× Mercury

I was really regretting not asking Niall about transportation in the University as I walked out of the arena after practice and looked around the nearly empty parking lot.

I was an idiot.

I had no idea where I was and how to get back to the hall I lived in. My dorm was on the other side of campus, roughly five miles away if not more. I would be walking hours aimlessly, which, I guess is fine. It's just I have better things to do.

The parking lot was empty of people, including the strange small girl with the camera earlier, and there were only a few cars parked, scattered about. One car, though, I recognized as the slick, black Jaguar Niall drove me to practice in. Knowing that was my best bet to get anywhere, I walked over to the car and waited for him to return.

I prayed someone else would emerge from the building before him so I didn't have to interact with Niall again today, but of course, that didn't happen.

"No," was the first thing out of his mouth as he walked toward his car, keys in hand. He was in the same clothes he got to practice in, except his denim jacket was over his arm instead as the heat from practice was enough to keep him warm.

"You don't even know what I was going to say," I objected.

Niall seemed to think about it for a moment, almost like he was trying to figure out what I could possibly want if it wasn't whatever he thought I was going to say.

"No," he said again and unlocked his car door.

Maybe it was his cocky smile, or his big ego, or the way he's always fidgeting, but being with him made me burn with flames.

Once he noticed I obviously wasn't going to take his no for an answer, he sighed heavily and turned toward me. "What do you want?" Niall asked, the same amount of fire in his eyes as I felt. "If you think I'm giving you a ride, you're wrong."

"I just want directions," I admitted, standing my ground in front of him. The weight of my bag over my shoulder was getting heaver and heaver by the second and I knew walking to my dorm was going to kill me, and I wasn't even sure I was being over dramatic about that. "Just tell me where my dorm is and I'll leave you alone. I promise."

He looked me up and down. "You're planning on walking alone? It's passed nine and it's dark."

"I don't have much of a choice," I remind him. "Why do you sound like you care?"

"I don't care," he said stonily.

I didn't think it was possible to figure out someone's tell so quickly, but there it was and it was clear he was lying. When he said that, he moved his head too quickly and averted his gaze. And almost as quickly as he did it, he was looking at me again, probably to see if I caught him in the lie.

And I have.

"Okay, well, since you won't tell me where to go, I'll just start walking and hope for the best," I said and started walking away.

"Wait," Niall said at the same time someone else said, "I can take you."

I looked over and saw Jace walking toward us, his black hair wet and clinging to his forehead. He was out of his uniform and sporting a simple white t-shirt and jeans.

"Perfect!" Niall shouted in mock excitement and pretended like he didn't just protest in me leaving. "Now I don't have to be arsed to talk to you." He rolled his eyes before unlocking his car and climbing in.

"Wanker," I heard Jace say before he ushered me to follow him to his car just a few spots away. I smiled at his choice of words.

"My door is still open, I can hear you!" Niall shouted after us, slamming his door shut to show his irritation.

"That's the point!" Jace shouted back at him, but he was smiling just the same.

The only thing I knew about Jace was that my friend had a crush on him. Jamie has this weird ability to tell someone's character the first time they meet, so maybe that was why I followed after him to his car thinking that if my friend thought he was worthy enough to crush over, than I could hitch a ride with him. Besides, if I was going to be on this team, I really needed some friends who were on my side.

Jace's car isn't as nice as Niall's, but it was still nice looking. I wasn't good with cars, but I think it was a white Honda Civic. The inside was nice with leather seating and a black and gray dash. It was cluttered with fast food boxes and clothes in the backseat.

"Sorry for the mess," Jace apologized as he started the engine. "I don't usually have people ride with me."

"It's fine," I said as I took the seatbelt and clicked it around me. "My Jeep back home isn't any better."

"Where are you staying?"

"The Aspen House."

Just then, Niall's black Jaguar went shooting across the parking lot, right in front of us at full speed, the engine roaring loudly.

"He is a wanker, isn't he?" I asked, using the British slang he had used just moments ago. Jace put the car in drive and started driving after him.

