《E.C.H.O.》Stage 17 "Uncanny Feelings"
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Lucas couldn't resist. He told himself it was an important part of the mission to support his team and further immerse himself in his high school cover. There was a nagging voice at the back of his mind that kept prompting him. You don't belong in this world, it whispered. He ignored it.
Using the crutches hurt his real injury, so Lucas made sure to take one of the painkillers before heading out. He had just left the dorm when his name was called. Looking up, he saw Auden at the wheel of a golf cart. Peter sat next to him.
"This dude told me you might need a ride to the pitch." Auden jerked a thumb at Peter.
Lucas hid a smile. Ever since he had gone back for Peter during their prank on the swim club, the boy had seemed to take it upon himself to help Lucas out whenever he could.
"Or...you could go all the way there with those," Auden added as he nodded at the crutches.
Lucas snorted. He hobbled over and sat in the back of the golf cart, placing the crutches beside him.
"You in the starting line-up today?" he asked Peter.
"Yup." Peter nodded.
Auden set the golf cart into motion and the three headed towards the football pitch.
Though the game wasn't starting for the next twenty minutes, the place was already filling up. Boys from all around campus were pouring in, with dorm three staking their claim by the bleachers where the girls would sit. The rest of the male population was left arguing about the seats closest.
Banners and flags with the school colors were set up all around and most of the boys, though in uniform, had found some way to add decorative to their clothes ranging from ridiculous hats or colorful scarfs. Most faces were painted with either the school colors or the school mascot. A group to the front had drums and were pounding out a beat while trying to get the crowd riled up. Most were too busy arguing about where they could sit to bother joining in. Lucas was surprised to see even the swim team was all there.
"Quite the lively crowd, right?" Auden yelled to be heard as they zipped past. "We may argue and compete all the time, but there's one thing that pulls as all together."
Peter turned in his seat to grin at Lucas. "Bel," he told him.
Lucas' eyes were glued to the filling up bleachers. A teacher was running around in front, looking like he was attempting to restore order of some sort.
"Alright," Auden said as they pulled up in front of the locker rooms. He turned to Peter. "You'd better win, you hear?"
"You bet." Peter jumped from the cart.
Lucas was about to follow, yet Auden reached out to grab the back of his shirt and stopped him. "Dude. You want to sit in the bleachers with us, trust me."
Hesitating, Lucas shot a look to Peter.
"Coach won't even notice," the boy assured him. "The team will understand. This is too good a chance to pass by. You're lucky to get to sit out this time. Instead you can get up close with Bel..." He had a wistful look on his face. "Represent the team well," he added. Then, he turned and headed for the locker room.
Lucas wanted to protest, and yet Auden already had the golf cart moving
Huh? Lucas tried to figure out what had just happened.
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They were half way back to the pitch when Lucas caught sight of the school buses driving towards the pitch. The boys from Ellison High jumped up in their seats, some cheering, others craning their necks to try get a better view. A few had taken off their ties and were waving them wildly in the air. The air was filled with electricity.
"Today's our lucky day," Auden told Lucas as he pulled the cart up beside the bleachers. Turning, Auden patted Lucas' shoulder and then pointed to the buses. "Because angels are gracing us with their presence."
Lucas turned his eyes to give Auden a disbelieving look, yet the other boy was staring at the buses that had pulled to a stop. He loosened his tie, as though it were choking him.
"There's only three of them," Lucas noted out loud as he eyed the vehicles.
"Not all the Bel girls always decide to come," Auden replied, not turning his eyes away once.
As the first bus opened its door a silence settled over the bleaches.
"Here we go..." Auden leaned forward.
And then the first Bel girl appeared. Lucas noted her uniform looked almost identical to the Ellison boy's, except for the short skirt that replaced the pants and showed off a good amount of leg. If it was meant to be that way or she had hiked it up on purpose, Lucas couldn't tell. As soon as the girl's foot touched the ground, the noise came back with a bang.
Boys began to shout in excitement, standing in the bleachers and clapping as girl after girl descended from the buses. Lucas turned his gaze on the boys in bewilderment. He had never seen them act like this before. The only thing he could compare was a mission where he had been uncovered at a concert of a famous singer.
What was it that they called the guy fans' reaction...fanboying? His eyes turned back to the girls. Half seemed to be soaking in the attention, flipping hair and turning cool gazes on the boys. The other half reacted shyer than anything by the attention, their blushes making the boys only yell louder.
"I can see their wings!" Auden yelled over the noise.
