Landslide: Before (Book 1) (GirlxGirl / lesbian/ LGBTQ)

Chapter Thirteen

I will be updating on Monday per usual, but I'm figured since 12 & 13 are quite slow. And 14 is gonna get a little fun. So, ENOJOY!

Summary: The one where Emery meets a guy

THIRTEEN

I was silently in my seat listening to our yearbook faculty advisor, Ms. Johnson, go over who was in charge of completing which pages this week. Yearbook was okay. I didn't really know anyone, nor did I make an effort to. I mostly sat alone at a computer and worked on the pages Ms. Johnson assigned me. Being new, I didn't get trusted with much, and since the school year basically started, there wasn't much for us to do anyway. So far, we had done set up all the pages, with basic templates. Honestly, it was incredibly boring work. I sat in silence and adjusted borders on pages for an hour. That was it. Nothing exciting whatsoever. I hated that I joined just to appease my mother, because I had never been so uninterested in something in my life. From the things I noticed, I thought yearbook would be fun, full of talented friendly people I could talk to. Instead, it was silent work and the clacking of keys and clicking of mouses.

With a sigh, I headed to my usual computer to do my work. I was given the girls and boys soccer team pages. There wasn't much to do other than set up a vague template of where pictures and text can go on the page. I finished that quickly and was getting ready to leave when someone appeared next to me. I looked up to find a tall guy with shaggy brown hair and blue eyes staring at me with a lopsided grin.

"Uh, Hi?" I said hesitantly.

"Hey, I'm Grayson Hale," He extended a hand toward me. I shook it lightly. "I'm the photographer for the yearbook."

"Emery Davis," I answered.

"So, Emery," He started, "How would you like to leave this boring old graphic design room and do something much more interesting?" I stared at him in confusion.

"What?" I said, trying to process his question.

"Well, you see, there's only one yearbook photographer and there are too many places for me to be at once, and you looked utterly bored just now, I figured I'd offer you a chance to go out and do something more fun." Grayson smiled at me brightly. I had seen him around school, he always had a camera around his neck taking pictures without anyone really noticing. Maybe getting out there and hiding behind a camera wouldn't be so bad, it would certainly be more entertaining than this work on a computer.

"I mean, I have taken a photography class, but I don't know if I'd be any good," I said.

"No worries! I'll help you out, mostly with the sports pictures, but I can teach you all you need to know," Grayson grinned. "Come on, your training starts now. We have to take some photos of the girls soccer team."

"Oh," I muttered. The idea of seeing Violet was not something I particularly wanted to do. After our run in at the park, she effectively disappeared. She didn't show up to the bookshop on Saturday like we usually do, and I hadn't seen her at work at all. The past couple days I looked for her in school, but I couldn't find her. It's a small school, so I should've at least seen her. I had a strong feeling that she was avoiding me, but I couldn't put my finger on the reason why. Or maybe I was just being paranoid at the idea that someone might not actually want to be friends with me.

"You okay with that, Emery?" Grayson asked, his smile replaced with a frown of concern.

"Yes, absolutely, let's go," I faked a smile. He nodded and led me through the halls and out to the field. My little legs had to move faster to keep up with Grayson's tall form.

By the time we reached the field I was slightly out of breath next to him. A whistle rang out loudly on the field, a booming voice yelled at several players on the field as Grayson and I looked on. My eyes scanned the field wondering where Violet was. All the players were lined up in front of the coach, their backs facing us. I found Sophie by her last name, Ryan, on the back of her jersey. She was standing tall, her arm resting on the shoulder of a player standing at an angle with their head down. Their number and name obscured by another player's body making it nearly impossible to figure it out. The coach blew the whistle again and the players went off to run their drills again. The player standing next to Sophie lifted their head up, long red hair tied up into a ponytail cascaded quickly down her back. Sophie's lips moved as she spoke to the girl, and the other girl nodded before turning around revealing Violet. As if feeling my gaze, her eyes landed on mine immediately. Our eyes remained locked on each other in a battle of who would look away first.

