Fairytale Green

The school changing rooms were disgusting. The smell of over-sprayed perfume and sweat filled the room. The walls were peeling at the sides and the ceiling was flaking at the corners.

Leavendale High changing rooms were infamous for the paper towel game which entailed throwing a wet cloth on the ceiling and waiting for it to fall on someone’s head.

‘So, you haven’t spoken to Brennan since the kiss?’ I asked her while nudging down my bra that had risen slightly when I had taken my shirt off.

While Stone and I were having our long staring contest on the Armstrong’s sofa, Lana was having her first kiss with Brennan outside in the garden.

‘Brennan didn’t wait outside school this morning to meet me and I never seen him on the way to homeroom.’ Lana’s voice grew quiet as she spoke.

‘Don’t worry. I’m sure you will see him.’ I assured her ‘Gym class usually has like forty people per class. He might be there.’

Her right shoulder rose in a small shrug, but I could tell by the look on her face that she was moping.

‘He might also sing some Frankie Valli while dancing on the bleachers.’ I added in hopes of cheering her up.

‘You have been watching too many rom-coms.’ She pointed out with a laugh.

‘It was you that made me watch Ten Things I Hate About You.’ I crossed my arms and scoffed the words out ‘I was held against my will.’

‘Did I force feed you the popcorn too?’ She rebutted, sending me a side glare as she tied her shoelace.

My school bag was heavy due to our planned beach trip after school. Lana had phoned the night before and asked me to go to the beach with her and the two new additions to the table. My original answer to her question was a firm no when I found out Stone was going but then Lana begged, and I finally gave in.

I started to dig my hands deeper into my bag when I could not find my gym shirt. The bag was packed full of my beach towel and my bikini that I was struggling to find my gym clothes.

‘What are you looking for?’ Lana asked, noticing my struggle.

‘My t-shirt.’ I laughed because I was stressed while continuing to search my bag ‘This is your fault. I would not have had a full bag today if I was not getting dragged to the beach.’

‘You need to come.’ She sighed before adding ‘Stone is coming too and he only talks to you.’

‘He does not only talk to me.’ I argued.

‘Yes. He does.’ Lana affirmed, ‘The most I have heard him say is Medusa.’

Letting out a huff, I changed the subject ‘Gym for the first class of the day should be a crime. Gym in general should be a crime.’

I released a sigh of relief when I finally found my gym shirt. I pulled it over my head and yanked it down but then I stopped.

The material of my shirt stretched to the bottom of my chest and went no further.

After yanking at it again and it did not budge, I cursed.

Lana studied my midsection and raised one of her light eyebrows ‘Ella, is your shirt meant to be that tiny?’

‘No.’ I whined before concluding ‘It must have accidentally shrunk in the washing machine.’

My favourite skull shirt barely made it past my boobs. If I raised my arms the tiniest bit, then I would end up flashing everyone my bra.

At the sight of the skeleton head on my chest that looked less like a head and more like a white spot due to the shortness of the material, Lana held her stomach as she began laughing.

‘This is not funny, Lana. The t-shirt is teensy.’ I covered my face with my hands and groaned.

‘Do you have a spare?’ She quietly questioned while offering me a sympathetic smile.

I shook my head and let out a sigh ‘What am I going to do?’

‘Come on.’ Lana tried to keep her tone affirmative as she encouraged me ‘It looks fine.’

I was about to argue with her, but it was too late because Lana grabbed my arm and guided me out of the changing room and into the gym hall.

The gym hall fit in with the rest of the theme of the school that looked like something straight out of the eighties. The large room smelt like sweat and it made me doubt that anyone had cleaned the place in the past decade. The lines of the basketball court were fading, and the bleachers were a murky grey colour.

Something else that looked like it belonged in the eighties was my gym teacher. He was small with a potbelly and a moustache. His patterned tracksuit made him look more like a doughnut than an athlete.

