The twins and Zayne went to the second row of the bleachers to watch, while I went to the girl’s locker room to change. I removed my clothes quickly and pulled on my shorts. I pulled on my sneakers and remembered my towel, left my bag at my locker and went back to the gym.

I threw my towel to Zayne and he caught it as I reentered the gym. Everyone was stretching and I ran to join them. Natalia pulled me over beside her and I smiled.

“Vásquez!” Coach Smith yelled. I snapped my head up to look at the lanky blonde that was our coach.

“Yes, Coach?” I answered.

“Put your hair up, you know the drill,” she yelled then stalked back to the front of the group. Somebody was in a crappy mood today. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and resumed my stretching position, leaning over to the side with my arm above my head.

“I didn’t know you got a tattoo?” Natalia whispered while we did paired stretches.

“I don’t have one,” I said.

“You look like you have one on your hip,” she asked.

“No,” I said shortly and stretched the other way, confused. I didn’t have a tattoo.

“Vásquez! Morgan!” Coach yelled at us to stop talking. “Layouts!” Coach continued yelling and clapped her hands. The woman rarely spoke with her inside voice.

We set up the mats quickly and lined up at a corner of the gym. Shelby, of course, had to push her way to the front.

“Full twist layout,” Coach ordered.

One by one, we did a starting run and the layout. The next fifteen or so minutes were used up on brushing up on our jumps, layouts, and some other techniques before she started with the routine. The first part was easy, but then pyramids and tosses came up and I was a flyer. By the end of practice, I was sweaty and in need of a shower.

“Remember the pep rally is less than a month away, ladies!” Coach shouted to us.

I had forgotten about the rally. It was surprising because posters decorated in the school colors had been posted on every wall for a week now. After the pep rally on the Friday, there was homecoming on the Saturday. Something I was yet to decide whether or not I was going to.

Last year’s homecoming was very boring. Maybe because I was a junior at the time, but the dancefloor was filled with freshmen and sophomores that had the maturity level of ten-year-olds. The food had been terrible, and the drinks were more like water with food coloring mixed into it. I did not enjoy myself and ended up leaving an hour into the dance. My dad and Zayne stepped in to save the night, buying us real food on the way home. I was eternally grateful.

I saw Zayne walking towards me, towel in hand with a big smile on his face, but he was stopped by an annoying strawberry-blonde haired bitch. I didn’t have time for her. Natalia appeared beside me and shook her head. “You forgot to tell me that Zayne was back,” she said.

I hadn’t forgotten to tell her. Zayne wasn’t her biggest fan. He wouldn’t have wanted me to tell her that he was back. “Must have slipped my mind,” I forced out. I hated lying.

She looked at me skeptically. “I have to go. My mom wants me home early. You should do something about that little situation,” Natalia said, wiggling her index finger at Shelby.

I hugged her good-bye and walked over to them. “London must have been great. I went there during the summer. So nice,” I heard Shelby say as I stepped closer. “If I knew you were there, I would have wanted to meet up. We could have had so much fun.”

“Nina,” Zayne said, relief flushing his voice as he made a move to step past Shelby. “You are really good. I probably wouldn’t trust people to throw me in the air but…,” he teased and tried to hug me.

“Zayne, I’m all sweaty and gross,” I complained but he hugged me regardless. When I looked behind him for Shelby, she had already moved on to her next prey who just happened to be the Catalano brothers.

“Take a shower. I’m in the mood for dessert,” Zayne said putting the towel around my neck. “I’ll be right here.”

“But what if I don’t want dessert?” I asked, pouting childishly.

“More for me.”

I wanted to smack the annoying grin off his face, but I craved the feeling of being fresh and clean more. A few girls were already coming out of the showers and some were just getting ready to go in. I chose the farthest shower and took my stuff with me. I undressed and stepped under the hot water. From the crap coach just put us through, I needed this. My muscles felt like they were going to be sore tomorrow since I hadn’t been working out on my own enough.

Finishing up my shower, I shut off the water and reached for my towel behind the curtain. Had I put my towel that far? I pulled the curtain back a bit to look for my towel but instead, I found a sticky note stuck to the wall across from the shower stall. ‘Have fun getting out ;)’. This childish act of stupidity could have only been done by the queen of stupidity herself. Shelby Rose was going to hear from me when I got out.

There were still girls in the locker room, and I couldn’t just go out there naked. I was not close to any other girl on the squad except Natalia, and she had already left. I waited for the locker room to empty. “Zayne!” I yelled. No answer. I called for him again, but he didn’t reply. He must have been too far away to hear me.

“Nina?” a voice called from the lockers, but it wasn’t female. “Nina?” There was definitely a boy in the locker room, and it wasn’t Zayne. Zayne had a deeper, raspier voice. “Where are you?”

“I’m in the showers,” I said when I finally registered who it was. I saw his black hair first, and then his black and white converse, and I just knew it was him. “You can’t come in here!” I shrieked and stepped behind the curtain again to hide my naked body.

“It’s a little too late for that don’t you think?” he asked rhetorically. “I heard you calling. Aren’t you going to come out? Your friend is waiting.”

“I can’t.”

“Wardrobe issue?” he asked, stepping closer.

