9 Secrets

Jules' pov

 As I stood in front of the changing room, I let out a deep breath and patted myself over the back, reassuring myself that everything was okay and that nothing was gonna go wrong. But, even though I was the one doing the reassuring, I didn't believe that nothing was gonna go wrong. Something is certainly gonna go wrong, this is like a disaster waiting to happen.

Taylor didn't notice any of my troubles, he was bouncing on his feet beside me before swiping his ID card over the scanner in order to open the door.

Once the door opened, I sucked in a deep breath as we both stepped into the changing room, and it slid shut behind us almost immediately, causing me to jolt a little before my gaze settled in one what was currently unfolding in front of us right now.

Students were running around and chattering amongst themselves, some were downright screaming as they chased each other, while some of them were huddled together, clearly gossiping. A bunch of people were exchanging punches, and some were changing right in the open, instead of going into one of the hundreds of stalls in here to change in privacy.

Watching everything unfold in front of me right now made me feel lightheaded and once again, I wished there was a way I could disappear from here right now.

Back at home, the students were always well behaved and in order. To think that thr students here are currently acting like low life barbarians made my head start to ache as Taylor and I began to make our way through the middle of the crowd. I held my swimming gear which I had received at the office Taylor and I had stopped at before we arrived on this floor where most of the school's sports took place on.

I kept my head down as we inched forward, not wanting to catch the attention of anyone here who'd think it was fun to bully me unnecessarily right now. A few people bumped into us as we inched forward but I ignored those hits and held my breath, silently praying that no one get to notice me right now.

Before Taylor and I got to the end of the line, someone suddenly spoke up, making me freeze up at once.

"What's that smell?"

Panic flooded my stomach and I almost losed my footing, because, should most of these people here get to start talking about my scent once again, should they decide to dig deep, they might end up blowing my cover and that's something I'd rather avoid for now at least.

"It's probably your mouth, dummy." Someone responded and the entire room burst out laughing.

"The fuck?" The student who asked the question demanded and another one responded this time. 

"Yeah, man. Your breath stinks!"

As everyone dissolved into laughter once again, I let a relieved breath eased out from my lungs as Taylor and I finally arrived at the front of a stall which we got into it at once.

"You excited to see how this works for the first time?" Taylor asked as he unceremoniously shrugged out of his blue shirt and began to unbuckle his belt. 

Color flooded my cheeks and I pointedly averted my gaze and cleared my throat. Taylor probably misinterpreted my embarrassment for fear because his hand settled on my shoulder, which caused me to jolt as he began to speak.

"It's gonna be alright, okay? I don't think anyone's gonna mess with you there because the teacher is gonna be present with us throughout." Taylor spoke softly and I turned my head around till our gazes were locked.

"Will the presence of a teacher stop them from doing anything they want though?" I asked and the hesitance before he responded gave me all the answers I needed to know.

"They're gonna respect the presence of the teacher though, they always do, so I'm sure it's gonna be fine!" Taylor reassured, smiling brightly at me and I weakly nodded my head in response.

His hand dropped from my shoulder and he pushed his pants down, making my heart leap into my throat as I hastily averted my gaze once again.

I felt shy on his behalf for easily getting undressed in my presence, but Taylor didn't seem to share in that problem as he slipped into the swimming gear once he had completely undressed. Once he had folded his school uniform into his bag, he blinked at me in confusion.

"Aren't you gonna get undressed too?" He inquired and I bit on my bottom lip, unsure of how to word my thoughts. I've never undressed in front of anyone in a really long while, and it was embarrassing to even picture doing so in my head.

I scratched my neck for a moment before sighing slowly, and then I pointed towards the entrance of the stall.

"Uh… can you step outside so I can get changed?" I mumbled out, cheeks coloring up in embarrassment at once. Taylor's eyes widened and he blinked once before nodding his head and reassuring me that it was no problem.

I let out a relieved sigh once I was alone, and I double checked that the door was locked before I carefully began to undress. I was glad that Taylor hadn't looked at me like I was weird for not wanting to get changed in his presence. 

Back at home, the few friends I had used to tease me relentlessly for refusing to get undressed in their presence no matter what.

But, they'd never be able to understand.

No one will.

No one but me would ever understand, which is why I've long concluded with myself that I was gonna carry this particular detail about myself to my grave. 

I got changed and in no time, I was stepping outside to meet Taylor who had patiently waited for me. He beamed at me at once.

"You look so fucking cute in this gear!" He gushed and I blushed as I mumbled a small 'thank you' to him.

The swimming gear consisted of a —

By the time Taylor and I stepped out of the changing room, it was almost empty, indicating that we were the last set of people who'd be arriving at the swimming arena.

When we stepped into the swimming arena and headed to a less crowded area, my breath caught in my throat at once. The arena was so spacious and I found myself wondering if this was just a school. There were long rows and rows of seats in staircase arrangements, and when I asked Taylor, he revealed that parents and sponsors get to come to school in order to watch whenever an official competition was taking place. 

"What are sponsors?" I asked and Taylor shot me a glance that indicated that he didn't believe the question I had just asked.

"You're actually serious." He ended up noting after a few seconds of staring at me and I blinked in confusion. He let out a small breath and glanced around, and then he leaned towards me.

"We don't ever say that word out loud though." Taylor whispered and I blinked once again.

"What word?" I asked.

"Sponsors."

"Oh. Why, though?"

Taylor glanced around once again before answering. "I'll tell you later."

I wanted to grunt and whine and urge him to me right now instead of making me wait in suspense, but a sudden shift in the air caught my attention, along with a scent that clogged my nostrils and lungs at once.

I whipped my head around and my eyes settled on someone stepping into the swimming arena along with three other people. It was like they were a bunch of magnets, because they managed to control everyone's gaze with each movement. The murmurs in the entire arena died down, and if a pin dropped, the sound would certainly be heard. 

It was clear that these four people were students, because they were dressed in the same swimming gears too. The one standing in the middle, whose scent made me want to go down on my knees for no reason in particular, turned his gaze in my direction and everyone situated in the same direction all averted their gazes with startled gasps except me, because I was frozen.

His eyes bored into mine from across the entrance of the arena, and it only lasted for a fleeting second before Taylor abruptly tugged on my hand, causing me to avert my gaze.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you dumb? No one ever locks eyes with him, why would you let your gaze meet with his?!" Taylor whispered violently, sounding extremely panicked and I struggled to focus on what he was saying because my mind was still busy replaying that fleeting second in my head over and over again.

"Who was that?" I found whispering in a daze. Taylor gawked at me in disbelief.

"Aren't you listening to what I'm saying?" He demanded and when I kept blinking at him, he let out a slow breath and massaged his temple.

"Jules, there's a whole lot of things you aren't aware of, things which could make you lose your mind or your life, make your pick." His face was a mask of seriousness as he spoke, and my heartbeat accelerated in panic.

"First and foremost, the student whose gaze you met…" He paused for a moment.

"His name is Blaze."