He currently looked like a very angry doughnut as his eyes landed on my shirt.

‘Hi Coach,’ I said with an awkward smile while I crossed my arms over my chest.

The crossing of my arms only drew more attention to my chest because the action made the material rise. My black lace bra was slightly visible.

‘Miss Miller.’ The gym coach uttered in disbelief ‘Do you want to explain your outfit?’

I laughed nervously and looked around ‘So this is not a Vegas strip club…?’

He shook his head and told me sternly ‘You can’t participate in basketball in that attire.’

‘So, I have to sit out?’ I concluded while trying to keep my excitement to a minimum.

The gym teacher nodded.

‘I am bringing a smaller shirt next week.’ I mumbled under my breath.

Lana raised her hand sheepishly to ask the teacher ‘Can I sit out, too?’

‘Why, Miss Armstrong?’ The angry doughnut questioned.

‘What if I get kidnapped and snatched from the bleachers?’ I exaggerated while taking a step closer to Lana ‘I need her to protect me.’

‘Miss Miller, you and I both know you are more than capable of defending yourself.’ The coach did not look convinced as he pointed out ‘I still remember the case with poor David Walker.’

‘David tried to take the ball away from me!’ I defended.

‘We were playing football.’ The gym teacher exclaimed, ‘That is the aim of the game’

I widened my eyes to make them appear sadder while I argued ‘I’m just not feeling that well and Lana can come and look after me’

The gym teacher looked so done with the conversation, so he finally agreed ‘Sit at the bleachers and do not interrupt my lesson.’

Both Lana and I smiled victoriously as we headed to the bleachers. We walked past the crowd of our classmates that were whistling and cheering.

Most of the cheers were male and it was not because they were excited to play basketball.

My whole face turned the colour of a tomato as I shrank in my seat and tried to hide. I pulled down my shirt and pulled my hair over my shoulder to hide my face.

The class were getting split into teams for the basketball game. Lana looked around the bustling court for a specific someone and I joined in with her search.

There was no sign of Brennan or Stone in the gym hall.

As two teams were sent on to play on the court, a flirty voice from the side-lines called out ‘If you wanted to give me a sneak peek then you could have at least done it in private.’

I faced the culprit of the words that came in the form of the blonde captain of the football team.

‘Not that I am complaining.’ Chase added while letting his gaze roam my exposed stomach.

‘You better get a good look.’ I gritted out as he neared ‘This is as much as you will be seeing from now on.’

The quarterback let out a laugh like he did not believe me.

‘Should you not be coming up with a game plan with your buddies right now?’ I pointed out in a subtle way of trying to get rid of him ‘We both know you hate to lose.’

Chase offered me a cocky smile as he conveyed ‘We will have to see if your friends offer any competition.’

I followed the footballer’s gaze as he turned and looked at the two well-built males standing at the side of the court.

Stone was flicking his dark feral gaze between Chase and me. He appeared even more slaughterous and ruthless than normal.

I did not know how I did not notice him as soon as he entered the room.

The giant stood way taller and broader than the rest. The clenched jaw and the tensed body looked like he was about to go war radiated his wrath and that made him noticeable also.

Chase turned back to face me, and he cleared his throat before speaking ‘So are you coming to my back-to-school party Friday night?’

I would normally jump at the opportunity to go to a party with him, but I was not feeling it. I told myself that it was because of his comment in English class.

‘I think I’m busy.’ I answered vaguely before swiftly changing the subject ‘When am I getting my panda?’

‘Oh.’ Chase uttered in surprise ‘Did you actually want the panda?’

I tilted my head and retorted like it was obvious ‘Yeah. I did.’

‘I put it in the trash.’ He informed me with no sympathy at all.

‘You did what?’ I blurted out and then I raised my voice to curse at him “You…You stuffed animal sociopath!’

Chase laughed, still unapologetic about Pete’s passing ‘I will get you another one next time.’

