Massie watched from her locker as Derrick Harrington walked with Kristen Gregory attached to his arm, giving him a light peck on the cheek. Oh how I wished it was me, Massie thought. She gave a deep sigh. She's had had a crush on Derrick for a couple of months now, and she didn't know how, when exactly or why it happened, it just did. A good portion of the girls at school had a crush on him. I mean, what's not to like? Gorgeous chocolate eyes, so soft and made you want to melt, but they had a slight edge to them, an air of seriousness. Strong arms, they looked as if they could protect anyone from anything. You could see his abs showing through his shirt, but they were not too pronounced, just enough, strong legs that could carry him anywhere (don't think he could run all the way to Antartica, he may have strong legs, but he's still human), thanks to yeras of training in soccer. But what made girls fall for him the most was his hair; a unique sort of mix of dirty blond that was close to light brown, and flecks of caramel that appeared in the New York sun. But Massie knew she stood no chance with the hottest, sweetest, most-wanted guy at BOCD, sure she was pretty, but she had never clicked with the gang he always hung out with. So she did the only thing she could do in that situation, hide her feelings deep down in her heart, hoping they would soon go away. She hadn't even told her ultimate best friend Alicia Rivera.
Alicia had been present throughout the most important events in Massie's life, when she had her firs lip-kiss with some loser named Benjamin (it was a total accident!) at the age of 11, when she had her first period at the age of 12, and most recently, her fathers death, which happened a short 2 weeks ago.
Massie knew there was a problem with her. Ever since William Block's death, she felt numb. Sure she still dressed up for school, saw her friends, fixed her hair, put a smile on her face every day, but it was all fake. Inside, she was crumbling.
Massie almost gave up on life, no she wouldn't go to the point where as to commit suicide, she was much to scared for that, but she just didn't want to continue putting effort into her life nor did she see the point into that, she didn't have her father anymore. Her mother was practically gone as well, overloading herself in work, she wasn't present enough to take care of Massie. She didn't have anyone, and that hurt her deeply.
Just thinking about all of this made her want to cry, so she decided to skip first period and went to her favorite place; the soccer field. Even though Massie passed off as a snob that didn't like to break her nails (she didn't care that much, actually), she loved playing soccer. She would let all of the anger and sadness she felt during the day and let it overpower her. And she had a strong kick. She was actually really good at soccer, all her friends told her she should try out for the soccer team, but Massie had lost faith in herself.
While she was stil kicking at the net, she thought about her father. How he would never get the chance to put his arms around her, take her to the ice cream parlor when her mother was stuck at her office working late, he even gave her advice sometimes, even if it was about boys, her father was not one to be too overprotective. It was clear to anyone who saw them together that they had a strong bond and that Massie was closest to her father than to her mother. When she was young, her dad had been her best friend and yes it was ridiculous to think so, but it was true, he had even builted her a tree house where her and her father sometimes took the tea. But what regret his death the most was how he would never have the chance bring her down the altar to give her to the man of her dreams, nor see their beautiful children, he would never be a grandfather. Even if it was cruel to think so, Massie would have had rather her mother died, of course she loved her, she just wasn't as close to her as she was with her dear daddy. Soon, she was sniffling, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to get out so badly, but she didn't cry for what seemed like the millionth time in just a couple of days. She gave one final kick that went straight through the air all the way to the goal on the other side of the field, and put her hands on her knees.
Derrick's P.O.V
I felt slightly uncomfortable as Kristend gave me a kiss on the cheek. I didn't know what to do with her. Sure, she had a bunch of qualities that made her perfect, but that was the problem: I didn't want someone who was perfect, I wanted someone where even though she didn't understand what I was going through, would be there for me at all times. Even though she would piss me off at times, make me want to throw her clothes off the next minute. I wanted someone who was perfect throught all of her flaws. And in all of the girls I've date in my life, no one stood out to me.
I had to talk to Kristen, as much as I liked this girls, she just wasn't the one for me. I saw her from accross the hall. ''Kristen, we have to talk.'' I said as I approached her.
