"My father said he had found us a new house nearby," Lana revealed a sudden realization, causing me to stop in my tracks.

Why does this keep replaying in my mind? She's finally moving, so what. It's no big deal to me. Nothing changes between us. I still couldn't stand her, and she was completely hopelessly obsessed with me. Yet, an uneasy feeling sild in my stomach and I couldn't put my finger on the reason why.

To divert from these prying thoughts, I reached over for 'A storm of swords' book and immersed myself in it. I always wondered why people preferred movies over books, especially for such an intelligent series. Clearly, they never opened up a book and realized what they were missing out on.

As I reached the iconic Red Wedding scene, my brother barged into the room with a humorous smile on his face. He slammed the door shut, extremely loudly causing my ears to ring for a few seconds, and danced his way around the room.

"It's the best day in the world today because Lana is finally moving out!" my brother exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

From the corner of my eye, I stared deadpan, wishing I wasn't reminded of this upcoming situation. Why was the universe constantly mentioning Lana moving out? Yes, I felt indifferent about it, but I was happy.

I think?

"She gave me and you so much trouble! I'm so happy she's finally out of here and now I can get my room back!" Sam cheered, collapsing into his bed and cuddling his little giraffe plushie. "I don't have to worry about catching her idiot germs! Thank the lord for this amazing day!"

The more it's mentioned, the more bothered I get. Why? What's wrong with me? Two months ago, I would've been ecstatic for her to leave my life faster than she entered it. So why am I suddenly unsatisfied with her sudden departure? Has she really left an imprint on my life already? Goddamnit Sam! I finally let the thought slip my mind just for you to bring it up again.

"I'm going to bed," I stated with a sigh as I rolled my chair out from under my desk.

"What? But it's so early," Sam complained, crossing his teeny arms around his chest like the third-grader he was.

"Go steal your room back from Lana then," I replied.

Rubbing a tired hand over my face, I quickly removed my glasses and dumped them lazily onto my desk. Once I turned off my lamp, I grabbed the end of my shirt and pulled it over my back in a single motion before chucking it into my hamper in the corner.

Sam sighed heavily, as the bed creaked with the lifting of his weight, and sauntered his way over to the dresser. I'm assuming he's changing into his jammies before jumping into his bed for the night.

Shirtless now, with only my grey joggers on, I flopped down into my bed with a worn-out groan before lazily reaching for my unicorn plushie. Heat rushed up to my cheeks when I reminisced about Lana exposing my little secret during prom. My unicorn plushie meant a lot to me because when I was an anxiety-filled child, he was the only thing to keep me relaxed.

The moment my head hit the pillow, the tiredness I felt started to drown me, and soon sleep swept me away.

Waking up the next morning to no breakfast was a disappointment, yet noticing how my mother hadn't left her room filled my chest with concern. My mother was the most cheerful person I knew-- until I met Lana, but the point still stood. Lana must have meant the world to her if she was so disheartened about the entire situation.

"Watching Lana leave this morning gave me so much satisfaction!" Sam beamed, grasping the cereal box from the top of the refrigerator.

Whatever doubts I had about Lana leaving last night were long gone by morning. Though life is going to be predictable once again. Unlike the rollercoaster, Lana had me on full speed during the past nine months.

That's one thing I'll miss...

My computer science course was more challenging than expected, though I'm grateful for my photographic brain. Unlike the other students, everything came effortlessly for me, especially after reading over a lesson once. It was child's play, yet a boring-- unfulfilled vibe inserted in my veins.

Naturally, I was expected to take over my father's company when I graduated college, yet a part of me wanted to pursue another path-- the question was which path?

Shaking my head, I entered my home, expecting my mother's usually cheerful greeting. However, she never came. First Lana, now Mom. Chucking my bag onto the floor, I slipped into our individual pairs of sandals before wandering into the house.

"I'm home," I announced.

"Declan, we're in the kitchen!" my father's voice called out.

Upon entering the dining room, I saw my brother and father covered in flour instead of it being spread around the chicken cutlets. They managed to salvage three chicken cutlets and had them lined up on another dish.

"Dad! You have to put it in the egg mixture first before the flour mixture," Sam irritatedly groaned, stealing the chicken slice from his grip.

"Oh shit, I forgot." My father scratched the nape of his neck, anxiously.

I scrunched up my face in confusion. "Huh? What's going on in here? Where is mom?"

Typically, our mother cooked our meals day and night, though there was nothing wrong with a man doing the same thing. It was quite shocking to see my father struggling to tackle a chicken cutlet. Especially since he wore my mother's 'kiss me chef' rosy pink apron around his larger torso.