Jace laughed beside me, turning on his blinker before turning. "Well, that's just the thing, he's really not. Niall's like..." he trailed off as if to find the right word to describe the boy that could easily light a flame in me. "He's like a fixed die. There are six sides to him but he only lets certain people see what he wants to show, like weighed dice. Niall lets Coach and his teammates see the determination and strong side of him. For the girls he finds attractive, he'll only display them the confident, mysterious lad they want to see."

I never dabbled with fixed dice before (if I was going to cheat, I would steal monopoly money from the bank or move my game piece an extra two spaces and hope no one noticed), but what Jace was saying made a lot of sense because I knew someone just like that back home in California. And he goes by the name of Bradley.

"Mysterious?" I asked with a grin. The only thing mysterious about Niall was why he dyed his hair blonde.

Jace laughed. "Yeah, I know," he agreed with me. "But it seems to work because he always gets the girl."

"So how does that have to do with Niall not being a wanker?" I asked.

"Like I said, Niall has six sides to him," Jace explained. "Take it from someone who's seen all those six sides to tell you that he's really not a bad lad."

There was silence after that as Jace continued to drive through the campus. I wasn't sure if Bradley had six sides or not, but I did know that he showed people what he wanted them to see. A lot of times he showed me compassion and he showed me anger. The compassion got me into his bed, but his anger made me stay there, not wanting to go against his word in fear he might hurt me.

The side of the dice Niall let me see was no doubt his angry, competitive side. And I liked that, I was comfortable with that. There wouldn't be any tricks up his sleeve (aside from using them to show me up, of course), and I was fine with that because I knew I wouldn't find myself in his bed. Ever.

Except there was something in the dark corner of my mind that brought me back to that scrimmage game in California when Reese knocked me to the ground. Niall's hand outstretched for me to take and his voice sounding like he found a wounded animal on the streets.

His words played back in my head as something clicked inside me. Niall's intentions may have been to show one side of him to me, but his dice abandoned him as they showed a new side on that hot LA afternoon - a side of him that I knew he would deny if I were to ever bring it up to him.

"Can I be completely honest with you?" Jace asked into the quiet, looking over at me.

"Sure," I said cautiously.

"I'm not really sure what it is with you, but he's different. Niall's different," he explained. "He's never as cold to anyone as he is to you, but he's also not as... caring, I guess is the best word to use. It's like the whole dice simile doesn't apply to you or something. I don't understand it."

"Caring?" I asked, remembering the look Niall had when I told him I was planning on walking home. He did look concerned, but it was also dark so it could have easily been a trick of the street lamp or something.

"Yeah, like when Reese knocked you to the ground a week ago. And even in the locker room just now, one of the lads was, uh... saying stuff, and Niall stood up for you. I don't know, it's just weird."

"Saying stuff? Like what?"

Jace avoided my gaze and kept his eyes on the road, fist clenching and unclenching on the steering wheel, like he was uncomfortable. And it was then that I knew I had Jace's full respect as he said, "It was inappropriate."

"Boys," I said jokingly, shaking my head.

He looked over at me and smiled. "The more they warm up to you, the worse it will get."

"Can't wait."

I didn't know why, I didn't know how, and I certainly didn't understand it, but it was unbelievably easy to talk to Jace. Like, I probably would have told him my deepest, darkest secret if I hadn't of thought it over first. I mean, we were practically strangers. We weren't on that level yet.

"So, what is there to do for fun around here," I asked him, leaning my head against the window and looked out at the campus. The main buildings where the classes were held were white with columns that seemed to be from the 1900s. Or, at least that's the vibe I was feeling from it. Very old and ancient, I couldn't wait to go and see what it looked from the inside.

"Parties."

"Besides parties. I've gone to enough of those in my lifetime."

"You've gone to American parties," Jace corrected me. "You haven't experienced British parties."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that there wasn't much of a difference in the two. Unless they had bounce houses and/or opportunities to swim with the sharks, then yeah, there really wasn't a difference.

"I read that the school does different things on the weekends, like movies and concerts. Is there something this weekend?"

"Yeah, the annual bonfire," Jace told me. He didn't seem very thrilled about that, though. "I'm not sure what exactly it's about, but it's a tradition. I think it's just something to welcome everyone back to school."

