Ariella's POV

“Drake, wait up!” I called out to him as I squeezed through the groups of students blocking my way. He stopped and waited for me to catch up. Once I was by his side, I smacked his upper arm as hard as I could. He quickly winced.

“What was that for?!” He whispered harshly, not wanting to bring any attention to ourselves.

“What’s going on with you lately with Carie?” I said, ignoring his remark.

“We’re dating…" He said, pointing out the obvious. "Why? Jealous?” He smirked. I stared at him shocked, and hit him again. Honestly I don’t know how he didn’t see that coming.

“I’m kidding! Geez…” he said while rubbing his arm that I hit.

“Better be. Now come on, spill. What’s up?” I questioned. He sighed.

“You can’t tell her anything that I’m about to tell you, promise?” he begged. I nodded my head, and waited for him to continue. “So you know how Prom is coming up right?” I nodded my head once more. “Well, I was hoping that Carie would want to go with me…”

“Of course she’s going to say yes, you guys are a couple.” I stated. He rolled his eyes but still had that nervous look.

We walked into the classroom/dojo just as the bell rung signaling class begun. I quickly walked into the girl’s locker room to change into my gi. I then made my way to the mats, where Drake was already taking a couple swings at the dummy as a warm-up. Girls take longer time to get out of the locker room to change into a simple gi. I just got in and out in about thirty seconds. They have to realize that they aren’t being graded on looks, but on their fitness abilities. Once I reached him, he stopped taking swings at it.

“Don’t worry, I already told the teacher that you’re here.”

“Thanks. So, what’s the real problem?” I said as I began to take swings at the dummy. He sighed once more.

“You sigh a lot, stop stalling and just tell me already.” He ran his fingers through his hair instead.

“I want to ask Carie to prom in a special way, not just with a simple rose and asking her. That’s lame. I want it to be special. I’m planning on telling her something then…” I smiled at his honesty.

“Are you going to tell her that you love her?” I asked him curiously. He stayed still for a moment before nodding his head and blushing slightly. I smiled even harder.

“So, do you have any ideas? I have a couple but I’m not sure which to do.” He pleaded.

“Do you have the list with you?” I asked him.

“It’s in my dorm at the moment. I can get it and show you after classes are over? At the library?” he suggested.

“Sure. That- wait, no.” I said, remembering my work after school in the cafeteria.

“What?” I looked at him as if it wasn’t obvious enough. “Ohhh… Right. Tomorrow then? Or when you’re done?” he said. I nodded my head, about to say yes until I was cut off by a whistle.

By now the teacher, now dressed in his gi, returned from his office as he blew the whistle. We all stopped practicing on the dummies and turned to face him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to announce that we are going to begin out annual Spring Sparring Competition soon in the upcoming weeks so we must begin practicing. Past winners include Ariella Edwards, no shock.” He sends a smile my way, and I returned the gesture. “Trish Brown, and Seth Landon. I am posting the list of opponents on the wall near the exit so when you leave today you know who you are going against.” He walked over across the large room to the wall he spoke of and pinned the loose piece of paper onto it. I don’t like surprises personally so as soon as he moved away from the wall, I bolted down to the paper, searching for my name. My finger trailed down the list until I came upon my name. Many other students had the same idea, as we were soon getting crowding around the wall.

‘Ariella Edwards vs. Drake Johnson.’

I’m going against Drake. Easy enough. I turned back to find Drake as he continued to beat the dummy, even when the teacher told us to stop. He must’ve sensed my gaze towards him because he turned away from the dummy and faced me, sending me a smile, before turning into a confused look. I shook my head, and walked towards him.

“You alright?” he said as I got to him. I nodded my head. He started to take more swings at the dummy once more.

“Looks like we’re opponents for the first round.” I said. He stopped suddenly, then a smirk came across his face.

“No... Looks like you’re going to lose in the first round.” I looked at him confused.

“What makes you say that?” I said, furrowing my eyebrows together.

“Well, I am stronger than you.” He said calmly, while shrugging his shoulders while facing me. I scoffed. Oh no he didn’t. “Oh yes I did.” He said. I shook my head, realizing that I spoke out loud. Again. “You have to work on that, keeping your thoughts where thoughts are always stored. Up here.” He said while poking his temple, symbolizing the mind. I rolled my eyes.

“I brought you down so many times this month alone, what makes you think that the competition will be any different?” I asked him, ignoring his comment. He faced away from me, and did a perfect routine that the teacher showed us then and made us practice for a couple weeks then looked at me satisfied. I myself cannot do that routine, and everyone knew it. I stood with my mouth to the floor, as many other students that were around watching.The teacher came over and patted Drake on the back.

“At least someone else is practicing. You’re the second person that I’ve seen, capable of doing that routine.” He said, astonished.

“Who was the first?” I asked, surprised.

“He told me to keep it a secret for now, don’t know why.” He shrugged. Then walked over to his usual spot to watch us spar.

“Nervous yet?” Drake said from behind me. I turned on my heel to face him.

“Nope. That doesn’t mean anything. That doesn’t show strength. Shows agility.” I corrected him. He smiled down at me and rolled his eyes while taking a few steps backwards and stood there, waiting for me to do the same so we could spar. We bent down at the same time before going to our first stance. Before I could even start to take my first step towards Drake, he spoke up.

“And Ari?”

“Yes, Drake?”

