Tonight Will Change Our Lives

Stupid no good parents, Rachel thought bitterly as she entered the gym the next day. Where were their reasons for grounding me? I got lost in the flipping woods! Rachel mimicked the way her parents had mouthed off at her and contorted her face into a caricature of how they actually look. While she was mouthing off at herself Megan stared at her friend in wonder.

"What are you doing?" Megan asked curiously.

Rachel's face froze and looked at Megan with an angry expressed crossed with a smart-alike one. The girl regained her composure and fixed her face into a calm and serene one. Megan raised her eyebrows at her.

"Nothing," Rachel said quickly, smiling at Megan as they walked to the field.

"That definitely looked like something," Megan said laughingly as they sat on the bleachers, waiting for their coach.

Rachel gave a sigh, "My parents grounded me."

"What? Already? That was fast," Megan laughed.

"I got lost in the woods," Rachel mumbled angrily to herself.

"What were you doing in the woods?" Megan asked.

"I don't know. But I ran into the Winter brothers."

Megan gave her a 'AREYOUKIDDINGME?!' look, "What?! What happened?"

"Nothing really. They told me the same thing they told me at school earlier yesterday."

"WHAT?! YOU TALKED TO THEM TWICE?!" Megan's eyes were now very wide, mirroring how loud she was being. Her hyperventilating was starting to weird Rachel out.

"Uhm, yeah..." Rachel replied unsure.

Megan looked around to make sure no one was listening, "What'd they say to you?"

"They told me to stay away from them,"

"That's it?"

"Yeah, what were you expecting?"

Megan shrugged and became silent as the PE coach came out. She took roll call and had one of the girls lead the warm ups before she announced what they were doing for the day. When they finished the coach had the girls around her.

"Ok, so I talked to the PE coach of the boy's class and we've decided to partner each of you up for a week with a guy. There will be an assignment you two will complete. Right now we're waiting until the guys finish their warm ups so we can start assigning partners."

A groan chorused throughout the crowd of girls. The main reason why the PE classes were separated was so the girls would not have to be subjected to humiliation by the boys. The girls chattered amongst themselves as they waited for the arrival of the other class.

A few minutes later, the class came over and sat a few feet away from the girl's class. The coaches quietly conversed with each other and laughed at each other's joke. Rachel glanced over to where Cadence and Aiden had separated themselves from their class. Aiden had his regular stone cold face on, staring at nothing in particular in front of him. Cadence on the other hand was glaring at her. Rachel jumped at this and returned her attention to her coach.

"Alright kiddos, when your respective coach calls your name, you will be paired with the name the other coach has called," said the female coach.

"Ryan Riley," said the male PE coach.
"Lauren Timothy, please sit somewhere with your partner," called out the female coach.

A brunette girl and blond boy sat next to each other towards the back, apparently they were friends because they started to laugh together.

"Haley Grace,"
"Anthony Holmes."

"Megan Wells." Megan got off the ground and waved to Rachel. Rachel smiled and waved bye to her friends.
"Jake Peterson."

Megan and Jake shot each other glances and burst out laughing as the ran to each other and hugged. Rachel laughed at her hilarious friends.

"Aiden Winter."

Everyone seemed to suck in a deep breath as his name was called. Not me, not me, please not me. Anyone but me, Rachel said begging Fate to be kind to her for once. Everyone whispered amongst themselves as they waited for his female partner to be called.

"Greer Sinise."

Everyone looked over at the blond girl who was sucking on a lollipop. She strode over to where Aiden was standing. He led them to a spot on the grass and they sat distant from each other without even acknowledging each other's presence. Rachel gave a sigh of relief.

"Rachel Hale."

Rachel tensed up. It was her turn. Everyone again, started to chatter, wondering who would be lucky enough to be paired with the new kid. Rachel stepped shyly by their coach and waited for who her partner would be.

"Cadence Winter."

The field exploded with chatter. Rachel blinked twice and mouth hung open. She looked over at Cadence who had an equally surprised look on his face. Both Rachel and Cadence looked over to Aiden to see an equally disgruntled look on his face. This would be a long week.

