This chapter is dedicated to @ThrowValentine for voting and commenting! Thank you so much :)

••••

"Remember to have your routines finished by next week! I won't accept late, sloppy work." Miss Poppy calls as all of the students - including me - file out of the door.

"And I won't accept sloppy teaching - but here we are." I scoff, rolling my eyes at her ludicrous speech.

Stepping out into the breeze, I shiver and pull my bomber jacket closer to me. Despite it being nearly December, I refuse to dress like it.

In my black jeans, khaki bomber jacket with a t-shirt underneath, I look ridiculous. But I don't care, it's a Thursday afternoon and I've just survived my last lecture of the day.

Somehow.

"Axel coming?" Dean asks, appearing beside me.

A week has passed since Axel vowed to work for me and boy, has he stuck to his word. Every day since then, he's picked me up from class and walked me home. Brought me food and he even sat with Dean and I for coffee once, where he had to sit and listen to me rant about Miss Poppy.

His commitment, determination and bucket loads of patience have been greatly appreciated - albeit a little over due after what he put me through.

"Yeah, he said he would." I murmur, looking at the text he sent me half an hour ago confirming that he would be here.

"He's really committed to winning you back isn't he?" Dean asks.

A blush blossoms on my cheeks, knowing that the lengths he's going to are extreme. Looking down at my feet, I mumble "Yeah, he really is."

"Good for him though, be a fool to let you go." Dean agrees, smirking at my blush.

"I was a fool - making up for that now, though." Axel's appears, his deep voice sounds hoarse, sending goosebumps down my back.

"Better be." Dean warns, before shooting me a smile and walking off.

Turning on my heel, I face Axel. Dressed in Nike joggers and black t-shirt he looks jaw droppingly handsome.

And cold.

Clearly I'm not the only one protesting over the winter weather here.

"You ready to go?" He ask, his blue eyes trained on mine.

"Ready when you are." I say, staring right back at him in a silent fight.

"Let's go then." Axel motions.

As soon as I take a step, however, Axel's hand comes to rest against my shoulder. His action stops me, so I look back at him confused.

"I'll take it." He says softly, cutting my confusion away instantly.

His hand that rested on my bag strap, now slowly lifts it away from my shoulder.

"I can do it." I answer back, not wanting him to have to carry my bag.

"I want to." He says, slipping my bag off my shoulder like it doesn't weigh anything. His arm muscles ripple as they drag the bag onto his own shoulder.

Just as we're about to leave, Axel's phone begins ringing.

He looks at me guiltily before explaining, "Sorry, it's Coach." Before answering his phone.

He mumbles away on the phone and I only hear trace of yeah and can't it wait before he ends the call.

"Sorry, I left my stuff at the stadium so that I could just get it tomorrow, but there's apparently new rules that I can't do that anymore. I'll just get it after I drop you off." He says, nodding.

"But you'll get in trouble. Plus, I was going to walk to the library anyway - Rob's at the dorm with Drew and I really don't want to sit in on that."I shudder, not wanting to think about what is currently happening in my room.

Axel lets out a laugh before turning to me, his blue eyes wide and hopeful. "Want to get out of studying and come with me?"

"Um..." I trail off, biting my bottom lip.

"It's okay if you don't." Axel says, squeezing my shoulder in reassurance.

"It's not that," I shake my head in disagreement. "I just don't want to intrude."

"There's going to be nobody there apart from Coach and I." He says.

Unwilling to crush the hope in his eyes, I nod slowly in defeat.

"This way then, my lady." Axel smirks, his tone teasing.

I let out a shudder of horror before looking at him accusingly. "Nu-uh. No way are we doing that." I laugh.

"Duly noted." He winks before we both set off walking.

••••

"In here." Axel instructs as we walk through the corridor of the stadium that leads to the players changing room.

The stadium is decked out in blue and gold, emphasising how proud our school is of our team. The building is massive and so, I basically follow Axel around like a lost puppy.

Opening the door, a guy lets out a yell.

