[Lawns] Lack of focus. -open-

[Kelsey Addlentty]

This essay's impossible! Kelsey thought to herself. She'd been working on the same Charms essay for at least two hours on her bed in her dorm. Every time she thought it'd be done, she'd look through her notes and figure out she'd left out important information she knew her teacher would be looking for. For what felt like the millionth time, she looked through her essay, and figuring it was enough for an A. However, she wanted to get at least an E in all of her classes, so she'd have to figure how to make it better. She sighed, and repositioned herself so she was laying down on her stomach.

As she was re-reading her essay yet again, she looked up, and then around her room. No one else was in there, and it was dead silent. Almost to silent. She hadn't really noticed earlier since she'd be scribbling on her parchment. She looked back down at her essay, and as she did so her hair fell to cover her eyes. Instead of actually moving her hands to fix it, she felt it to be a better idea to just try to blow it away from her face. After failing miserably, she just decided to move it with her hands, and then tried to focus back on her essay. She sighed once more realizing how annoyed she was with it.

Deciding she needed a break, left her dorm and the Huffie common room all together, and headed upstairs for to take a walk so she could refocus her mind. She walked past the Great Hall, where she heard various students chatting while eating their late lunches. She considered turning around and walking back to get some lunch since she'd skipped it that day, but realized she oddly wasn't that hungry and she'd rather just stretch her legs out. She walked around the first floor corridor for a little while, until she saw a window. She hadn't looked outside all day since she'd been in the common room the whole time. It was beautiful out. Perfect running weather. It made her wonder when the last time she'd gone outside and ran. She realized it was at least 4 months ago, and decided she couldn't let herself not take advantage of the good weather. Her essay could wait.

She walked back to her dorm, a little more cheerful than when she'd left it, and went straight to the dresser. She pulled on a green tank top and the black shorts she'd stolen from her Dad a few years ago when her mom stopped him from playing his weird Muggle sports with his work friends. She quickly put her running sneakers on, not even taking the time to tie them properly. She left the common room in a rush, and went straight to the doors that led to the grounds.

Once she was outside, she wasted no time in looking around, and just took off as fast as she could. She loved the feeling of her hair flying in the wind, especially since she hadn't bothered to pull it into a ponytail. She could feel her body not totally excepting the intense run since it'd been so long. So she let her pace fall a tad, telling herself she'd just run longer since she wasn't going as fast. She ran like that for nearly an hour, dodging trees and other students as she did.

The longer she ran, the harder it was to keep breathing. Come on. Just a little longer. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. She kept telling herself. When it finally got to be to much, she slowed her pace, and eventually stopped. She took a few deep breaths, and felt it best to stretch out a little bit. She pulled her left leg up behind her, and grabbed it, stretching out her quads. She let go of it, and repeated with her right leg. After, she bent her left leg, going into a lung. As she did that stretch, she looked around the lawns, wondering if there was anyone outside that she knew. Figuring she would have seen them, she focused her attention back to her stretch.

[Caleb Holden]

Caleb squinted his eyes, trying to keep the sun from blinding him. After his daily chat with his twin, he had decided to venture outside, as it was a beautiful day. Dressed in a tank, shorts and trainers, he headed out onto the lawn, prepping himself mentally for the run he was going for.

Caleb knew that he would have to start getting ready for the rigorous training that he would undergo with the start of the Quidditch season. He flexed his biceps, forming some form in his plan to better prep himself for the team practices he soon would be having. His upper body didn't need much strength, he reasoned, as he already was muscular. No, cardio was definitely the area he would have to strengthen himself in, preparing for endurance and bad weather.

He started out slow, letting the muscles in his legs warm up as he regulated his breathing. He then sped up, settling into a steady rhythm of feet landing on the ground and even breathing. After about a half hour, Caleb felt confident that his workouts from now on would be a piece of cake. As he ran across the lawn again, he noticed a girl stretching. As he grew closer, Caleb could tell that the girl was one that he had seen in his year and his Common Room. Her name is Kelsey, his mind placing where he knew the girl from. He slowed himself as he approach, hardly needing to catch his breath.

"Hey Kelsey," he started, a smile spreading across his face. "Enjoying this nice weather?" His timid side started to creep in, but he hid his shyness beneath his cool exterior.

[Kelsey Addlentty]

Why are my arms so tight? Kelsey was thinking to herself, starting to pull her arms behind her to stretch them. I should probably start doing some push-ups or something every night to work them out. She knew she was already fairly strong, especially compared to a lot of the other girls at Hogwarts, but couldn't help feeling like she needed to prepare herself more for the upcoming Qudditch season, which she couldn't be more excited to finally be apart of. She kept having this fear though that she wouldn't be taken as seriously as a beater because she was a girl. But that only motivated her to practice and work out more and more.

