New chapter!

Touchdown!:

One day after school, Daniel and I sit in the bleachers of our school field watching football practice. Neither of us is actually interested in the sport itself but the science behind it is intriguing. He's the only person I could have this kind of conversation with. Well, not really. I mean, I could talk about this with James as well but it's better with Daniel because James is, well, James. That's an explanation all on its own.

The funny part is that high school football is a live physics demonstration and it's done by the students who try to avoid physics like the plague.

Daniel and I sit in one of the back rows so that we get a full view of the field. Our knees touch and I put my hand on top of his out of pure excitement just to point something out.

"That ball is gone forever," I say as it literally flies beyond the horizon. I swear, it just disappeared beyond the field.

We then watch as the football team scrambles to find a replacement ball. I glance over at Daniel and see the concentrated look on his face as his eyes dart back and forth between players and his mouth mutters something inaudible. I know that cute expression: he's doing mental math. I could watch him do mental math all day if that was possible.

"Hypothetical problem, hear me out," I tell him. "If Xavier was standing somewhere like the school's parking lot and we asked him to score a touchdown at the post the farthest away from him, do you think he could do it?"

"He's done that before," Daniel says.

"But could he do it blindfolded?"

I raise an eyebrow as he takes a second to think that over. And by a second, that is no exaggeration. Daniel literally took a damn second to think it over and I love it.

"Well," Daniel starts, "if he uses his spatial ability to give himself a mental representation of the distance of his position to the post, then he should be fine."

He suddenly pulls out a notepad from who knows where, flips to a random page, and reveals a perfectly drawn diagram of this hypothetical problem with math equations scribbled in the margins. I'm taken aback for a second, not because this is confusing because it's really simple to understand.

"When did you even draw that?" I ask him.

Daniel grins a little. "When you were talking."

"But I'm always talking."

"Exactly."

Before I could reason with him, he starts explaining himself, pointing to his illustrations with the eraser end of a pencil.

"As long as Xavier makes adjustments for all the factors like wind and weight of the ball, he should make it," Daniel says.

"But Xavier doesn't factor shit," I state.

Daniel holds back a laugh. "True, but he has the basic understanding that the farther away the target is, the harder he has to kick and the steeper the angle has to be. He just doesn't call it factoring or physics because it comes to him naturally."

I mockingly roll my eyes. "Not all of us were born athletes."

Before Daniel could respond, some football players on the field unexpectedly scream our names. We instantly turn over and see a football spiralling towards us. My instinct is to scream and throw myself on the ground for cover which I almost do but got delayed because Daniel decided to stand up on the bleacher row we're sitting on. He's like that for a few seconds before leaping down to the row in front of us and catching the ball.

It takes me a few seconds to process what I just witnessed. When and how did Daniel become an athlete?

Then, the football players gather in the centre of the field and start calling for the ball back. I expected my sweet and innocent Daniel to hop down the rest of the rows and pass it to them up front. But no. To my continued surprise, Daniel straight up dropkicks the football back to the field. The football players disperse to catch the ball and avoid colliding into each other. And, as expected, the ball heads for the centre of the field.

Again, when and how did Daniel become an athlete? And why was all of that so attractive?

"Banner, join the team!" One of them yells as the others egg that statement on.

"No thank you!" Daniel screams back.

If Daniel became a football player, I would not know how to handle that situation. The uniform would look too big for him but I can live with him in a varsity jacket.

When they go back to their practice, Daniel turns around and looks at my dumbstruck expression with an equally dumb smirk on his face. He jumps back to our row and sits back down next to me, huffing a proud breath as he tries to control his pride. To be fair, if I just did that, I would boast about it till the day I die. I glance over at Daniel and he's still looking at me with that stupid smile and after witnessing his miraculous football skills, I cannot control myself.

"That was hot," I tell him.

"Thanks."

"Join the football team."

He laughs. "No, Stark, doing anything with other people exerts more energy."

I nod, biting my lip. "Mood."

Daniel squints his eyes a little as he pauses, taking a second to, what looks like, study me. "Why do you look like you want to kiss me?"

I feel my cheeks heat up and redden. "I do not."

"Yeah, you do."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I always look like this."

He lights up a little. "Do you now?"

I pause, realizing what I just implied and have never felt so embarrassed in my entire life. He slouches a little, leaning in closer to me and I keep my distance just to tease him.

"Do you want to kiss me?" He asks. Okay, no fair, he can't be the tease in this conversation.

I lean in closer, clapping my lips together in his face. Then, I joke with him and spit in his face. He throws himself back in shock, wiping his face as I start laughing. When he glares at me, I actually pull him in by the shoulders and kiss him. I feel his breath hitch for a moment, seeming like he didn't actually see this coming. He holds me there for a second and when I break away, I smile brightly because I enjoyed that. A lot. And he did as well, obviously.

"Em, I scored a touchdown," he whispers to me.

I scoff. "You did not."

"Trust, I did."

"Whatever you say."

[This chapter was Daniel's day, just saying. Even before the revamp, we were all Emily and Daniel trash since day one.

I should not have listened to love songs while typing this. Now, I'm a secret sobbing mess in a hotel lobby as I type this].