Chapter 6
I wanted to bang the phone down on the desk. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, believe the words she just said to me.
“What?” I asked her again.
“Your mate. He is arriving earlier than excepted,” Odette said carefully into the phone. My grip on the phone tightened, causing it to crack in protest. The secretary shot me a look, and loosened my grip.
“When is he arriving?” I asked as I turned away from the older woman, who kept on glancing at me.
“Um…today,” she said in an uneasy voice.
“What?” I whispered, fiercely.
“He is arriving today,” Odette said. “You will have to pick him up after practice.”
“Why can’t he take a taxi or something?” I muttered.
“Elizabeth,” Odette warned.
“What?” I snapped.
“Nothing. I will see you later. Bye,” she said before she hanged up on me. I growled at the phone, before giving back to the secretary. How dare she hint that I have to be nice to him? I thought as I glaring at the phone. The secretary looked uneasy at me.
“You can return to class now,” she said, shooing me away. I walked out of the office and return to the classroom. I stayed into there, thinking about my mate. Why the hell is he coming so early then schedule? What the hell is the council up to? I thought furiously thought entire lesson. When bell rang, I left calculus. The hallways were full of students walking to their next class. Whenever someone brushed up against me, I fought myself to stay in control of my urges. I was heading to my last class of the day, which was chemistry, I walked to the lab and took my spot with my lab partner. The bell rang a minute later as the teacher walked in.
The teacher gave the assignment and we started work on it. I kept messed up in the class because my mind was elsewhere, but my partner didn't seem to mind. An hour later, the class ended with the bell. Students packed up their bag as fast as they can like if it were some race or something like it. The teacher wished a good day and we all clutter to the door. I eventually got out of the classroom and went to the car first. I switched my backpack for my fencing gear. Immediately afterward, I headed to the gym and the girls’ locker room, which was decorated in the school’s colors: blue, sliver, and yellow.
I changed in my practice uniform, which was: a white shirt, white pants, a plastic chest protector, a white jacket, socks and a pair of fencing shoes. I would have added a little something to my uniform but I wasn't allow too and plus it could have gotten me kick off the team. I was fixing my hair into a low ponytail, when a fellow teammate, Ashley, came up to me.
“So, do you know who are sparring against today?” she asked, her voice squeaky. I looked at her. She was dressed in the same fashion as I in the hidious white uniform.
“No, but I hope that practice is short today. I have to do something afterwards,” I said as I began to pull on my gloves. I grabbed my practice sabre from my bag and walked out of the girls’ locker room, into the gym.
Mats were placed on the floors so we wouldn’t damage the floor with our shoes. I stepped over them as I made my way over to the bulletin board that had the post of who was our practice partner for the day. I quickly found my name and followed the line to the right. I froze when I saw the name. Today was not my day.
Adam was my partner. Well, this is going to be interesting I thought. Two advanced fencers, going head to head.
Ashley saw my face and asked, “what? Don’t like your partner? Who is it?” Without waiting for a reply, she looked at the board anyway. “OMG! You have Adam as your partner, lucky girl.”
No, I’m not I thought as our coach walked. He was a tall, muscular type of man. The baseball cap covered his black hair. He was dressed in shorts and t-shirt, which was ideal for a hot gym in the afternoon. A whistle showed around his neck as he walked to the center and faced us.
“Alright, I’m sure that you have looked up your name and found your partner today. Today’s practice will be a short one. Here are today’s rules: you and your partner will have three one-on-one battles with each other and the best who has two out-of three will win. Clear?” he asked
“Clear,” all of the team members shouted back.
“Alright. Take your places,” he said. I walked over to the far mat and took my place on the left side. Adam took his place on the other side.
“Did you set this up?” I asked as I walked to the center,
“No. I didn’t even realize that you were on the team!” he shouted in shock. I shrugged it off. “Please believe me. I would have never set you up like this.”
“Shut up, and walked out here,” I gritted out. I wasn’t in the best mood for this kind of game because: one) my mate is arriving today and two) this was the boy that had ask me out, without even knowing me, earlier today. Adam walked to the center. We shook hands, and then put on our mask. We saluted each other and crouch down. All of the pairs waited for the coach to give us the “go”.
