One

 

 

ear 12 was supposed to be difficult. I knew that. I expected that. What I hadn’t expected was for one person to come along and dash all my carefully laid plans to pieces. But, at this point, I was still in blissful ignorance. I was quite happy just eating my favourite blue liquorice – blue vines – and catching up with my three best friends.

“Ugh, no! Don’t do it!” Rachel laughed.

Cassidy winked. “You say that like I haven’t already.”

Cassidy and Rachel descended into a fit of giggles. I shared a look with Beat and grabbed another blue vine. Rachel and Cassidy kept talking and giggling about all the things they got up to over the holidays, with occasional interjections from Beat and I.

At a particularly vulgar comment from Cassidy, I doubled up, almost choking on my liquorice. As I looked up, I saw a new student walking through the school gates and my blue vine hung from my mouth, all-but forgotten.

I mean, damn, the guy was fine. He wasn’t hugely tall or bulky, like some of the other guys at school with their over six-foot height and Rugby-player bodies. He had dark hair, almost black, that was long enough to tuck behind his ears and the upturned collar of his grey jacket. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and his gaze swept across the courtyard of Saint August’s like it was the most unimpressive sight he’d ever seen.

He had a very Jess from Gilmore Girls vibe going on.

His gaze swept past me and I had a moment.

You know when you’re watching some television show or movie? And one of the actors has that look? You stare at them and you have a new appreciation for their attractiveness. You sit there, on the couch or in the cinema, and you can’t stop yourself from exclaiming ‘oh my God’.

Yeah, that happened.

“What?” Beat laughed.

I blinked and closed my mouth, trying to smile despite the realisation that I’d just voiced my thoughts. Beat looked around, but the new guy was gone.

“Who was it?” Beat sniggered.

I laughed. “I don’t know what you-”

“Aurora Daniels!” the shrill call interrupted me.

I jumped, trying to stifle my giggles.

“Matron Peters.” I smiled.

Our English teacher scowled. “Miss Daniels, is that really an appropriate place to sit?”

I looked down. I was sitting on the picnic-style table, one foot on the bench, the other crossed over my knee and my foot hooked around my leg; same way I sat every day. I looked back up at Matron Peters, my most charming smile plastered to my face as I slipped off the table, making sure to hold my skirt down.

“I’m sorry, Matron.”

After a momentary pause, Matron Peters smiled. “Just don’t be late to class, girls.”

“Of course, Matron Peters,” we chorused and I held out the blue vines packet.

She smiled back and took one. “I’ll see you girls later.”

“Bye!” We smiled as she left.

“So, trials tomorrow after school and practice Thursday, yes?” Beat asked, moving onto the important things in life.

I pulled my blue vine from my mouth. “Yup. Blerg.”

“Blerg? You love soccer season,” Beat chastised.

“True, but…”

“Kelly’s probably going to try for captain again?”

I shrugged, trying to play it cool.

Beat shook her head. “She won’t get it, she never does. Coach knows you’re best for the team.”

I smiled, grateful for her support. “We’ll see. I won’t deserve it if I’m too cocky, though.”

Beat rolled her eyes in disbelief as the bell rung and we picked up our bags before heading to class. I pulled my blazer closer around me, feeling the nip in the air.

As we walked, I nodded, feigning interest in whatever Rachel and Cassidy were prattling about while Beat made the occasional comment. Really, though, I was looking for the Jess-clone. But, I couldn’t see him anywhere. He’d either been a figment of my imagination or was stuck in the principal’s office.

“What has you so distracted today, Rory?” Cassidy asked.

I jumped at my nickname, realising the (so not) irony of comparing the new guy to that particular Gilmore Girls character with my nickname what it was.

Now, I just felt stupid.

“Are you okay?” Rachel asked.

“Me? Yeah, fine. Too much sugar.” I held up my empty packet of blue vines and grinned.

Beat laughed. “It’s a good thing sports start tomorrow.”

“You saying I’m getting fat?” I tried smiling back, but had this niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach for some reason. It felt like there was something behind me. But, I ignored it and headed straight for first period with Beat and the others.

