Really Nice Eyes

Chapter 4

Eye of the Beholder

"Who do you think you are?"

Chloe started, banging her knee on the leg of the lunch table. Standing over her, hands poised on her hips, was a dark-haired girl. Chloe had seen her around the school, the kind of girl usually surrounded by boys, wearing designer clothes and nose upturned in that snobby way. Until now, of course, she had never had the pleasure (or, in Rae's opinion, the inconvenience) of meeting Victoria Enright.

"Why, hello, Tori. How kind of you to drop by." Rae greeted stonily, her face revealing just how displeased she was by the other girl's presence.

"God, Rae. Have another bread stick, why don't you?" Tori stared distastefully at Rae's lunch tray before turning back to Chloe. "I saw you cozying up to Simon in the parking lot yesterday. If you know what's good for you, you'll back off."

"Wow, Tori. What a speech. Did you come up with that all by yourself?" Rae would not back down.

Ignoring Rae's taunts, Tori continued, "Let's get this straight, new girl. Simon Bae is off-limits, and you're not to go anywhere near him. Or else you'll regret it."

Quiet fell over the table. Chloe could just barely keep her jaw from falling open. She was being confronted by another girl-because of a boy! Never had she had problems with her own sex before. To other girls, she was simply nice Chloe. Nothing too remarkable. A little on the silent side. Looked too much like a child. Not really a threat. Just a good friend, not someone who would willingly steal boys from other girls. She was utterly speechless. Had she even tried speaking, her stutter would be in overdrive.

Seeing that Chloe was too shocked to stand up for herself, Rae cleared her throat and spoke, "That's so great of you to pass on that warning, Tori. It's just too bad that Chloe's already got a date with Simon."

The Enright girl froze. Then, "What?" at the same time that Chloe finally found her voice and exclaimed, "R-Rae!"

"Yep," Rae didn't even bat an eyelash at her outrageous tale. Chloe tried to kick her friend under the table, but only managed to knock her shin into the table leg once more. "Tomorrow. They're shooting hoops at the park. Together." She stressed the last word, completely leaving out that small tidbit that Derek would be there as well. Or that it wasn't a date at all.

"Really…" Tori's eyes were narrowed into thin little slivers. Chloe wasn't sure that she liked that look so much. Opening her mouth to explain the real circumstances, Tori's glare stopped her. That cold, half-wild look in her expression scared Chloe more than Derek's had. That was the look of someone who would do whatever she could to get what she wanted. Without saying anything else, or waiting for Chloe to speak up with her explanation, Tori whirled around and strutted away.

"Now the princess is going to throw a tantrum. How awful." Rae remarked, not sympathetically.

"Rae…" Chloe groaned. "How could you do that?"

'How could I not do that?" her friend replied casually, seeing nothing wrong with the situation. At Chloe's incredulous stare, Rae shrugged, "So what? It's what she deserves. You know I had to share a bunk bed with her at summer camp a couple of years ago? She wouldn't let me have the top bunk because she said she was afraid I'd break it. Then the whole thing would fall on top of her. How I wish! That witch needs something to come and fall on her."

Chloe didn't respond. True, she hadn't heard a lot of good press about Tori Enright. But the popular girl had never bothered her before, so why should it matter to Chloe? Now it seemed that she would be receiving attention from Tori, whether she wanted it or not. The thought didn't really settle too well with her. She hadn't meant to cause any drama, and she surely didn't want anyone to see her in that whole 'boy-stealing' light.

Maybe…maybe she was just worrying too much. Possibly, Tori wasn't going to do anything. Yet something told Chloe that it wouldn't be as simple as that. That look in Tori's glare said that she wasn't one to give up that easily-or without a fight.

Why had she told Rae about her plans to hang out with Simon and Derek? Rae had only taken that information and used it to anger Tori. As if Chloe didn't already have to worry about Derek Souza…

That reminded her. "Are you all set for the plan tomorrow?"

"Of course," Rae answered immediately, giving her a thumbs-up. "Are you sure I can come with you?"

"I talked to Simon this morning," she ignored the knowing look Rae was giving her. "He said it would be fine if I brought you along. Said that we can play two on two. Which is perfect. Now you have to distract Derek just long enough so that I can slip the note somewhere where he'll notice."

"Have you written it yet? Can I read it?"

"No. I'll do it tonight." Truth was, she'd written it in the car yesterday afternoon. When she'd gotten home, she'd called Rae and relayed all the info to her, including walking with Simon and Derek's newest note. But after seeing Rae giving away the confidential details about Saturday (and not even all the details) to Tori, Chloe was a little hesitant about sharing anything more.

