Chapter 4

Nash

Nash's eyes lingered on the seat next to his. Chloe's seat was vacant. He scanned around the small classroom. It was an enriched class. Only the best of the best were in it, which meant all the Elites and a couple of the other top students were in it. But Nash didn't care about them. They weren't his competition, so he sought Chloe.

After a few minutes, the class began and their teacher, Ms. Reed, began to teach the Calculus lecture. Nash forced himself to end his hunt and his eyes drifted to the chalkboard that hung on the wall. Ms. Reed wrote down equation after equation and Nash noted them down, barely paying attention. Where was Chloe? She'd never been late last year.

After a few more minutes, the door banged open and Chloe barged in. She was panting, her blonde hair a mess of waves and she held her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Ms. Reed glanced at her and shook her head, and Chloe flushed as she rushed to her seat.

She settled in and yanked open her notebook. Nash drunk in the way she set up her work, her pencil short and stubby, and the way her green eyes grew wide with worry as she stared at the chalkboard filled with equations. She scribbled down the teachers notes frantically and Nash felt something in his heart twist.

"Someone's late," Nash commented.

Chloe whipped her head to look at him. Her green eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed. Nash smirked. Chloe looked horrified and Nash took pleasure in beating her at something, even if it was something as stupid as coming to class on time.

"I had to work overtime," Chloe whispered.

"Why did you have to work overtime?" Nash asked.

Chloe lowered her eyes and she turned away. For a moment, she didn't say anything and Nash frowned. And when she shrugged, his frown deepened. Chloe was always smiles and banter. Seeing her like this felt wrong.

"Tomorrow is sports day," Nash said. "Are you coming?"

Chloe's mouth fell open as if she totally forgot. "Oh, yeah. Of course I'm coming. I love sports day!"

"Good." Nash smirked. "I was worried you'd skip because you were scared of losing to me."

Chloe's face finally relaxed. She smiled now, her eyes sparking with competition. Nash's smirk grew.

"Oh really? You wish."

Nash scowled. Chloe was usually humble, but she had her moments.

"You'll see, Chloe Summers," Nash said. "You'll see."

"Nash, stop talking in class," a classmate, Thomas, hissed. "You Elites are so annoying."

Nash huffed and Chloe flushed. Rolling his eyes, Nash went back to paying attention to the lecture.

*****

Sports day finally came and Nash was in a jersey with number two plastered on it and he wore gray shorts. Nash wore his uniform loud, but not proud. He hated the uniform. Because it had their ranking printed on the jersey, Nash despised the clothing that reminded him he had failed.

Nash's eyes wandered the field they sat on. Their university had a giant field dedicated to sports. There was a circular track for hurdles, sprints and long runs, and next to it was a large field of grass with football goals and a scoreboard so huge you could see it from anywhere. There was also pavements dedicated to games like tug of war as well. Nash searched for Chloe among the crowd of hundreds of students on the field. Everyone was wearing their uniform and were in their group of friends, and Nash played a game of I Spy as he searched for the girl with blonde hair and green eyes.

"Nash!" Caiden exclaimed, running towards him. "Finally! I found you."

Caiden slid to a stop in front of Nash and he bent over and held his knees. He heaved and Nash rolled his eyes. "Dude, the sports haven't even begun. Save your energy."

"I really need to go to the gym more," Caiden groaned.

Nash shook his head and soon, he spotted Chloe farther away. She stood with Sophia who chatted away with her wild gestures. Chloe listened attentively, her big, green eyes wide with wonder.

"Let's go to Chloe," Caiden said, amused. "Since you're so mesmerized by her."

Nash scowled at Caiden who laughed. He shook his head and together, they made their way to Chloe and Sophia.

"Sophia! Chloe!" Caiden called. "What's up?"

"Hey, Caiden," Sophia said.

Her eyes grew gentle on Caiden. Unlike on Nash, where they'd look as if they wanted to burn him alive with annoyance, Sophia's eyes were full of care on Caiden. Looking to Chloe then, Nash tensed when she smiled at him. His eyes darted away immediately.

"What should we do first?" Caiden asked.

"Let's do a race!" Sophia said. "All of us against each other."

"Perfect," Nash smirked. "I'm sure I can beat Chloe at that."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Nash, you've been trying for two years now and you can't. You're going to lose."

Nash scoffed and Sophia narrowed her eyes at him. Sophia and Nash didn't have any bad blood necessarily, but Sophia was never scared to tell him off.

"We'll see." Nash looked to Chloe. "You ready?"

"Of course."

Nash let out a sigh and stalked off to the track and Chloe, Caiden and Sophia followed him. It was empty, other than a few students who stood off the track, and they all settled into spots along it. Nash stood in the middle, Chloe to his left, Caiden on his right, and next to Chloe was Sophia. They all stood straight, ready to race to the finish line that was guarded by one of the professors, Mr. Smith.

"Ready?" Mr. Smith yelled, meters away.

"Yes!" Nash shouted.

"Okay. Ready, set, go!"

They all bolted forward and ran towards the finish line. Nash pushed himself forward with all his might, forcing himself to go faster and faster; overextending his legs to use all their strength to beat Chloe. And for a moment, he was ahead of her. Meters ahead - his height an advantage. He grinned.

However, the closer he came to the finish line, the closer Chloe came to his side. Her blonde hair flew back, long and wavy, and her green eyes were full of life. Pushing himself harder, Nash tried his best to beat her, but slowly, she crept further and further in front of him, until it was too late. At the very last second, using her small legs to push herself faster, she crossed the finish line only a few inches ahead of Nash.