"Well... she's a bit depressed... She refuses to eat anything and won't leave the bed unless it's for the bathroom," my father explained, worried, lingering in his hazel-blue eyes. "She's worn out from all the crying. So I figured until she gets out of this funk that we split the chores between us three."

"You better do some, Declan! Keyword is sharing!" Sam stuck his tongue out.

"I haven't seen her act like this since she lost her parents." My father frowned, using his arm to wipe the sweat dripping down his forehead. "Let's get this done, Sammy."

"Why is Mom so down about Lana leaving, anyway? It's not like Declan or I left," Sam commented.

"You know your mother viewed her like a daughter," my father added, dipping the chicken into the flour mixture.

"Not again!" Sam complained.

"I'll go check on Mom," I said, strolling down the hallway from the kitchen leading to the master's bedroom.

I carefully entered the room and slowly shut the door behind me. I took a moment to look at her room, taking in her heartbreaking state once her tear-stained face realized my presence. Instead of having their navy blue curtains opening for the sunlight streaks to seep through, she kept them closed, leaving her in utter darkness. The only light gleaming in the room was the fireplace in the middle of the room.

The headboard behind my mother's head was mounted to the wall and mixed perfectly with the deep indigo and creme color block scheme. In front of the bed was a cushion stocked with endless meals and snacks that my father must have attended for her to consume.

"Mom, why don't you open the windows and allow the sun to enter?" I asked, strolling over to the window and reached to open the curtains before she grabbed my hands.

"No! I don't deserve to be in the light! Lana is the only light I need, and she isn't here," my mother dramatically croaked, throwing the bedsheets over her head.

"Sam and I are still here," I mentioned, sighing and taking the empty spot next to her.

"Yeah, I know," she mumbled.

"Please eat, we're starting to worry," I pleaded, reaching out for her pale, fragile hand.

"I'll eat when I feel like it," she declared, ripping her hand away from mine and crossing them over her chest.

"Why are you acting like a child?" I sighed, my patience running cold.

"I'm not acting like a child! I'm hurt and I don't want to fuel my body with energy when I have no motivation to do anything other than missing her," my mother explained. "Goodnight, now."

I exhaled, raking my fingers through my cocoa brown locks out of frustration, before obeying my mother's request. Lana lived here for nine months and she left such a mark on our family. I'm not sure my mother's ever going to get out of this funk unless Lana moved in.

Hate to burst her bubbles, but that ain't happening.

For the next two hours, I completed my assignments, projects, and leisure reading. Oddly, instead of being constantly badgered by Lana's outrageous screaming or my mother's random photograph attacks like she was my own personal paparazzi-- there was nothing.

And it definitely didn't sit easily in my stomach.

A part of me wondered what Lana was doing right now... Maybe soccer practice? Perhaps tomorrow was a great day to finally attend practice for once. It would be beneficial to bond with the team and possibly see Lana.

Huh?

I shook my head, disregarding the random thought that stumbled through my mind.

What's up with me lately?

The sound of my door creaking interrupting my consistent buzzing mind and I glanced to see Sam entering with an orange juice glass in his hand. Sam huffed before spreading his body on the Florence-style wool loft couch in my room.

"Is Mom really this depressed over Lana? She was stupid and annoying most of the time! What is there to miss?" Sam complained, disturbing the peaceful silence I was enjoying.

"Sam, Dad finished cleaning out your room, so why are you here?" I asked calmly. "You have been begging for your own room back. I'm surprised you aren't having a party."

"Oh yeah... I guess I have gotten used to coming to your room." Sam nervously chuckled. "I'll be going then."

The moment my brother closed the door, I let out a deep breath and subconsciously glared at the not-so-lucky charm she had made me. Why did I keep it? I never realized until now that the voodoo charm has been relaxing in my room.

Oh, Lana Hart... Why do you keep running through my brain?

After completing all my classes, I strolled over to our personal soccer courtyard and saw Matias hardcore training the newbies. Little miss's bubbly attitude was struggling to complete their opening drills. Her arms strained every time she forced them to pick up her small frame into a push-up.

And for some odd reason, my heart does something weird, something I've felt before in my whole life.

As I drew closer, I couldn't help but smile like a fool, enjoying watching her promising effort to only collapse on the ground lifelessly. Glancing down at my watch, I figured I should go change and get in the courtyard before people noticed who I'm staring at.

Once changing, I grabbed one of the soccer balls from the rack and proceeded to enter the designated area for our team. The fake grass was lined with white chalk to distinguish the separation between out of bounds and inside.

Today, the sunlight conjured the most brilliant of mosaics, reflecting from each left and wisp of cloud. My skin savored the bright gleams from the sunlight already triggering my sweat glands.