A feeling in my gut told me that there was not going to be a next time.

I never enjoyed myself the last time. I ended up ditched and panda-less.

‘How was your stupid fight thing that you ditched me for anyway?’ I asked him to make conversation ‘It must have been important because I have never seen someone move so fast.’

His whole playful demeanour dropped suddenly. His smirk fell into a frown.

‘It was terrible and they weren’t even that good.’ Chase tutted bitterly ‘You can tell your friends that.’

‘Why would I want to tell my friends about an illegal fight club on the beach?’ I remarked confusedly.

Silence filled the space of the bleachers for a few minutes before anyone spoke.

‘Come to my party on Friday.’ The quarterback insisted again.

I opened my mouth to reject him again, but I was cut off before I could.

Lana spoke up while shooting Chase a polite smile ‘We will be there.’

‘We will?’ I quietly muttered to her.

Chase nodded his head. He then ran off towards the court when he noticed that the teams were switching over.

I watched him leave before I turned to Lana and demanded to know ‘Why did you say yes to him?’

‘It is something we can both do together.’ She revealed while twiddling her finger in her hair ‘I don’t want you to feel left out because the two guys are sitting with us now. I want you to know that I am not abandoning you for Brennan.’

‘We could do something that is not Chase’s party.’ I told her before shuddering at the memories of the last one party went to ‘They always end up in ruckus. Last time, a guy drank ten shots of straight vodka and spewed it all over Chase’s neighbour’s cat.’

Lana scrunched up her face in disgust.

‘There is still traces of it its fur.’ I added to point out how horrible his parties are.

She shook her head before encouraging ‘Come on. It will be fun.’

‘Fine.’ I gave in with a sigh ‘We will go.’

The whistle went off and the two new teams on the court started playing.

One team was made up of Chase and his football friends. The other team was made up of Brennan and Stone.

I leaned forward in my seat and watched as the other players watched the giant with a look of fear on their faces.

There was something about the way Stone moved around the court. It was fast yet deliberate. The movements were strong. He dominated the area around him, and he radiated authority among the players.

Nobody dared themselves to go near the large muscular man.

‘Who knew basketball shorts could look so good on a guy?’ Lana uttered as she watched Stone reach up and place the ball in the hoop for the sixth time in a minute.

My head snapped to her as soon as she said the words.

‘I thought you liked Brennan.’ I pointed out.

‘I do.’ Lana confirmed as she sent me a weird look.

Something built up at the bottom of my stomach, but I managed to force out a laugh and a few words ‘I’m sure it is not too late to change your affection towards his friend instead.’

The players moved back into the starting position as the whistle blew again.

Stone strode back into the middle of the court. He had not even broken a sweat. He looked more ready than ever to knock everyone out of his path.

Suddenly the dark pair of eyes met mine across the room.

I felt like I had been caught doing something I should not have been. I continued to look at him, but I shifted in my seat and crossed one of my legs over the other.

His gaze captured mine until another whistle filled the hall again.

‘I think Stone is taken.’ Lana’s attention flickered between the game and me before she let out a giggle.

I continued to watch the game. I put extra effort into watching all of the players and not just the largest one of them.

Lana leaned to the side so that she could whisper into my ear ‘Do you find him attractive?’

‘Who?’ I asked, feigning innocent even though I knew exactly who she was talking about.

‘You know who.’

There was no point in denying it. To try and say that Stone was not lethally attractive was the same as arguing that the guillotine did not take someone’s head off.

‘I guess he is.’ I eventually told her with a nonchalant shrug ‘That doesn’t change the fact that he is an annoying ass that I can’t stand.’

She looked like she was going to say something else, but she was interrupted by a voice coming from the court.

‘Ella!’ Chase shouted as he dribbled the ball ‘If I score this basket, will you lift your shirt and give us all a treat?’

Most of the players were laughing as they took a glance at my tiny top.

The one huge, tattooed person that was not amused grabbed the ball from the quarterback and effortlessly rammed into his side.