We took our second row seats as the rest of the class filed in. Surreptitiously, I watched for the new face while Beat rattled off a list of players who could move from the B team up to the A team this year. I nodded every now and then, half filing the information away for later and half chastising myself for this odd obsession I seemed to have about seeing that face again.

God, what was I doing?

I blinked and gave Beat my full attention, thinking the sugar I’d already had today was making me act a little crazy. Not that I wasn’t usually a degree of crazy.

“Right, so the Kezler twins are good enough to move up this year. I think it would be good to give them a shot,” Beat was saying as she twirled her pen.

I nodded, the Kezler twins were two years behind us but already spectacular forwards. “You’re right. What if it comes down to one of them, though? Do we pick one or leave them both?”

Beat rolled her eyes and leant forward conspiratorially. “Kick Kelly.”

I snickered, forcing myself not to look at my oldest rival across the classroom, but was cut off as Mrs Williams clapped her hands.

“Beatrice, Aurora, could we have your attention, please?”

Beat and I shared a smile and turned to the front. I felt my smile twitch strangely as the new guy walked in with the principal. Either I was still having a brain meltdown, or the guy was just as hot as I’d first thought.

“Missus Williams, class. This is Cole Fielding; he’s new with us this term. Go and find a seat, Cole.” Principal Anders smiled and pointed Cole to an empty desk.

Cole nodded at him and Mrs Williams, and walked to the desk at the back of the classroom. He didn’t look at anyone, just slid into his chair and stared at his hands until Mrs Williams clapped hers again and the lesson started.

My mind uncharacteristically wandered to Cole Fielding. I wondered who he was, where he was from, what he liked. Did he like sports? Maybe he was into music? Movies? Maybe he was smart? Funny? I bet his smile was nice.

I blinked as I realised how far my brain had veered off any normal course. What did it matter if he had a nice smile? He did look nice in his uniform though...

I could feel Beat’s gaze on me, but pretended she wasn’t there, even when she nudged me.

“Aurora Daniels?” I heard Mrs Williams call, somewhat exasperatedly, for what was definitely not the first time.

“Sorry, Missus Williams… I…wandered off for a minute…” I stuttered, hoping my cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.

I was glad Cole was sitting behind me so he wouldn’t see if they were. Not that he’d know I’d been thinking about him…

I cleared my throat and looked back to the teacher.

Mrs Williams was smiling. “It’s fine, Rory. Just get your head out of holiday mode.”

I nodded and she turned back to the rest of the class.

Cassidy winked from across the aisle at the end of the lesson as we packed up our books.

“What do you think of the new guy?” she whispered none too quietly, slipping him a quick glance and entering the typical Cassidy boy-obsessed mode.

Honestly, a new guy couldn’t move into the state without Cassidy Campbell noticing and rating him on his date-ability level.

I laughed as we walked out of the classroom. “Do you have nothing else on your mind?”

“You know I don’t.” She looked backwards, making eyes at whoever she happened to look at. She stopped in the hall to turn to Beat and Rachel

“You don’t need to drag us all down with you,” I replied.

“What? You don’t think he’s cute?” she scoffed, leaning towards me.

I mimicked her lean. “Who I think is…cute is-” I stopped as someone practically walked into us.

We had to pull back so as not to be hit as he pushed between us. I watched his retreating back, his collar still up around his neck, and then fixed an exasperated look on Cassidy.

“Hot or not, it seems his manners are somewhat lacking,” I remarked, entirely unimpressed.

“Mm…he’s a bad boy,” Cassidy all-but purred, watching him walk away appreciatively.

I shook my head, laughing, and led the way to homegroup.

Thankfully, this Cole guy wasn’t in our homegroup class, nor did I see him at recess, so I at least had about an hour of decent brain function. Too bad it wasn’t during an actual class.

“Daniels!” I spun around and saw one of the Kezler twins heading our way.

“K1.” I smiled, hoping I had the right twin. They were identical, down to their dark brown hair and the way they wore the uniforms, except for their necklaces – a ‘K1’ and a ‘K2’ – which was how we identified them when they weren’t in their soccer tops. “What can I do you for?”

