01| g e t t i n g   h e r

Zayne Mahone had always found it easier to practice in the morning when no one was there to watch him play and he could focus on the game that he loved.He let out a deep breath, watching as the heat of his breath mixed with the coolness of the air, making it foggy. He smiled.

For many years, football had been a way for him to escape the pressures of life. He loved having to focus on the things like the playbook and when he should've moved or not. Girls and all the other things jocks were supposed to regard as important  didn't matter when he was on the field. Here he was free.

He began to jog, dodging the hurdles that he had strategically set up to throw him off his balance. His grip on the ball was tight, leaving him to worry about where his foot landed and not tripping. At the last game, he'd lost his footing and landed on the ground, losing the ball and almost costing his team the game. He needed practice.

The sweat on his face clung to his hair, making it stick to his face as he continued running, his heavy breathing filling the air around him. On his second lap through the hurdles, he noticed the large man seated on the bleachers, watching him. Coach.

Zayne sighed, continuing the last lap before dropping the ball onto the ground and jogging towards his bag on the bench. Coach walked down the stairs just as Zayne was wiping the sweat off his face with a towel.

"Morning Mahone," Coach said, looking out at the field instead of the boy who clearly had too much on his plate. Zayne merely nodded, setting the towel over his shoulders as he inhaled large gulps of air.

Coach sighed, turning to look at him,"You need to calm down and relax. What happened at that game wasn't your fault,"

Zayne scoffed, looking up at the coach for the first time and picked his bag up. "I screwed up coach. I can't let my team down like I did last year."

Before the couch could say anything, Zayne walked away furiously, swinging the  bag on his shoulder back and forth while running a hand through his blonde messy hair. He walked into the boys locker room and sat down, checking the time with a sigh.

He still had an entire hour before school started, giving him enough time to shower and finish off his Spanish homework. The night before, his mind had been occupied with the new challenge that had been placed before him.

Tris Jacobs.

He had never met the girl which said enough for itself. Zayne knew all the people in the school and the fact that he didn't know the girl meant she'd survived the wrath of the popular boys who made sleeping with girls a sport.

Every so often, he would notice how his friends commented on the passers by, who just blushed and continued walking. He racked his memory, trying to remember the brunette his best friend Chase had told him about but he couldn't even picture her. Only a mop of brunnete hair.

He stood up and took off his shirt, tossing it in his locker carelessly before grabbing a towel and heading towards the showers. A low whistle left his lips as he opened the tap and stared at the roof.

Senior year was continuing in an hour.He couldn't believe that after all those years of being worshipped in high school, he would be leaving in as little as six months.

Many students had been glad that hell would soon be over and that they could move on, but Zayne knew that in high school they had it easy. The big bad world was going to slap them senseless. He figured he was prepared for it.

Barely.

******

It had always been an unspoken rule that everyone stared at Zayne Mahone as he walked down the hallway with his two best friends by his side. Most of the girls gripped the straps of their backpacks, biting their bottom lips and Zayne threw them a wink just to tease them.

A hand suddenly gripped around his bicep and he winced when Cara Stevenson's nails dug into his skin. She smiled, not noticing the torture she was putting him through and placed a hand on the small of his back.

Cara had been Zayne's girlfriend for only half a year and they'd broken up after the New Years Eve party when Zayne found Cara in bed with one of the other football players.

Hayden, his best friend, whistled from behind them, nudging Chase who wore a smirk on his face. Zayne refrained from flipping them off, separating Cara's hand from his back and gave her a smile as fake as hers was.

"Hello Cara." He said, "Cheated on anymore guys lately?"

Cara sneered at him, trying not to take offense of what he said and glared at Hayden when he laughed. Hayden noticed her glare and began to cough violently, trying to cover up the laugh.

She pursed her lips, "Anyway Zayne, I wanted to talk to you about what happened,"

Zayne groaned under his breath, not liking that he was reminded of the night that had been hovering over him like a cloud. He didn't want to be reminded about how stupid he'd been to be with her. He didn't even like her. Chase's face darkened as he moved the blonde away from his best friend.

"Zayne doesn't really want to talk  about that right now," he gave her a sour-sweet smile, "Please come back after your STI test,"

Cara huffed, turning away from him and stomped down the hallway. Her friends, who had been hovering around the jocks' lockers ran after her, each of them juggling one of her items.

