Fighter

Chapter 14

We both walked into the gym and stood there by the door for a moment. As we stood there, observing the surroundings, we created a little puddle of rain water at our feet.

I immediately noticed a difference with the class, how everyone seemed to be standing around, not doing anything. It actually looked nice. Our coach usually had us huffing and puffing hot air all period.

It didn't take long for my eyes to fall on the reason for such a happy place during the physical education hour. A substitute teacher sat on the far bleachers, texting on some old blackberry. He paid no attention to the class, and the class did the same.

I glanced away from the substitute. Even though he was a nice sight to see for a lazy student, like myself, it didn't take him long to bore me. Instead, I made an effort to find out which corner of the gym Daniel had strayed off to, but I was quickly distracted when Colton took a step forward, leaving my side.

His straight path trailed off slightly, so he ended up walking directly in front of me. I was staring at his back when he glanced over his shoulder, trapping my eyes for a quick moment, before they disappeared.

I saw which way he was going, and I frowned. He had found our group first.

Daniel and the Miller girl were standing near the bleachers, the opposite set from the ones the substitute was sitting on. Mason was sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers, feet planted to the floors, legs taking up a ridiculous amount of space, hands shoved into the pockets of his large hoodie, his back leaned against the other row of bleachers behind him. He was currently standing up at Daniel and Miller, watching them talk.

Jordan was also there, which I wasn't expecting. When he hadn't been there at lunch, I assumed that he had ditched for the day. I was wrong.

He too sat on the bleachers, except he was sitting a few rows higher than Mason. He reminded me of a lion, sitting perched up on a rock. His stance, or, in this case, just the position of his wide shoulders or the tightness of his jaw, all screamed territorial. Except he wasn't a lion— he was a wolf. He didn't purr— he growled. But he had features of a wild cat, like his eyes. He didn't move at all on the bleachers. He wasn't trying to sit still; he didn't have to. He did it naturally. Those ice, crystal blue eyes were about the only thing that moved, and they glared at me as I made my way over, joining the group.

I flinched when I saw his face. I tried to ignore him.

Colton stood next to Daniel, hovering over him by a few inches. Both of their backs were to me as I walked toward them. I felt like I had tunnel vision when Colton decided to cross his arms over his chest, which caused the muscles in his back to flex. It wouldn't had been such a big deal if his shirt didn't fit him so well, or maybe if he had been wearing his jacket.

Speaking of the jacket, even though it was amazingly warm, it seemed to be causing problems for me. When I joined the group, I stood next to Colton. That made four of us standing in front of Mason and Jordan. I could feel burning eyes on me, and when I glanced up, I wasn't surprised to see that the glare belonged to Jordan.

He was glaring at my chest, which seemed to hit a nerve in me, pissing me off. I was about to say something, when he abruptly switched his glare over towards Colton.

"You're a beta, not a charity donator."

I realized then that he wasn't checking me out. He was talking about the jacket.

The two of them glared at each other before Jordan jumped up from his seat. He hopped off the bleachers with a loud thud against the gym floor.

He left the gym, and the substitute didn't even look up from his phone.