“Just wanted to check trials were still tomorrow?” She looked unsure, which was weird.

I nodded. “Of course they are, why?”

She smiled and shrugged. “Kelly’s been saying something about them being moved to Wednesday or Thursday?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, they’re tomorrow. I… Oh, shit. No, there is no way in hell they’ll be Wednesday because I’m coaching at the Middle School.” I’d almost forgotten I was coaching again this season, though how I’d managed that I wasn’t sure.

K1 nodded, smiling. “No worries, we’ll see you tomorrow.” And she jogged off.

“Kelly making a bid, hoping if she tells your supporters different, they won’t turn up tomorrow,” Beat commented dryly.

“Yeah, well, she’s not getting it,” I replied, sounding surprisingly grumpy.

I laughed at Beat’s eye-roll and we joined Cassidy and Rachel’s conversation about ideal dates for the Winter Dance. Why we needed a Winter Dance and a Spring Formal, I wouldn’t know.

As the girls talked about who they wanted to ask them, I couldn’t help but wonder if a certain new, apparent bad boy would go.

 

¢

 

After school on Tuesday was a mess of time. Somehow, I was running late for trials.

I ran out of the change rooms, calling a hurried goodbye back to Cassidy and Rachel. I was still putting my hair up and ran straight into the new guy, nearly tipping us both over. My hair cascaded around my shoulders and I nearly dropped my hair tie.

Miraculously, we managed to keep our balance, although we were standing very close. I’d never been this close to him before, only seeing him as he walked in or out of classes, or across the courtyard.

Not that I’d been watching him…

He had lovely rich brown eyes that held a hint of humour.

We stared at each other for a moment and I actually thought he was going to kiss me for a second. But, then he spoke and all illusions were thankfully shattered.

“You want to watch where you’re going,” he said, stepping back. I was surprised by the definite English lilt to his accent.

I blinked. “Sure, sorry.”

He looked me up and down in my school tracksuit pants, jumper, and cleats. “Sport,” he commented with a slight smirk on his face, his eyebrow raised.

“Soccer. I’m captain of the A team, and I’m late. So, excuse me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who wasn’t looking where they were going.” He held his hands up in mock surrender, giving me a very pseudo-innocent look. I noticed a sliver ring flash on his left middle finger and a black cuff poked out from his shirt sleeve.

As much as his face, especially that expression, made me slack-jawed and caused every rational thought in my brain to disappear, as soon as he opened his mouth, I thankfully regained full function.

Just keep that in your mind whenever you see him and you’ll be right.

“Right. Sorry. Bye.” I moved around him and headed for the door.

“Bye, Hannibal.” I heard the laugh in his voice and couldn’t help my own smile in response at the reference.

So, he was a bit of an ass, but a witty one at that. I had to stop myself swooning all over again.

I jogged out onto the pitch, pulled my hair up and started stretching with the others. Beat was already there, as were the Kezler twins, Sarah, Amy, Jenna, Mary, Kelly and her annoying retinue, and a few others. We’d be playing a scratch match from which Coach would choose the A and B teams, normally with my help. Though, by the look of the turnout, we might have a few B team benchers in the coming season.

Kelly Preston shot me a few smarmy looks, but Beat helped me keep my cool.

I’d never known what was up Kelly Preston’s butt, but she’d seemed to hate me since we met in Year 7 soccer practice. Until a certain point at the end of Year 10, she’d never been openly horrible; the teachers would have noticed that and caused some kind of intervention, for sure. But, she always sneered at me and kept aiming for my captaincy.

We pulled off jumpers, divided off into teams and Coach blew the whistle. I hung back in my position as Sweeper, which gave me a good chance to scope out the players. Every team member had a home and away jersey with their name and number on them and that was how we identified ourselves in practice.

The Kezler twins were on my team today; they hadn’t been allowed just ‘K1’ and ‘K2’ on their jerseys, and their first names both started with ‘K’, so their tops read ‘Kezler 1’ and ‘Kezler 2’.

