Chapter  7

Xavier’s POV~

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“Astonishing”

If I had to describe her in one word, that would probably be it.

And the events of that afternoon would prove it to be true. Actually, just remembering what happened can make a smile appear on my face. As I lie on my bed and reminisce the events that happened, I knew I may not get much sleep tonight.

~~~~

It all started when I first saw Ms. Knight.

The first thing that struck me was her unimaginably dazzling blue eyes. They were like a huge sign that said, “Hey! Look at me!”. And once you did, you may have a hard time trying to look away.

Yes, she was beautiful alright, but I think it was her smile that really made her absolutely gorgeous. And I know that I’m not the only person here who thinks so.

Despite Axel’s reactions about Ms. Knight, I could tell that somehow, we had the same opinions of her.

Of course, I guess that almost everyone was stunned at how beautiful she is when we first saw her. Who wouldn’t really? She has this effect on people. It’s like she radiates this aura that makes your hands sweaty, your thoughts blurry and your heart pounding like crazy just by looking at her. I even saw Jude take off his goggles just to get a better look at her! But when Ms. Knight commended Axel for saving her and whatnot, Jude- like everybody else, felt like he couldn’t compete with Axel when it comes to her.

This shouldn’t actually threaten me. I mean, I’ve seen and met pretty girls before, so why would Ms. Knight be any different? I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, but I sure would like to.

Anyway, after settling in to my new room, I got bored and decided to go for a walk outside the grounds. Maybe a good jog could clear my head. The sun was already setting and the bright orange sky was beginning to be tainted with purple blotches.

When I arrived at the front of the school, I noticed a sleek, black limousine parked just outside the gates. The door suddenly opened and revealed a girl about my age, she had red hair which she braided to the side and was wearing a Raimon uniform. Her brown eyes had that fierce and prideful gaze in them.

She was snooping around, and when her gaze landed on me, a wicked sneer plastered her face. It made me feel uneasy.

“You there!” she barked signaling me to come closer.

Of course I felt a bit pissed off being treated like that, but I obliged. I have to admit, I was scared of what this posh chick can do. “Can I help you?” I asked when I was close enough to speak with her.

“Yes.” She answered smugly as she scanned the area behind me, hoping to find someone she actually knew. Unfortunately for me, they were all inside.

She sighed, “I guess you’ll have to do then.” She then flipped some of her bangs and crossed her arms on her chest, “Look here, I need you to find Axel Blaze for me. Shouldn’t be a problem for you since he’s quite famous. I desperately need to talk to him, so off with you now, chop chop!”

I was at the verge of knocking out this spoiled brat with my “Meteor Blade V2”; but being the gentleman that I am, I decided not to.

I sighed, “Alright, stay here. I’ll go get him for you.”

It wasn’t hard for me to find Axel. When I first checked his room, he was still there reading the book “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown.

“What’s up?” he asked coolly while setting down the book.

“Some girl wanted to see you. Red hair, brown eyes and some serious attitude problem.”

He sighed and stood up looking bored, “Collette Whitney, I thought I made it clear to her the last time we talked.”

I blinked, “You know her?”

“Yeah, she’s an old schoolmate of mine from Kirkwood, but then followed me here a weeks after I transferred.”

“Why would she follow you here?” I asked, although I’m pretty sure I knew why.

Instead of answering me though, he just looked down and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Don’t know.”

I decided to leave it to that and made our way back to the front of the school. There, we saw the girl whose back was turned as she slightly pulled on her braided hair.

“You wanted to see me Collette?” Axel asked from a few good meters away from her.

I could tell she was surprised, but she turned to us nonetheless. I quickly noticed that when her gaze landed on Axel, her expression changed. I know it sound weird but it was like she transformed from that heinous brat to a kind and gentle school girl.

“Axel!” she said dreamily, her cheeks flushed and her eyes started to shimmer as if she was going to cry.

Axel just nodded at her then turned to me. I was about to take that as my cue to get out the scene when…

“Collette, this is my friend Xavier Foster. I believe you’ve met him?”

The girl turned to me and I immediately flinched as I expected a hard, ‘I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-you’ look from her and that she was going to nag me off again. To my surprise though, she didn’t. In fact she acted the complete opposite of it.

“Thank you for calling out Axel for me Master Foster.” She bowed.

Master Foster? Where did that came from? Just a while ago you were treating me like a freaking servant!

I turned to Axel who was stifling a laugh, obviously entertained by my reaction. So I just composed myself and nodded to her; she, in return, smiled back at me.

“So what do I owe this visit?” Axel asked.

“Oh my! I almost forgot!” she quickly turned and ran to her limo. Once she got back, she got 8 really big boxes of chocolate brought out by her driver who then gave them to Axel.

“What’s all this then?” he asked eyeing the boxes questioningly.

“They’re all for you! It’s my way of saying ‘Congratulations for being chosen as Japan’s representative!’ I saw your game, and I was really amazed on how you play Axel. I got shivers just by watching you dribble the ball.”

“Oh gee, thanks.” Axel said , looking bored.

“Are you doing anything tonight? I was hoping we could go see a movie together and I don’t know, maybe catch a movie? And then-“

“Collette,” Axel cuts her off, “I appreciate all the stuff you’ve done for me, but don’t you think you’re going a bit too far?”

That was surprising…and a bit awkward since I’m still here.

“W-what do you mean Axel?” she asked smiling nervously.

“I mean you shouldn’t be wasting your time and effort on someone like me. I-“

“I love you!!!” Now she cuts him off.

Strangely, I felt like I was watching those cheesy soap operas on late night cable shows. Not that I actually watch those, it’s just that if I did watch them, it would probably be like this.

“Collette I-“

“-I love you Axel Blaze! I always had and always will! Can’t you see that? I’ve done everything for you! I even transferred schools for you!” she broke down crying.

“I never asked you for any of that Collette.” Axel answered coolly, “I told you before that I’m not the type of guy you should waste your efforts on.”

“No! It’s you! It has to be you. You’re the one I love! You and only you!!!” she was on her knees now crying her hearts out and Axel didn’t even flinch. I swear, this guy can be so complicated to deal with.

He just sighed and walked over to her; he then took out some tissue from his pockets and held it out to her.

“Enough Collette. I don’t like seeing someone cry for my sake. I can’t love you back, but I can be your friend. I mean, that’s all I ever wanted us to be, really. So c’mon, dry your tears and smile for me ok?” he said calmly.

Surprisingly, Collette stopped crying and blushed furiously. She took the tissues and with her head bowed down said, “This is the reason I can never stop loving you Axel Blaze.” Then she stood up and ran away without saying another word.

I just stood there, staring as Axel made his way to the boxes of chocolates with a tired look on his face. “Mind giving me a hand with these?” he asked.

I was too confused to think but I decided to just ask later. I got four of the boxes and he got the other four.

“What do you plan to do with these then?” I asked.

He smiled, “What else? We’re going to eat them with the team of course!”