"My, my! It's the Star QB! You here for more practices so that you can kick our asses in training?" A voice yells.

"Fuck off, I've already done training today. Also, I kick your ass in practice without needing extra training." Axel responds immediately, smirking confidently to himself.

He pushes the door open wider so that I can see the man. Standing tall and muscly (like every player on this team) is a man who has a grin on his face.

His eyes trail off Axel and onto me, his cheeky grin turning into an assessing one in a matter of milliseconds.

"William, this is Skylar. Skylar, meet William." Axel says, making the introductions.

"Wait. The Skylar? The one who made you into a whipped moron?" William asks.

A very faint pink appears on Axel's cheeks and I internally laugh at his embarrassment.

"That's her." Axel mumbles, scratching the back of his neck.

"Damn, you're a lucky guy, Axel." William says, before walking out.

"Well, he's a bit of a whirlwind." I laugh, completely bamboozled at what just happened.

Before Axel can reply, a door slams in the locker room. Out of the door, comes Coach.

Well over six foot, with a buzz cut and a menacing look on his face - Coach is more than scary. He's terrifying.

"I told you about this stuff, Axel." He groans, his voice deep.

"Did you?" Axel asks, clearly not intimidated by the figure in front of us due to seeing him so much.

"Well, if you listened during talks you would know it," He says before his brown eyes zone in on me. "And who might you be?"

"Skylar Black, Coach." I say, glad my voice is steady.

"Ah, the one who has made my boy loose his focus. Glad you're back, maybe he'll stay on the field from now on." He nods.

"Maybe I'll just watch from now on." Axel shrugs, clearly joking since football is quite literally his life.

Coach mutters something like lucky he's good at football before walking away into his office and slamming his door.

Suddenly, all of Axel's descriptions about Coach, at that moment, seemed perfect.

••••

After collecting Axel's stuff and deciding that Drew and Rob must be finished by now - we start walking back to my dorm.

"How was training?" I ask, wanting to fill the silence.

"Good, worked on running plays so that's why my voice is knackered." He says, drawing my attention back to his deep voice that seems to shoot straight into my heart any time he talks.

"Makes sense." I nod, pretending to know what he's talking about.

Turning his head to look at me whilst we walk, he smiles. "Do you even know what a passing play is?"

Amusement dances in his eyes as I frantically rack my brain for an answer.

"Totally." I roll my eyes, mocking confidence.

He lets out a laugh, his head tilting back. "You do not." He says, amused.

He nudges me with his arm as my head falls down in defeat. "Okay, so maybe I don't. What is it?"

"Basically..." Axel says as he begins explaining the whole thing.

My mind whirls with the terminology he uses and I very quickly realise that Axel may not be a genius at maths or English - but he's a genius at football.

He finishes his speech with a smile in my direction, clearly knowing that he has completely confused me.

We climb up the stairs to my dorm, Axel leading as usual.

Standing outside of my dorm, Axel asks, "Did you get any of that?"

"Not a thing." I laugh, shaking my head.

His six foot two figure looms over me as he smiles, he gently claps my hand in his own - the butterflies in my stomach soaring off on cue.

"Doesn't matter, the amount of times you've have talked about dance and I haven't had a clue what you're talking about - is more times than I can remember." He says, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go.

He never pushes it.

In the past week of carrying my bag buying me coffee and basically doing anything he can do get into my good books - Axel has not asked for a single thing in return. Never asked to come inside, or lean in for a kiss. He's only done what I have allowed in terms of the speed of this relationship.

Which I love.

But it's also sparking back up some feelings I have tried to ignore for the past two weeks. Feelings I know will soon turn into a whole forest fire.

••••

How Axel probably feels in his mind right now:

Because they're reunited!!

But not what they used to be, how do we feel about that? Do we think they should just get back together or does Axel have to keep working?

I actually loved writing this chapter, it felt so good to add some humour back in!

Let me know if you enjoyed it too :)

Much love,

Jade x