I called a few pointers to teammates as we went. Beat was in defence with me and we both watched with pride as K1 set up an excellent goal for K2. They had improved a lot since last season; although they’d always been good, they were prime A team material this season.

We got through practice, with some exceptional showing off from me and Beat which resulted in a win to our team. It might have only been a scratch match, but leading my team to victory over Kelly’s was a damn satisfying thing.

“Daniels!” Coach called me over as we were warming down.

I nodded goodbye to Beat and headed over. “So, what’s the verdict?”

It was the same thing I’d said to him the last three years as I waited to see if I was still captain, first of the B team then of the A’s.

Coach sighed dramatically, making my heart race, and then smiled. “You know you’re this team’s captain, Daniels.” He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. “Kelly made some less than convincing arguments again, but you know you’re the team’s pick. Can you see me after school tomorrow and we’ll go through the team lists?”

“I have coaching at the Middle School…”

Coach smiled and I knew he was glad I was coaching again. “Lunch?”

“Lunch I can do. I’ll see you then.”

“Night, Daniels.”

It was getting dark as I wandered back to the building. I passed the bleachers, going over the scratch match for pointers to give the team on Thursday, unconsciously making little movements as I replayed them in my head.

I knew that just because the Coach had selected me as captain didn’t mean that Kelly couldn’t – and wouldn’t – stage a coup later. I had to be entirely on the ball for the rest of the season. We didn’t have the schedule yet, but our first game would be Saturday week. I just hoped it was going to be an easy team.

I grabbed my bag and headed out across the courtyard. Normally, I’d change before heading home, favouring non-sweaty clothes. But, that day, I was cold and didn’t feel like wrestling back into my tights – God knew that was a pain on its own.

The walk home was uneventful, we didn’t live far, and I’d warmed up again significantly by the time I walked in the front door.

“Aura, is that you?” I heard Dad call.

When he was learning my name, my little brother, Ben, hadn’t been able to get his mouth around all the syllables in my name. So, he’d called me ‘Aura’, and the name had stuck.

“Yeah. How long ‘til dinner?” I replied, nodding to my little brother in the hallway.

“Plenty of time to shower, honey,” Mum yelled.

“She’ll need it! She stinks!” Ben laughed.

“Shut up, you.” I cuffed him lovingly as I passed.

I dropped my bag on my bed and showered. I intended it to be short, but my brain wandered off again, though thankfully not on Cole long – God, you’d think I’d never seen an attractive guy before – and, by the time I was out, dinner was well on the table.

“So, how was it?” Dad asked, quite clearly barely able to contain his excitement.

“It’s mine,” I replied with a grin, shovelling pasta into my mouth.

“No thanks to Kelly Preston, I bet,” Ben said.

“I don’t remember when Kelly became such a mean person, it seemed so sudden,” Mum mused into her wine.

Mum was talking about that point at the end of Year 10. But, I wasn’t about to tell my family everything that had happened, even if it was all based on a single misunderstanding that had never actually taken place.

Instead, I shrugged. “Who knows? Hormones, am I right?” I smiled.

Mum and Dad laughed, while Ben focussed on his dinner with the ravenous hunger I now associated with all young males – and I thought I had a healthy appetite!

After dinner, I sped through my homework and checked the next day’s uniform was all set before falling into bed.

When my head hit the pillow, I worried I was going to replay running into Cole a hundred times before getting to sleep. Instead, I just remembered he seemed a little bit like a dick.

I fell asleep with a smile, pleased that it didn’t look like I’d moon over some new guy all year.

 

¢

 

A week later, I was late again. But, this time it was for coaching.

A back trail would get me from the Senior School to the Middle School quickly, although not many people chose to use it since it had overgrown and no one had done anything about it. I rushed through the gate on the Senior School end, and then realised I’d forgotten my cleats.

“Shit.” I turned and smacked into someone who put a hand on my waist as I put mine on their biceps to steady myself.

I blinked and saw Cole.

“We need to stop meeting like this.” He was smirking again and I noticed he had a dimple in his cheek. He’d probably have two if he smiled less sarcastically.

“We don’t always meet like this. I see you in class.”

“You’ve been watching me?”

