“You should go,” Brody urges me, his voice a low rumble. He’s looking at me from beneath his dark eyelashes, his eyes burning intensely with green flames. His mouth turns up into a slow satisfying smirk, pupils twinkling at my reaction.
“Don’t leave them waiting Bella,” Brody whispers, handing me the bag of footballs. I nod weakly, unable to process any form of English right now. My cheeks are burning red, rising to the tips of my ears.
I can still feel his lips on mine, the tingling sensation reminding me that the kiss is definitely real. Brody kissed me.
My mind and body is flickering with fireworks, the aftermath of an amazing kiss with Brody Baxter.
“Go Bella,” Brody laughs, finding amusement in my star struck daze. I finally manage to pull myself out of the trance I’m sucked in and nod again, walking towards the door. Brody gives me a lazy smile and runs a hand through the strands of his hair, pushing it back until it rests messily on top of his head.
“By the way, you have a friend in me. Any time you want to talk, you come find me. Okay?” Brody says firmly. I nod, my stomach fluttering with butterflies and I feel my lips tug upwards into a small smile.
“Okay, bye Brody,” I smile, unable to stop my cheeks from resembling a hamster stuffed to the brim with food. Brody’s lips twitch in amusement before he half heartedly waves at me.
I quickly slide out of the room, clutching the bag of footballs tightly. Outside this small cramped room, the world is still continuing even though mine felt like it had frozen in time. I look around, unable to believe the last few minutes actually happened.
“I just had my first kiss,” I squeal under my breath, quickly heading in the direction of the football pitch. I exhale deeply, forcing myself to calm down. My grin is out in full force and I know without even looking, my eyes shine too.
I can’t help but feel. . . happy.
I, Bella Winters has just experienced my first kiss in a dark sports equipment room with the beautiful Brody Baxter.
*****
“Bella, what took you so long?” Mrs Hollins sighs, tapping her foot on the grass impatiently.
Kissing Brody Baxter doesn’t require a certain time limit, time is irrelevant when it comes to his perfect lips. But of course, I don’t say that.
“Sorry,” I mumble under my breath, dropping the bag in front of her before quickly scurrying to the end of the line. She huffs over-dramatically and from the way her jaw is clenched tightly, I know she hates me.
“Hurry up next time Bella,” She scolds me, leaning down to retrieve a ball. “Manners don’t cost a penny.”
I quickly slap a hand over my mouth, my eyes widening as I realise the comeback came from me. Holy crappy cow.
Mrs Hollins slowly stands back up, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at me. A few sniggers could be heard coming from the other girls and I quickly stare at my feet, my cheeks burning with embarrassment. Moments pass and I don’t dare lift my head. I can practically feel Mrs Hollins deathly stare piercing straight through me.
Why did I just say that? That is so unlike me.
“Girls! Get in your teams please!” Mrs Hollins yells loudly, her tone of voice impatient and angry. I looked around bewildered, shocked that she didn’t acknowledge my rudeness. Mrs Hollins suddenly stares straight at me, her mouth turning up into a smirk. She points at me —
“Come with me.”
I watch her spin on her feet and walk briskly to the opposite end of the pitch. I frown and looked around again, noticing a few other girls glancing at us warily.
“Now Bella!” Mrs Hollins roars over her shoulder, never once turning around. I quickly run after her awkwardly, struggling to catch up.
“Where are we going?” I pant, slowing down to a jog as I get closer. Mrs Hollins remains silent, her jaw clenched tightly together. I roll my eyes and look away from her. Attitude problems.
We carry on walking until I can see the boys football team come into view, like mini figures due to the distance. My frown deepens however I carry on following Mrs Hollins, intrigued at where she’s taking me.
Minutes later and I’m struggling to breathe from my lack of fitness skills. I clutch my side as we approached the boys and Coach Spears, forcing my breathing to even out. My eyes drift to the floor, avoiding the burning amused gazes of the boys.
“Coach Spears, this is Bella.” Mrs Hollins introduced me, briefly signalling towards my way. I stand up straighter, plastering a fake smile on my face despite the lack of oxygen my lungs are getting.
Coach Spears gives me a brief nod, his shoulders squared defensively as if he’s constantly ready to attack. He wears a red cap with the words Heywood High plastered on the front and a whistle is hung loosely around his neck. He’s strict sports teacher in his late forties with a receding grey hairline, hence the cap.