"Are you going to it?"

"I have to," he said discontentedly. "Well, I mean, I'm expected to go, the whole team is. Being in football is kind of a reason to go to all these events. We're a big deal to the school. If we go, so will others."

Jace pulled up to a familiar building that I knew as the Aspen house. I would have stayed to ask him more about the bonfire, but I knew it was late and I was sure he had somewhere better to be.

"Thanks for the ride. It would have taken me forever to walk here," I told Jace with a warm smile as I unbuckled and opened the door.

"No problem. And even if I didn't show up to bring you home, Niall would have caved and brought you," he responded with a matching smile to mine. "As much as he will deny it, he cares."

I nodded and grabbed my gym bag Niall rudely emptied for me that morning and stepped out of the car. "Oh!" I said, remembering something. "Jamie says hi, by the way."

"Really?" His eyes lit up and a grin crept to his lips. "Well, tell her I say hi, too."

"You have her number," I reminded him, my mind going back to when Jamie invited the boys to a party and he flirtatiously asked for her number as well as the address. "Tell her yourself. Goodnight, Jace."

I closed the door and made my way into the building. Jace waited for me until I was safely inside before pulling away. Then, I made my way up the stairs and into my room.

× × ×

The phone picked up on the second ring.

"Grandchild!" she said as she answered her phone.

"Grandma!" I shouted right back at her.

I was in my dorm and Chloe was out doing some kind of pub crawl with her friends and told me she would be getting in pretty late. So I was left alone in the room to do whatever I wanted which was sadly... not much. I was tired as hell from the jetlag I was still feeling and the long practice early that day, but I was in dire need to hear my grandma's voice. And God, did I miss it.

"How are you adjusting to London and the new school?" she asked.

"Well, it's only my first official day here and it has been long," I told her. "My classes don't start until Wednesday, though."

Grandma laughed, making my stomach flip. I missed her so much. "That's smart. You need to get used to the time change over there the best you can. Have you had practice yet?"

"I have. It was tiring but it was pretty much the same as it was back at UCLA."

"That's good," she said. We talked some more - about her garden, my first practice, how her next door neighbor's yappy dog ran away, and about my roommate. It must have been an hour if not more before I called it a night and said goodbye.

I already took a shower in the locker room a few hours ago, and I brushed my teeth and changed into pajamas before calling my grandma. I plopped into my bed and took out my laptop until my eyes got sleepy enough for me to crash.

As lame as it was, I opened up the school site to read some of the history of the place. I knew it would be boring which was a sure way to get me to fall asleep. But instead of doing that, I found myself on the sports page and to my amazement, my face appeared.

It was on the main screen of the sports section of the website. The picture was taken from a game I played earlier that school year at UCLA. I clicked on the image and it brought me to a new page with the headline: "New Star to Surely Draw in a Crowd".

I sat up in bed quickly and read on.

American, talented... and a girl! Lynn Mercury, the new star on the team that will be bringing in people from all over London to watch the games. We all know the London Lions weren't doing so hot the past year, so maybe a new face can bring us back up to the top.

The article continued on with more detail with my backstory about how I was captain before the accident with my ankle. And then they listed the schedule of our home and traveling games along with some more images of me.

One of the pictures was from earlier today in the parking lot of the stadium. I was in my blue shirt and faded blue jeans, my bag hanging at my side. My hair was blowing behind me as I looked over my shoulder and right into the lens of the camera.

The caption below it read: Mercury had arrived to campus late last night, spotted in a car with our very own captain, Niall Horan, who had also brought her to her first practice. Sources say that drama has already sprouted in this girl's life as she joins the team (but let's be honest, that was expected, right?) It's only her first day and things are sure to get wild here on out.

It was overwhelming, really. It was only my first day and there I already was, on the school website. And there was only more to come from that, I was sure of.

My phone buzzed with a text and I closed my laptop, setting it down on my desk. I picked up my phone and saw that it was from Jamie. I opened it with a smile.

"He texted me!" she wrote. I didn't have to ask to know who she was talking about.

I responded to her and we texted back and forth for a while before I turned my light off and went to sleep.