When she finally felt like her major muscles were relaxed, she started stretching out other ones, like her back and calf ones. As she did so, she started looking around at people going by. Still no one she was particularly interested in seeing. Yet as she turned to look away, someone got her attention. It was a guy running in her direction. She recognized him from the common room, and was pretty sure he was in her year too. His names Ca...wait...crap...I knew this yesterday. Ca...Cal....Caleb! That's it. Okay. She pondered as he got closer, feeling slightly embarrassed about having to think about it. Though truth be told, she didn't talk to a lot of the kids in her year.

When he was only a couple of feet from her, she realized she'd been looking at him the entire time. In a poor attempt at hiding that fact, she looked straight down, and changed her stretch back to a lunge, trying to pretend she hadn't even seen him. She could see in the corner of her eye that he was slowing down, and eventually stopped right in front of her. When he said hey to her, she tried to look up in surprise, cursing herself for not being a better actress.

"Oh. Hey Caleb." she said, casually. She nodded her head in agreement with his second statement and said, "Oh yeah. It's gorgeous out, isn't it? I'm glad to see I'm not the only one taking advantage of the weather around here though."

At this point, she completely abandoned pretending to still be stretching, and just stood straight up, casually putting her hands on her hips. She looked up at him, realizing for the first time that he was much taller than she was. Probably 5'10....5'11, compared to her 5'6. She felt a smile spreading on her face, and realized she should probably say something. She raked her brain out for facts she knew about him to try mentioning. Ok, I'm pretty sure he has a sister. Or is she a twin? And she's in Ravenclaw. It's so weird that theirs twins in different houses. I wonder if that happens a lot. Oh, what am I doing? Ok, facts about him. He's a Hufflepuff... She was thinking, and then realized how little she actually knew about him.

She thought for a few more seconds, then remembered that she'd seen his name on the Quidditch Team list. A chaser, maybe? Either way they'd be playing together this term. She looked at him again, and felt herself smiling again. "So I saw you made the Qudditch Team too. Congratulations." She started out saying, trying not to make herself seem like a total Quidditch freak. "I don't know about you, but I personally can't wait for the season to really get under way."

[Caleb Holden]

"Mmm, it is a nice day," he nodded his head in agreement with her statement. "Thought it would be a good day to start up working out. Got to start getting back into shape for Quidditch season. Might as well start on a day that encourages venturing outdoors," a rumbling laugh mixed with his baritone voice. He then realized that he was rambling, something that his shy demeanor never allowed for.

Kelsey straightened up and he realized that he was actually going to have to look down to talk to her. Cassie was his height, so he was used to just talking at eye level with his sister.

"Oh, thank you," he replied, blushing slightly and lightly nibbling his lip. There was the blush that Caleb knew so well. Nearly anything could cause the poor fellow to blush. From what Kelsey had said, he inferred that she, also, was on the team. "I think congratulations are in order for you as well," he smiled at the shorter girl.

At the mention of Quidditch, Caleb's eyes had lit up. He loved the sport; it was one of the few things that both he and his father loved. "I can't wait either! Even though it's grueling, I cannot wait for official practices to start."

Caleb realized then that he didn't really know much about Kelsey and blushed again, unsure about his lack of contribution to the conversation. He kicked his toe through the grass. "So, um ..." he stuttered, trying to come up with something else to contribute. "Are you planning on doing these little unofficial workouts at the same time every day? Maybe we could, you know, work out together?" he looked down into the grass as he started, then looked up at the end of his question, raising one eyebrow inquisitively and trying not to blush.

[Kelsey Addlentty]

Kelsey listened to him has he discussed how it was a good day to start up working out. She laughed quietly as he had, and then responded with “Yeah, I know what you mean. I had the same thought process as I was running across the lawns.”

When he congratulated her as well, she couldn’t help but smile at him. She was so excited about it all. “Thanks.” She said to him. “I wasn’t even planning on trying out this year since I didn’t think I was ready. But I was playing with Matt over the summer and he convinced me to go for it.” She told him, thinking back to the whole event. After saying it though, she realized he probably had no clue who Matt actually was, and decided to add “For the record, Matt’s my older brother.” Immediately after the words left her mouth, she felt fairly stupid about being worried that he didn’t know who her brother was. Caleb probably didn’t care who he was, and it probably had no affect on him whether or not Matt was her brother or just someone else. But then again, she really couldn’t be sure of that.

She noticed his face light up a little when she mentioned Qudditch, and instantly smiled. Kelsey was glad she wasn’t the only one her year that was ridiculously into the sport like she sometimes felt. Maybe they could even hang out and talk about it sometime. But she was getting ahead of herself. She listened to what he was saying about how he couldn’t wait for practices to start either, and nodded. “Yeah, I heard the practices can be fairly challenging, but I’m totally up for it.” She said to him, “What is it you play? Chaser?” she said, wanting to make sure she remembered it correctly from the notice board.