Feeling those fierce green eyes on her, Chloe thought that she had made a huge mistake. Turning her body slightly, she tried to listen as Simon explained the rules of the game. Derek was leaning against the basketball hoop, arms folded over his chest in a way that made clear he was not happy. Nothing new there, as Chloe figured the boy must never be happy, but it was starting to get very annoying because he was obviously blaming her. His harsh gaze, fixated on the back of her head, was unnerving, to say the least.

"Okay, you got all of that?" Simon's voice cut into her thoughts, making her realize she'd been tuning him out. So, no, she hadn't gotten all of 'that', whatever 'that' was. Simon had been understanding when Chloe had confessed she was a bit clueless when it came to basketball. Instead of huffing and puffing impatiently, like some other boy on the court, he'd taken the time to talk her through the game.

She nodded, not wanting to tell him she'd missed over half of the things he'd said. Had she said something, she had the feeling that he would take another fifteen minutes to explain it all again. Which would lead to more huffing and puffing from the Big Bad Derek.

"Great! Now let's split into teams," Rae declared, getting up from where she was sitting on the ground. Rae hadn't needed to know how to play the game, unlike Chloe. "There's four of us, so it's gonna be two on two."

"How about boys versus girls to start with?" Simon offered, grabbing the ball form where he'd tossed it earlier on the sidelines. "After that," he winked at Chloe. "We'll switch it up."

With that, the game started. Chloe soon learned to hang back and let Rae do all the work. The other girl wasn't particularly exceptional at the sport, but she could at least dribble and move at the same time. So, Chloe did what she thought was best and hovered near the hoop. That way, Rae could throw the ball into the net, and Chloe could rebound it. It was decided early in the game that Chloe was not allowed to actually attempt making any points herself, as she tended to overshoot it. Within the first ten minutes of the game, they'd had to pause it to fetch the ball from a nearby shrub.

The goal, Chloe discovered, was to get the ball in the hoop fifteen times before the opposing team. Needless the say, the boys won the first game. When Simon suggested they play another round with the same teams, Rae shook her head and demanded a partner switch.

"No offense to you, Chloe," her friend explained. "But if I want to keep my pride, we have to even out the playing field."

"Fine by me," Simon shrugged, bouncing the ball on the ground. Catching it in his hands, he nodded to Chloe. "Blondes versus you dark-haired freaks."

Chloe stifled a laugh as she walked over to Simon. The boy grinned back conspiratorially. "This'll be a piece of cake. They look like they'd rather push each other off a bridge than work together."

Chloe noted the others' expressions and agreed. Rae looked as if she was trying her hardest to not get within an arm's length of her new teammate, eying him with distaste. On the other hand, Derek was acting like Rae didn't exist, hands shoved in his pockets like he didn't care. He knew Rae was glancing over at him wearily, knew she was reluctant to team up with him, but acted like it didn't bother him in the slightest. Looking closer, Chloe could see the tension in his jaw and the narrowing of those green eyes. It bothered him, though. He might not show it, might try his utmost to hide it, but it bothered him a lot. For a split second, Chloe wanted to snap at her friend. Just because he was taller, bulkier, and scowled at everything within distance, didn't mean he was-

What? A monster? Because you sure seemed to think that every time you ducked around a corner when you saw him walking down the hall.

A part of her wanted to protest, say it wasn't like that. She was Chloe Saunders, nice girl extraordinaire. But she knew that little voice was right. She'd acted just like Rae was dong now, like Derek Souza was just a terrifying bully. Was he really, though? When Rae and she had first met up with Simon at the park, it was apparent that he wasn't pleased that they were there. But he hadn't drive them away with threats. Sure, he'd glared and huffed, but he had let them stay.

Simon obviously thought highly of him, and watching the two brothers play together on the court, Chloe could tell they were close. They hadn't won the first game due to luck or Chloe's ineptitude at anything sports related. No, they had worked together. When one lost the ball, the other was always there to retrieve it. When one was being blocked by Rae, he would throw the ball over her head, knowing that his brother would be there to catch it and make the shot.

Perhaps she'd been too hasty in her judgment of Derek. What if there was something more to him than that scowl and rude demeanor? There had to be something there that she wasn't seeing. Simon saw it. And, watching as Derek stole the ball from his brother, Chloe found that she wanted to see it, too.