“What? I’ve been… No!” I stammered, feeling oddly flustered.

Neither of us had moved. He was about a half a head or so taller than I was so I could look into his eyes relatively easily. In them, I could see he was amused. That deep, rich brown seemed to hold a flare of intelligence, although that might have been wishful thinking.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound very sure.”

He certainly had the look of a bad boy, though what actual experience I’d had with bad boys to tell me that, I didn’t know. I was really just going off what I’d seen in movies and television, and what Cassidy said. He wore a perpetual smirk that said he didn’t give a damn and just gave off a shifty vibe. He was the sort of guy used to being charming and dangerous, but I wasn’t going to fall for that!

I took a deep breath and realised I smelled cigarette smoke. Inadvertently, I wrinkled my nose. But, for some reason I still didn’t move.

He held up his hand, the end of the cigarette glowing in the shade.

“Yeah, that’d be me.” He smiled as though daring me to do or say something. But, whether he wanted approval, chastising, or me to run off and tell someone, I didn’t know.

I opened my mouth to say…something, but was stopped when Cassidy called my name and I stepped backwards hurriedly.

“Rory! I’ve got your… Oh, hello.” She smiled winningly.

I stared at Cole, daring him to say anything smart. He didn’t, he only inhaled his cigarette as he nodded to Cassidy.

“Oh, mind if I have a drag?” Cassidy asked, batting her eyelids.

I mentally rolled my eyes at her and her coquettish ways. Honestly, I could entirely see her in ten years’ time at someone’s wedding and still be hitting on the groom just in case he’d give her a go.

“Not at all.” He passed it to her; she took a drag, and then passed it back. He held it out to me, a question in his eyes. “Hannibal?”

“Hannibal?” Cassidy asked.

“She’s captain of the A team,” Cole stated as though Cassidy should already know this.

“What?”

“Never mind.” I grimaced. “And, no, thank you. I need to get to coaching.”

‘Oh, yeah!” Cassidy said. “That’s why I’m here. Beat said you left your shoe things.”

She held out my cleats and I took them from her, smiling. “Thanks, Cass. Listen, I need to go.”

“Here’s to meeting again, Hannibal.” Cole smiled, giving me a salute with the hand holding the cigarette. I gave him a withering stare and turned to leave.

“I’ll call you tonight!” Cassidy called after me, and I could tell by her tone what she wanted to want to talk about.

“No, you won’t,” I yelled back, but I smiled, and then took off at a run, knowing my kids were going to be pissed if I was any later.

I got to the Middle School pitch and was greeted by a group of hugs, and smiles from those parents who watched the practices.

“Okay guys, let’s get down to business. Pair up, we’ll practise passing first.”

They paired up, collected the balls, dutifully lined up, and began practising passing back and forth. I walked the lines, giving them pointers and showing them how to turn their bodies for better aim. Most of them were only twelve or so and it was, for most of them, their first year of soccer.

“Nice, Chris. Maybe a little harder,” I called and he smiled at me, causing him to miss the ball. “Never mind, try again.”

I walked among them a bit longer, until I came to a kid I hadn’t spoken to much the week earlier. His name was Matt and he seemed small for his age, kind of lost and uncertain.

“Hey, Matt, how are you?” I asked. He looked up at me, his brown hair sticking up at all angles, his blue eyes bright.

“Fine, Aurora, thank you,” he said as he turned to kick the ball back to his partner again.

I put my hand on his back a moment and squatted down beside him.

“Try pushing it with this part of your foot,” I said, tapping the inside of his right foot. “It’ll give you some more control and is quicker after stopping it.”

I stood up and showed him what I meant, but without actually kicking the ball away.

He watched me avidly for a few demonstrations, and then nodded. I passed the ball back to him and stepped back to watch his progress.

We went through a few more drills – dribbling through cones, shooting at goal – then back to passing as a bit of a warm down. Through it all, Matt put my advice into practise and I could tell he was a soccer enthusiast.

“All right, guys and gals, that’ll do us today. I’ll see you on Saturday morning for your first game!” I called and the team whooped, threw their balls in the bag, and rushed off to meet their parents.

