Young Writers Society

Here's chapter 6!

I hope you don't get disappointed.

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Miranda’s birthday was just around the corner, two days from now. I had already gotten her a present. A small crystal pendant fashioned in the shape of a Queen Chess piece. Speaking of which, it reminded me,

“Hey Miranda, you up for a chess rematch?”

“Bring it on, sister. I’m up for it right now. Shall we?”

“We shall.” Miranda and I got up and headed for the lounge, the boys tailing us. A memory flashed in my head and I turned around to face the footballers, putting my hands on my hips.

“Who’s the stalker now, brothers?” All they could do was grin sheepishly at me.

This time I lost. One bad move was enough for Miranda to take advantage of my King’s position to checkmate it. Darn.

“It would have been a close fight if you hadn’t made that mistake, Liz.”

“Oh well. Anyone else up for a round of chess?” I didn’t look at the jocks because I didn’t expect anyone of them to know the game.

“I will.” Alex mumbled.

Everyone’s mouth hung open. “Y-you p-play chess?” I stammered.

“A few years back, Bradley taught me the game.” There was an aching sadness in his tone. His hand ran through his hair, mussing it and making him look- Snap out of it, Liz!

“Umm …okay.”

We set up the pieces in awkward silence till he opened his mouth again, “I won’t go easy on you.” He teased, a smile finally reappearing on his face.

“I wouldn’t expect you to, considering I’m the one who has to do that.” I smirked.

“Oooh, a challenge. Anyone wanna place bets?” Greg called out.

“Liz.”

“Liz, of course.”

“Alex don’t stand a chance, dude.”

“Liz.”

“Duh, obviously Liz.”

“Ten on Liz.”

“Same.”

“Looks like we can’t place any bets. It’s unanimous.” Daniel sighed.

“Guys, you wound me.” Alex pretended to look hurt. “Do you really think I’m that bad?”

“Sorry Captain. But yeah, we do. Bradley was a good player and all, but I’m not sure we can say that for you.”

Alex flung an empty soda can at Daniel, who caught it reflexively, crushing the aluminum flat. “Jerk.” Alex muttered.

Throughout the game, Alex was staring at my face.

“What? Something on my face?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “You won’t find any moves written on my face.”

“A guy can hope, you know.” He sighed.

“You’re distracting me. Stop it.”

“Really? Then I’d better stare harder, then you’ll lose focus and I’ll win.”

“Fat chance.”

“He’s staring because he thinks you’re pretty, Liz.” Sean joked. Miranda stomped on his foot.

“Ouch! What did you do that for, Mira?”

“Thanks, Miranda.” Alex and I said at the same time.

Eventually, I could see that I was leading the game, and apparently Alex knew that too. In one swift move, he flicked his King and it toppled off the board, surrendering.

Miranda applauded, “That was rather good playing, Alex. You too, have potential. Too bad you and Liz have soccer committments.”

“Yeah, good game Alex. Maybe you want to rematch sometime?” I piped in.

“Sure,” Alex replied, his mesmerising green eyes twinkling mischievously, mouth forming an impish grin. “But I won’t let you win next time.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was going easy on you today. That’s why you won.”

“Huh. We’ll see about that.”

“I’m Alexander the Great, conquerer and expert in strategy, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

I flicked the white Queen at his face, and it flew squarely into his open mouth. “That oughta stop all your hot air from escaping.”

He coughed and spat out the chess piece which was now covered with his saliva. “Why you-” He pushed his chair aside, his eyes gleaming playfully, and advanced towards me. I shrunk back in my chair, wondering what he was going to do to me.

“Hey, I’m being an environmentalist! Stopping all your hot air saves the world from global warming! You can’t be mad at me!”

I squealed as he abruptly placed his fingers on either side of my waist, and started tickling me, causing me to burst into peals of laughter, begging him desperately to stop and swatting him. Finally, I managed to get off my chair and ran to the other corner of the lounge, trying to escape his clutches.

“You may run fast during practice, but I’ll catch you now!” He laughed, “Come back here, Liz!”

“Catch me if you can! None of you can!” I hollered. The boys saw this as a contest.

“Get her!”

“Uh-oh.” I darted out of the lounge, hearing a stampede of boys in hot pursuit. Every girl’s dream come true. To be chased by a hoard of boys. Too bad I’m not every girl.

