Chapter 2: The Girl In White.

Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

Life is unpredictable.

Typical, right?

Maybe but not always, not with me at least.

Every single one of us have dreams, my dream was to play football in a stadium full of football fans screaming my name everytime I do a touchdown.

Football was my only dream but that dream just got killed by an injury, I had this injury last year and I didn't take it seriously. I continued playing without seeking medical help and when I did seek medical help, it was too late.

The doctor said I might get a fucked up little limp for the rest of my life if I continue playing so I guess what I'm trying to say is that tonight's my last night on the field and my last night being team captain.

That lasted like sixty seconds.

No one knows that information but I intend on telling them after we win.

And on top of all that shit, I walked in on my girlfriend being fucked by one of my teammates last night.

Also typical.

My girlfriend- scratch that, ex-girlfriend Sandra was controlling and she wanted us to do everything on her terms.

I'll admit that we did look good in other people's eyes and a part of me liked keeping up a certain reputation but enough is enough, it's senior year, it's time to grow the fuck up and let go of toxic people.

I give my team a motivational captain speech, throwing in a few cuss words cause that's the only language they understand, they slam their fists on our lockers on their way out, screaming like the beasts they are.

I hang back, giving myself a pep talk about the game even though my head's not in it.

I take three deep breaths, grabbing my helmet from the bench and heading out of the locker room.

Walking through these empty hallways makes me feel like I'm walking out of my own life, football is my life and I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with myself after tonight.

I halt, suddenly remembering that this is about to be my very last football game, then the image of Kevin banging Sandra in her bedroom, on her bed where I used to-

Goddamn it!

Rage fuels my body and my fist collides with a locker door.

It hurts. It actually hurts.

The fuck?

I run a hand through my curly hair, my mind becoming foggy with thoughts and my body vibrating with so much anger.

I won't lie, I've cheated on Sandra more than I can sit down, think and count but I've never thought about her doing it to me or me being so bothered by it.

I continue walking in the hallway but I don't think I can play tonight, I know I can't play tonight.

I'm not ready to let go of my only dream.

I open the door to a random classroom, walking inside and letting the door shut behind me.

I notice someone else seated in the middle of the class, alone in the dim room. 

High schoolers are weird.

I turn around to leave, grasping the handle and pulling it again and again but the door won't open.

It takes a minute for me to realize that it's one of those doors that only open from the outside.

"Fuck!" I groan frustratedly, hitting my forehead against the door repeatedly.

I roll over so my back is leaning against the door, looking at the other person in the room, I catch her watching me but she quickly looks away.

I survey the room I'll be stuck in till God knows when.

Music class.

Great.

The girl in white is sitting on top of a desk, her legs on a chair while she writes or I don't know draws something in that notebook on her lap.

I take a seat near the door, suddenly feeling awkward because A, I'm stuck with a stranger in a room and B, she heard me snap.

Senior year is being a bitch to me, I think I miss last year when all the seniors used to call me kid and invited me to their 'seniors only' parties because I was cool enough.

I sigh, my eyes darting to the girl again.

She's wearing a long white dress with combat boots and she has long, waist length dark hair, covering part of her face.

She slightly raises her head to peek but quickly keeps her head down when she finds me staring at her.

I scoff.

She knows me.

Duh, asshole, of course she knows you, everyone knows you.

Yeah, well, might as well keep myself busy while I'm in here.

I get up, leaving my helmet on the desk and walking over to her.

I grip the desk in front of her, dragging it across the floor, it makes a loud screeching noise but she doesn't say anything or glance at me.

I pull the desk close enough to her and I sit on top of it, watching her and waiting for her to peek again.

She doesn't.

"Whatchu doing?" I look at the pen and notebook. She drifts her eyes to me but she doesn't keep eye contact.

"Drawing." The word barely makes it out of her lips as she continues to draw.

"Can I see?" I ask, she brings her eyes back to me, this time she searches my face and I do the same.

She has baby blue eyes, thick eyebrows, freckles sprinkled on her little button nose and her pouty lips are red, not lipstick red but natural red.

It's like meeting Snow White in the flesh.

She hesitates at first but she extends the notebook to me, I notice that her hands are shaking a little but I pretend not to have noticed.

I take the notebook, keeping my eyes on her.

The drawing is actually a sketch of a tree, birds flying away from it. It looks more like a picture to be honest.

"You drew this?" I question, raising my eyebrows, she responds with a small nod. "Wow, you're really talented." I say to her.

"Thanks." She mutters, her shaking fingers playing with the fabric of her dress, my eyes bounce from her hands to her blue eyes.

She's really having trouble looking me in the eyes.

Crook.

"What's your name?" I ask her, I guess I should have led with that in the first place.

She doesn't give me an immediate response, she  studies me, almost like she's considering not giving me a response.

"Olivia." She finally responds, looking down at her lap for a moment before looking back at me.

"Olivia, cool, I'm Jace." I pull out my hand for a shake.

"I know." She shakes my hand, her hand is so small and soft.

"So how long have you been stuck in here?" I retrieve my hand, looking around the room.

"About an hour." She says.

"Damn, you didn't come with a friend you could call?" I chuckle.

She shakes her head once, I cut off my smile.

"Humans are not to be trusted anyway." I say, I see her smile at that, I smile too.

