Clover sat in the gym alongside her classmates that weren't participating in the basketball game that was currently going on.
They were done with the games at the field and had come to the gym for the remaining games.
Girls had taken the lead in the other games, with the score two against one.
In the basketball it seems like the boys were going to win it, which would lead to a draw.
"This game is beat." Kelly stated, seeing the gap the boys were giving the girls on the scoreboard.
" There's still time left, maybe there could be a miracle of some sort." Kelly scoffed.
"Be realistic, Clover. I'm thirsty." She gets up to go and get a bottle of water.
Shortly after she left, someone came and sat in her place.
"My friend is..." He butts in.
"I know." He smiled at her.
"Nicholas." He introduced himself.
"Clover." He stretched out his hand and shook her.
"You've seen me before or you've forgotten?"
"I think I have, you were with Bella at the shopping mall that day and I think I saw you today too. Are you guys dating?" He cringed.
"Eww... No, we are not." Clover chuckled.
"You don't have to say it like that, she's very cute."
"We are related. She's my cousin." Clover made an oh face.
"The resemblance is non-existent. " Nick just chuckled at her words.
"I guess you have forgotten." His expression changed, he looked sad.
"Forgotten what?" He noticed Kelly approaching them.
"Daddy's little girl." He whispered. Clover's expression changed immediately to a horror struck one. She could feel chills going down her spine.
"Later." He was about to leave but she held him back. At that moment Kelly appeared.
"Here's my number." He handed her a piece of paper and she finally let him go.
"What was that about?" Kelly asked, taking her seat after Nick had left.
"Erm... I don't know." She was filled with unease. "Can you excuse me?" She went after him.
"Wait!" She shouted when she got closer to him.
"What?" He turned to look at her.
The place was crowded and noisy and she didn't want someone to mistakenly eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Can we talk somewhere else?" She asked nervously. He didn't give her an answer yet and just stared at her calmly.
"Please?" She was desperate. This could ruin her new life if news got out about this.
"Alright." He did a gesture for her to lead the way.
"Are you sure we should be here? You know everyone is at the gym and they could suspect us..." She cuts him off.
"I can't risk anyone getting a whiff of this conversation."
"So, you would prefer to be caught in an empty classroom with a boy?" He looked at her amused.
"Then keep your voice down." He just sighed in defeat.
"Were you in my former school?" She asked. Cause how else would he know about that, but she didn't remember seeing anyone like him in her former school. It wasn't very big, even if she didn't know everyone's name, she would remember their faces.
"No." She was right. Then how did he know?
"Then..." He cuts her off.
"Do you remember Mrs Tyler? The one that had a son with sickle cell anaemia. We lived in the same neighborhood, your house was just opposite mine." She couldn't believe it, like Nick, he was near death. He was very thin and frail and was in and out of the hospital. He wasn't very much taller than her, but she knew that when she was 8, Nick was 13.
That meant he was Levi's age. He was older than everyone, but no one would know because of his small frail body.
They played together for a while, that was during the time she moved to her dad's house newly. Then one day, they were playing together and her dad came and warned him to stay away from her.
At times they snuck around when her dad wasn't home, but one day he stopped coming to their secret hiding place. One day, she saw a letter he had written, he was telling her goodbye that he didn't know when he would see her again and he would be watching her from afar.
When she asked her teacher what he meant in the letter, she concluded he was dead.
After a while she summoned the courage to go and ask his mom about him and she told he was gravely ill and wouldn't be able to come out to play for a while.
Her dad had always been against their friendship because Nick was much older than her even though he didn't look like it.
Even with that she wrote letters to him, but stopped when her dad found out.
"I still have your letters but they were a bit disturbing." He was right, she use to write about everything, including her father's abuse.
"I was at the brink of death, but I told myself I wasn't going to die until your father gets what he deserves." There was underlying anger and hatred for that man.
"I..I..." She didn't know why her eyes started to water. "It's alright." He hugged her tightly.
She couldn't hold back her tears, so she let her tears wet his shirt.
He heard some footsteps and then quietly led her to a corner that they won't be spotted easily unless someone really looked.
Whoever it was just opened the door, scanned it, when the person didn't notice anything strange, whoever it was turned around and left.
"I'm sorry." She raised her t-shirt and used it to wipe her eyes.
"It's fine." He used his thumb to wipe a stray tear, then suddenly he held her face and kissed her.
She was stunned for a moment, but she regained composure and kissed him back.
Hidden emotions were brought to light by that one kiss.
He finally broke the kiss and said.
"Let's go." He said calmly.
She wondered how he remain so calm, meanwhile her mind was beyond distorted.
Apart from the forbidden kisses she had with her father, this was her first real kiss with a boy.