Cambridge

“It’s hopeless! There are over 80 people in this particular class! We’ll never find the guy!” Clara sighed as we leaned outside the door of Professor Remington’s class at exactly 5 o’clock.
“Don’t say that! We’ll find him; just keep an open mind.” I put a piece of my long brown hair behind my ear. “We have to find him.” I said under my breath. “Hi, Janice, hi Nancy.” I greeted as I saw a few acquaintances.
“Hi, Hope.” I heard someone’s voice from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw Liam with his glasses firmly pressed against his nose.
“Hello, Liam.” I waved as he headed into class with his other friend Zayn.
“Let’s just walk in there and ask Professor Remington for a class roster and see if any names stand out.” Niki suggested as she strutted into the class.
“Professor Remington,” I followed her lead and called out to the gray-haired professor with round, black-rimmed glasses who looked up at us with disinterest.
“We were looking for someone in particular around campus; it’s urgent and we just wanted to know if they’re in this class. Do you mind if we see the class roster?” Niki smiled.
He looked at the three of us with suspicion and sighed as he muttered something under his breath and threw a piece of paper at us containing all the students in his class.
“Thank you, Professor!” I smiled as we headed out.
We walked across the wonderfully bright green courtyard in the center of campus reading all the names aloud and scanning the list over a hundred times.
“This is hopeless!” I screamed as we sat down on large rock.
I heard Clara giggle faintly.
“What happened Clara?” I asked.
“Get it? ‘Hope-less’? Because you’re Hope?!” She continued giggling.
“Alright.” I chuckled and looked back at the list.
“Wait, look at this guy? Benedict Saunders?” Niki furrowed her brows as she pointed to the name on the piece of paper.
“No, he broke his foot and has a huge cast on it.” I replied, simply.
“Okay, what about him?” Clara pointed to a name.
“He’s 5 foot 2 inches, but the man in the hoodie must have been a little under 6 foot.” I replied.
“We’ve been through this list at least a 100 times!” I sighed after about 2 hours. “I think that’s enough for today. Thanks for your help guys, but we’ll do this later, okay?” I hugged them both.
“You’ll find him, honey.” Clara hugged me goodbye.
“I’ll see you back in the dorm?” Niki got up from the rock.
“Yeah, I just want to walk around campus for a while, okay?” I shrugged.
“Alright, see ya.” She waved and her and Clara walked off.
I sighed as I got up from the rock, clutching the roster in my hand, and walked the other way. I walked for a few minutes till I got back to the now-empty Psych class. I looked at my watched at saw that it was 7 pm and that the class was definitely over. I huffed as I strutted across the entrances of the building and came to another old building with Greek columns at the front. I slowly climbed the steps to see the sign that said, “Sports program (boxing, racquet ball, track, and swimming)”. I gently pushed open the doors at the entrance to the building and walked down the long, empty, dimly lit hallways. There were doors on the right and left that had a small window. In the first window, I saw a large Olympic sized swimming pool and swimmers in the water. In the second, I saw a large track that wrapped around the enormous room.
“Oi!” I heard random shouts from the next door;I quickly turned towards it and looked around once more before I headed over to it. As I walked up to the third door, I heard the sound of chains and grunts. I cautiously peeked into the tiny window to see a boxing ring, a couple of trainers and boxers throwing punches.
“Do it again!” I heard an oddly familiar shout come from one of the boxers that was working with the trainers.
“You have a mean right hook, Payne, keep up the good work.” I saw the trainer pat him on the back.
“Payne?” I questioned as I pressed myself up to the door, trying to hear better. Finally, the boxer that I was looking at turned around to grab some water, giving me a better look at who he was.
“Liam?!” I whispered, shocked. He was shirtless, revealing his thin framed, toned body that I never knew he had. His abs were taut and glistening with sweat as he threw another punch. He was dripping with sweat, his chocolate colored hair was stuck to the side of his face, and his large rimmed glasses were not in sight as his muscles flexed, counteracting another person’s punch. How was it possible? The same smart, nerdy Liam spent his extracurricular time doing hardcore boxing? I scoffed as I realize how quick I was to judge him and I mentally slapped myself for being a bitch. There were numerous times where Henry and his group of friends pushed him around, teased him, and bullied him. They even used to beat him up, yet he never fought back and always took the beating. Why?
“Liam.” I heard another voice call out to him. I looked to his right and found Zayn by his side. They were talking but I couldn’t hear a thing.
All of a sudden, Liam threw a punch at a training bag, making the bag shake violently. Instantly, my mind snapped back to last night and how the man in the hoodie threw a punch at Henry, his fists connecting with his jaw and knocking him to the ground. The way Liam moved and fought was familiar, like I had seen it before. Then, it hit me; it was Liam. It had to be him! The man in the hoodie expertly threw that punch like a boxer! I fumbled as I grabbed the class roster out and ran through the list and saw “Liam Payne” and “Zayn Malik” printed; I also recalled Liam saying hi to me before walking into Psych class.
“This can’t be possible, can it?” I grabbed my head; feeling like it was going to explode. “I have to know absolutely for sure.” I pushed the door open a little, just enough to hear Zayn and Liam talk.
“Dude, so are you going to keep walking by her saying ‘hi’ like you never saved her life?” I heard Zayn speak, handing Liam a white towel to wipe the sweat with.
“It’s not that simple.” Liam shrugged, lost in thought.
“Oh my god. Are they talking about what I think they’re talking about?” I moved in a little closer, leaving a tiny bit more of the door open.
“I can’t tell her.” Liam continued. “What if we weren’t there Zayn? What if Henry had actually hurt her? He’s a jerk and he deserved every punch I threw.” He said disgustingly; I had never heard this tone coming from him. He looked like he wanted to spit at the mere thought of Henry.
“Anyways, mate, she’s Hope Campbell, she’d probably never realize that it was you. You like her, though, don’t you?” I saw Zayn grinning.
“I need to work on my footwork again.” Liam ignored the question and motioned to his feet.
I gulped as I walked away back to my dorm, lost in thought.

Notes

Here's the next chapter! Hoped you enjoyed! Thanks!

-N.^-^