I'm a Freshman- He's a Senior [23]

Beth P.O.V.

I didn't even need the alarm Monday morning to wake me up; I was too excited to see Cole.

Even if it had only been a few hours since I had last seen him, it felt like it had been a week.

I shook my head while slipping my blazer on; I can't turn into one of those crazed girlfriends.

My body shivered at the word girlfriend, which was a word that was never associated with me. Girlfriend, to me, was just a role in life that I had never pictured myself in.

Besides these last few days with Cole, the only romantic interaction I had ever had was getting married to Ray Dossland in kindergarten.

And even then he stayed away from me because I had 'coodies.'

Ashley was always the one chasing the boys, not always catching them, but definitely fawning all over them. I had always been just a friend to all of those guys, never more.

Until now.

I was knocked out of my gaze when I heard the faint engine of Cole's 4-runner pulling into the driveway.

My heart did a flipping-spree in my chest as I pulled on my sneakers and grabbed my heavy backpack quickly, grabbing a croissant on the way out the front door.

I looked at the ground as I walked around his car and slowly opened the passenger door, avoiding his eyes as I climbed in and threw my bag in the backseat.

Once strapped in, I turned and faced the front while too embarrassed to see his expression.

After a short moment, I felt his warm finger on the other side of my face, pushing it in his direction.

He was closer than expected, and my eyes were wide as he kissed me softly.

I got over my shock and closed my eyes, sighing into the kiss.

Just as I was getting comfortable, Cole pulled away with a slight chuckle.

My mouth went into a small, involuntary pout.

His smile sparkled in the dim light of the morning. Then he turned back to my house, rubbing his head.

"I don't want your father waking up and seeing his daughter making out with someone in a car. Or worse, your brother," he commented, then turned back to me.

I smiled at his logic.

He started the car with a chuckle. As we rode to school we exchanged silent smiles, and as he drove I let my eyes scan the muscles in his arms.

A thought crossed my mind; What was going to happen at school?

Would we act like we hated each other?

Or would we just ignore each other all completely?

I guess I would just have to find out when it came up.

********

Coach Carr P.O.V.

My fingers smashed into my temples as I assessed the game plan for Friday before me.

Would this play out?

I looked at the clock that displayed itself in my office and rubbed my eyes.

Betty was starting to get mad about how early I came to the school. I explained to her that it was a necessity; these plans weren't going to write themselves.

I pushed myself up from my cold leather chair and walked slowly out of my office, passing the various pictures of my family on my walls.

Pushing the double doors that lead to the field, a cold air smashed in my face, signaling the early signs of winter.

It will be beautiful when the field is coated in a soft snow.

I passed the tall bleachers and a full view of the field lay out before me.

My eyes scanned the field until I saw Beth and Cole at the far end laughing.

I watched as Cole tenderly brushed the hair out of Beth's face, and as Beth's face turned a shade of pink. Then Cole leaned in slowly and kissed her.

I turned around a smiled wide, shaking my head, almost wanting to laugh.

Just like Jenny and John all those years ago.

*******

Cole P.O.V.

It was hard leaving Beth that morning, but reality had to start at sometime.

I knew what I had to do.

It wasn't going to be pretty, but it was something that couldn't wait any longer.

My body tensed as I crossed down the Senior Hall, heading towards Samantha's locker. She saw me coming towards her and waved viciously with her friends surrounding her.

Once I reached her, she leaned forward and kissed my cheek, "Hey baby. I've missed you, why didn't you text?" she pouted, looking at me.

Her brown eyes didn't give me any spark or feeling like Beth's did, nor did her smile send my heart hammering.

She was just another person in my life that proposed no meaning, no future.

I looked around at her mindless friends that surrounded us, and looked back at her.

"I need to talk to you," I said, looking into her eyes.

Her friends all shuffled and gave worried looks; they knew what was coming.

Samantha's brow furrowed as she took in my words.

"What is it babe?" she asked, playing with my shirt collar.

I brushed her hand away softly, "In private," I added.

Her friends now exchanged frantic looks as I led her away from the crowd, and Samantha was looking at them, her ego slowly breaking.

Samantha's eyes went from her friends to me once we were in a quiet corner. "What is it?" she asked through tight lips, worried about the gossip floating around in her crowd.

I took a deep breath and looked at the people passing by us.

Am I actually doing this?

I saw Beth down the hall as she bent down to tie her shoe, her eyes intently focused on fixing the knot.

She looked up and saw my gaze, then smiled broadly. I smiled back, and Samantha waved a hand in front of my face.

"Hello? Cole, What are you looking at?" Samantha whined, looking back at where Beth used to be.

She shook her head and looked back at me.

"Look," I said, rubbing my scar, "I think we need to.. take a break," I finally sighed looking at her face.

She blinked quickly and opened her mouth, "What?" she asked, shaking her head.

"We need to, you know, be apart for a while," I said again.

By this point her face was red and tears filled her eyes.

Oh god.

