Chereads / The Entangled Fates / Chapter 17 - The Team's Quarterback

Chapter 17 - The Team's Quarterback

~•Amara•~ 

When you see a person in trouble and offer them your assistance, you just help them without any conditions attached to it. Especially when you are the reason as to why the problem found them, you don't expect the other person to pay you back by any means. And why should you? He wasn't the one who asked for your help, you volunteered yourself willingly. But why do some people have problems understanding this basic concept? And unfortunately, I was stuck with one of those people.

"Hey?" 

And here comes the very description of such people. Hit a girl with a football, then drag her to the sick room because you were so concerned about her having a concussion, and then refuse to let her be at peace. Top it all off, you start ogling at the poor girl. Bloody creeper!

"Hey!" 

I heard the same voice again. It didn't require me to even glance back just to know who the owner was. But the main issue lied in the fact that every time he was around me, problems had a way of finding me, gracing me with their divine presence. I wanted to steer clear from him every time my eyes caught his figure lingering around. But why was he following me this time?

"Hey! You stop right there." I heard him yell this time. His voice was loud enough to garner attention of the other girls running around the track with me and the boys who were busy practicing for football. Fighting the urge to snap at him, I slowed down my steps before coming to a stop. 

"What?" Keeping my desire to snap his neck on the spot in check, I asked him as decently as I could manage.

"Why were you not stopping?" He narrowed his eyes at me, crossing his arms across his chest. He seemed like a father who was ready to reprimand his three year old kid who had just returned home, covered in mud from head to toe. 

"Because I didn't want to." I stated as a matter of fact. It was up to me whether or not I wanted to listen to his nonsensical talks. "Is that so hard to comprehend?" I added the latter part with a slight shrug before turning around to finish my lap around the tracks. But before I could even take a step forward, I felt someone tug at my arm. Though the force wasn't much for me to handle, I still had to act the part of being a fragile, meek female creature. And so, I stumbled a step or two back when he pulled me back to my previous spot. 

"What is wrong with you?" With a riled up tine, I spat at him as I looked up into his eyes. It was then I realized how tall he was, taller than most of the guys I have seen throughout the decades I have spent here. Take it from a girl who was herself five feet and 8 inches tall. 

"Do you have to be this cold every time I try to talk to you?" I heard him say in a polite tone as a frown marred his forehead. "I just want to talk to you, have a word with you like normally people do. You don't have to run in the opposite direction every time you see me, I don't bite you know." 

"Let go of my hand." I muttered under my breath as I looked back into his oceanic blue orbs. 

"Oh! Sorry about that." He let out an incoherent apology as he let go of my hand. 

I hummed in response as I took a step back to create some distance between us. I could feel a couple of pairs of eyes glaring daggers into my back. Without turning around, I could tell that they must belong to the other girls who were running with me. What was with humans and envy? 

"What are you staring at?" He spoke up, shifting his attention behind me. As if his words all it needed to send off those flies scurrying away, I heard the sound of rushing footsteps going in the other direction. 

I turned my head to see my fellow mates going back to finish off their laps. "You sure have a lot of influence here, no?" I turned my attention back to him. "They sure respect you a lot." I spoke in a slightly impressed tone, raising an eyebrow at him, only to hear a scoff in response. 

"If only it was actually respect." I saw him rolling his eyes before he continued. "The girls 'respect' me only because of my body and this." He added, pointing the index finger of his right hand towards his face. "And the boys 'respect' me because I am the quarterback of the college's football team." He scoffed.

"Umm… It's still better to be labeled as the freak of the campus with no one wanting to talk to you because of how you look so… out of place." I shook my head as I shared my side of the story, but why the heck was I being this nice to him out of nowhere? "At least your situation is better than mine." I added as I stared at the boys tugging and jumping in the field. 

"Maybe they are just jealous of how beautiful you are." His words made me shift my eyes from the field to him, and I saw a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he stared into my eyes. 

"Are you hitting on me?" I narrowed my eyes at him, crossing my hands across my chest in a defensive manner.

"I swear I am not, just stating a fact. People here tend to ignore or pay too much attention to those they don't stand a chance before. You'll get used to them sooner or later." He let out a light chuckle and answered me. 

"You will be shocked to know how used to I am to this." I rolled my eyes before shifting the topic back to him. "Aren't you the team's quarterback? Why are you not practicing then?"