“Hi,” I mutter under my breath, giving him a half hearted wave. He simply raises one eyebrow at me before turning back towards Mrs Hollins. Rude.
“Bella has offered to be your assistant for the next few weeks, isn’t that right Bella?” Mrs Hollins asks me rhetorically, turning to give me an amused glare. My mouth falls open in shock and I shake my head quickly, fear building up.
“No! No I didn’t.”
Mrs Hollins simply glares at me and Coach Spears huffs, annoyed at the entire situation.
“On the sidelines!” He yells, pointing towards the fence a few feet away. I glance between the both of them in shock, my throat closing up tightly.
“I don’t want to be the football teams assistant!” I protest, in awe that neither of them are listening to me. Mrs Hollins begins to walk away, a smug victorious look plastered on her face.
“Do as he says Bella or you’ll be in further trouble.” She says firmly before spinning on her heel and heading off. I watch helplessly as she walks away, becoming smaller and smaller.
This is it, I’ve been thrown in the deep end.
I look around warily at the thirty set of boys eyes staring directly at me. Most of them look annoyed at me interrupting their match and I quickly tear my gaze off their intimidating faces. Swallowing the nervous lump in my throat, I hurry off to the sidelines unable to believe I’m the boys new assistant.
Being the football’s team assistant is most possibly the worst job in the entire world. Every single football match I have to be the one to stand on the sidelines with multiple water bottles, refilling them every few minutes. I have to stay behind every match and help clear up and arrive early before a match to help set up. The boys are arrogant, big headed and sweaty. The team is always mainly made up of the popular’s, each one of them taking their beloved football very seriously.
I’m not even a fan of football, at all. I find it the most boring sport known to man. How is running after a ball and aiming it for a net amusing in the slightest?
It isn’t.
I silently curse Mrs Hollins under my breath, kicking around a stone with my trainers.
Stupid, arrogant, idiot, pig-headed —
“Cheer up.”
I look up to see who’s interrupted my thoughts and my eyes meet with familiar green ones that are glistening at me. My own eyes widen and I mentally slap myself on the back of the head.
Of course, Brody is part of the football team.
“Hey,” I said quietly, leaning back against the metal caged fence. Brody smirks at me in response and images of him kissing me with the same lips flash through my mind. I blush and drop my gaze to the floor, hiding behind my hair.
“Bella, you’re blushing.”
“Shut up,” I mumble unhappily, tucking my hair behind my ear.
“Are you thinking about our kiss before?” He asks me effortlessly and I snap my head up to meet his gaze, my eyes widening in fear. I look around to see if anyone had heard yet the other boys are chatting to themselves as Coach Spears deals with another issue regarding the team’s upcoming game.
“Relax, no-one heard me.” Brody said, raising his brow questioningly at me. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise,” He responds instantly, pocketing his hands. He’s wearing the typical male football kit, a stripy red and white shirt with red shorts. The shirt clung to his arms and I can briefly make out the first few letters of his name printed on the back in black lettering.
“Nice outfit,” I giggle, biting the inside of my cheek. Brody’s smile stretches out into a full blown grin and he looks down at himself, chuckling.
“It’s an eyesore, right?” I nod, agreeing with him.
“So what did you do considering you’re now our new assistant after us not having one for months?” Brody smirked, his eyes travelled down my body. Subtle.
“I was rude to Mrs Hollins but she had it coming. She hates me.”
“How can anyone hate you? You’re adorable.” Brody hits back at me, green eyes flickering between mine. The blush on my cheeks deepen and I bite my lip, averting my gaze from him. I try to think of a comeback but my brain turns to mush so I change the subject instead —
“The only reason you don’t have an assistant is because you’re all pigs who take the previous ones for granted.” I mumble, glancing around at the other football players. Brody laughs loudly causing a few people around us to look our way.
“Don’t worry darling, I won’t let anyone but myself take advance of you.” Brody smirks, the dimples in his cheek deepening. I hear Coach call for him and he turns around, his words still replaying over and over again in my mind.
My stomach somersaults and I inhale sharply, reminding myself to breathe. I watch him jog away, my eyes trained directly on him.
He doesn’t once look back but if he did, he’d find a blushing Bella who’s overthinking every single word he just spoke.