"Ready to talk to the coach? We have to ask for permission to get in the way," Grayson chuckled, pulling my gaze away from Violet's.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," I said distractedly allowing Grayson to lead the way once again. As we walked toward the coach, my mind was wandering to Violet. I wondered why she hadn't been around, and if there was something I had done. We seemed to have been getting friendlier with each other, and I was hopeful we could become friends. She was intriguing and intelligent, and even if she may never admit it, she was caring. Yet, she seemed to have closed those gates into her mind again. And there was a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that they might not be as easy to open a second time.

"Ah, Grayson, come to bother us for pictures again?" the coach said with her arms crossed, watching her players run their drills. "Sophie! Move those feet faster, come on!"

"Same time every year, Coach Rose," Grayson grinned at her; he certainly smiled a lot. "Is it alright if we snap some test shots today and come back for a game to take pictures?"

"Yeah, sure, but we're not responsible for any injuries you might get," Coach Rose said and then looked at me. "Especially if you're hit with a soccer ball." A blush graced my face and I ducked my head in embarrassment.

"Yes, Coach Rose," I mumbled and Grayson laughed next to me. We agreed to be careful and moved around the field cautiously. Grayson explained the best way to get action shots as he snapped a few of the players. We wandered around the field making sure to get at least one picture of each player. I kept a note on which ones we got with their number, last name, and how many photos we have of them.

I found my eyes wandering toward Violet as we continued to walk. Her and Sophie were paired up doing passing drills. Violet's face was scrunched in concentration, her tongue poking out like it does when she's focusing intently. She was moving quickly, faster than I had ever seen Sawyer move. Violet's focus was intense and never wavered. Sawyer was cocky on the field, she knew was good, and it often clouded her judgement. She never worked this hard. Violet, on the other hand, would stop occasionally and listen to Sophie's pointers and then go back at it twice as hard. I was amazed, and incredibly distracted by her. I didn't realize where I was walking until I started to tumble forward. My eyes closed bracing myself for the impact on the ground. But it never came. Instead, I felt strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me up.

"Easy there, Emery," Grayson said holding me against his chest. I blushed out of embarrassment, but also because of the close proximity of Grayson and I. "You okay?" I nodded mutely and he set me on my feet letting me out of his arms.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"No worries, can't let you get hurt on my watch," Grayson grinned at me again. "You're really clumsy, aren't you?"

"Oh, you have no idea," I said with a laugh and he joined in, our laughter floating up and around us. Grayson's head fell back, mouth open, sun shining brightly behind his head. We grinned widely at each other.

"Heads!" A voice shouted a warning across the field. A soccer ball whizzed passed Grayson's head, missing it by barely an inch. We both whipped our heads to stare in the direction the ball came from. Sophie was jogging toward us, but behind her, with a steely gaze was Violet. "I'm sorry about that, my teammate has some out of control kicks, as you know, Emery."

"Yeah, I know," I said distantly, still looking at Violet. She stared back, her gaze never wavering. Her expression was unreadable like always. I shook my head and tore my eyes away from her, not giving in to whatever game she was playing.

"No harm, no foul," Grayson chuckled. "I think we're done here anyway, Emery."

"Okay, bye Sophie," I gave her a smile before leaving with Grayson. We stopped to thank Coach Rose before we left the field. I split off from Grayson at the parking lot after thanking him for all the help. He gave me a big smile and reminded me to bring my camera to school tomorrow and he would help me figure out how to best use it to take pictures for yearbook. I nodded and climbed into my car, watching his lanky figure walk away back into the school.

I sighed, leaning my head against my steering wheel taking a moment to breathe. It was a whirlwind afternoon and definitely not what I had signed up for. After everything with my mother, and worrying about Charlie, and seeing Eliza, it was just too much. Too much stress and confusion. I didn't want to talk, because talking was getting me nowhere, and neither was pretending my life was normal. I needed time to not think and turn everything off. As I pulled out of the school parking lot, I dialed Carmilla's number.

"Hey, tell me there's a party we can go to this weekend."