First Encounters
Alistair was stuck teaching the 8 am class since he was the newest gym teacher, but despite the class being the first of the day, it had a decent amount of students enrolled in it—mostly women. He didn't understand why anyone would want to be up at such an ungodly hour. Maybe women enjoyed waking up early to workout? Was that why she came to the gym every morning?
He always got to the gym a half hour before class to set up for the day—turn the lights on, roll out the mats, take out various sports equipment—until one day, the lights were on when he arrived. Confused, he looked through the windows on the doors leading into the gym, finding a solitary figure inside. It was a woman. She had set up the archery targets at one end of the gym and stood at the other, firing off arrow after arrow from an expensive-looking compound bow, hitting the targets every time.
She moved with the fluidity and grace of someone who was well-trained, and Alistair found himself mesmerized by the sight. So he watched her.
When she finished, she pulled her arrows out of the targets and returned them to the quiver at her hip before lugging the targets back into the supply closet they were housed in. She made her way right towards him, and he froze like a deer in headlights. He probably should have ducked, or something for god's sake, instead of stupidly staring at her through the door's window—but he wasn't exactly known for his quick-wittedness in such situations.
Thankfully, she didn't notice him, flicking off the light switch to the left of the door he was standing behind. Before she was shrouded in darkness, he was able to finally get a good look at her. She was beautiful, her raven hair pulled up into a neat bun, not a flyaway hair in sight. She had the most striking green eyes, but he could have sworn they were filled with pain and sorrow. She just looked so… sad.
Alistair was so distracted by the mystery woman that he didn't realize just how much time had passed since he'd found her. The alarm on his wristwatch beeped, alerting him to the fact that he had ten minutes until the start of his class. That snapped him into action, and as soon as he was sure she had left the gym, he hurriedly got to work setting up for his class. He barely finished in time.
When he arrived the next morning, she was there again. He found himself watching her again. And he almost didn't finish setting up for his class again.
After a few weeks of wondering who the woman was, he did some investigating. He asked around about a woman fitting her description who was talented at archery and apparently had a set of keys to the gym.
Her name was Isabel. Isabel Cousland. She was the daughter of the two board members who had been killed in a violent car accident along with their oldest son. He remembered reading about it in the college paper a few days before she had shown up in the gym with her bow. Apparently one of the other board members was the one driving the car who hit her family, and there were rumors that he had been driving drunk. But nothing ever came of it.
That's why she looked so sad.
After finding out who she—Isabel—was, Alistair decided he was going to talk to her. She was alone, and obviously in pain, and the least he could do was try and make her feel better, even just for a little bit. He knew what it was like not to have parents, after all.
He made his move the following morning when she was dragging the archery targets back to the supply closet. They were pretty heavy, and he was nothing if not a gentleman, so he approached her, lifting the other side of the target she was about to drag off.
It really wasn't his best idea, because he scared her half to death, her sharp scream piercing his ears. Alistair held his hands up in a defensive position, an apologetic look on his face. She brought her hand to her heaving chest, those green eyes wide with fear.
Fear wasn't exactly the emotion he was trying to elicit, but hey, it was better than pain and sorrow… right?
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, stepping back from him. "Who the hell are you?"
He lowered his hands and sighed, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "I'm Alistair. One of the gym teachers."
"Well, Alistair, you really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. Especially when they're in possession of weapons," she pointed out, lifting her other hand. He frowned when he saw she'd grabbed an arrow from her quiver, her fingers tightly gripping its shaft, the arrowhead pointing right at him. Not only did he scare her, he'd almost gotten himself stabbed… with an arrow. He would've had a blast explaining that one to the other gym teachers.
"Right," he started. "Look, I'm sorry I scared you, I just—" Alistair promptly shut his mouth before he made himself look like even more of a fool. What was he going to say? That he'd been stalking her for weeks? That he'd asked around about her instead of just asking her who she was and what she was doing in the gym every morning? That he wanted to know what her lips would look like when she smiled? Or that he wondered if her eyes could hold anything but sorrow in their depths?
"You just what?" She narrowed her eyes at him, but still seemed more relaxed now that she'd assessed he wasn't a threat… but he was still fumbling for words.
"You're very good at archery," he blurted out.
"I… thank you."
"My class later this week is going to focus on archery… maybe you could come? Give the students a proper lesson?" He definitely hadn't had an archery lesson planned, but he didnow.
She quirked a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him. "Aren't you the gym teacher? Surely you know how to give a proper archery lesson if you planned a class on archery?"
"You make a good point," Alistair said with a chuckle, shooting her a lopsided smile. "But I'm afraid my skill with a bow nowhere near approaches yours. I would be honored to have such an expert teach my class."
She looked away from him, biting her lip and furrowing her brows while she contemplated his offer. She looked afraid again, but not startled like she was before. She seemed like she wanted to run away and never step foot in the gym again.
"I… I don't think that's a good idea. I—"
"Please?" he said, softly. Her green eyes met his again, and he felt like he was dealing with a frightened animal, not a woman who could probably put an arrow through his heart from across the gym.
She swallowed hard, nodding. "Okay," she breathed.
"It's this Thursday at 8 am."
"I guess I'll be there."
"Good. I look forward to it," he replied with a genuine smile.
The two stared at each other for a moment longer, until Alistair's wristwatch alarm beeped, startling them.
"I need to go," she said, quickly turning and grabbing her bow before scurrying away. She was halfway to the door when he regained his wits, and he just watched as she practically ran from the gym. She stopped right before the door, glancing back over her shoulder at him. He offered her another smile and a small wave, and she bit her lip again before finally turning and leaving the gym.
"Okay, then," he muttered to himself, a little baffled by the whole encounter. "That didn't go as planned." With a shrug, he started to put away the rest of the targets, then performing his daily routine of setting up the gym for his class.
The sound of feminine giggles alerted him to the fact that his students were arriving, and all thoughts of his mystery woman—Isabel—were pushed to the back of his mind.
For now.