Upon entering the yard, I saw Lana on ball duty, meaning she had to collect all the balls the team flung across the grass. She huffed but happily gathered about four balls in her hand before being assaulted with one. Lana fell over to the ground, causing all the balls she gathered to escape from her hold.

I could practically hear her whining in my ears. To my surprise, Sophia strolled over to Lana with a sly smirk on her crimson red-stained lips. They seemed to be engaged enough in their conservation that the balls flying around them hadn't caused a reaction. Lana pouted at I'm assuming Sophia's comment-- she looked almost cute.

The soccer balls continued stacking up behind them, and I figured it would be a great time to make my presence known. I'm sure Lana would be ecstatic to see me. Sophia crudely bumped Lana with her hip, sending her back flying to the ground. Lana quickly picked herself up, dusting her white skort, and continued to collect the balls.

She kept her gaze on the ground, desperately gathering as many balls as she could in her two hands. I placed my foot over one of the balls, causing Lana to narrow her eyes, and watched as her lips formed into a straight line.

"Excuse me, you are stepping on the ball. Can you please move your foo-."

"Are you still on ball duty?" I asked, glancing down as she was spread on all floors.

Lana's big brown eyes looked up at me in confusion for a fraction of a second, but then as soon as she registered it was me, her mouth hung open in shock as I watched the tips of her ears and her cheeks turned rosy pink. "Declan? Wh-hy are you here?"

"Because I'm a part of the soccer club," I bluntly replied.

"B-but you never come to practice..." she commented, her eyes lighted up as if a bell rang in her head. "Wait, did you come to see me?"

I just snorted and gently kicked the ball at her knees.

"Am I not allowed to come to practice?" I scoffed, leaving her alone to finish her task.

"Declan!" Sophia cheerfully yelled. "Let's practice together." She ran over to me and interlocked our arms together, basically dragging me over to her court.

"We can focus on your chop, sometimes you tend to mess up that movie," I mentioned, earning an accepting nod.

"I swear it's like my left foot doesn't listen to my other foot." she giggled, using her hand to cover her flushed cheeks.

"Declan!" Matias shouted, storming over to us. "Fancy seeing you here! Quite rare for you to come to practice. Did you come so we could finally settle the score between us." He devilish smirked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "If you want to, but I don't want to embarrass you again. Are you sure? We don't have to do this."

"If you can afford to say that, can you accept any conditions that I give you and compete in a match with me?" he proclaimed, a wicked glimmer in his eyes.

"Sure."

"Perfect, so let's play in twos. I will take Sophia Anderson and you will..." he scanned around the room as if he was searching for his next victim. "Pair with Lana Hart."

He got to be freaking kidding me! It was easier to teach a monkey to dance as opposed to Lana learning to play soccer. She couldn't even kick the ball in the right direction, can't forget to mention how she didn't know her rights from her lefts. Clearly, these terms were unfit and used to ensure I would lose this battle.

"Huh? Me?" she asked, her eyes bulging from their sockets.

"Stop joking that isn't a fair game," I accused him as I smiled from shock.

"What? Sophia and Lana are both freshmen, so it seems absolutely fair to me," he gloated.

"It couldn't be any more unfair than this," I countered and turned around to point at Lana. "If you could win with a person like her then you can become a world champion."

"Declan... you don't have to go that far to prove how bad of a player I am..." Lana muttered, her face dropping in disappointment.

"But it's true!" Sophia interjected, grinning.

"Ahhh... You said you would accept any condition," Matias proclaimed, causing my eyes to instantly roll back. "Sophia, come on, let's start the game."

"I feel bad for you but I'll never go easy on my opponent even if he's cute. Sorry." Sophia winked, swaying her hips as she followed behind Matias.

"It's impossible isn't it," Lana added, her lips appeared to be in a forced smile.

"What do you say Declan? Are you going to call it off or run away like a baby from this game? As a man, it's very pitiful, don't you think Sophia?" Matias taunted, wrapping his arm around Sophia's shoulders, only to have her shove them off.

I'm starting to regret attending practice.

Strolling over to Lana, I grabbed the two balls in her arms and chucked them towards the other side of the yard.

"You don't have to hit the ball," I informed her.

Her forehead puckered. "What? Are we really going along with this?"

"There is no other choice. We can't back out now. Anyway, all you need to do is stand there but most importantly, don't get in my way!" I demanded, clearing my throat.

Everyone from the team had taken a break and formed a circle around us to keep tally during the game. Matias and I took our positions in the middle as one of our team members declared themselves referees. I gestured for Lana to position herself at Matias's goalie, though I'm pretty sure she hadn't understood anything I was saying.