"Do you want to go to art school?" I pass the notebook back to her.

"No," she grabs her backpack and shoves it inside.

"Why not?" I watch her movements.

"My Dad says that would be a waste of my grades so I'm gonna go to law school instead." She brings her bag to her chest, barely looking at me.

"That sucks, I think you should apply to a good art school, just in case he changes his mind." I slouch forward, looking at her face to meet her eyes again but she keeps her gaze down.

"I don't have a model for the art school submission." She whispers, bringing her thumb to her red lips and biting on the nail.

"You need a model in order to submit?" I reach for her hand, pulling it away from her mouth, she quickly jerks her hand out my grasp, like she's not comfortable with me touching her.

I raise my hands, surrendering.

She stares at my hands then my face, "Sorry." She whispers. "At Kashville, yes, I need to submit some of my best works which would be a painting of a person but I don't have a model and I definitely don't know someone who has the time to sit in a chair for hours." She's rubbing her arm, right where I had touched her.

"Why a person? Why not something like a tree or an animal?" I look at her face.

"Because it's something I've never done before," she tells me, "My Dad says painting a person captures the moment, like pictures but with paint." She says.

I nod, staring at the way she's now holding her backpack like her life line depends on it. 

Who brings a backpack to a football game anyway.

"So you're law school smart?" I smirk, she glances at my mouth for a brief second then she looks to her side scratches her cheek.

"My Dad believes so." She nods.

"Okay, Harvard, fine, you've convinced me, I'll pose for you." I announce, exclaiming even.

"Um, I.. uh, I said I wasn't going-"

"No, you're submitting a painting of this face, I insist." I say playfully, she releases a small giggle.

Fucking adorable.

"What do you want in return?" She suddenly asks me.

"Do I have to want something in return?" I narrow my eyes at her, taken aback by her words.

"I don't know, it's just, why would Jace Rodriguez wanna help me?" She says it like I'm playing a sick joke on her.

I kinda hate that she knows my last name, it makes me wonder what else she knows about me.

"Because I don't think a talent like yours deserves to go to waste." 

"This is not even that good, I have better drawings." She says.

"You're proving my point, Olivia.....?" I snap my fingers, trailing the name so she can add her last name.

"Conner." She smiles.

"I'll pose for you, Olivia Conner. End of discussion." I point at her, she mouths a "K." And I grin.

"Aren't you supposed to be playing football right now?" She asks, sounding less shy.

"I fucked up my leg so tonight's supposed to be my last night on the field and I don't think I want to do it." I answer.

"You don't want to win the game and make history?" She asks.

"What history? It's Crest high, not the NFL." I laugh.

"I know that, but if you win tonight, your last memory about football will be of you taking crest high to victory by a tons of points and if you don't play tonight, your last memory will be of you being stuck in here with me," she says the last part like it's such a bad thing.

"Being stuck in here with you is not as bad as you're making it sound." I say the words without reading them through in my head.

The awkwardness my words bring is more cringe worthy than anything I've ever experienced.

"Fucking hell." I scratch my head, giving an awkward laugh. "Have you ever jumped out of a window?" I ask her, standing and walking to the desk by the door to grab my helmet.

"No." She responds behind me, I grab the helmet and I study the windows in the room, they were built a little too close to the roof and one has to climb on top of a desk in order to reach there.

Which is exactly what we're gonna do.

"Come on then, there's a first time for everything." I walk across the room, looking up at the windows.

She stands beside me, short and small and still a little shy.

The asshole in me is telling me to tuck her hair behind her ear and whisper something seductive just so I can have more reactions from her but I don't engage cause honestly? This is the most natural conversation I've ever had with a girl.

I like that very much.

I climb on top of the desk, sliding the window open and throwing my helmet out first, I look down at her looking up at me with those piercing blue eyes, I don't know why but I find myself smiling and oddly, she smiles back.

"You're gonna jump, right?" I ask her, she nods.

I lift myself onto the window seal, swinging my legs over and successfully jumping out.

This is like the hundredth window I've jumped out of and it was the easiest. 

I look up at the window, waiting for her to come into sight.

She appears but she doesn't jump, she literally sits on the seal.

"Uh, it's pretty high." She lets out a shaky breath.

"It's really not." I laugh at the nervousness in her tone.

She mutters words to herself then she shuts her eyes and jumps, my intentions of catching her are crashed by her forced landing, she collides onto me and we both end up falling over with her on top of me, her forehead savagely slamming into me.

"Ouch." I whine, eyes shut.

"Oh my God, sorry, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I feel her palm on my forehead, I open my eyes, staring at her face up close, her red lips slightly parted as the evening wind blows her hair and it caresses the side of my face.

The asshole in me tells me to lift my head off the ground and just kiss her to appreciate her beauty, I almost do it but then....

"Oh, sorry." She quickly gets off me, standing up and smoothing her hands down the material of her dress.

I sit up, resting my arms on my bend knees and looking up at her, she clutches her backpack straps so tight her knuckles turn white.

I rise from the ground, slowly stretching my hand to try and touch her face but she's already pushing her head back just as I expected.

"Do I scare you?" I narrow my eyes at her.

"No." She says in a hurried tone and before I get the chance to speak, she accidentally bumps into my shoulder, quickly apologizes for it then she takes off running, leaving me standing there.

Weird.