Reckless Play | ✓

7. Rules of Attraction

"You are coming to practice,  aren't you?"

I sighed for the fifth time in the last three and a half hour.

Hannah stood beside me as I reached my locker, her books tucked to the side of her hip. A pink pilot pen covered in glitter peaked in between the pages.

It had been two weeks since school started and each day that went by we grew even closer. It wasn't hard to like Hannah. She made it quite easy with her bright and outgoing personality. I'd learned she could be a tiny bit clumsy, but it was something I was more than willing to overlook if it meant I could conserve her friendship and Layla's. Plus it wasn't like I was gifted with feather like feet or something like that. I made sure to make that known around school every time I slipped, tripped or stumbled along the hallways.

It might have been because of that aspect we had in common that we bonded so quickly. Layla was always there too, her weirdness growing as time passed. I made sure to be extra careful with my words and actions around her though just to be in her good graces. Heavens knew she could look as lethal as the Bride in the Kill Bill series when she fixed you with a glare. I really, really didn't want to go there with her.

As for the boys, I barely saw them lately unless you count the times we had lunch together or crossed paths in between periods. I was lucky enough to have two periods with Hannah, one with Hannah and Layla, and there was also History which I shared with Hannah and Ryan. I did not have any periods with James though. I asked Hannah about it and she said he was taking some AP classes so I guess that was it. He definitely hadn't struck me as a genius the first time I met him, but as I got to know him I realized it fit him. He was incredibly quick-witted.

In the few days he sat at the lunch table with us I couldn't help but observe the caring touches and smiles exchanged between him and Hannah, the tenderness with which he treated her. Some might find their PDA annoying, but for me it was sweet. The affection they shared for one another was admirable. It made you believe that school sweethearts weren't just something out of a fiction movie.

It was because of that devotion that I found myself in this situation. James had football practice in the afternoon and Hannah had asked me to keep her company on the bleachers as she waited for him. I had agreed with her when she asked because: why not? It wasn't like I had anything to do anyways. But then as I kept talking with her it downed on me. Ryan played for the team too. That meant he'd also be there.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't have anything against that. What I didn't trust was the jittery feeling that took place inside of me whenever he was near.

It confirmed the plain saddening truth: I found him attractive.

I couldn't help it.

I'd found him attractive since the moment I opened my eyes and saw him staring down at me with a funny expression on his face.

It terrified me. This sudden pull towards him.

Considering my experience with guys was close to non-existent, my wariness around him was completely justified. Especially since that incident at the lunch table.

I knew from what I heard that he'd had his fair share of girls throughout the past year. And it wasn't like he had to work for it, girls eyes followed him in the hallways, eating his every move and word like their life depended on it. I found myself hoping  several times I didn't look like one of them.

Despite the rumors I only saw him with a girl twice. Once by the lockers when I happened to drop by to change my books and another at the parking lot outside school. Both times it was the same long-legged, brown-haired one. And also both times there was a decent distance between them. Close, but no close enough that you may think they were into something. Though when I caught sight of the girl's face I couldn't think a reason why he wouldn't go there.