Every love has a story. How you first met. Who said the first word.
Even mine does.
Seven o'clock is not the time anyone will think of falling in love. But as our worlds collided, we did just that. In a moment...
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Chapter 21
It was around two o'clock in the afternoon. On normal school days, it was strange that there were only six of us inside an unusually quiet classroom. Brooks had her earphones on and she was listening to her favorite CD. I was re-reading a novel. Athan was sleeping on his desk. Chace was sketching something in his notebook, and Tiffany was reading our lessons for tomorrow. Blake was also here, and he was skimming through an encyclopedia.
This was what usually happened during Sports Festival week. It was an event held near the end of the year. The Sports Festival was a competition among each year level, and every year had their representatives for each sport. It would officially start on Thursday, and it was mostly eliminations for team sports. Friday was track and field day. On Saturday, they held the championship for the team sports, followed by the awarding ceremony.
According to the rule, a student could only take part in only two events, so that everyone could join. Brooks, who would take part in table tennis, and Athan would be our year's representative for chess and checkers. For the rest of the group, they still couldn't fit us in any category aside from tug of war.
Since they also canceled afternoon classes until Wednesday, the library would be a good option tomorrow. Athan and Brooks had their practice slots on Tuesday afternoon, so I had to find somewhere to go.
After a few more minutes of silence, we heard a group of girls coming down the hall. It didn't take long until we'd seen the ones who would participate in the girls' senior basketball team. Included in the group was Jane. Supposedly, there was also Ariel, but she wasn't in sight.
Those who were part of the official school team could not compete in their own sports, so Jane would play basketball instead of volleyball. Ariel was a substitute player. She used to play in the basketball team back when we were in elementary. She was active in sports until her mom had decided that she needed to excel in academics when we entered high school.
Jane sat down at her desk, wiping the sweat on her forehead with a white towel. She complained, "It's so hot outside."
"Where's Ariel?" Brooks asked, shutting off her CD player.
Jane looked around, saying, "She was with me a while ago."
As if in answer, a pair of footsteps resounded outside the hall, and it was funny how anyone could tell that it was Ariel, who came into the classroom in a rush and out of breath. She went over to us, and we were all staring at her. Holding a hand up, she said, "Guys... guys..."
"Where have you been?" Jane asked her.
Catching her breath, Ariel told us, "I went to find Stephen."
"Isn't he in basketball practice?"
"Yeah, so I checked," Ariel replied, removing the cap of a bottled water.
A hundred thoughts came into my head upon the mention of Stephen's name. I was glad that they didn't give me those stares. Aside from Ariel, I never told them about what happened, but somehow they knew. I guessed it couldn't have been more obvious. Considering how Stephen had spent the past year asking me endless things each day, the lack of words between us was the first sign.