“Ready….Aller!” he shouted. It had rung through the whole gym. Adam quickly ran forward, thrusting at me with his sabre. Carefully, I dodged each blow by quickly move my feet backwards and blocking with my sabre. When he was worn out, I rapidly change into my favor by thrusting my sword straight to his mid-section, earning me the win.
Adam acknowledged the hit with a nod of the head. We turned back and turned toward each other again. We saluted each other once more and began the fast pace dance. He was being smart by playing defensive this time while I attacked, but he slipped up on his foot work causing him to lose again. I landed a blow on his chest, right above his heart.
“Hart, Grey! You are both done for the day,” the coach shouted at us. We backed away from each other and bowed. I took off, heading to the girls’ locker room. Inside the locker room, I change out of my practice uniform into my regular clothes. I packed everything up and headed out. When I reached the door, Adam shouted out to me.
“Hey wait!” he shouted as he ran to catch up with me. I humor him by stopping. In a minute, he was by my side, crouching over to catch his breath. A second later, he popped up.
“Why did you tell me you were on the fencing team?” he asked.
“It didn’t seem important enough and beside you should know who is on your team,” I stated.
“Point taken…. um…so, what are you going to do now?” he asked as he looked down, like an embarrassed school day. That irked the hell out of me.
“None of your damn business!” I snapped at him. He looked at me with wide eyes.
“Jeese, I was just asking. Don’t have a hissy fit,” he said. I took a deep breath and try to clam down.
“I’m sorry. I just got some news that upsets me,” I said as I looked away.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked. I looked at him like he was crazy or something. “Listen, I am sorry I put you on the spot at lunch and especially sorry that I ask you out. You were right, I mean we only met yesterday and here I am, some boy you really don’t know, asking you out. I would like to be your friend,” he said as he looked at me. He held out his hand for me to shake. I was getting a bad vibe about it, but what the hell.
“Friends then,” I said as I took his hand and shook it. Over his shoulder I saw Ashton and Adelicia walking down the hallway towards us. I pulled my hand away.
“Well, I will see you tomorrow,” I said as I walked out of the building. Adam followed me.
“Why are you following me?” I asked.
“My car is out this way too, you know,” he said.
“Oh,” I said as a red tint stained my cheeks, “Wait, car? I thought you rode a bike.”
“That’s for the weekends only,” he grinned.
“Ah. I can understand that,” I said as I looked over my shoulder. Ashton and Adelicia were keeping their distance and didn’t disturb us. I turned forward to see Adam walking over to a sleek 2007 ford mustang. He threw his gear into the trunk. He opened the driver’s side door and folded his arms over to the top.
“Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow,” he said, smiling. I smiled back, feeling drawn to him. He crawled into the driver and revved up the engine. I stepped back and got out of the way. He waved as he took off and I found myself waving back.
“Stop that. You look like a fool,” Adelicia said as she came up behind me. My hand dropped. She’s right I thought.
“Come on. We have to go to the airport,” I said as we walked over to the frontier. Ashton and Adelicia stopped as I tossed my gear into the back.
“He’s here already? But I thought he wasn’t suppose to come for couple of weeks!’” Adelicia shouted.
“Change of plans,” I said as I climbed into the back seat. They threw their stuff in the back. Ashton closed the back as Adelicia went to the passenger door. She climbed in as Ashton got into the driver’s seat. He started the car and drove off. He drove to the airport, which was a 45-minutes drive. They didn’t speak to each other or listen to music on the way.
Ashton pulled into a parking space and turned off the car. We left the car and walked toward the airport.
“When Odette, I am sure she is the one who, called. Did she tell you the flight number?” Ashton asked as we walked into the airport. A chilly sensation hit me as we entered and then I knew.
“There will be no need for that,” I said as I looked to left. There he was. Dressed in black slack with a black t-shirt stretching over his huge chest, there stood my mate. As we walked over, his feature came familiar to me. His black eyes and black spiky hair. I stopped about a foot away, my eyes widening with shock.
“Oh my god! Ethan!” I said. He smiled that familiar smile.
“How is it going, Elizabeth?” he asked.