"B-but, what about that weekend at the Lakehouse this summer?" she pleaded, reminding me of when I spent the weekend at Brian's lake house.

My 'friends' had basically forced me into a relationship that weekend, it wasn't that great.

"That was fun, but don't you want to see other people your senior year?" I begged, trying to be nice.

Full on tears were flowing down her cheeks, bringing her eye make-up with them. Little squeals were escaping her mouth as she freaked out.

People were starting to look.

"W-what did I do? I t-tried to do stuff with you, are you breaking up with me because we didn't have sex?" she said loudly, crying crossing into her voice.

"No! It's not that,"

"Well then what is it?" she squealed, looking at me with red-rimmed eyes.

I took her by her shoulders, "I just think that we should just take a break, see what it's like. Don't you ever wish that you weren't limited to one person your senior year?" I said, trying to comfort her.

Of course, my mission was just to date one person.

"Y-yeah, I guess," she succumbed.

"Okay, I'm sorry," I said, then awkwardly hugged her. I slowly walked her to homeroom as she let out little squeals along the way.

Her friends glanced at us with horrified looks, trying to comprehend what I had just done.

We reached Ms. Tracy's room and entered together, my hand soothing her back while she continued to cry.

We sat separately today, not together as usual in homeroom.

I looked at Beth, who was glancing at Samantha with a concerned face. She then looked at me with a guilty expression.

All I did was just nod in response, showing her that it was over between Samantha and I.

Everyone was going to either give me crap about it today, or ask tons of questions, and there will probably suspicions that I dumped her for someone else.

It was going to be a tough day, but it was worth it.

Beth looked away and continued talking to her friend... what was his name? I really need to start learning the names of her friends.

The door swung open and I jerked my head to see who it was.

My face went in to a pucker when I saw that it was Vince.

Him.

My eyes automatically narrowed at him. He looked at me, then at Samantha who was crying, and gave me a dirty look.

We gave each other hostile looks until he turned to Ms. Tracy with a note from his homeroom teacher.

What was that?

I had given him a dirty look because he liked my girlfriend, but why did he give me one? Did he know that I liked Beth?

Or worse: Did he know that we were together?

I shook my head at that impossible assumption.

There's no way that he could.

*******

I twirled Beth's hair in between my fingers as we lounged in Liberty Park after football practice.

She propped her head on her hand as we lay in my hideout, looking into my eyes silently as I looked into hers.

It was peaceful not really saying anything, I had gotten a lot of heat today for breaking up with Samantha, and it was torture when I had class with her.

I just kept telling myself that she'd get over me; heck, she'll probably find another boyfriend this week.

My mouth twisted up into a smile as I leaned forward, my hands going into Beth's hair, and my lips touching hers. Her mouth opened, excepting the kiss, and her arms wound around my neck.

We both sank down into the grass, lying beside each other while kissing.

Finally, we pulled away breathless, and looked at each other with bright smiles.

Then her smile faded into a straight line, and her eyes shifted towards the ground.

"I felt bad about Samantha today," she admitted, pulling blades of dead grass from the ground.

I sighed and looked at the vines that intertwined their way through the trees, shielding us from most sunlight, but leaving enough open to witness nature happen around us.

"Don't. She's a drama queen," I said, looking back at her. "Plus, what did you do to her? All you did was unknowingly make me like you, when in the first place I never even liked her," I said, shifting on my back and looking up at the blue sky.

Beth copied my movement.

"I don't know, I just kind of feel like a boyfriend stealer," she said, putting her arms behind her head.

"Because you're smart, beautiful, and funny? Beth, if you were a boyfriend stealer, you would have lured me with seduction or teased me," I comforted.

She sighed in surrender.

I grasped her hand and rubbed soothing circles in her palm, then turned on my side to look at her.

She turned her head towards me to meet my gaze. I smiled and brushed my thumb against her lower lip. She smiled and reached up, pulling me down to her by the back of my head.

We kissed each other softly until the sun began to set over the horizon.

She pulled away slowly, her eyes still closed, as she sighed in contentment.

I kissed her on both cheeks, then kissed her quickly on the lips and rose from the ground with her.

We walked hand in hand to my car, prolonging the time when we would have to separate.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, probably waiting to show me the real truth that I was hiding from with Beth.

*******

SAMANTHA

WAT DID I DO? :( I LUV U, I WANT TO GET BACK 2GETHER

I shook my head and set my phone back on the desk, finishing the last of my long homework.

My phone began ringing, Samantha's name flashing on the small screen. I rolled my eyes and stuffed my work into my backpack.

I showered quickly, letting the hot steam relax the knots in my back, then slipped on a pair of boxers and climbed into my bed.

For a moment I just stared at the ceiling, mostly thinking about Beth.

Before I closed my eyes, I shifted to my side and looked out of my window at the night sky.

"Goodnight Beth," I whispered to myself, then closed my eyes, welcoming sleep.

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wowimflying, 2009