''Sure thing, babe.'' I winced, I hated how she always called me babe. We walked away from the group of teenagers and went to sit in a lonely corner of the cafeteria. ''Look,'' I started. ''Your a great girl, and as much as the two months we've been together were great, I don't think you're the one for me.'' I didn't really expect a certain reaction, I just didn't want her to make a scene in front of everyone. She sighed and looked into my eyes. ''It's fine, I guess. I knew you never really liked me, I was just hoping your feelings towards me would magically change one day.'' She smiled at me sheepishly. ''I'm really sorry Kristen, but if it makes you feel any better, I noticed that Kemp talks a lot about you these days when it's just us boys.'' Her eyes lit up and a grin appeared on her face. ''You think he likes me?'' She asked excitedly. Well, she sure didn't mourn over me for long, which I was glad for. ''You can try.'' She got up and left to find him.
To me, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder. I had really liked Kristen in the beginning of our relationship, but I had gotten bored easily. And I don't mean bored as in you go out twice with the girl, sleep with her, then move on. Oh no, my father had surely not raised me to be this type of guy. My father always told me to be respectful towards woman at all times, they had brought us to life after all. Since my mother had died when I was only 3 years old, she had not been in my life long enough to see me grow up, but with my father there, I had grown up to be a man that would always respect and treat his woman how she rightfully deserved to be treated.
I decided to go to the soccer field. This place was like my personal sanctuary, when there was no one, that is. Sure, I liked i when we were all of the team and practicing, but when I was alone, it was better. Having the whole field to myself, playing in the calmness and peacefulness that always helped me think things through. Yes, I was ditching class, but it's not like it mattered anyways since it was only phys ed. I already had an average of 90% in that class, missing one of it wouldn't hurt, I told myself.
As I got there, I saw that I had not been the only one to think about coming to the field during class. A girl was already there, standing on one side of the field, positionning her ball, taking a few steps back, and kicked the ball with a force I had rarely seen a girl kick with before. The girl had chesnut colored hair that arrived mid-back, cascading down in soft waves. A lean body, muscles in her legs noticable from where I was standing, but her back was turned to me, so I couldn't see her face just yet. She put her hands on her knees, and I waited for her to stand straight again so I could get a better look at her, not in the perverted way, but after keeping her position for two minutes straight, I decided to go and introduce myself. The girl was taking deep breaths, not because she was tired though. ''Hey, nice shot you did there.'' She yelped and jumped back, looking at me as if I was a murderer. ''Don't scare me like that!'' I could finally see her face, and I was striked by what I saw. Amber eyes, piercing through my soul, thick and dark eye lashes that matched the color of her hair. Rosy cheeks that contrasted with her porcelain like skin. No makeup, not that she needed any, she looked perfect without it. Heart shaped lips, full and slightly reddish, a nose that had a slight slope to it, just enough. ''Are you scared of me?'' I chuckled and crossed my arms. ''Well, I certainly wasn't expecting anyone here at this time.'' She looked me up and down, I smirked, she blushed. Knowing that I was the one making her turn red like this was pleasurable. ''This is where I come when I ditch class.'' I told her. She looked into my brown eyes and said ''Mine as well, even though it's been a long time I haven't came here.'' I sat down, and she hesitantly followed my movement.
''Do you play on any team?'' I asked her, even if I had never seen her on the Sirens team before. The Sirens are the schools girl soccer team. Sometimes, we practiced with them, though only on rare occasions since the immatured guys on the team kept oggling the girls and couldn't concentrate.
''Who, me? You're kidding right?'' She started laughing, but stopped when she saw that I was serious. ''Why not?'' I asked, puzzled. She did great not only five minutes ago.
''You have to have talent for that, mister Derrick Harrington.'' I looked questionningly at her. ''How do you know my name?'' I hoped she wasn't one of these girls at school that had pictures of me on their bedroom walls, as ridiculous as it sounds, it's true, i've seen it with my own eyes.
''Come on, it's hard to ignore all the whispers in the girls locker room about 'hot shot Harrington'.'' She rolled her eyes at this.
''Ah, I see, so what's your name then, mystery girl?'' I wiggled my eyebrows, she giggled. ''It's Massie. Massie Block.''
