3:53 pm

"Only seven minutes until miss Avi goes and duels Louis." Will teases, giving me a nudge in the arm and giggling. I told Noah and Will about my situation with Louis. Let's just say their excited for me.

"I'll bet you she'll accidentally jab him where it hurts." Noah giggles with Will as my eyes grow wide. "You kidding right? That's so weird you guys shut up."

Will shrugs and flips the page of the book he had checked out last Thursday. "I mean poor Louis has no idea what he's getting himself into. I'm sure you'll kill him or something with how competitive you are."

I bite my tongue and look down. "Yeah about that... I may have left out part of the story..."

Noah looks up from his homework and Will holds his finger to a word on the page to mark where he left off. "What?" Noah asks, both of them looking at me with curiosity.

I look back up to meet both of their eyes. "He kinda... well sorta- he beat me in the duel challenge on Friday..."

Noah's jaw drops. "Wait what? But how? You practically killed me when we dueled!" Will looked just surprised as him. It's true. In fact the first time I dueled Noah, I accidentally stabbed him in the gut. We're supposed to jab t he sword by the opponents side. And when me and Will fought, I beat him each time.

"Louis' just... he's really good." I say, looking down because I began to feel nervous for our practice. Will slowly began laughing. "Noah imagine what she looked like loosing against him."

Noah slowly began to laugh too and I rolled my eyes, smiling just a little. "Shut up you guys." They giggle a little more and I scoff, looking down at my papers. "I'll probably just go to the garden afterwards because I know he'll beat me."

Will smirks a little and looks back down at his papers.

"Good to know..."

What? Why is that good to know? I shrug it off and continue doing my work.

The bell rings, which causes my anxiety to sky rocket. Will book marks his page and Noah puts his papers in his folder. "Well... have fun if you know what I mean." Will winks at me and I grab my backpack, throwing it over my shoulders as I stand up.

"You two are the most disgusting humans I know." I scoff, beginning to leave the library. Noah follows behind me, and Will stands beside him. "Oh we know. And we don't have a problem with it."

I roll my eyes and step into the hallway, where I head toward one door and they head to the other. "See you two idiots later!" I call out, waving.

"Go show him who's boss!" Will calls out, giving me a thumbs up and I giggle a little. They are such knuckleheads. And they act like they're my two brothers. Which it feels as if they were, considering I've known them for years and they were my first real friends.

I arrive at the glass doors and push them open, taking in the afternoon air. It has gotten just a tiny bit colder outside and there was only a little bit of sun, but enough.

I saw Louis sitting on a bench by one of the cement paths, waiting for me. Oh god. I'm more nervous than I should be. He was reading a book, and his hair was falling in front of his face as he tilted his head down. It was cute. Really cute. From this distance his jaw line was sharper than ever, and his hands were turning the pages so gently.

What the hell is wrong with me.

"Hey..." I said, approaching him as he looks up and our eyes meet. A grin appears on his face. "Hi Avianna! You ready?" He sounded excited.

"Yeah."

No. No I'm flipping terrified.

"Perfect. Let's go. I already have a few things to teach you in mind." He stands up and closes the book, putting it in his bag. I hated the fact that someone besides Mr. Foreswift was teaching me for this class. It made me feel like a loser.

And I don't like feeling that way.

_____

I walked back out of the girls changing room in my fencing suit, and saw Louis on the bench, already dressed and analyzing his sword. I bit my lip and walked past him to my bag, as he perked his head up after seeing me.

"You ready?" He asks, walking over. He slipped on his gloves as more steps were taken closer and closer to my bench. I really don't wanna do this.

"Sure am." I say sarcastically as I stand up and grab out my dagger. Louis gave me that same flirtatious grin and then gestured to the middle of the mat where he'd battle me.

"Alright so in today's lesson," he begins, as I step in front of him. Eye contact is made and he doesn't look away.

"You need to learn how to stay on track." Pointing a finger at me, he takes a few steps back and holds his sword up. "Friday. All I had to do was wink and smile for you to get thrown off the whole match."

I roll my eyes. "That's not true."

