Guess who's on break ?

Also, for those of you waiting for Leilani's POV chapter, it's coming up soon. So bear with me for just a little bit longer.

- Paul's POV - 1 year ago -

Just as every gym period started, the teacher waited for all of the students to exit their respective locker rooms and gather on the bleachers inside the school's gymnasium for attendance. I took my usual seat near the back on the top row, sprawled lazily against the wall as I waited for Leilani to grace me with her presence.

No, I wasn't saying that last part unsarcastically.

Absentmindedly, I spun the football in my palm and successfully hid the mini panic attack when I thought it was going to spin out of my hand and onto my face.

"I totally saw that."

I scowled as I sat up and faked a throw at Leilani, unsatisfied at her lack of reaction. She rolled her eyes and threw a playful punch at my shoulder and sat beside me. My shoulder shoved into hers in response. A few more students trickled into the gym and onto the bleachers as the coach began calling out the attendance, his voice drowning out while I recalled my friendship with the Quileute girl.

We met last year in math, another class we managed to share each other in again besides this one. I was doing just as well as I was in freshman year, which wasn't so hot at all. See, while I genuinely struggled with learning and understanding these mathematical concepts, Leilani was just lazy. Or blatantly lucky. (I still haven't figured it out yet) You can understand my frustration when I get a a test back and see a bold red 'D' written at the top from a session of studying. Meanwhile Leilani gets a 'B' (or sometimes even an 'A') when during that same session she busied herself with throwing skittles at my head to see how far they would bounce off of my temple.

Ok so maybe half an hour of studying the night before each test doesn't do much but you get my point, the effort was there.

We ended up bonding over mediocre insults bantered back and forth between one another. Leilani was another guy to me, one of the dudes. A hot one, but we both agreed we weren't each other's type: hers being lanky, long haired, butt-chinned-

"Lahote"

I felt a jab to my side as I lifted a chin towards the coach with a half raised hand, "Sup." Coach looked down to his clipboard, checking my name off as he continued with the roster. I turned towards my best friend and raised a brow towards her. A hand lifted itself towards where her bony elbow shanked my side, not voicing my complaint to for her satisfaction. "So what's new with you, Squirt?" My hand moved to mess her hair.

She let out a huff of air as she pushed my hand away from her, attempting to flatten the hairs on her head before choosing to redo her ponytail. "Funny. I should be calling you that since a little birdy won't stop tweeting all over the interwebs about what happened this passed weekend after your date."

My face scrunched in confusion. She was more into the social networking than I was, if you could say that she was into it at all. "Wait, Rosa called me small?" That definitely means that this was the sad gossip being spread around the school today. Of course I knew whatever she was spreading would be lies, and I'd be more than glad to prove whoever girl challenged me wrong.

"Mm not so much a description of you more so than what you had her doing."

I felt myself smirk, my chest puffing out a bit in pride. Leilani saw this and gave me a disgusted look as she smacked a hand against my pecks, trying to deflate my ego. I held me smirk and gave her a look through squinted eyes. "Jealous, Lani?"

She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the wall, taking the football from me and bouncing it back and forth between her hands. "Please, I'm just disturbed by the mental images she gave me while I overheard her reiterate every tweet she posted, in the locker room. I've got to admit though, that girl's got a way with words and illustration."

I spotted Rosa on the opposite side of the bleachers and caught her glance, throwing her a wink at her flirty smile. My response to Leilani was unfiltered as I remembered Saturday night very...clearly. "Oh yeah, she's very detailed with her words."

Leilani made a gagging noise, snapping me towards her attention as she childishly continued to fake an oncoming vomit. I looked away exasperated, before turning back with a devious idea. I quickly took one of her hands, folding it into a fist and held it a few inches from her mouth before returning my hands to my side and calling out "Yo, Embry!"

It happened too fast for her to comprehend the position she was in. Her gaze shifted to follow where mine was, eventually catching Embry's very amusing gaze. I smothered the oncoming snicker in my throat, looking at her. She was frozen on the spot like a deer in headlights with her fisted hand held in front of her opened mouth.