~~~~

We managed to get the chocolates to the dining hall where everyone was busy talking about something. I was hoping I would find Ms. Knight there, but no such luck.

“-she was scary fast, you should’ve seen how her eyes darted from one player to another. And then-“ Celia said explaining.

Everyone was listening to her intently; they didn’t even notice us coming in. We placed the chocolates on the table and sat to join in the conversation.

“What are you guys talking about?” I asked.

“Oh! You guys are just in time!” Sylvia said.

She then handed me and Axel a black notebook containing some amazing data about us. There were even some here about myself that I didn’t know about. And the surprising part was not just the accuracy, but also the time it took to make this. Celia informed us that Ms. Knight was the one who made this, and that she took the data from us with in only a short time. Everyone already saw it and they were as surprised as me and Axel were to find how precise everything in here is.

“Where is Ms. Knight by the way?” Axel asked. “I haven’t seen her or her brother since the practice game.”

“We don’t know. Caleb is on an errand with Coach, so she’s not in his office.” Sylvia answered.  “Maybe she and Austin went out to buy something.”

“Oh, yeah. Maybe they did.” Axel said looking a bit…disappointed? I have a bad feeling about this.

When he saw that I was looking at him, he quickly brushed off the disappointed look and stood up, “Anyway, Xavier and I have a surprise for you.” He said and took out the boxes of chocolates and distributed them to the others, who gladly took them.

“Whoa, where’d you get this many chocolates?” Nathan asked as he took opened the box. When he did, he smirked and faces me, “Let me guess, they’re from Collette, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they sure are.” I answered, “That girl had some serious personality issues. One minute she’s a royal pain in the ass, and the next minute, she’s all nice and sweet. What was that about?”

“Well,” Marc said popping a piece in his mouth, “Axel, does have a tendency to lure in peculiar women. He hardly ever gets normal girls to confess to him, they’re too shy.”

“I think he means, ‘what’s the deal with Collette’.” Axel said looking a bit bored as he took another piece of chocolate.

“Oh her.” Jude said, “Well, I don’t know much about her and Axel’s past but I do know that she’s crazy for him. She followed him here when he transferred you see, and basically, she’d confess or ask him out on a date in either the most extravagant or dramatic way possible.”

“Huh. So that’s what that little soap opera was about.” I said beating Nathan to the chocolate truffle.

“Yeah well, you should’ve seen what she did a few weeks ago. The student council room was never the same.” Nathan said feeling a bit bitter from the truffle.

“Why? What happened?”

“Better you didn’t know. It involves glitter.”

“Oh.” I said giggling a bit while I imagined Axel covered in glitter.

