recognize

It was during my study hall when I realized where I recognized the boy from.

There he was, standing tall in a North Atlantic University football jersey in the library. He was next to the center of all of the other starting lineup players, and his poster was slightly bigger than the rest of them, along with the QB, Diego Morales.

Zayn Malik: Running Back, the poster read and I remembered writing a profile on him as a freshman last year. He was one of the top college picks in the United States, despite emigrating to the States from England. Within a year after his arrival, he dominated the high school football scene and his name was known across the nation.

Rolling my eyes, I recalled I almost kissed him and how willing I was, which was something that didn't come often. I wasn't ready for anything like that again after what happened last school year, especially with him being an athlete. It wasn't worth it.

"Cash!" My head jerked away from the poster, and I directed my attention to Isra who seemed to appear in front of me, with her usual green tea latte.

"What?" I snipped, before directing my eyes back to my textbook.

She turned around to see what I was just staring at intently and when she spun around, I saw the knowing smile which made me groan aloud.

"Izzy, it's not even—" she cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"Girl, it was only a matter of time before you got sucked in!" She squealed, before laughing her ass off. "I'm glad I got over him last year, but you're just starting now!"

"Isra, would you listen to me?" I raised my voice before quieting down since we were in a library. Once she stopped talking, I started to explain. "I almost kissed him at the Nupes party last Friday."

"Whoa, what?" She said, shock clear in her tone. "You're the girl the football team's been talking about?"

Now it was my turn to be shocked. "Wait, what?"

"Remember that guy from the football team, dreads and those hazel eyes and those luscious lips—"

"I get it, he's hot," I interrupted, annoyed with her short attention span. "What was the team saying about me?"

"Well, the guy said that in the locker room, Zayn was complaining about some 'slut', that's you, that apparently kicked him in the balls when he tried to kiss her," she said, before taking a sip of the latte in her hand. "Bleh, this is nasty as shit, I don't know why I always get it. And I don't know why they would call you a slut, why would they fucking slut shame-"

"I only kneed him because he tried to kiss me, and then his apparent girlfriend came and started yelling." I sat back in my chair and ran a hand over my face. "You know I wouldn't go looking for trouble when I'm trying to stay off the radar."

Her face softened at my last words before she smiled. "I know. But just ignore it, it'll blow over in like two days. Don't worry about it."

I smiled back at her, but instinctively, I knew that inevitably something terrible was about to happen.

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a/n: alright alright alriiiiiight

these are so short but as we go on, chapters will get longer I promise.

all the love, rachel.