"All right, it's official," Rae announced at the conclusion of the second round. "Any time you have Chloe as your teammate, you're bound to lose."

Chloe cringed, glancing apologetically at Simon. He shrugged at the loss, smile still carefree and relaxed. "No big deal," he told her. "I'll win next time."

"Are you suddenly a psychic now?" Derek came up behind his brother, ball tucked under his arm.

"I don't have to see in the future to know I can beat you," Simon shot back, eyes glinting with the prospect of a challenge.

"Want to make a bet?"

"Sure. Whoever loses buys pizza for the winner."

Derek rolled his eyes, holding out his hand to make the bet legit.

"And the loser doesn't get to eat any of the pizza." Simon hurriedly clasped his hand with his brother's before Derek could object to the terms, laughing mischievously. Spinning on his heel, he pointed at Rae. "Colors versus whites. You're with me."

"Colors against- excuse me?" Rae crossed her arms, glaring at Simon. "You trying to piss me off?"

"Relax, Rachelle. I was talking about our shirts. What did you think I was-" he stopped short, looking at Rae, then at his hands. "Oh."

"That's right. Oh."

"My bad. Let's rewind a second," he pointed once again at Rae. "Us with the colored shirts, not skin," he stressed before turning to point at Derek and Chloe. "against those with the white shirts." Facing Rae, he asked, "Is that better?"

The girl nodded, although Chloe could see that Rae hadn't held it against Simon in the first place. He was too friendly and charismatic to really be offensive. It was an honest mistake, and Rae was smart enough to realize that. Didn't mean she couldn't give him a hard time about it.

As Rae and Simon huddled together on the opposite side of the court, Chloe approached her new partner. Derek was dribbling the ball in front of him, pointedly not looking at her.

"Hey," she greeted him, hoping that maybe she could spark a conversation. Along with her earlier epiphany that Derek might not be such a bad guy after all had come the determination to get to know him better, whether or not he hated the sight of her.

He didn't reply, which was unsurprising. Other than speaking with Simon, he'd barely voiced two words all afternoon. "So…."

"Don't get in my way."

His words were so sudden, so unexpected that Chloe didn't even have the time to process how stupid she sounded.

"W-what?"

"Don't get in my way." He stopped dribbling, catching the ball with both hands. His gaze snapped to hers as he said slowly, "Stand there, don't go after the ball, don't touch the ball, and do not shoot the ball."

"What if it comes at me?" It had happened before, the ball flying at her face. She'd thrown up her hand to try and stop it, only to have it soar off the court.

"Let it go."

"Even if it hits me in the face?" she questioned, gritting her teeth.

His look told her he thought she was more than a little slow. "Yeah."

She was surprised to feel her nails biting into the palms of her hands, her fists were so tightly clenched. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"I don't kid," He pushed past her. "Not with pizza."

"I told you not to touch the ball," Derek just about growled Monday as she sat in the seat next to him in English class.

Chloe bit her tongue to hold back the reply that threatened to leave her lips. Derek still wouldn't let the fact that she hadn't listened to him go. For a boy who refused to talk to her any other time, he sure seemed eager to chew her out.

It did give her a small sense of satisfaction, though. Not the whole chewing out part, but before, when she'd intercepted the ball. Once in her hands, she'd just stared at it, wondering how it suddenly just appeared there. Then, she'd realized both Rae and Simon were headed her way, faces determined to make her give up the ball. Derek had been on the other side of the court, far away from the hoop. She knew she should have just tossed it to him, or let the opposing team get it so Derek could take it away from them.

But, having looked across the court at him, she'd seen his expression. Seen that he had been scowling, angry that despite that he'd told her to leave the ball alone, it had somehow ended up in her grasp. That's when she knew. She wouldn't let him dictate her. It was unfair of him to demand that she stand back and let him order her around. Maybe if he'd asked nicely, or if they'd made some sort of solid game plan, she'd have let the ball go. She wouldn't have attempted making that basket. She wouldn't have missed the shot and sent the ball into the bushes. Then, there wouldn't have been ten minutes of searching for the ball with Derek, complete with uncomfortable, awkward silence as he was seething.