Instead of fighting for the ball, I allowed Matias to get the first kick in and ran after it when I saw it going towards Sophia. My swift speed was enough to steal the ball from her and send it straight to the other side. Lana stood awkwardly, but I couldn't focus on her behavior when I had a game to win.

Matias reached the ball first, but I managed to steal it away from him and kicked it into their goalie. That was a lucky shot. I'm sure it's going to get harder from here. Matias demanded Sophia and Lana start the game, and I knew it wasn't going to go our way.

Sophia harshly jabbed Lana in the shoulder, ransacking the soccer ball from her two left feet, and directed it towards Matias. Using all my energy, I rushed over to the other side to only make it right on time for Matias to shoot a goalie.

Shit, I'm freaking exhausted.

Sometimes during the matches, Sophia or Matias would aim the soccer ball at Lana, knowing there was no way she would kick it. If anything, she would animatedly spring into the air and shout from fright. She did everything in her power to not touch that ball and instead opted out for tripping onto the flakey grass.

"I'm not going to get in his way. I'm not going to get in his way. I'm not going to get in his way," Lana chanted as we switched sides of defensive.

They continuously sent the balls towards Lana's direction, making everything ten times harder, especially when Lana accidentally kicked the ball towards Matias. I've never known a person who could be this dense in my entire life. Annoyance seeped through my veins and for the first time since NYU interviews I wanted to scream and shout.

Finally, I managed to score another goalie, earning us a score of 3-10. It was pretty disappointing, but I had expected this outcome. Lana huffed and puffed, sweat dripping down her forehead. Sweat was brimming my eyelashes, causing my gaze to become blurrier than I would've liked.

"Declan, are you doing okay?" Lana asked, concern registering on her face.

"Yeah."

Matias was storming our way with the ball as Sophia followed suit. I stood in front of Lana, not trusting she could defend the goalie all on her own. Since it was only one more point until the game was finished. Matias aimed the ball towards the goalie. I noticed and instantly ran over to disrupt it from entering the net.

Except I was met with a sharp, severe jab in my chest, causing me to tumble down to the ground. Groaning, I saw Lana on the opposite of me, cradling her head in her hand. No wonder why it hurt she freaking smacked her big head against my chest.

"Yes! We won!" Matias announced, capturing Sophia in a tight hug and earning endless punches from her.

"Let me go!" she requested, sending daggers at the older male.

Gasping for my breath, I picked myself up from the floor and walked to the middle of the court where the other pair was standing. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lana following with a disheartened expression on her face.

"Too bad, so sad. It was very close, wasn't it, Declan?" Sophia batted her eyelashes.

"You two make a good team," Matias mocked, cockiness flowing through his words.

We shook each other's hands as usual.

"How about another game with these pairs next week?" Matias playfully asked.

"Sure thing," I replied.

Instantly, his face scrunched up. "What? Are you being serious?"

"Or maybe not... since I wouldn't want to embarrass you again," I smirked, enjoying taunting my older friend.

He puckered his lips. "Fine, I'm cool with that. We will have another game next week at the same time. Okay, Sophia? Lana?"

"Aye okay!" Lana responded. "Wait! What? Oh no! Not another match!" she complained, but we all wandered back to the locker room, leaving Lana alone to shout her concerns.

Our schedule time had came to end, and I had finished changing back into my comfortable attire. When exiting the locker room, I saw Lana patiently waiting outside the men's room.

"Declan... I'm sorry about today." she sighed, clutching her bag tightly.

"I never had to suffer through such a tough game," I asserted. "It was the first time I ever lost."

"Sorry," Lana softly said.

"You have to be better by the next game!" I reaffirmed.

"But I only have one week," Lana mumbled sadly.

"Get ready for practice. I'll train you stricter than Matias does," I clarified, already dreading spending countless hours with his girl. "We have to win! Got it!"

"Yes! Okay! See you, tomorrow captain." Lana smiled bravely through her eyes.

"Bye."

This girl isn't going to know what hit her. I'm going to train her until her fingers bleed-- not literally, but enough that her muscles would be sore for the weeks coming. Somehow I always end up teaching Lana everything from school to sports.

Do I ever catch a break?

Yet, a part of me was glad to have her crazy unpredictableness back...

Ahhhhhhhh!!!! I'm so nervous about this chapter!! I was kinda worried if I got Declan's thought across but hopefully you guys enjoyed getting a peak in his head!!!

Trust me there's plenty more to come ;)

Do you guys have any different thoughts on him yet or still need more time to read him 😏😏

Love you guys!!! I can't wait to read your thoughts about this one!!!!