The movement was so harsh and powerful that Chase fell over. He flew a good ten meters at the impact before he hit the floor with a bang.

All the laughter from the players died out as they stared at the scene with wide eyes.

I also stared wide-eyed after wincing at the brutal sound of Chase hitting the floor.

Stone did not spare a single glance at Chase when he took the shot from midcourt and threw the ball right into the hoop.

A chorus of screams and cheers broke the silence as everyone admired the remarkable throw of the ball.

Brennan jogged over towards the angry giant, and it looked like he was trying to reason with him. Stone was too busy scowling at the boy on the floor and clenching his hands into fists to listen to whatever Brennan was saying.

Lana blinked a few times before muttering ‘What the hell.’

I blinked to make sure what had happened was real.

‘Remind me never to shoot some hoops with Lurch.’ I mumbled to her.

The game resumed for another twenty minutes before Chase’s team lost to Stone’s. The score ended up as two and forty-four.

Nothing was said to Stone about his violent streak. The gym teacher appeared far too intimidated to approach him and tell him off.

Stone’s face still did not look any less enraged as he crossed his arms over his bulky erratically moving chest and set his sights on me.

When the coach dismissed the class and told everyone to go and get changed, I got up as fast as I could and rushed to get out of the gym hall.

I kept my head down as I fled so I was not expecting to run into a hard surface.

The muscular wall caught me off guard and I stumbled backwards as I bounced against it.

Huge hands carefully gripped onto my waist, keeping me on my feet as I grabbed onto the surface which happened to be a hard chest.

My skin that touched him started to feel heated as I peered up at the large figure who saved me from falling.

What I found was that Stone was looking down at me with a clenched jaw and a darkened gaze.

‘Woah. What are you made up of?’ I could not help but ask him as I poked his stomach with one of my fingers ‘Bricks? Titanium? Stone?’

He cocked his head, and he narrowed his eyes down at me. The large hands belonging to him that were set on my waist tightened.

I slowly removed my palms from his chest and made my way around the wall-like obstacle of a man before walking away.

Image

After a long few periods of dissecting a sheep’s heart in Biology and watching a Shakespeare adaption in English, I was relieved it was lunch.

I was also relieved that I had remembered to bring a sandwich.

I was deep in thought as I munched at my food. My mind kept going back to the event in gym class.

I had not spoken to Stone all today. I saw him in English but he was in a foul mood so I decided it would be best not to bicker with him or taunt him.

Lana took out her lunch from her bag while motioning to my own ‘No noodles today?’

‘I have learned my lesson.’ I told her with a roll of my eyes ‘I still have to pay Lurch back.’

‘Do you know what the whole gym body slam thing was about?’ She queried, her expression turning a little scared as she thought back to gym class.

I opened my can of soda and shrugged ‘Maybe he didn’t like Chase’s comment about my t-shirt.’

She hummed in response ‘It seemed like he had a personal vendetta against Chase.’

‘I guess he doesn’t like cat-callers.’ I said as I thought about it further.

‘He acted so aggressively’ Lana replied after sipping her cherry cola ‘It was not an accident. He bulldozed right into him.’

I saw and perceived him as intimidating, but I did not think he would be so blatantly violent.

It sounded ridiculous that I was thinking about it so much. I barely knew the guy and it was none of my business anyway.

Lana was about to add something to her point but the arrival of the two guys stopped her from opening her mouth.

Brennan and Stone sat down in the same place as yesterday placing their full buffet of food on the table.

The large lean leg touched mine as Stone stole all the space of our bench.

‘What are you two talking about?’ Brennan asked on arrival as he sent the both of us a smile.

‘I thought you were just testing the food yesterday.’ Lana quickly changed the topic of conversation by pointing at his molehill of a tray “Are you going to eat all of that?’

Brennan laughed while tucking into his first plate ‘We are growing boys.’