“Shelby took my towel, and my bag, and I have no clue what she’s done with them, so yes, I am naked.” This was a very uncomfortable situation. Hopefully, Daniel wasn’t one of those perverted lost souls that frequently roamed the halls of this ‘elite’ institution. “If you could just let Zayne know…”

“I’ll go look for your bag. Put this on,” reaching past the curtain and holding out his shirt. “You’re going to catch a cold if you stand there wet while you wait.” There were black marks of a tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt and even though the curiosity to see it overtook me, I didn’t dare ask.

I took the shirt, but before I could say anything, he walked away. I only had a few droplets of water on me, so I wouldn’t get his shirt completely soaked. I put it on and stepped out of the shower to walk back to my locker. I highly doubted I left anything in there I could wear home, but I had to check just in case my bag wasn’t found. Daniel’s shirt wasn’t too short. It reached me a little above mid-thigh, so it was okay, and it was warm too.

Moments later, he came in with my gym bag and my towel on top of it. “It was under the bleachers at the back,” he said, eyeing me in his shirt.

“Thank you,” I said, taking the bag from him. “I’ll wash your shirt and give it back tomorrow.”

“It’s okay. I’ll take it when you’ve changed,” he said and left me to do just that.

There was something about him and his brother that rubbed me in an odd way. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but they both had this aura about them, even when Damian was smiling, that was a little scary.

Before getting dressed, I walked over to the long mirror on the other side of the room, curious to see what Natalia had been talking about. I lifted the shirt and went up on my toes looking for a mark that Natalia would’ve mistaken for a tattoo. I didn’t have to really look for it. It couldn’t be missed. It was only my birthmark that looked like a pale leafless tree on my hip that bent towards my back.

Dropping the shirt, I changed back into my uniform, put my hair into a ponytail, and folded his shirt neatly. He was leaning on the wall and looked up when he saw me exit the locker room. “Here,” I said and handed him back his shirt. Our fingers brushed slightly, and I shivered a little. Definitely a weird aura around this guy. “Thanks again.”

“No problem.”

“Nina!” Zayne shouted. “Did you drown in the shower back there or what?”

When I walked into the gym, Zayne had his usual smile on his face. “Are you ready?” he asked, flipping my ponytail. “Baby, your hair is kinda crazy.” I let out my hair, raked my fingers through it, then pulled it back into a ponytail with the hope that it wouldn’t go wild until I got home.

We drove the four short miles to the nearest café to get dessert, but we ended up eating a whole meal instead. It was a little after six anyways, and I wasn’t sure of what was home to eat. I also was in no mood to cook.

When we got home, I almost collapsed on the sofa and stayed there to sleep, but I decided to put my leftovers in the refrigerator because I knew I’d regret it in the morning. I trudged up the stairs wondering where Zayne got off to as I changed into my nightwear.

Without knocking, Zayne entered my room looking as tired as I felt. “I’m sleeping with you tonight.”

“Separation anxiety?” I teased. “I’m flattered you want to be with me so much.”

He chuckled and hummed but he didn’t reply as he got under the covers. I followed after him a moment later, plugging in my phone to charge on the table next to my bed. By the time I had finished checking the notifications that had built up from an evening of paying more attention to Zayne, he was fast asleep and lightly snoring.

I pressed the button at the side of my phone to put it to sleep and rolled onto my back, feeling the coldness of my locket against my chest. I was glad that Zayne was back. It was nice getting to spend the evening with him again. I never realized how lonely I felt while he was gone until he came back. Even with Natalia, Cris and Leanne around, I did feel a bit like something was missing.

“I was waiting for you to come home. I didn’t expect you to be out so late,” I sat up at the sound of that familiar voice and saw him sitting on my window seat. “Sounds creepy, huh?” he said, and if I could see his face he probably would’ve been blushing if he was that kind of guy.

“You did say you’d be checking in on me to make sure I was okay.” I glanced at Zayne and carefully slid out of the bed to make sure I didn’t wake him. “I am okay though.”

“You’re still having nightmares.”

“There’s nothing either of us can do about that.”

“Except replace them with good memories. You probably don’t sleep much, do you? Is it stress? School?”

I shrugged. “Not taking care of myself,” I admitted. He did sound concerned, but that wasn’t what I was paying attention to. I was almost sure I knew his voice. He also had a familiar aura that made the hair at the back of my neck stand on end.

“You’re not as scared as you were before.” He sounded like he wanted to laugh. “Getting used to me?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but I’m good with weird.” More like I wouldn’t admit it. “But it would help if you told me who you are.” I didn’t know if I should tell him that I was almost sure I’d know his face if I saw it. He would probably run away and never come back.

He tilted his head back and groaned softly. “I’m not ready to possibly be arrested. You’d probably call the cops on me, wouldn’t you?”

“You’ve done nothing to hurt me, so I wouldn’t have anything to report. Aside from you sneaking through my window that is,” I pointed out. I wouldn’t call the cops unless he tried something dangerous or stupid.

“I should let you sleep. You should start taking care of yourself better. A good night’s sleep might help too.”

I nodded slowly and waved awkwardly as he climbed out the window and jumped. Curious, I approached the window and looked out but there was nothing. Not that I had expected to see him anyway. I slid the window near shut and went back into bed, cuddling up next to a warm Zayne. He was right. I needed to take better care of myself. I couldn’t keep walking around on autopilot and constantly tired from lack of sleep.