pulled back, books in hand.

They walked in tandem, oversized blazers shifting positions with every step and boots clacking on the marbled tile.

The usual chatter that could be heard when walking the halls just before class faded away when they reached one of the giant staircases to the side.

Streaks of sunlight bore through the transparent glass that was stationed near the stairs, more than half of the campus laying out in front of it. Ryan slowed her pace to admire the scenery, the edges of her fingertips touching warm glass.

"So when am I gonna hear about all your plans for me?" Tate asked, stopping in his tracks when he realized that Ryan wasn't next to him.

"Hm?" She tilted her head. "Maybe one day."

"Why not now?" He fell in step with her, eyes shifting towards the campus grounds and then back to her again.

Cause I don't even know what I want to do. She wanted to say. It was selfish of her, she realized to drag him into this just cause she found a mere connection and an opportunity to. Even when half of her brain knew her plans weren't thought through. None of them were.

But telling him that would mean admitting weakness, and that wasn't something Ryan would ever do.

Instead she just stared at him, watching the way the sunlight illuminated his face, the freckles at the bridge of his nose — were they there before? — green eyes that felt like they were pools of murky water reflecting  a rich rainforest and the arch of his brows.

Ryan was surprisingly poetic, and currently she wanted nothing more than to drown in those eyes. She looked away, shifting her blue eyes towards the glass not wanting to stare anymore.

"Are you going to ignore me?" He murmured, crouching down so he was eye level with her.

Ryan continued to look outside, daring herself to just not turn —

"Tate." She whispered, immediately grabbing his sleeve. She tugged harshly.

"Oh now I exist?"

"Tate. This isn't a joke, please." Ryan's eyes were glued to the glass. There was a slight edge of shock to her tone. Her fingers curled around his arm tightly in fear.

She felt his strong gaze retract from her face and direct it towards the glass, scrunching his eyes just as hard as she was clutching his arm.

"What are you —" he stopped short when he saw what Ryan saw.

From the other side of the glass, was a shady figure —a young girl, Ryan realized with widening eyes — hurtling through the sky, falling straight towards the ground.

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I wrote this the day after I posted the last update. Crazy huh, I don't think it'll happen again any time soon though. I hope you enjoyed,

— Din