I watched them talk but I could no longer ignore the heat on my face.

The dark eyes were on me. They were not amused or taunting like they had usually been. His eyes were narrowed in on me like he was making sure that I did not move from my seat.

I had taken enough of his death glare already, so I turned on the seat and faced him with my own glare.

‘What are you staring at, Lurch? Have you banged your head and lost your memory?’ I uttered, my voice dripping with sarcasm ‘You look like you haven’t seen me before.’

Stone raised an eyebrow and studied me in silence for a few minutes.

He kept his darkened gaze on me as grunted out roughly ‘Maybe I didn’t recognise you with clothes on.’

I opened my mouth and then closed it.

‘It reached to the top of my stomach.’ I grounded out the lie so that I had an argument ‘It was not even that bad.’

A grumble of inaudible words left his mouth.

‘It is not like I wore a bikini. Which I will be at the beach after school.’ I pointed out before challenging ‘Will that offend you?’

Nothing else left his mouth in reply. He looked away for a few seconds and closed his eyes. His hand scrubbed over his face and rested on his jaw before he met my eye again.

‘My shirt shrank in the wash.’ I did not know why I was defending myself, but I was ‘I didn’t see it until it was too late.’

The veiny hands resting on the table relaxed and so did the giant pair of shoulders

‘Were you put in that load in the washing machine too?’ The deep voice went gruff as the words left his large chest.

My eyes narrowed at him as I gritted out ‘What did you just say?’

Stone’s obsidian irises flicked over my face as he uttered lowly ‘Did you shrink too?’

‘Five foot two is a perfectly normal size for a girl of my age.’ I told him before narrowing my eyes further ‘Just because you are a giant does not mean I will not kick your ass.’

Stone’s lip curled in amusement as he listened to my threat. The corner of his mouth hiked up further as he noticed my pursed lips that had gone out in anger.

A familiar voice that did not belong to a person at the table broke the tension hanging between me and the large man.

‘So good game, boys.’ Chase stood at the side of the table with his arms crossed and the bitterness in his tone audible in his voice.

He was in far too good a mood for someone that went flying in the air and smacked against the floor in front of all his peers.

Chase met my eye when he asked, “Are you coming to mine after school?’

I felt the shoulder near the top of my head tense.

‘She is coming to the beach with us.’ Brennan informed him while watching in my direction.

‘Is this true, Ella?’ Chase questioned like the idea was unimaginable.

I had no idea what to answer so I offered him a small reply ‘Yeah.’

‘So, they are part of your table now? Chase sneered, his attention on the lack of space between Stone and me on the bench ‘One day together and you are off to the fucking beach with them?’

‘I’m going to the beach.’ I voiced in a fed-up tone ‘Not joining a cult with them.’

Chase laughed but it was full of malice and not at all genuine.

‘Have I seen you somewhere?’ The quarterback shot the question in the direction of the giant.

Brennan answered instead, his voice controlled and the most serious I had heard it since meeting him ‘What is your issue with us?’

‘My dad is chief of police.’ The blonde jock said to them in a matter-of-fact tone.

I tilted my head at Chase before mouthing to him ‘What are you doing?’

He ignored me, still looking at the larger one of us all.

‘Stone is not a very popular name.’ Chase spoke through clenched teeth ‘Is it your real one? Or is it just another one of your alias’?

My attention went back to Stone. More specifically my attention went to his white knuckles and his fists that rested so strenuously on the table that I feared it would break.

Chase had not finished with his interrogation because he then went on to ask ‘Are you both some sort of gang leaders or maybe you are—’

‘Fuck off.’ Stone bellowed.

His words were so rough and so harsh that I almost fell off my seat from the startlement of his commandment.

Stone noticed my reaction. His nearly black eyes shifted to me, and they softened immediately.

Lana cleared her throat to gain my attention before she mouthed to me ‘Do something.’