He scowled and stomped. How? How had he lost with only a few inches to spare.

"I don't get how you guys run so fast," Sophia said, panting heavily.

Sophia came last and she bent over to catch her breath. Caiden looked ready to pass out, but he came third and he was also bent over heaving. Nash scowled, unable to believe he lost to Chloe. It didn't make sense. She was like half his height.

"Told you," Sophia said, once she caught her breath.

She straightened up and smirked at Nash. He huffed. Lifting his head up, he marched off, but the rest of them followed closely behind.

"What should we do next?" Caiden asked. "Tug of war?"

"Sure!" Sophia exclaimed. "That'll be fun."

Nash sighed when Chloe also agreed. Her faced glowed from the previous victory and shaking his head, Nash knew he'd join. So together, they all walked over to the tug of war section of games day.

There was a group of students there who were in the middle of a game. Two pairs of boys were versing each other, and soon one team pulled the other team over the middle line and won. They shouted and cheered and Caiden asked to go next, and they were up.

"To make this fairer, I'll join Chloe's team," Caiden said.

"You just want to win." Sophia rolled her eyes.

Caiden grinned sheepishly. "How'd you know."

Sophia narrowed her eyes, but she joined Nash's side. He took the rope first and Sophia stood behind him, and across from them Chloe took the rope and behind her stood Caiden. Nash held the rope tight in his hand, hoping he'd beat Chloe. She was a girl and there was no way he could lose to her in tug or war. Genetics shouldn't allow this.

"Ready?" a professor, Dr. Martin asked. When they all nodded, he shouted, "Go!"

They all began to tug at the rope and for a moment, neither of them moved. It was an even game. With Caiden and Chloe grunting, pulling back and Sophia and Nash doing the same, neither of them moved for a moment. Hope blossomed in Nash that he could maybe beat Chloe. Maybe for the first time in the past year, he'd finally best her and prove he deserved to be first.

But just as soon as hope blossomed, it was crushed because Nash began to slide forward. Slowly, hesitantly, Sophia and Nash slid forward.

"No!" Sophia exclaimed.

Nash yanked the rope harder. There was no way he could lose. Not in tug of war of all things. He began to pull with all his might, desperately hoping to win, to just beat Chloe once, but it was to no avail. Slowly but surely, they were being pulled closer to the other side and Nash cursed. He shouldn't have allowed Caiden to join Chloe – he'd always been the most naturally athletic out of all of them.

And with once final pull, Chloe and Caiden tugged Nash and Sophia over the finish line. Nash's eyes met Chloe's who was biting her lip, her eyebrows furrowed as she pulled one last time and his heart leapt to his throat. And then all of the sudden, Sophia slipped.

She yelped and fell back and Nash went flying forward. He collided with Chloe and the both of them went tumbling down, bodies knocking into each other, and suddenly, Nash was on top of her. His body was pressed against hers, her small body fitting under his perfectly and she gasped. Nash's eyes flew wide, wondering if he hurt her; his hand reached out to touch her. But then when he realized she was stunned, his hand froze before he touched her. And for a moment they stared at each other, faces merely centimeters apart and Nash's heart pounded against his chest. He'd never been so near to another person before.

"Oh, no," Chloe said, flashing a wicked grin. "Looks like I won."

Nash's cheeks heated up. He pushed himself upright, sliding away from Chloe as fast as he could, his heart still racing. He pushed aside thoughts of how close they'd been, desperately wishing to ease his nerves. And focusing on her words, he crossed his arms over his chest, forcing himself to become annoyed.

"I'm so sorry, Nash," Sophia said, rushing to where they sat. Chloe had also pulled herself upright. "I actually feel bad. I lost my footing."

"It's whatever," Nash mumbled, uncaring.

"Are you okay?" Sophia asked Chloe.

From Nash's peripheral vision, Chloe nodded, her eyes full of wonder. He forced his head farther away, trying to be rid of Chloe as much as he could.

"I'm starving," Caiden said, walking to where they all sat now. "Do you guys want to grab lunch?"

"Yes, please," Sophia said, smiling. "I'm starving, too."

"I'm down," Chloe said.

Nash didn't reply. His eyes were glued to the field where hundreds of students loitered the area. They were all doing their own thing, smiling and having fun, and Nash sat there, feeling humiliated, mortified and to his embarrassment, flustered over what had happened.

"What about you, Nash?" Chloe asked. Her voice was soft and gentle, and Nash couldn't help but look to her. "Do you want to grab food with us?"

His eyes locked onto Chloe's and for a moment, he could do nothing but stare. Chloe's eyes were wide, full of hope and he had to yank his eyes away again. Chloe didn't hate him. She didn't seem like she had anything against Nash, and he hated that more than anything. He hated that even though Chloe was his rival, it seemed like she didn't think the same of him and it infuriated him.

"With you?" Nash asked.

Chloe nodded, her eyes growing wider with hope.

"I really rather not," Nash muttered. "Not with you."

The hope vanished from Chloe's expression and now, a look of disappointment was on her face. Nash bolted to his feet and stalked off, tired of being around Chloe and the others. He was tired of everyone.

"Don't mind Nash," Caiden said. "He's just like that."

Nash picked up his pace, angry and annoyed at the world. He hated people, he hated the Elites, he hated this school, but most of all, he hated himself. Why did he have to be so cruel? Why did he care so much?