"Well, that was a great first day!"
"Yeah, it was awesome," Kevin nodded, biting his lip as his hand dug into his knee. Macy barely had a glean of sweat to her face while Kevin was seriously a little worried he was having a heart attack. If only he could remember which side of your body was supposed to go numb again. He had to stay strong though, couldn't let Macy see him like this.
Macy bounced around, collecting her things. Bounced! "We should probably head in. Looks like people are arriving."
Kevin had gulped in air as Macy had her back turned to him but as Macy turned back to him again he took in one deep breath, puffing his chest out and plastered a smile on his face while he nodded. "Have a good day, Macy. See you later!" Kevin waved and waited until Macy was nearly fifteen feet away before dropping to the ground, groaning. He was dying! Two and a half hours of jogging and stretching and Kevin was toast. Jogging and stretching! That was it! He teared up just thinking about tomorrow morning.
"Kevin, are you ok?"
"Yeah!" With a pained grunt, Kevin jumped to his feet. Confused as to why Macy had returned he realized she was holding out his jacket that they'd shoved into her bag earlier. Her eyes flitted from his bared arms to his face before Kevin realized she expected an answer to her question. "I thought I saw a quarter! It was just grass though." Kevin was pretty sure he was blushing but he wasn't sure if it was because he'd been caught nearly passed out on the field or because Macy was staring at his arms again.
"Oh," Macy said with a giggle before waving and walking away again.
Kevin noted it was the giggle she did where her nose scrunched up and her eyes crinkled closed. One of the top 3 Macy giggles, as far as Kevin was convinced. Smiling at her retreating form, Kevin waited until he was absolutely positive she was gone before collapsing backwards onto the grass.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Son, what are you doing out here?"
Kevin blinked up at the cloud-free sky and frowned as he turned to see Coach Collins staring down at him. Twisting his head around he realized he was still laying in the field. "I...do not know. I believe I may have been sleeping, though."
"Sleeping on the football field. Care to elaborate, son?"
Kevin climbed to his feet and smiled weakly at the class of grade 9 boys staring at him. Kevin gave the coach Macy's name as if it explained everything, which it so did as far as Kevin was concerned. Heading towards the school he only made it a few feet before turning around. "Uh, sir? What period is it?"
"Second."
"Crap."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
After visiting the secretary's office and trying to charm a late slip out of the ladies, Kevin headed to his locker only to realize he hadn't even brought his book bag with him this morning. Even his wallet had been forgotten in the morning rush. Well, someone was going to be treating him to lunch today.
"Eww." Kevin frowned and turned to look down the empty hall before realizing the smell was probably himself. How could he possibly smell worse now than he did after a show?
A change of clothes had also been forgotten in the morning rush but thankfully they had Stella. Stella who had convinced them they should have another locker solely for 'wardrobe'. Three attempts later, Kevin finally got the locker open.
Taking a quick step back, Kevin looked down the bank of lockers and wondered how many of them him and his brothers had managed to claim.
Grabbing a change of clothes and a textbook, but not his homework that was due today because that was still at home, Kevin hurried to get changed before heading to class.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Come lunch time, Kevin had only been to one class and honestly wasn't sure he was going to be able to make it through the rest of the day. He was so going to bed early tonight.
Opening his locker he was startled to see a cup of coffee awaiting him. Glancing over his shoulder he didn't see anything overly suspicious. Kevin wasn't one to look a horse gift in the...the, uhm...eye? That didn't sound right. It was something about gifts and horses and not looking at them and Kevin was pretty sure it didn't really matter right now because caffeine. And also, seriously, a horse with a gift? How could you not look?
As Kevin pulled the lid off the cup and brought it forward to inhale the heavenly scent a small, whisper of a voice -- that sounded suspiciously like Nick -- said maybe drinking random drinks you find laying around wasn't the best of ideas. But Kevin was quick to rationalize that his locker had been locked. And also caffeine.
Kevin was tapping out the last few drops of coffee into his mouth when his brothers finally showed up.
Joe was rubbing his shoulder. "Is it wrong of me to be a little mad at our Super Fan? I don't know how many more bruises I can take. She has hard metal rackets for sports I didn't even know existed." Tossing his books inside his locker, Joe turned to eye up Kevin. "At least there's no visible injuries. How bad did she mark you up this morning?"
"Macy didn't hurt me at all this morning."
"You're so lying. You spent the whole morning with her! You should be dead by now! Or at least in the hospital."
"No, Macy was fine. Didn't even trip into me." There had been that one moment but he really didn't need Joe to know about it. Kevin shoved his head into his locker, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Joe stared his brother down and began poking at him randomly.
"Ow! What are you doing?!" Kevin yelped, swatting at Joe with his biology textbook.
"I'm trying to find your bruises!" Joe said, poking Kevin in the ribs.
"There are none!" Kevin grabbed Nick, much to his annoyance, and used him as a human shield. "Well, there weren't but you're giving me some now!"
"Would you two knock it off!" Nick shouldered off Kevin and smoothed his jacket down. He knocked Joe into the locker in retaliation for the two poke's he'd gotten in his side. Nick often wondered how those two were the oldest while him and Frankie were still considered the 'babies' of the family.
"So, who's buying me lunch today?"
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Stella smiled when she spotted Kevin leaning against the end of the lockers and looking through the atrium's glass walls at Macy trying to shove a hockey stick into her locker. "Hey, Kevin."
Kevin barely acknowledged Stella, only giving her the briefest of nods in greeting.