They'd gotten so caught up in playing with the boys, along with searching for the ball every time Chloe knocked it into the shrubbery, that she and Rae hadn't even had time to slip the note into Derek's bag. Her gaze slipped to the backpack under his desk. If she was careful enough, it was possible she could place it in there…

Oh wait, he was glaring at her again. Opening his mouth to berate her once more, except he was stopped as the teacher began that day's lesson. Chloe ignored the teacher, continuing to glance at Derek's backpack. She'd come to class late, as her locker had taken forever to open. By the time she arrived in the classroom, her usual seat had already been taken. The only one left open was the one next to Derek's. She'd been hesitant at first. After wrecking his chance at beating Simon in basketball, and therefore, pizza, he probably wanted nothing to do with her. Yet, this seat could prove to be more useful in her plans than she originally thought. Was there a way to get the note from her bag to his without him noticing? She'd have to be extremely crafty-

A white rectangle of paper rested on her desk. She'd been so absorbed in staring at Derek's bag that she hadn't even seen who put the paper in front of her. Although, she had a guess as to who it was, a guess that was confirmed when she read the short, simple message.

When someone tells you to do something, you do it.

How dare he order her around in writing! Hastily, Chloe grabbed her pencil, scribbled down a reply, and passed the paper back to his desk.

Maybe if you said 'please'.

Derek was half tempted to toss the paper into the trash, just to show her what he thought of saying 'please'.

Maybe you should mind your own business.

He watched her face as she read his words, processed them, and hunched over her desk to furiously write something in return. Her cheeks were tinted pink with fury, and the space between her eyebrows bunched together as she narrowed her eyes. A week ago, she'd been scared to death of him, hiding around corners as if he didn't notice what she was doing. Now, she was standing up to him, something he wasn't sure he admired or not.

You really need to work on your people skills.

Like he needed her to tell him that. Not that he wanted to work on the way he interacted with others.

Then work on your dribbling if you're going to keep playing basketball with Simon. You dropped the ball every other minute.

It was the most he'd ever written to her, and by the slight widening of her eyes, he could tell that she realized that, too. It took her awhile to respond, but when he felt the edge of the paper slip under his palm, he picked it up and was also surprised by what was written on it.

Maybe we should work together. You help me with basketball. I help you to not be such a jerk.

He struggled to contain a small grin. So, she thought she was tough, now? Well, he knew just how to bring her back down a few notches, as well as get her to back off.

Fine. After school today. Meet me in the gym.

He didn't watch her while she read the note this time, knowing that if he did, he'd see that look on her face. That one expression that said no matter hw many notes she wrote to him, he was still just some thug whose company she'd rather not be around. Sure, she seemed different at first because she'd tried to approach him. In the end, however, she'd be just like everyone else and run away like a scared dog with its tail between its legs.

The paper was back on his desk, folded over so he couldn't immediately see her response. Suddenly, a tiny ball of dread settled in his stomach. Why did he care so much about how she'd answer? If anything, he should be anticipating the rebuff. It meant she would be out of his hair, once and for all. No more notes. No more staring from across the classroom. No more having her show up out of nowhere to play basketball with him and his brother. Life could go back to normal, to the way it had been before Chloe Saunders ever decided to butt in.

He took a deep breath. And turned over the paper.

Authoress's Notes: Um...please don't kill me? First off: I. AM. SO. SORRY. FOR. THE. LONG. UPDATE! Woo, now that that's out of the way, let me just apologize again. I really didn't mean to take so long with this chapter. It's just that every time I turned around, life happened again. And again. And again. So this took a little longer than necessary. Luckily, I didn't have to go into work today, nor did I have anything else important to do (I say, as I just conveniently ignore that big final exam project for AP European History, or the wasteland that has become my bedroom). Also, it helps that I got some really bad sunburn earlier today, and I really don't feel like doing stuff when I feel like my skin is on fire. So, I popped in my dvds of season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, plopped myself onto my couch with a drink and food, and settled the laptop in front of me so that I could, for once and for all, complete this chapter. And I did!

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! Sorry if I haven't replied much to anyone (once again...life got hectic for awhile). I wish I could say the next chapter will be put up within the next week or so (or at least, that I won't take so long to update like I did this chapter...), but life's gonna get really busy once again. In the next three weeks, although I am finishing up my last week of school, I still have a bunch of things to do. Graduation, college orientation, graduation party, not to mention all my friends' graduation parties, working a bunch to pay for college...ugh...already summer is so busy! Hopefully, things will wind down by the end of June. But who knows. I might surprise you.

Anyone notice that this chapter is the longest one so far? Just a little 'I'm sorry, please accept this long chapter as my heartfelt apology' to all my readers. Just don't hate me for the cliffhanger. I had to do it!

On a totally different note, who absolutely LOVED The Reckoning? I know I did! ;D

Now, back to my Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 dvds...