“Don’t tell Carie about earlier alright? I know she’s upset about how I’ve been lately and I am going to do better to fix that.”

“Of course.” I assured him, but knowing inside that it’s going to be hard to do so.

---

After my classes were over, I turned on my phone to only to see that it was bombarded with text messages from Niall.

From: Prince Niall <3:
Hello my Princess! Why did you leave me so quickly? I was going to walk you to class :3 xx

From: Prince Niall <3:
Princess? xx

From: Prince Niall <3:
I know you have your phone this timeeee xx

From: Prince Niall <3:
Baby, please answer, I know you’re bored in class and you’re dying to text me. Just do it already xx

Then he just kept texting I love you to see if I was there, before giving up and they stopped.

From: Prince Niall <3:
When you see this, text me. Love you Princess xx

I responded to his latest text.

To: Prince Niall <3:
You know I’m not on my phone during class sessions. : P what’s up babe?

I pressed send and waited for his response. Seconds later, my phone vibrated.

From: Prince Niall <3:
I thought that you stopped doing that, sorry if your phone got bombarded. XP Where are you right now? xx

To: Prince Niall <3:
Leaving my dorm… About to head to the café. : / Hbu?

From: Prince Niall <3:
Weren’t you supposed to go right after your last class though? xx

To: Prince Niall <3
Yeah, but a few minutes to get changed out of uniform and into some comfy clothes to clean in shouldn’t kill anyone. ;)

From: Prince Niall <3:
But, you’re late. Come down to the lobby and I’ll walk you there. xx

To: Prince Niall <3:
Alright, alright, be there in a few. I’m already on my way.


Once I got down to the lobby, I saw him laying down with his phone in his hands, typing away. He was on one of the couches that were along the walls, underneath a large painting of the building when it first opened its doors in the early 1800’s. The school is getting pretty old as the faded red velvet wallpaper was slowly chipping from the walls and the chandelier that hang high in the center of the room was slowly getting old as the gold on it was fading out. There were small spider-webs that were in the high corners of the room. They aren’t a bother, at least, until they get bigger. Niall looked up from his phone and smiled at me. I walked over to him as he sat up, placing his phone to the side, quickly locking it.

“There you are.” He said while smiling up at me. I bent down slightly so our lips met for a small kiss. He stood up and intertwined our fingers and we began to walk to the lunch room.

“You know, the way you fought Brittney today was pretty interesting.” He said while smirking.

“How was it ‘interesting’?” I asked him jokingly, as a smile was forming on my face.

“It was ’Pretty interesting.’” He repeated.

“Okay, how?” I pressed on, waiting for his answer.

“I was debating whether or not I should have pulled you away from her.”

“Why??” I said smirking. Niall isn’t one to admit when things turn him on. He likes to keep them to himself. He only says them if I pressure him into saying it. It’s quite amusing, I must admit.

“Okay, okay. It was a complete turn-on, it was really hot okay? There I said it.” He said while scratching his neck with his free hand, nervous to see my reaction. I just giggled.

“I knew it. Why don’t you ever just say so? I could fight her more often, if she keeps pushing the same buttons as she did today.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. You were reaaally jealous today weren’t you?” He mocked me. I rolled my eyes.

“No, she just pissed me off as usual. She didn’t leave us all alone and she stayed at the table.”

“In other words, you were jealous.” He said while smirking.

“No…” I mumbled. I started to blush and look down to my feet. He lowered his head so he was at my ear.

“You’re so beautiful when you blush.” He whispered, which only made me blush harder.

“Stop it.” I said while smiling and lightly pushing him away.

“Hey, it’s the truth.” He said in all honesty. I just kept my gaze to my feet. I noticed that I took more steps then Niall, since he is taller than me. I would always be called short, or fun sized, but Niall thinks I’m at the perfect height. When people call me short names in front of Niall, he would just whisper in my ear and remind me that I am beautiful the way I am, and I shouldn’t listen to a word they say. Then tells the people off once I walk away. He thinks I don’t notice but I always have. Then, and now. I was taken away from my thoughts as I felt fingers on my chin, making my focus to his bright blue eyes.

“Chin up Princess, you’re tiara is slipping.” He said. I just broke out into a fit of giggle at his cheesiness. We both laughed as we walked to the door to the lunch room. The doors swung open before we even got to the handle, and on the other side was none other than Brittney.

“Finally, you’re here! I thought you were going to ditch, and leave little ole me to do all of your dirty work that you started. I did my third of the café, and so did Keith. He left already and I’m about to do the same. Have fun doing yours.” She spat furiously at me as she walked away from the door and to Niall’s free arm, linking her arm in it without any permission. I rolled my eyes as Niall squeezed my hand lightly.

“Well hello babe. You have great timing, as usual. I finished my third of the room and I’m beat. Take me to bed?” she begged while placing her head on his shoulder and pouting. Niall got himself out of her grasp, rolled his eyes and huffed, then faced her.

“I’m not your babe, I’m Ariella’s. When will you ever realize that? I don’t like you anymore. That was YEARS ago… Let it go.” He said to her before pulling me lightly into the cafeteria, leaving Brittney to just walk away, ignoring everything that Niall just told her. As we walked further into the room, we found Head Mistress. She was sitting down at one of the cleaned tables, tapping her foot impatiently. Once she saw me she literally jumped out of her seat, and was about to scold me of my tardiness, until she saw Niall.

Notes

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