***

I turned around the corner, running towards the big soccer field. It was night, and the area was pitch black. I took out my handphone and used it as a flashlight, identifying the farthest corner of the field, I settled down there, hiding.

A few minutes later, a rustling in the bushes startled me, followed by two strong hands snaking around my stomach, and I squeaked in surprise.

“Gotcha.” A voice whispered in my ear. It was Alex.

“ALEX TAYLOR! Were you trying to give me a heart attack?!”

“No, but since I’ve caught you, do I get to see you in that miniskirt?”

“HEY! There she is! With Alex! After her!”

“Shoot!” I tried to free myself from Alex’s grip, by he just tightened his arms around me, refusing to let me go. “Alex, let go!”

“Nope.”

Then, I was caught. Once again, the weight of everyone knocked me over and they piled on top of me.

“Get OFF me, losers!”

I felt the load on me lighten, then realised that Alex had fallen on me when he was pushed down, and was right on top off me, looking at me, his eyes somehow managing to sparkle in the dark like emeralds. My pulsed quickened and my heart started to run a marathon, thumping loudly.

“Oooooh, compromising position!” Greg snickered, and Jackson wolf whistled.

Alex quickly stood up, brushing his jacket and clearing his throat, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Uhh …I gotta go. See you guys around.” He mumbled, making a quick exit.

“Dude, he totally likes you.” Daniel sniggered.

Standing up and smoothing out the creases on my shirt, “What makes you think that?” I asked suspiciously.

“You should see the way he looks at you in class. There’s definitely something going on.”

“You’re lucky it’s dark out here and I can barely make out your face, or else it’d be beaten to a pulp by now.” How could Dan say that! Alex is my brother! We’re close, but as friends and team mates. Right?

“Fine. Be in denial. You’ll see, Liz. We’ll all see.”

“Whatever. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” And I stalked off the field with my makeshift flashlight.

That night, I had my first dream starring Alex Taylor.

***

The next morning, Alex and I acted as if nothing happened. We had come to a mutual agreement, not needing to say anything to know what the other wanted and the boys were tactful enough to zip their mouths on that matter. Or maybe it was because I was shooting them warning glances.

“Hey! You’re a Liverpool football supporter?” Daniel pointed to my jersey, the Liverpool emblem clearly displayed on it.

“Uhh… yeah. Why?” I asked, confused by his sudden outburst. Then I spotted his jersey, with the Manchester United emblem on it.

His eyes narrowed, “We’re going to beat you in the Premier League again!”

“Keep on dreaming. You just got lucky last year!” I snorted.

“Guys, guys, what’s this about?” Alex cut in.

“She supports Liverpool!” Daniel growled and at the same time, “He supports Manchester United!” I growled.

“Cool. I’m a Liverpool fan myself. ManU doesn’t stand a chance this year.” Alex chuckled, turning to give me a smile, which I returned. He whispered to me, “You’ll never walk alone.”

“As if. Manchester’s gonna beat you again, like we did last year. You rely too much on Torres, and he sucks. He couldn’t kick the ball even if it started singing in front of him.” This time Jackson came to Daniel’s aid.

“We have Gerrard too! And Torres doesn’t suck, you suck! You couldn’t kick ball even if it tap danced in front of you.” Alex spoke, before I could.

“Big deal! We’ve got Cristiano Ronaldo! He scored the most goals for the last Premier League! Thirty-one, compared to Torres’ twenty-four. Loser.” Jackson disputed.

“But you’re not exactly doing too well this year, are you? The last time I checked, Liverpool is currently first in standings and where is Manchester United? Oh, that’s right, sixth place!” I argued.

“We still have time to catch up. It’s not finalised yet! Right, guys?” Daniel turned to the others for support.

“Totally. Manchester United is so gonna win.” Jackson chipped in.

“Uhh …Don’t look at me, I’m an Arsenal fan.” Greg replied.

“Chelsea.” William grunted.

The others, choosing not to get themselves involved, shoved food to keep their mouths full.

“Greg, Will, shut up.” Alex and I snapped.

“Oh joy, the happy couple. They’re already talking like twins and reading each other’s minds.”

Alex didn’t comment this time. “Shut up, Dan.” I growled.

***

First period was Spanish. Once again, I was paired up with Alex to practice conversing with each other.