"Oh really?" He asks, moving closer with his sword still pointing at me, as I take steps back in fear of touching it.

"Then name what else was distracting you in there."

Nothing. Nothing was distracting except him. "Umm... well the whole class was watching."

"Not like they haven't seen you battle before."

"The teacher was watching."

"You've literally won against the man several times."

Dang it. "Okay fine. Maybe you were the only distraction." I admit, scratching the back of my neck in shame.
"Aha!" He said, lowering the dagger, "that is my point Avianna. My flirtation can't throw you off court. Now come over here." He points to the center of the mat and I walk back over.

"We're gonna try this out. Don't go unfocused."

I crouch down in front of him as he does as well, and we both make eye contact. I was expecting another wink, or his little charming grin, but nothing came my way.

"Go!" He whips out the dagger, clashing it against mine and forming a small 'X' between the two. His face moves close to mine and he raises his eyes brows while smiling and pushing my sword.

"Don't be so flustered Avianna." His quiet voice says as I try my best to fight back. My arms grow slightly weak seeing his presence so up close, but then I get an idea. I know exactly what will throw this boy off kilter.

"Roses." I whisper, and there's a moment of surprise on his face before he loses grip a bit and I use to to my advantage, whamming my dagger on his a few times before trying to stab. He blocks me and seems confused and slightly scared.

"W-What do you mean Roses?"

I smirk, knowing I have the dominant side.

"Oh and you can't forget the notes."

Once more, I watch Louis arms tremble, as I gain more power over him. He doesn't seem to be having it. The boy quickly pulls away, causing me to fall forward and hit the floor.

He dusts himself off and clears his throat, before looking down at me, slightly shocked that I could win over him. I started standing up when I felt a cool metal press under my chin, slowly moving up until I locked eyes with Louis.

"What do you mean, Roses and Notes?"

I swallowed and looked down at his sword sitting under my chin. Louis holds out a hand to help me up, but I ignore his offer. "Nothing."

I say, while standing up on my own. "Now let's try again."

He takes a few steps back and nods, allowing me room to get ready for a second round.

"3, 2," he gives me a different smile this time. The soft one. The one he gave my dog. The one he gave when he saw that the 'mystery' girl took his note. This smile gets me. "1, GO!" He calls out, throwing me off again.

God he's good at that.

Once more, our daggers clash a few times as he says, "See? Easy target."

I roll my eyes and fight back.

"I'm an easy target huh?" I say, my nose slightly scrunched as I press my dagger on his. Louis smirks and moves his face even closer to mine through the cross of our swords.

"You got that one right."
I feel my blood boil and I pull away, jabbing to his left side as he blocks my swing. "And what makes you say that Partridge?" I say, slamming the dagger on his. Louis chuckles a bit and slowly starts fighting me, as I take more and more steps back until I find my back hitting the wall.

"Because you fall for everything I do. Things..." He holds his dagger, the thick way to my throat, gently pressing until it's only a little hard to breathe. The cold metal hits my neck and I try to inhale as Louis uses his free hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind me ear. His face lays only inches from mine as I hold my chin up high, my body pinned to the wall.
"Like this..." he whispers in my ear as the side of his face brushes mine. Slowly, he steps back, removing the dagger from my throat and I quickly took a deep breath. I cannot describe the feeling I got.

My heart was beating so fast I had been afraid he would hear the thump. My stomach fluttered like crazy. Harder than it ever has. And I feel all goo-goo ga-ga over him.

"Looks like I won today's practice." He smirks, running a hand through his hair and fluffing it around. I just watched him in awe. God why did he have to do me like that? It's just making me go crazy for his little tricks.

"Don't let me win tomorrow." And with that, he turns on his heels and whips off his gloves. Without looking back, he turns the corner and I hear the echo of his words. "See you later Avianna."

Holy shit.

There's no hiding it anymore. His smile, his laugh, his face, his hair, eyes, smirk, skin, hands, and his little attractive actions.

I'm head over heels in love with this boy.

______________________________
Sorry for any spelling errors!

Why did writing this give me butterflies💀✋🏻