“Aurora!” I heard Matt call. I turned and smiled, finding him coming up behind me. “Did I do it okay?”

“Okay? You were great, Matt! You’ll be playing with Beckham in no time.” I smiled.

“Did you hear?” he asked and I realised he was looking behind me.

“I sure did, bud,” I heard a familiar English voice reply and turned as Matt rushed passed me and hugged Cole. “Hannibal, fancy meeting you here.” Cole smiled, seemingly not at all fussed by the small figure of Matt attached to his waist.

“Her name’s not Hannibal, silly,” Matt laughed. “It’s Aurora.”

“Aurora.” He said it slowly and I wanted desperately not to smile at the sound of my name on his kissable lips. “Of course, how silly of me.” He stuck his hand out. “Matt’s older brother.”

Now he’d said it, I could see the similarity between them and recognised a slight accent in Matt.

“Of course you are.” I smiled pleasantly and shook his hand, not wanting to look rude in front of Matt. “You pick him up?”

Cole nodded lazily. “Yeah-”

“Incoming!” a voice interrupted him and I spun in time to catch the ball Ben had lobbed at my head in his usual way of greeting.

There was a wide grin plastered on his annoyingly cute face as he ran up to us with his dark blond hair messy. I threw him his ball and he stopped next to us.

“Nice catch,” Matt said, wonder in his voice.

“Nothing you won’t be able to do after years of practise if you want to,” I replied, still heavily in coaching mode.

Matt beamed.

“Matt, Cole, my brother Ben. He’s a year ahead of you, Matt.”

“Oh, yeah, I saw you around last term.” Ben smiled at Matt.

I was surprised Matt started a term before Cole. I wondered where Cole had been. Maybe in jail? He certainly seemed the type…according to Cassidy.

“Soccer player, like your big sister?” Cole asked.

Ben smiled, shaking his head. “Hardly like her. Aura’s the best at the school, even better than any of the boys. She was my coach last year, but I moved up to the next team this year. She wouldn’t come with me though…”

“Ben, most of your friends are taller than me, I can’t coach a team taller than me,” I laughed, putting my arm around his shoulder.

“But, you’re so much fun!” he whined.

“And, now other kids get to benefit from my…fun…” I said, wrinkling my nose as I wondered about the appropriateness of that statement. “Anyway, we need to go. Got your bag? I need to go pick up mine.”

He groaned dramatically. “You left it over there? Great, now we have to go through the creepy path…” his voice petered off as he started mumbling.

“You’re heading back to the senior school?” Cole asked.

I nodded. “We are.”

“Mind if we walk with you? I left my bag, too.”

Of course he had.

I looked to Matt, who was smiling, and knew I had no choice but to nod. “Sure.”

Matt’s bag was sitting on the grass near us, so he picked it up, and then he and Ben rushed on ahead. Part of me wanted to rush on with them, but the other part knew I’d look like an idiot, so I hung back with Cole, my school shoes slung over my shoulder.

“So, you’re the school’s best player and the Middle School’s best coach?” Cole asked, his hands in his pockets as he watched our brothers up ahead.

“Ben’s a little biased,” I replied with a self-depreciating laugh.

He nodded and looked at me. I smiled at him, but had to look away from the almost charming, rather arrogant smirk on his face. We walked in silence for a few more moments, and then I started feeling ridiculous.

“So, you read the English book?” was apparently the most interesting thing I could come up with.

He laughed. “Peters told me not to bother with it. Like I would have anyway. She’s apparently just going to adjust my marks.”

For some reason, at his words, my mood fell. “Not a reader then?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So, you are a reader?” I felt something akin to hope blossoming.

“I didn’t say that either.”

“You’re not saying an awful lot then.” I looked at him and found him smiling. I looked down to hide my return smile.

“So, is it Aurora, Aura, or Rory?” he asked after a while as we came towards the Senior School buildings.

“I was starting to believe it was Hannibal.”

He laughed. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

I felt my inner-Cassidy worm its way free for a moment. “It’s whatever you want it to be, Cole.” I winked at him and ushered Ben off to my locker, wondering what on earth had got into me.