The look on her face as she finally came to a realization was just an encore for entertainment. I threw my head back as I turned away, laughing at the red glow of her cheeks that could rival Rudolph's nose on a stormy night. She snapped out of her position and fixed herself, awkwardly waving towards him as she shoved the football in my gut and stood from her seat. Luckily for her the coach had finished roll call and ushered for everyone to start doing something active (ironically while he took a seat). She turned to look at me with cut eyes as she started making her way down the steps of the bleachers.

"C'mon Lahote. Let's go out and play football so I can tackle the hell out of you."

I chuckled as I stood up, following after her to the doors. "If it's pent up frustration you have, I can think of other ways I can help you out with that." If I wasn't paying any attention, I would've walked into the door she attempted to quickly shut in my face.

Luckily after teams were picked, halfway through the game she got her fill of tackling me in-game, and beaming the ball at me while I wasn't looking during time-outs. It was the fourth down with the ball on my side when I switched my position to quarterback. I sneered at the look Leilani was giving me, telling her it wasn't because of her looking for any excuse to throw me into the dirt. (I don't care what anyone says about girls and sports, Leilani on the field was a monster.) I called hut after everyone dispersed around, as usual no one following the plan we made in the previous huddle. I saw Leilani eyeing me with a malicious grin, counting the seconds until she could blitz me and take me down. My eyes caught Embry's arms as they waved for his opening. I didn't hesitate, throwing the ball back and launching it towards him. I let out a gruff cheer as he caught it and began running, jetting dodges between a few people that tried to catch him. He was about 15 yards away from the endzone before my little speed demon of a best friend clutched her arms around him in a tackle. Their ending position was a bit stereotypical as she sat on top of him, their chests heaving for air as they tried to settle their breathing.

She laughed lightly, "Not so bad, your legs got you pretty far, Call."

In return, Embry pretended to lose his ability to breath as he faked his struggle to move. "Help... can't...breathe."

I shook my head, Embry definitely needed to up his flirting game. I'd have to remind myself to offer him some pointers in the locker room. Maybe in exchange for talking to that Katie girl he had chemistry with. It would be a win-win for Leilani and I. I called out her name and jogged towards them, saving Embry from further embarrassment.

"Yo, Lani." I ran next to her with an offered hand. "Practicing position for Gordon?" She grimaced as she stood on her own, pushing me with a huff. Embry got up quickly after her, pursing his lips into what looked like a forced grin before nodding and heading back to the rest of where the players were.

Leilani cut me a look. "Was that necessary?"

"Please, I had to save you two from continuing your painful banter." My voice raised in a higher octave, a poor imitation of my best friend. "Your legs got you pretty far, Call." I drawled out his name in exaggeration. "At least you know that both of you don't know how to flirt."

Her protest was interrupted as another classmate of ours jogged up to us, coming to a stop in front of Leilani. I couldn't for the life of me remember his name. Carl? Chris? "Hey, did you hear what happened to your cousin?"

"No, what happened Tristen?"

I was close enough.

"He got in a fight with one of the seniors on the lacrosse team and got suspended."

"Suspended?!" Her mouth fell agape. "What the hell has gotten into him? Is he alright?"

Tristen shuffled and repositioned his weight from one leg to the other. "Yeah, he's fine. It's the other guy I'd be worried about. Apparently he looked pretty messed up."

Leilani's shoulders relaxed when she heard that her cousin was fine with little to no damage. She threw her hands into the air, frustration radiating off of her. "That idiot! That freaking dodo brain!"

I mentally chuckled at her choice of kindergarten cursing.

"That doodoo buttface- How am I supposed to get to and from school now?!"

I shook my head as I threw a casual arm around her shoulders. "Say no more, your best friend's got you."

She leaned her head on my shoulder and let out a sigh. "Thank you, Paul."

"We can use the time to teach you how to flirt properly."

"Goddamnit Paul."