Lucas couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face at how the boys around him seemed to have lost all control of their sense. It's amusing. Yet, I can't understand in the leas– His was cut off in mid-thought when he saw her. All noise around him disappeared as his eyes were drawn to the newcomer like a magnet.
Time seemed to slow down and he watched her as though in slow motion. She paused in the door of the bus. Her long silky black hair framing her face. When she lifted her brown eyes to glance up at the screaming fans before her, a look of shyness flashed across her face. Her blush wasn't as visible through her toned skin, making it all the more delicate.
A goddess... the though flashed through Lucas' mind as her feet alighted on the ground in a delicate step.
As the noise broke back into his thoughts, Lucas shook his head. He clutched his chest, tearing his eyes away to stare down at it. His heart felt as though it would jump out at any moment.
Am I sick? He couldn't help but worry. He lifted his eyes, finding the source of this unknown feeling right away. His eyes narrowed. Elevated heart rate, clouding of judgment. Just one glance... He leaned forward to stare at the girl who lifted a hand to brush aside a strand of hair. Dangerous, Lucas concluded. High level risk...must avoid. The last part made a sudden wave of unexplainable depression wash over him.
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"Come on," Auden rudely pulled him from his thoughts. "Let's grab our seats."
Feeling as though he were in a dream, Lucas tore his eyes from the goddess beyond. His mind was in such a whirl he would have forgotten his crutches had his dorm head not handed them to him. He took a moment to put a hand on his chest, closing his eyes as he tried to calm his beating heart. It didn't obey him in the least, seeming to have a mind of its own.
Scowling, Lucas followed Auden to the bleachers.
"Yo!" Auden yelled as he squeezed past dorm three guys. "Make some room for your dorm head and the injured hero!"
Lucas apologized again and again as he tried to follow Auden while using crutches. A hand suddenly reached out and pulled him down. Whirling, Lucas' butt hit a bleacher with a thump. He turned to find Brian sitting there.
"I didn't know you were going to watch from here," Brian told him. "Thought you were going to sit with your team."
"So did I." Lucas propped his crutches up beside him.
"Put those underneath," Brian told him.
'Huh?"
"You want a girl sitting next to you, don't you?"
Lucas didn't reply, yet he obediently moved the crutches to under the bleacher. Realizing the guys around him were all getting seated he noticed that the Bel girls had begun to file into the bleachers, mingling with the dorm three boys. At the same time he was amused to see some of the boys seemed to suddenly lose their voice. Stuttering awkwardly when a girl sat next to them.
Some guys, on the other hand, comfortably greet the female population, seeming close with several.
Dating couples, probably, Lucas thought. For some reason his first reaction was to look around and his heart rate increased once again. I wonder if she... his eyes landed on her. Unexplained disappointment filled him when he saw her sit down a few rows behind him, sinking down next to another girl who instantly fell into conversation with the guy next door. His heart dropped when they darted to the person sitting next to the girl he had deemed dangerous. It was none other than Jamie.
The boy was leaning forward, eyes glued one Lucas. Their eyes met and Jamie's narrowed. Lucas stared boldly back. For some reason he suddenly felt hostile to the boy whom he had seen as a psycho until then.
The girl next to him looked at Jamie and then turned her eyes to try see the reason for his narrowed eyes. For a split second, Lucas' eyes met those brown eyes of the culprit who was making him feel something he could not explain. His heart dropped and once again everything around him threatened to fade into the background.
Get a hold of yourself! He quickly turned away.
"Hi!" a girl chirped as she plopped down in the seat next to him.
Lucas stared at her blankly.
"I'm Gabby. What's your name?" She stuck out a hand.
Brian's elbow jerked Lucas back to reality.
"Lucas," he replied as he shook the girl's hand.
"I like it." She beamed at him.
Lucas wasn't sure what to make of it. He turned his gaze to Brian only to see the guy looked beyond flustered as a blond gracefully sat down next to him.
Huh...never seen him loose composer like that before, Lucas couldn't help but think.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice boomed over the speakers.
All around the spectators quietened down.
"Please welcome our esteemed guests...the Yolten Yetis!"
A sudden waves of boos made Lucas turn his attention to the front. The rival football team had come on the field. Though they, too, had an audience cheering for them, it was much smaller than the Ellison boys.
"And now..." the same voice boomed over the speakers. "Give it up for the Ellison Panthers!"
A moment later the Ellison team ran onto the pitch and cheers erupted all around. The boys with the drums erupted in a beat and the crowd leapt to their feet. Yells ad whistles were mixed with the stomping of feet and girl's high pitched screams.
