Finding Love

19

Don’t break anyone’s

Herat, they have only

One.

Break their bones, they

Have 206.

Today is game day again. The whole school is talking about today's game as it is one of the teams where we have a chance to lose. I haven't seen my girlfriends today as the football team and the cheerleaders are free to practice today. Only Jax I had to spend the day with today since he's still injured. I've never had so much fun in school as I did with him. We were throwing a football at each other when Jax stepped back to catch the ball. I was just gonna scream that he had to be careful when he got hooked on something and fell into one of the little ponds at this school.

Exhaustingly, he surfaced as I rolled on the ground, laughing. With a smirk, he looked at me and I knew I had to start running. Screaming and laughing, I ran away from him as he tried to catch me. A couple of times, we slipped but I still ended up in the pond with Jax next to me.

I see Kim, Lexi, and Britte performing their choreography when Owen makes a point. Screaming, I'm standing up as I happily shout his name. It's a tie and the contest is over in 30 seconds. Everybody sits concentrated and nervous on the tip of their seats when Alex catches the ball and starts running with it on the field. Another 3 seconds left and Alex is almost at the finish line. Another 1 second and the crowd jumps straight, Alex has made a touchdown. I walk happily down to my friends, as I stiffen my step. I see Chelsey, in her short cheerleader suit, walk up to Alex and throw her arms around his neck. I quickly turn around before I could see what's going on, my heart doesn’t need to see it.

Further on, Owen and Finn are talking. Finn went down hard during the game and injured his knee. Owen sees me coming as I jump into his arms. "You did so well," I shout happily as Owen turns me around a couple of times. He puts me down again as I wobble back and forth through the dizziness. Finn and Owen have to laugh about this but stop when they see that I am about to fall. Frightened, they reach out their hand to grab me when two other pairs of hands already save me and put me firmly back on my feet.

I want to turn around and thank the person when I see that Alex is already looking down at me. Quickly, I step aside so that I am no longer close to him when I turn to Finn. 'Come, I'm going to take you home. I don't feel like going to the after-party anyway’. When I and Finn get to the car, I turn around one more time and see Alex looking at us, at me. A mixture of pain, sadness, and confusion clouds his gaze. Quickly, I turn around again and open the car.

I and Finn have been talking about his and Kim's date. After dinner, which was in an Italian restaurant, because Kim loves pasta, they went for a walk in the park. After an hour of walking, while they giving hands, they sat down on a bench that looked out on a wishing well. Finn gave Kim a coin so she could make a wish. After another hour of chatting, Kim had to go home. Arriving at the house, Finn kissed her.

Happy for my best friend and kind of brother/best friend, I hug Finn. "I still have to officially ask her, but that plan is already in work" he proudly tells me. The rest of the evening, before we went to sleep, we saw several Avengers movies. After the third one, Finn went to his room to go to sleep and I also crawled under my blanket.

At 2 o'clock in the night, a loud sound woke me up, as if a vase had fallen. I get out of bed tired and walk to the door when I still hear some loud noises. The closer I am to the door, the louder the sounds become. I open the door, still half asleep when I suddenly wake up and look at the scene in front of me. Chelsey is pushed against the wall as Alex's head is in her neck. A sound comes out of Chelsey's mouth that clearly makes me realize what Alex is doing.

Stumbling, Alex turns them around and now he stands with his back against his bedroom door when his hand is looking for the latch. Chelsey plants her lips on his when Alex wobbles back and forth, clearly not sober. Frozen like ice, I can't take my eyes off him. Alex opens his eyes to see where the latch is when his gaze meets mine. I see the radars in his brain working when his eyes suddenly grow big. Chelsey, who still kisses him, is pushed away. He just opens his mouth to say something to me, when I close the door in front of his face.

I drop myself on the bed. Alex keeps knocking on my door as I hear Chelsey ask why he stopped. I turn around so that I lie with my back to the door when the tears begin to flow. I never thought I could start to like someone in just two months. But what hurts me the most, is that he lied to me, there is clearly something between them.

The only thing I can think of that I can do is to forget about him. I'm the shy, book addicted exchange student and Alex is the arrogant quarterback, not the sweet, concerned, funny guy I met. And that's the way it has to be.