18: Got You

We like October more than anybody. Sad.

All out fun stuff happens in October, then it's all down hill from there. The high energy from winning the big rivalry game had finally died down 2 weeks later. Everyone was now planning their costumes and what party they were going to. Halloween is more insane than any other holiday in this town. For some reason, we like losing our shit in October.

I'm walking with Levi, who's been very giddy since the game. Emma made a good impression on him, and vice versa. I was stuck in the middle, hearing them gush about each other to me. The third wheel vibes were immaculate, but I was happy for them. They were going to be a happy couple when they officially got together.

"I forgot to tell you!" Levi turns to me, stopping in his tracks.

I stop with him. We were right outside of the school, close to the parking lot. I could see Oliver's car parked, but he didn't seem to be there yet. I brought my attention back to Levi who seemed eager to tell me something.

"What's up?"

"Remember how Emma had Oliver's jersey?"

I nod, looking back to Oliver's car but shaking my head and focusing on Levi.

"So, all the cheerleaders had jerseys except for her, so Oliver gave her his so she wouldn't be left out."

"She told you this?"

It's his turn to nod his head and he smiles slightly. I look to the car and this time Oliver is leaning on the hood, doing something on his phone. I smile and look to Levi quickly before returning my gaze to Oliver.

"Guess he does have a heart after all."

"I was shocked too, didn't know he could be so nice."

I nod and give Levi a quick side hug before saying bye and running off to Oliver. He looks up to me when he hears me coming and walks over to open the passenger door for me. He's been doing that a lot more recently. I'm not complaining, I have to waste less energy.

"You're nice," I smile when he backs out of the parking spot.

"I told you."

"I didn't know it was in you,"

He looks at me with a smirk, "In you."

I roll my eyes at how immature he is. But a blush still works it's way up my cheeks. Curse him for making everything so sensual. Sometimes he's this mysterious bad boy and other times he says something like that. I never know if I'm talking to prepubescent Oliver or manly man Oliver. I guess that's part of the mystery.

"The twins have a game today, so you can just leave me at the school."

He shakes his head, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I'll watch them."

I smile at him, one of my biggest smiles, but since his eyes are on the road he doesn't see me. The twins were going to be ecstatic that their favorite Oliver was going to be at their game. I took the opportunity that we were at a stop sign to lean over and hug Oliver. He looks at me in surprise.

"No wonder you're bad at driving."

I let go of him and look at him with a mixture of anger and confusion.

"No one ever taught you that you shouldn't distract a driver."

I keep looking at him and smirk a little, "Didn't know I could distract the Oliver Grey," putting emphasis on 'the'.

He looks at me quickly, only enough to give me a glare and then returns to the road. I keep my smirk on my face even though his composure hasn't changed. He's still stone cold.

"You don't even know," He barely whispers and I have to strain my ears to hear him.

We make it to the elementary school parking lot then and the both of us jump out. I start walking to the field but turn back when I don't feel Oliver's shadow looming over me. He's looking at one of the doors that goes into the school with a sad smile. I walk back up to him and touch his arm to grab his attention. When he looks down to me I speak up.

"Let's go?"

"Let's do something fun first."

He grabs my hand and pulls me to the door. Opening it quickly before anyone sees us go in. The inside of the elementary school looks the same as it did when we were kids. The bright walls with different art projects still hung everywhere, showcasing how truly bad kids are at painting. The floor had two lines on the floor that the kids follow in order to not get lost. It's like a giant pac-man, without the fear of getting eaten. The lights still cast an ugly light, but somehow Oliver looked better than ever.

I let him keep pulling me to where he thinks this fun of his is at. After a couple of turns I realize we're at our old gym. He lets go of my hand when we walk in and I feel the cold that's left when his hand is gone, but I ignore it. I spin a couple of times, admiring the gym that has so many memories within its walls.

"What are we doing here?" I ask but I get no response in return.

"Oliver?" I ask again, looking around trying to find him.

And that's when a ball finds my butt instead with a hard smack.

"Got you."

I turn to see Oliver with a dodgeball in his hand and a deep smirk on his lips. I smirk back and pick up the ball that just hit my ass.

He throws another dodgeball but I'm able to block it with the ball in my hand. I run for cover behind a bin of plastic baseball bats. I look up, aim, and fire. Oliver is quick though and is able to block my attack. I grunt and run to go get the other ball Oliver had thrown at me. Bad idea, I get another ball to my side.

I look and glare at him. He's not even trying to protect himself, he's out in the open. I throw another ball and this time he's able to catch my throw. No fair! He's a football player, he's good with balls.

I run away, unable to grab the other ball that's close enough. I see him aiming his shot with an amused glint in eyes and I get an idea. He throws the ball and it hits my face and I fall over.

"Haze!" I hear him yell.

He runs over to me and I grunt a little in pain. It really does hurt to get a ball in the face. He kneels beside me and and cups my face in his hands. The heat rushes to my cheeks when his somehow soft hands grab my face gently.

"Oh no," I hear him whisper to himself, "Haze?"

That's when I smirk and poke his stomach before he can connect the dots and react fast enough to ruin my plan, "You're it."

I jump up and start running away from him. He takes a while to realize what's happening, but when he does he starts sprinting right after me.

I run to the door and out the gym. The halls are empty so our fast footsteps echo everywhere. I've learned from last time and don't check behind me, instead I keep focused on zigzagging through the halls. I hear him close behind me and right when I turn into a classroom he catches my hips and picks me up.

"You're it," He says and spins me around, trying to make us lose the momentum from us running so fast.

I laugh and squirm in his hold. I can feel him laughing against my back and that only makes me laugh harder.

He sets me down and spins me around so we're now facing each other, both still laughing. Well, I'm laughing, his is more of a deep chuckle. I put one of my hands on my stomach to try and ease the pain and my other goes on his chest to hold myself up. His arms are still on my hips, where he'd caught me from.

"Oliver Grey, Hazel Kindler, nice to see you two again."

We both stop laughing and look to see our old third grade teacher, Mrs. Armand, standing behind her desk.

I clear my voice and speak up first, stepping slightly away from Oliver as he also drops his hands from my waist, not stepping away.

"Mrs. Armand, long time no see. What are you doing here?"

I smack myself for asking such a stupid question. I was still regaining myself for goodness sakes. I'd basically run a marathon and laughed till it hurt. All with Oliver Grey.

She smiles and answers anyway, "Still work here, same classroom."

That makes me look around and I realize it's the classroom I had as a third grader. Same posters with their weirdly positive phrases, like the 'Hang in there' cat, were everywhere. One of the days when I was bored I counted 26 posters in her room. I always thought it was a record.

I look to Oliver and he's also looking around, probably reminiscing on third grade as well. He walks over to a desk and looks underneath it. When he stands up again he nods to Mrs. Armand and makes his way out the door.

"Always lovely to see you, Julia," He says right before he's out the door.

I smile at Mrs. Armand, who's also smiling, and wave at her before running after Oliver who's making his way to the field.

We make it right when the game starts and I'm glad we didn't miss out on any of it.