Lucas watched his team wave at the crowd. He couldn't hide his grin as he saw Rick try break free and head for the bleachers with the girls. His teammates grabbed him at once, dragging him towards the pitch. Nathan shot a regretful look to the bleachers. Catching sight of Lucas he waved wildly before running to join the rest of the team.
Both teams set up and the start whistle was blown. Lucas watched the teams spring into action. Though he tried to watch, he felt very self-conscious about his back the whole time, resisting the urge to turn around. It didn't help that Gabby seemed to be anything but interested in the game going on. Instead, she droned on and on about everything from her hobbies to what classes she was currently taking and the teachers she disliked. It made Lucas feel like he was on a speed date rather than at a game. At the same time, Brian kept shooting him panicked looks, as though begging for help.
Lucas juggled it by responding with "huhs" and "really?" at the right times to Gabby and shrugging a few times at Brian. Most of the time he kept his eyes on the game before him.
Ellison High drew into an early lead, making the bleachers explode. The boys played like clock-work, skillfully passing the ball around and making use of the whole pitch and team. Although he tried to concentrate, Lucas couldn't shake the constant question in the back of his mind. Is she looking my way?
Coach Orion paced back and forth, never failing to have something to yell about at either boys or the coach. When one of his boys committed a foul he yelled so much his face went beetroot. However, when the other team failed to make the most of their given chance, he switched to clapping and nodding his head before returning to pacing back and forth.
By half time the score was two zero for Ellison. Nathan had taken the glory for the second goal. He had soaked up the cheering, amusing the crowd by performing a twist through the air followed by a back flip.
The half time was taken over by the hockey team. Lucas was unsure how to react when they appeared wearing colorful tootoos on top of their uniform pants and holding pompoms in their hands. They proceeded to engage in a comical cheer to a children's song while guys whistled and girls giggled.
Not to be outdone, the basketball team took over right after, going for a more manly dance that put the hockey team to shame within the first ten seconds. They danced to the newest hit by the famous boy band known as DM5. Much to the delight of the crowd it turned into a full-blown dance off. Unfortunately for the hockey team, their tootoos made any move look ridiculous.
The challenge was ended prematurely when, to the screaming of the girls, one of the basketball members decided to strip his shirt. He patted his abs while his teammates pointed at him and cheered. A teacher ran over, grabbed the culprit by his ear and dragged him from the field while the crowd laughed. Auden stepped forward, looking like he wanted to copy the move, yet his teammates tackled him to the ground and dragged him from the pitch.
Lucas only shook his head, a big grin plastered on his face.
The second half resumed and flew by. By the time the final whistle blew the score was three to one for Ellison. The crowd stood, clapping for their team as they shook hands with their opponents. Coach Orion looked more than pleased.
"Ellison rules!" someone yelled.
"Go Panthers!" a girl added her own scream.
Some of the boys got up, heading down to the pitch, others stayed seated; refusing to leave the girls they sat next too. However, the rest of the bleachers headed over to where the boys of dorm three sat with the Bel girls. Within moments, arguments broke out as the rest of the boys from Ellison tried to squeeze in between the girls or introduce themselves.
Lucas took the chance to make his escape. He grabbed the crutches and headed towards the pitch, leaving his seat for only a split second before a guy from dorm two sat down in it and introduced himself to Gabby.
As soon as he was on the pitch, Lucas was greeted by his teammates.
"Did you see me save that one?" Jordan asked in excitement. "Wasn't I awesome?"
"Dude, you should have been out there," Rick told him as he slapped his back.
"You lucky duck, getting to sit with the girls," another told him.
"How was it?" Peter asked eagerly.
Lucas answered each one before he pushed his way through, heading towards his roommate to offer his congratulations. When he caught sight of him he froze in mid step. His heart sped up tenfold when he saw a petit back with familiar black silky hair cascading down it.
Looking over, Nathan caught sight of him. "Lucas!" he called, waving him over.
The girl standing by his roommate turned around, hair flipping as she did so. As those brown eyes landed on him, Lucas' mind went into a jumbled frenzy.
W...why is she there? Lucas' instincts went haywire. He couldn't think properly anymore. Does Nathan know her...are they perhaps... he didn't want to finish that thought. Run! A voice warned.
"Hey, Lucas!" another voice called. He was dimply aware that it was Brian.
Lucas stood, frozen. His heart was beating harder than it had ever before. He held the brown eyes of the person before him. Why am I feeling like this? For the first time in his life, he legitimately had no idea what to do or how to react.
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