Diner Girl

Chapter 4

I rubbed the knot on the back of my neck while scrolling through different forums for information on my assignments. I sat back into the chair of the library and reached for my coffee when I realized I had nothing left. I glanced at the computer screen and decided that my eyes and brain needed a break. I flipped through my notebook for the names of books I could use to help me out with the information I required.

I was making my way down the aisle of books when a known book cover grasp my attention. I pulled the book from the shelf and a smile slowly made its way to my lips. It used to be one of my favorites, I could've read it over and over, and never get bored with it. This book used to inspire me and for a time it made me believe in fairytales.

I couldn't help myself from opening the book and reading through the first page. (Past all the instructions.) It was a copy of the first edition. I was so overwhelmed with my discovery that I was so caught up reading the first chapter that the world around me faded away. "Shouldn't you be working?" A deep alluring voice asked, his breath tickled my neck that I realized he was standing very close to me.

I jumped from surprise and whirled around the same time dropping the book on his foot by accident. "Don't do that!" I hissed. "Sorry." Duncan apologized bending down to retrieve my book. "Didn't take you as the romantic type." He commented looking at the cover before handing the book back to me. "It's a great novel." One of the best actually. I placed the book back onto the shelf. "Aren't you going to take that?" He asked looking at the book. "No, I've read it over a million times and I'm too old to be believing in fairy-tales." I told him.

"What are you doing here other than scaring people?" I asked him. "Looking for books for my assignments." He answered holding up a list of books. "You see I've been given a scholarship and it requires me to pass all my grades or else it's bye-bye football." He said. "You got a scholarship for football?" He nodded. How good of a player must he be then? Only a few players get the chance to a scholarship and it says everything.

"You are probably trying to play for the big leagues one day?" I asked him. "Yeah, I'm thinking Falcons." He answered with a frown. "You know about American football?" He asked. "You surprised because I'm a girl?" I asked. "That and you don't look like the sporty type." He answered truthfully. I liked to wear oversize clothes to hide my figure. "You should be careful judging people like that." I told him. "What books do you need? Maybe I can help you find them." I told him holding out my hand to him when he didn't answer.

After helping Duncan looking for his books, he then helped me find my books. We walked up to the front desk to sign out the books. "Do you have a library card?" The librarian asked. Duncan shook his head. "I do." I handed her my card and let her book out the books under my name. "Thanks, can I give a ride back to the dorms?" He asked when we made our way out of the library and towards the parking lot. I wanted to answer when something caught my eye, my instincts kicked in immediately. Without taking my eye off the ball, I shoved my books in Duncan's arm and then caught the football before it could knock into him.

Duncan's face was priceless. I then looked over at the guys who were calling for me to pass the ball back to them. I pass them the ball with a perfect angle and covered the distance easily. The guy didn't prepare to catch the ball with such a drive as he went sprawling and landed on his ass.

"You put one of my new players on his ass and he's here on a scholarship." I heard Duncan say as awe transformed his face. I nibbled on my bottom lip while shrugging my shoulders. I took my books from him and started to walk away when he caught up with me. "Whoa, whoa." He grabbed me by my upper arm and brought me to a stop. "How did you do that?" He asked. "I just passed the ball."

"Yeah, covering perfectly good distance with a perfect angle, the kind only Quarterbacks can do." He observed. "Like I told you there is more to me than you think."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that vibe from you."

"Next you are going to tell that you are an undercover famous American football player." I actually laughed at his assumption that it got him frowning. "Now that's pretty way ahead of ourselves." I answered smiling. "Then what?" He asked. "I grew up watching games, I spend more time at the stadiums than at home and over the years I fell in love with the game."

"Have you ever played professionally?" He asked. "Nope."

"Why, though?"

"Okay, let me draw you a picture. You notice how invisible I am to more than half of the population, they only know me by name because I work at the Diner and have either served them breakfast, lunch or dinner. People back in high school called me Diner girl, not because they like me, but because I was a loser. I was a joke to everyone, now imagine here I go and want to try out for the football team. I just didn't want to be called delusional as well."

"It's your life, Zoey. It would've made a difference."

"Would it?"

"How can you just guess without even trying? You let these people talk rubbish into your mind and for what? Bullies are made up of jealousy and because they are afraid of you."