I had heard that name before, actually, a lot of guys talked about her, saying she was a real hottie, but I personally had never seen her, now I knew why they said that. She was never really popular though, Kristen's gang didn't really like her, mainly because last year, Claire Lyons, the royaly bitch, had a crush on Landon Crane, but he had asked Massie out, and they had been a couple, until one day, Landon had changed school. ''Hey, you were Landon's girlfriend! What happened to him?'' I asked her.
Massie's smile faltered until it disappeared completely. Her eyes clouded and turned a dark shade of brown. A long moment passed and I was still waiting patiently for my answer. One of the things my dad had taught me was to never rush a woman, so I let her take her time. Her head snapped towards me. ''Can I tell you something?'' She asked me. I was quite curious as to what was going on in her head so I agreed quickly.
''We were a happy couple, when we first started dating, I was so happy. I finally had someone who I thought at that time, would understand me. In the first few weeks, it was awesome. Landon himself was so good to me. He was always there for me. He would bring me to school, we'd leave school together as well, we'd go to his or my house, and chill just for the night. But after one month of being together I realised that most of the time when I wasn't at school, I was with him. He was taking over my life, instead of just being a part of it. I told him that, and obviousy he didn't see it like I did, because the next thing I knew, he had slapped me.'' My eyes widened at that, but I didn't stop Massie.
''He apologized right after, saying he did it 'in the heat of the moment', because he loved me too much. Bastard. Few months later, the beatings were regular and I had to cover my bruises with jeans and long-sleeved shirts. Fortunately for him, we were in winter. One day, he punched me in the eye, and when he left I broke down and my mother came in. I told her everything, and i cried myself to sleep. To this day, everybody thinks that Landon changed school, but he's in a juvenile detention center.'' She exhaled a long and tiring breath. ''I've never told anyone before, it feels so good to let it all out.'' She fell on her back and gazed at the sky. I was still frozen in shock. I felt the urge to beat up that scum bag, but I was glad that he was somewhere where he couldn't touch Massie. I layed on my back as well, close enough to her so our elbows were touching, I could feel the heat radiating of her body. ''Did you ever lose someone, Derrick?'' Her question startled me, and I remembered the painful memories of my dead mother. I never really liked talking about her, but the way Massie had opened up to me made me feel more comfortable in doing so. ''My mother died of cancer when I was only 2 years old. I don't remember her very well, but I still miss her so much.'' She looked at me with sadness filled in her beautiful amber eyes.
''My dad died two weeks ago. He was on his way home, some drunk man crashed into him.'' I knew how she was feeling, heart wrenching pain. Tears started to fill her eyes, so I took her ahdn in mine. ''I don't know if I can make it through. I'm tired of it, i'm exhausted, i can't hold on for much longer. She shook her head slightly, while I was confused over what she said. Hold on to what? Make it through what? ''What do you mean?'' I asked her.
''I don't know if i'll be able to hold on to life anymore. It's really hard when everyone's against you. Nobody believes in me, they tell me in my face, i's useless, I have no use on this earth. My mother, she barely talks to me anymore, she blames my fathers death on me. Why stay if i'm only hurting people?'' I was striked by what she had just told me. Obviously I knew she was sad, but I never thought she was this deeply affected. ''What? Massie, no. You can't give up on life like that. No matter what your mother says, you are not responsible for your fathers death. I felt that way as well, after my mom died. I thought that maybe if I had been a better kid she wouldn't have been sick. But I realised that even if I didn't want her to leave, it was her time, and there was nothing I could of possible done to change that.'' I sat up, faced her and crossed my legs, she immitated me.
''Did anyone ever told you you're worthless, Derrick?'' I shook my head no. ''See, I've been told so many times in my life that i'd end up alone that I started to believe it.''
I took both of her hands again and looked straight in her eyes, but she was looking at the floor, so I took her chin and lifted up so I could see her amber orbs. ''You're not alone Massie, there's always someone for you, i'm sure. And if there's none, I'm here, right now. I won't leave you alone.''
I leaned in and kissed her softly, she was surprised but responded immediately. Myself, I was surprised of the attraction I felt towards her, and the softness of her lips, how good she was a kisser. As clich d as it sounded, I felt sparks, and that surely never happened with anyone before.
Derrick was looking for somone different, someone who he could love forever, he found her. Massie was looking for someone who would always be there for her, and who would understand her, she found him.
They had found each other.