Cadence strolled over to where Rachel was and they quietly sat down. Rachel eyed Cadence from the corner of her eyes to see his nostrils flaring angrily. She reminded herself to breathe evenly. Everything would be fine if she kept calm. It was only a week long assignment. It didn't have to do anything with friendship.

As they waited for the coaches to finish placing everyone, Cadence stole a glance at Aiden who was looking at him adamantly.

What is it Aiden? Cadence asked focusing all his attention on breathing. It was an unnecessary action, but it busied his mind so he didn't focus on her scent. But it was so strong beside him.

This is not good. He stated bluntly, narrowing his eyes at Cadence.

Cadence shot him a death glare.

I can take care of myself

Don't screw up brother.

Cadence brought his attention back to the two coaches who had just finished calling off names. Anger swelled inside his being at the unlikely odds that he was paired with the very girl he and Aiden swore to avoid. Even with the hunt they went on yesterday, Cadence still hungered for her. He let his fangs pierced his lips to distract him with pain rather than the lust he had for Rachel's blood.

"Ok kiddos," the male coach said, "Your assignment is simple enough. You must train with your partner for the rest of the week, not during school hours though. Keep a log because a requirement of 60 hours is expected. We expect a written report when it is done. We'll give you a head start and you can use the rest of the period to begin your hours."

The group of guys and girls started to go off in different directions. Several walked or ran around the track. A group played soccer on the field. A curious bunch started to run up and down the bleachers. Cadence was too busy focusing on breathing that he didn't hear Rachel call him.

"Uh, hey. Cadence," Rachel said to the unresponsive boy.

She tapped his shoulder. Cadence flinched at her touched and looked at her as she stood over him. He frowned at her.

"What?" he spat.

She frowned at him, "I asked you if you wanted to jog around the track."

Cadence stood up in his light gray shirt and navy blue basketball shorts. Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him curiously.

"Let's go then," he said with a small hint of a smile.

They had been jogging in silence for awhile until Rachel broke the silence, "Gay baby."

Cadence looked at Rachel as if he just realized there had been someone beside him for the first time.

"Excuse me?" he asked appalled.

"Gay. Baby." Rachel said slowly with emphasis, "You know... every time there's an awkward silence a gay baby is born."

Cadence looked at Rachel with amusement but then returned to his cold demeanor, "I shouldn't be talking to you."

Rachel frowned at him, "Why? Or your brother will kick my ass?"

"Exactly."

"You kind of have to because we're partners now for this assignment."

There was another few minutes of silence. Frustrated, Rachel tried again, "Gay baby."

Cadence gave an exasperated sigh, "Would you quit that?"

She shrugged, "It's not my fault. You're the one who doesn't want to talk so your responsible for making more gay babies populate the earth. It'll be your fault if we can no longer reproduce because everyone ends up gay."

Cadence narrowed his eyes at the girl, "Do you ever shut up?"

"I like straight babies, thank you very much."

They continued for another lap and Rachel opened her mouth to speak again but Cadence beat her to it.

"Don't even start with me," he warned in an irritable manner.

"Geez, I was only going to ask how we were going to finish our 60 hours," Rachel said dejectedly.

"Well," Cadence thought while ignoring Rachel's tone, "We can meet up everyday before school starts and after school we can meet up."

"Meet up where?"

Cadence thought for a while, and open his mouth to speak but Rachel beat him to it.

"Gay baby," she said with a small smile.

Cadence glared at her, "Honestly?"

"Not my fault that you haven't got a lot to say."

Ignoring her remark, Cadence said, "We'll meet at your house."

Rachel nodded as her response, "Hey, do you want to race me before class gets out?"

Cadence stiffened at this request, "No, not really... not after seeing what happened yesterday."

Rachel glared at him, "Thanks, you're a real heart warmer."

Cadence shrugged, "It wouldn't be fair for you."

"Why because you think yesterday paralyzed me from every running again?"

"No, because I'm better than you."

Rachel stared at him in disbelief, "You're a regular lady charmer."

Cadence smiled at this, "Thanks, I'll try my best to pretend I'm hurt by your comment."

Rachel opened her mouth to reply but the bell rang and Cadence was already gone.