Zayne nodded at his friends in appreciation, "Thanks guys,"

Hayden waved it off and glanced at the group of girls walking down the hallway before noticing the girl walking amongst them with her attention elsewhere. She stared at the ground deep in thought and only glanced up when the taller brunnete, Rachel Grey, nudged her with a smirk.

"Zayne," Hayden nudged his friend and nodded towards the girl walking in their direction, "Tris Jacobs,"

Zayne looked up, tugging at his lower lip while biting back a smirk. The girls walked past them, only three of them bothering to look up at the boys and nod in acknowledgement. Only Tris continued walking, too lost in her own world to care.

Her hair had been done in a messy ponytail, different from the others who had all done sophisticated hairstyles and had straightened their hair. Zayne knew from that moment she was different and getting her seemed like it would've been fun.

"Seems easy," he commented, turning to his friends, "That spot is as good as mine."

Chase rolled his eyes just as the bell rang over head and they began to walk to their classes that were surprisingly close together. Zayne glanced at Chase, raising an eyebrow at the roll of his eyes.

He nudged his friend, "What was that for?"

Chase ran a hand through his brown hair, looking as though he was trying to think of a way to sweeten the pill. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but," he sighed while Hayden dragged a hand across his neck as a sign for Chase to shut up if he valued his life.

Zayne turned to Hayden, who rubbed the back of his head as a cover up and smiled sheepishly at Zayne, giving him a flirtatious wave. Zayne gagged, turning back to Chase who had decided to ignore Hayden's warning.

"Tris has a crush on Max Grey," he said, "I know this because I overheard her talking to Rachel about it outside before meeting up with you."

Zayne's jaw clenched at the both the sound of his name and the information he'd been given. Max Grey hadn't always been Zayne's enemy. At a point, they'd tolerated each other. They hadn't been friends, merely just people who knew each other. But the soon began to hate each other. Both of them had been at each other's throats to be team captain and Max made it clear that he hated Zayne.

When Zayne became team captain, Max made it his mission to take away anything he could from Zayne. Now, he had a chance to and all he had to do was win the girl who was already head over heels for him.

Zayne sighed, stopping infront of his AP calculas class and peered in, smirking when he saw that Tris was in the class as well. He turned back to his friends, who were waiting for the inevitable outburst their nearly short tempered friend was about to have.

"Trust me guys," Zayne reassured them, giving them each a pat on the back for a good measure, "I'll get her and Max will be sorry he ever doubted me,"

Both of his friends gave each other a doubtful look that Zayne didn't miss. He stayed silent and gave them each lazy wave before walking into the class. All the eyes landed on him, just like he was used to but he continued walking from the front row to the back, notoriously known for harbouring the trouble makers and introverts in the class.

Whispers floated around the classroom as people watched Zayne with wide eyes. Zayne ignored them, settling onto the table next to Tris, who was far too engrossed in the book she was reading to notice the handsome boy sitting next to her.

A small smile fell onto his face as he looked up at girl. She was beautiful, he had to admit that but she was just something he had to use to get him what he wanted. He shook that thought out of his head, looking up when he saw her head snap up towards the door.

Max Grey walked into the classroom, once again capturing everyone's attention as he strutted down the rows of seats and sat down next to Andy Holland, who sat infront of Zayne. Max turned to Zayne who was glaring at him and smirked, pulling his fingers into a gun before shooting.

Zayne narrowed his eyes at him, trying hard not to jump at Max who was taunting him. The tension between them was thick. Almost like the room would explode if someone lit a match.

Everyone in the classroom watched the glare off-including Tris- and the boys savoured the attention, leaving the crowd wanting more. It was no secret that the boys loathed each other with a burning passion of a thousand suns.

If the occasional fights between them in the hallways didn't make it obvious, their tendency to one-up each other at games should've been a big clue. Coach often yelled at them for taking their rivalry onto the field but never removed his best players.

Tris stared at each of them in turn before shrugging it off, deciding it wasn't her business but boy was she wrong.

For after that fateful day of sitting in the same row as Zayne Mahone and sitting behind Max Grey, she had completed the triangle of what was going to be the most chaotic trio in Lincoln High history. And sadly, her life.

These boys were out for her and they weren't taking no for an answer.

********

How was this chapter? I'm pretty proud of it *hairflip*

Tell me what you think and vote and comment guys! Also please spread the word!

I just noticed that I have an interesting extensive use of exclamation marks and i might need to see a doctor. Oh well.

Love
Musawa!

(See what I mean?)