Axel rolled his eyes hearing these things. I could tell he was annoyed bringing up this kind of topic. He then sighed and said, “I don’t even get why they like me so much. I rarely even talk to them.”

“Yeah,” Marc said eating the last piece, “but when you do talk to them, you get all polite and gentlemanly, then you top it off with your cool and collective poise and BOOM!!! They fall for you.”

“You’re exaggerating.” He answered coolly. Now, come to think of it, I do see Marc’s point. For a guy named Axel Blaze, he really does act cool... maybe a bittoo cool.

After a few more minutes of talking, we had dinner with the others. Unfortunately, during dinner, we still haven’t seen any signs of Austin and his sister. Caleb and the coach managed to arrive just in time, but there was still no sign of the siblings. It was only after dinner as I was getting ready for bed, when I heard news of their arrival. It somehow relieved me, but even after the coach ordered us to get some sleep because we’ll have a busy day tomorrow, I still felt relentless.

Finally, I decided to get out for some fresh air.

I left my room wearing a pair of blue pajamas and a white tee shirt. By now, everyone must’ve been asleep, so I decided not to turn on the lights because someone might see me.

The bright light of the moon greeted me as I walked out the door. With it, I made my way to the field. There, I saw how the luminance of the moon made everything look like faint and eerie. As if it was a dream.

I sat on the grass and stared at the moon, then I slowly closed them and felt the soft nightly breeze on my skin, listening to its gentle song.

I don’t know if it’s the silence or the peacefulness of the night, but I suddenly found myself thinking of Alexi. Like I said, I’ve seen and met pretty girls before, so what makes her so different?

“Xavier Foster.” A voice said from behind. When I opened my eyes and turned, I felt myself getting warmer despite the cold night’s air. My heart was throbbing and I suddenly felt jittery.

Standing only a few feet away from me was Alexi Knight. Even in the faint light, I could recognize her black hair slowly dancing with the breeze and her gorgeous sapphire eyes glinting in the moonlight. She was wearing a dark blue, sleeveless shirt and a pair of white pajamas.

“Y-you’re Alexi Knight.” I stuttered. Nice Xavier, really nice.

“And you’re Xavier Foster, the player with the habit of keeping his hands close to his body for balance, every time he tries to steal the ball.” She answered while walking closer to me.

“H-how did you know about that?” I asked, wondering if this is all just a dream.

“It’s my job to know.” She said sitting beside me now. “So, may I know why you’re out here this late?”

“Oh,” I said getting lost in her eyes, “I couldn’t sleep. So I figured should go outside for some fresh air and…clear my thoughts.”

“Why is there something bothering you?”

“Yeah there is actually.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t say.”

“Oh.” She said looking up the moon. I couldn’t help but admire the way her skin absorbs the light, making her look…heavenly.

“You know,” she said closing her eyes as she felt the breeze run through her hair. “There are things in life that are out of our control. Some people call them problems, and others call them…” she opened her eyes and looked at me, “opportunities.”

She went back to looking at the moon, “Their only difference is the way people look at them. Just like how one could define a fast beating heart; some would say that it’s troublesome and it makes them feel uncomfortable, but there are always those who’d say it’s a blessing, a proof that they’re really living. So the next time you have a problem, try to change your perspective. Take another look if it’s really a problem or maybe just a twisted opportunity waiting for your call.”

I don’t know how she did it but, the way she talked to me…it made me feel different. It’s like all the doubt, all the uncertainties have completely vanished from my system. The answer that I’ve been searching for is finally found.

And it doesn’t really matter what makes her different from the other pretty girls because she is different from them. And for me, that’s a good enough answer.

I smiled at her, “You’re right. Somehow, I think I’ll be fine because now I know that I really didn’t have a problem in the first place…”

She looked at me with a quizzical look on her face, “…but a twisted opportunity just waiting for my call. Thank you for helping me realize that.”

She smiled at me and said, “Glad to be of service.”

I then stood up and held out my hand, “C’mon, it’s getting late. We should probably get back to our rooms.”

She just giggled in response and took my hand. The contact made me blush a lot, so I had to turn my head and hope she didn’t notice it.

We walked in quietly and then I said my good night. It might take a while for me to get some sleep, but somehow, I know I’ll have some sweet dreams tonight.

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Whaaa!!!! I am sooooo sorry if it’s too long. But I hope it’ll make up for the weeks that I didn’t get to post. >_<

Anyway, how was it? Is it too much? Did you hate it? (don’t answer that) I’d really love to hear from you, so please just comment on what you think or just pm me if you have any questions..

So, I’ve been looking at my notes and I just realize that this story might take more than 20 chapters…I hope you don’t mind. I’m now prioritizing this story because of the length of the story progression so if you’re reading my other stories, I’m sorry to say  that their updates may be slower.

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