With Stone looking a little less furious, I seized the opportunity and get up to grab Chase’s arm.

Another guttural noise left the giant which made me second guess my action.

‘Right, Sherlock.’ I spoke to Chase while motioning for him to leave ‘That is enough interrogation for one day.’

I escorted the quarterback back to his lunch table and left him there without saying another word.

My walk back to the table was watched by the eyes of the large, tattooed man. His furious gaze trailed me as I made my way back to him.

It was only when I sat back down that Stone relaxed completely. It was only when I sat back down that an oddly satisfied look crossed his harsh facial features.

Before I could forget, I grabbed my bag and brought out a five-dollar bill to repay him for the noodles.

I placed the five-dollar note on the table and slid it over to him.

Stone never said a word as he glanced at the note. He slammed his large hand onto the money and moved it back towards me.

Glaring at him, I pushed it back in his direction.

He moved it again back towards me. He also pushed a plate of noodles and chicken from his lunch tray over to my side of the table so that it was in front of me.

‘I had a sandwich.’ My glare disappeared when I quietly argued ‘I don’t need any more food.’

His glower left no room for argument. The stern scowl he sent my way meant he was not going to take no for an answer.

‘I don’t need it.’ I assured him softly.

‘Medusa.’ His was rough and came out commandingly.

I deepened my voice and exaggerated a grumble ‘Lurch.’

He remained silent. He only moved to hold out a fork for me.

I gave up ten minutes later and took the fork from him before dipping it into the noodles.

‘Thank you.’ I delivered with genuine gratitude before I added more argumentatively ‘I will find a way to pay you back.’

Brennan interrupted our conversation by asking ‘So, are we still going to the beach after school?’

I nodded my head once before I felt the thick muscular leg against mine relax.

Lana replied to Brennan about how excited she was to spend time with him. They both spoke for a few minutes more before falling into silence.

I was not the best at interpreting social signals. I watched people closely for reactions but I could never understand what exactly they meant.

I was able to pick up on the awkward silence that had fallen between Lana and Brennan.

I randomly blurted out an icebreaker question ‘If you were a planet then which one would you be?’

‘What kind of question is that?’ Brennan chuckled so hard that it made his forehead crease.

A small shrug was my reply.

Nobody answered my question until the giant leant closer and hunched downwards so that he was closer to my face.

‘You would be Pluto.’ Stone uttered lowly.

I knew exactly what he meant so I sent him the scariest look I could manage to paint on my face.

Pluto was the dwarf planet. Pluto was small which was just like my size.

‘I will kill you.’ I blurted out while trying to bite my lip to contain my amusement.

His comment was kind of funny, so a laugh was threatening to break out from the confinements of my chest. I held it back because I did not want to give him the satisfaction of making me laugh.

Stone’s gaze went to my mouth. His eyes lightened when it fell upon my lip that had uncontrollably moved up in a small, amused smile.

‘Kill him, Ella.’ Brennan encouraged from the other side of the table.

The giant never offered him a single glance. He kept his attention fixed on me as he reached out and picked up an apple that was on his lunch tray.

‘You never eat apples, Stone.’ The smoother and silkier voice of the two men spoke up ‘I thought you didn’t like them.’

I turned to see Brennan grinning like a madman.

Biting into his apple, Stone sent a terrifying glare across the table that was enough to deter an army from getting close to him.

I flicked my gaze between Stone and Brennan and wondered why they were hating on apples.

I loved the smell of apples. I loved it so much that I always used apple scented shower wash and body butter.

A triumphant grin made its way onto my face when I seized the opportunity to pay the giant back. I waited until he was distracted with eating and then I slipped the five dollars into the pocket of his leather jacket.

Stone never noticed my slipping of the money in his pocket, but he did notice my smile because he questioned demandingly ‘What has made you smile, Medusa?’

My grin grew when I hummed tauntingly ‘I’m reminiscing about that wonderful time at the ice cream parlour when you were completely silent.