"So," Stella started, looking around to make sure neither Nick or Joe were around, "How are things going with that girl you like? You said her name was Lacy, I think, and that I didn't know her at all so I would in no way to able to blab to her that you liked her?" Stella resisted the urge to shake her head because...really? Had that been the best cover Kevin could come up with? Lacy? Lacy?! And also, why in the world did everyone seem to think she was such a huge gossip? She wasn't! She kept tons of secrets! She'd kept Kevin's 'secret' -- and oh boy was she using the term 'secret' loosely -- for two whole days now! Two!
"Right, the girl you do not know," Kevin said in a rush, stopping his Macy watching and returning to his locker. "Things are going."
"So? Did you go along with advice I gave you?"
"Y-yeah, about that... I took a thing about her that I knew she really liked and, uh--"
"Used it as a reason to get closer to her. Good." Stella nodded and asked, "Did you put the tutoring idea in motion?"
"Yeah but the reason is, y'know, a lie."
"Uh huh."
"Well, lying is bad. I don't know how I feel about starting a relationship," Kevin paused when Stella let out a squeak. Stella quickly covered her mouth and nodded for Kevin to continue, "based on a lie."
When Stella was sure she'd gotten her grinning under control, she lowered her hand and replied, "It's just an itty bitty lie, Kev. Barely a lie at all."
"A lie is a lie, Stella."
"No, you're simply," Stella paused, tapping her lips a few times before spreading her arms out in front of her and finishing, "stretching the truth. I explained this all two days ago, Kevin. Everything is ok."
"But--"
"Sometimes small lies, like telling someone they have a beautiful, gorgeous sweater even if you don't think so -- and are clearly wrong, anyways -- are ok." Stella eyed Kevin long enough that he finally turned away and coughed. "Also, I was thinking... My friend, Macy, really loves these whole-wheat raspberry muffins they make at Divine Desserts. So maybe if you could find out what this 'Lacy' girl likes, you could buy something sweet for her."
"Oh...really?"
Stella peaked over Kevin's shoulder and grinned when she saw he was making a note in his notepad. "The one on Duddley Street. Two 'd's. No, the two 'd's go in the middle. Know what? I'll just text you a map later." Stella patted Kevin on the back and did another quick sweep of the hall for the other Lucas' boys. "Y'know, it really is too bad that I don't know this girl you like because if I did I could tell you stuff to help you out. Like, my good friend Macy, she really liked the cologne you were wearing yesterday but thinks the one you're wearing today is kinda meh."
Kevin sniffed at his shirt and scribbled down another note in his notepad. "That would be helpful but you do not know her and I have to go now."
"Divine Deserts closes at 5 today!" Stella called down the hall after Kevin.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"So, I heard from a little birdie that you're helping Kevin out?"
Macy turned from her locker and greeted Stella. "I was horrified to find out he's failing gym. When you see him preform live there's so much passion and energy. I mean, the guitar spins alone! A-and the...the shows...he glistens with sweat...his hair gets damp and curls even more around--"
"Macy!"
Macy blinked. "I drifted. Sorry! What were we talking about again?"
"Kevin."
"Of JONAS." Macy sighed, slumping against her locker.
"No, Kevin Lucas who is 'failing gym'. The Kevin you spent three hours with this morning."
"Two and a half. He thought we were meeting at 5 pm. Not off to the best start but I think he's willing to put in some serious effort, so I'm not mad."
Stella crossed her arms over her chest and leaned next to Macy. "So, you're taking to heart this whole training thing?" Stella was quite impressed by the quick 360s Macy was pulling.
"Of course! I'm still in the process of figuring out his problem areas. I was thinking tomorrow we'd work on sprinting. I'm still trying to put together a workout regime best suited for Kevin. He's been very vague about what particularly he needs help with so I was thinking about going to speak with Coach Wa--"
"No!" Stella yelled out, startling Macy. "I mean, uhm, you don't want to bother the Coach...he's a busy man. Plus, I'm sure Kevin would benefit from a wide range of things."
"True," Macy conceded, closing her locker and heading for the exit.
Stella curled an arm around her friend's shoulder. "So, you spent two and a half hours with Kevin this morning and there were no freak-outs, accidents or pass-outs?"
"Kevin came to me for help, Stella. I was very professional." Macy noticed Stella's sly side-look and conceded, "Well, there was a moment when he first took off his jacket." Macy smiled and rested her head on Stella's shoulder. "Kevin has really nice arms. His arms are so not a problem area." Macy's thoughts drifted back to the bared arms...the muscled arms...the Kevin arms... "Huh?"
Stella just laughed. "Wow, I thought I lost you there for a sec." Stella made a mental note of 'arms' and all the ways she could exploit that before continuing, "We should go out tonight, do something girly."
"Sure! But it can't be too late. I'm up early tomorrow."
"For Kevin."
"For training," Macy corrected. And if she got to see Kevin, that was just a pleasant bonus. A very, very, VERY pleasant bonus...with great arms.
Not that she'd noticed or anything.
xox_TBC_xox
Author's note: So, hurray! Kevin isn't actually failing gym. He's trying to be sneaky! Though he is failing at that...at least with Stella. And Stella thought she was being clever with her help but clearly underestimated Macy's determination.
Also, ugh, so did not mean for so much chatting around lockers but it happened anyway! Sorry!
Chapter 3 is still being hammered out, on the upside Chapter 4 is pretty much done.