“¿qué usted quiere hacer hoy?” I asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Alex mumbled, scratching his head.

“I asked what do you want to do today.”

“Quiero besarte?”

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and Alex groaned at my expression.

“Damn. What did I say wrong now?”

“Y-you said you w-wanted to k-k-kiss me.” I stammered.

“Oh.” Alex coloured and his cheeks became an identical shade of red as mine.”

“Su español es terrible.” I muttered finally, breaking the long silence.

“Sí. Señora Rodríguez dice siempre eso.” Alex grinned his lopsided smile. Darn. Quickly, look away. I pretended to drop my pen and by the time I had resurfaced, he was busy scribbling down notes.

When classes had finally ended for the day, I was already very lethargic. I had forced myself to keep alert until class ended, merely postponing my exhaustion and accumulating it. I had not gotten enough sleep, upon awakening from my dream, it had kept me up all night thinking about it. IT. The dream. NOT Alex.

After changing, I shuffled to the field for football practice, sitting down on one of the benches, I stared into space and waited for everyone to arrive.

“Hey, Liz is already there!”

“Sup, Liz?”

I was too tired to speak, so I just nodded weakly.

“Woah. Liz, you feeling okay?” Alex asked, concerned at my sudden lack of energy, having seen me perfectly fine during classes.

“I’mjusleepy.” My words came out in a slur, tripping over one another. My eyelids were starting to droop and my head lolled to one side.

They started to change into their practice outfits, but I was too tired to avoid looking without shutting my eyes. For some reason which I was too tired to bother finding out, Daniel whispered to the rest of the guys and they started grinning and staring at me. Whatever. Probably some dumb joke about me. Just focus on keeping your eyes open, Liz. Too bad you’re caffeine intolerant. A cup of coffee would’ve helped.

***

Coach Keel had finally arrived and ordered us to start running our usual thirty laps. Normally, this wouldn’t be a probably, but right now I was jogging at a walking pace, dragging my feet along the grass and uprooting small flowers. Pull up the anchor already, lead foot. You’re going to dirty your shoes and kill the field plants.

I focused on running the correct amount of laps. Under the scorching hot sun, I felt a breeze travel past me at on point and heard rustling sounds. I had done twenty-six laps when someone shouted triumphantly.

“HA! Told you, Will! She lost!”

“WHOO!!! Miniskirt time, baby!”

“Hi-five!”

“Yeah! Liz in a red miniskirt. Priceless!”

I had only fully registered what I had heard when my name was mentioned. My head snapped up and I understood what they meant. DAMMIT!

Energy flooded back to my legs and I sprinted the last four laps in record time.

“Nice to finally see you again, Liz. How was your run?” Daniel smirked.

I snarled, “That isn’t fair. I was sleep-deprived. It doesn’t count.”

“Does to. You didn’t specify under what conditions could we consider it a win. You merely said, finish thirty laps and we’ll be seeing you strutting around in school with a miniskirt on for a day.”

I couldn’t argue with his logic. I could only stomp off, still fuming, destroying plants in my path, obscenities flying out of my mouth.

I fed off the angry energy channeling through my veins from plotting ways I could kill the boys slowly and painfully. Coach Keel had excellent timing, as we practiced on scoring goals and perfecting our aim. Pretending the soccer ball was a lethal bomb, my kicks were much more direct and accurate than usual. The only thing was, I was aiming the ball at our goalkeeper, Jackson, rather than trying to get the ball past him. I had managed to bruise his face, before Coach yelled,

“Pearson! Are you aiming the ball at Jackson or the goal? If you can’t score properly, I’m going to replace Alex as striker. I don’t need you to kill Westgreen’s goalkeeper, I need to get that ball in the net! Start scoring!”

At the end of practice, all my angry energy had ebbed away and I returned to my sleepy state.

“So when do we bring our camera, Pearson?” Greg asked.

“Never!” I hissed, not managing to look menacing enough with my eyelids only half-open.

“You will keep to your word, Liz. We won’t let you wriggle out of it.”

I growled wordlessly at them, unable to form any sentence that could contain all my fury.

“Feisty. That matches with the red you’ll be wearing. I hope you’ve got a nice sexy top to go with that skirt, Liz.”

I was long past coherency at this point, my mind blank. The next thing I knew, my brain shut down and I succumbed to the exhaustion.