eleven

                                        

                                              
note
hello to anyone reading! sorry for the delayed updates. it's exam season but I took some time during the halfway point to get some writing done because I was really missing it. I wrote this chapter while sleep deprived but as of right now I am happy enough to post it. pls don't hesitate to point out any errors I've missed! enjoy <3
MARCH
THE HEAT OF the March sun was streaming and spilling over the field, and Hadley supposed that he and Spencer probably should've been getting back to class, but Spencer, still wearing the grey shorts and the light-blue t-shirt he wore for phys ed, was trying to do a handstand.
He placed his hands firmly on the short, dry grass and continued to kick his legs up, controlled and patient, until he got it and straightened his legs out, his body in a poised line and his t-shirt falling just enough to reveal a sliver of his flat, smooth stomach.
Shielded by a patch of shade created by the drooping branches and the tresses of leaves, Hadley watched him until he fell gracefully out of it, dropping one leg at a time, and stood up again, dusting his hands off.
Rolling his wrists out, he stood in the mouth of the sunlight, the glow surrounding him. The image of him was hazy and beautiful, and he looked like a memory. "I told you," he grinned.
Hadley threw him a smile. "I'll give you your five dollars when you have somewhere to put it."
Since they'd last seen each other a few days before, the brief spring heatwave and the year's first burst of real sun had made him glow. His sparsely freckled forearms and his firm legs, his defined calves— Elodie had mentioned enough times that he, like Hadley, had grown up playing soccer— and his usually pearly face were darker than usual. He was a shade of light gold, his scattered freckles were darker and he brought the scent of spring with him; fresh and musky and heavy. Hadley eyed his dexterous hands, gold-dusted, and tried not to stare at his arms, the sunlight glow illuminating their shape and light hair.
In the distance, his phys ed class were still out on the field, running around under the glaring eye of the sun, shouting to each other and looking towards their coach when he blew his whistle; all reduced to small, distant blots of light, the occasional voice catching in the air.
Their meeting had been a coincidence. 
One of Spencer's teammates had kicked a ball towards him and he had booted it from the sports field with enough force that it flew out towards the back of the school lawn. It was the place where people lounged during free periods and spent their lunch breaks when it was warm enough. It was where Hadley happened to be skipping third period, alone and half-alive; where he had come out to lie on the hard, parched earth until he became too hot and had to seek the shade of the nearby trees, the front of a heavy cluster of shrubs and bushes and hedges that blocked their school from ever touching the outside world. 
The ball had landed some feet away from where he had been sprawled, but close enough for Spencer to shield his eyes, squint through the light and realise who he was. With careful attention, he had kicked it again so that it gently bumped against Hadley's hip.
Grinning, he'd asked, "Did I disturb your slumber, sleeping beauty?" And walked over to take it again, rolling it underneath his shoe and pretending as though he was preparing to kick it hard at Hadley's leg. "What are you doing out here?"
"I don't know," he'd admitted, sitting up and shielding his eyes. "I didn't want to go to class."
Then one of the teammates had cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to Spencer to kick the ball back, and Spencer had stepped away from Hadley, put the ball in front of him on the flat grass and kicked it so hard that it went flying across the school lawn again.