Kelsey could almost sense that he was feeling nearly as awkward as she was, since they barely had ever spoken more than three words to each other in their 5 years at Hogwarts. She was trying to think of new things to talk about when she heard him ask her if she was planning on working out everyday. Truth was, she hadn’t really put much thought process in it all. “Um, I don’t know. I hadn’t even planned on running today. I was just sitting in my room working on that stupid Charms essay and saw how nice it was out and um, impulsly went out to work out.” She told, and then chuckled kind of nervously. “But yeah, I really should work out every day. And if you need to work out everyday too, then we should definitely work out at the same time together. I mean, its always nicer when you have someone to work out with. Especially when your training for the same thing.” She said to him, without even realizing she was talking fairly quickly.

[Caleb Holden]

Caleb smiled. He liked learning the little facts about a person. Now he knew that Kelsey had an older brother named Matt, and they got along, he inferred from his information. "Well, I'm glad that Matt encouraged you to try out. We need ..." he stopped, almost ready to say you and wondered if she would take that in a different meaning. "We need all the good players we can get," he finished.

She looked just as excited as he did about Quidditch. "Yes, I believe that practices are rather difficult, but they'll help the team in the long run," he agreed, nodding his head slightly. "Oh yes, I'm a Chaser," he smiled at Kelsey. "And you are a ..." Caleb took a wild stab, trying to differentiate her name from all the other females on the list. "Beater, correct?" He said, recovering after a slight pause. He hoped that he would be right.

He wanted to tell her to slow down her speech, but that seemed a bit rude. Caleb picked up what he could and gave her a grin. "So, you would want to work out with me? I mean, it doesn't have to be at the same time every day or whatever, but I think it would help to keep motivated and help with the bond that we'll have on the team ..." Caleb wondered if he would lose her in his own little ramble. Then, he thought about his last statement and wondered if she would think anything of it. He felt the heat crawling up his neck again, threatening to form into a blush across his cheeks. He suppressed it, thankfully.

[Kelsey Addlentty]

Kelsey grinned at Caleb when he said that he was glad Matt had encouraged her to try out. “Yeah, I'm really glad he did too.” she told him, and then listened to him say how the team needed all the good players that could get. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm just hoping that I really am good enough to help the team win.” she admitted to him.

Kelsey smiled at him when he knew what position she played. “Yeah, I'm a Beater.” she said, nodding. “I thought about going for Keeper but changed my mind at last minute and went for Beater.” she told him, remembering how she'd spent days debating with herself over what to go for, or to even to try out at all.

She listened to him talk about how working out would help motivate them and everything, and felt herself smile slightly. She heard him also say how it'd help with the bond that they'd have on the team, and couldn't help but wonder what exactly he'd meant by that. Yet, she just assumed that he only meant on a teammate level. She smiled wider at him, and then nodded. “Yeah, I totally agree. It would help get through the work out a lot easier. For me, at least. I have an awful habit of starting to work out well and then giving up on it after a few weeks.” she admitted to him, then realized she was starting to get off topic a little bit. “So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, yeah. I'd love to work out with you.” she told him, and then gave him another grin.

Kelsey could feel a awkward silence again, and tried to come up with something new to talk about. Yet after all the Qudditch talk, it was just about all that she could think about at the time. Yet he did seem just as into the sport as she was, and she felt safe in bringing it up once again. “So whose your favorite team anyway?” she said to him. “Assuming you follow professional teams, that is of course.” she added on.

While waiting for him to answer, she crossed her arms, and looked up at him. She thought about how weird it was that they'd never really talked before now. Why hadn't they anyway? They were in the same year and the same house. They obviously had quite a few things in common, and he was pretty cute. It was just odd to her that they hadn't talked before. But who knows after that would change after this.

[Caleb Holden]

When Kelsey talked about hoping to be good enough for the team, Caleb felt a need to comfort the girl. "No, no, I'm sure that you're going to be brilliant for the team!" he reassured her with an easy smile.

He was happy that he had guessed her position on the team correctly. When she mentioned her indecision of being a Beater, Caleb felt the need to add his own doubts. "Well, I couldn't decide what to try out for either. I wanted to try out as a Seeker, but well," he motioned to his body generally, "I thought I was a bit too tall for that."

He smiled back at her when she said that she would love to work out with him. "Good," he said. "Then, we'll be ready for these Quidditch practices when they start. Same time tomorrow, would you say?"

An awkward silence filled the air between the boy and girl. Caleb hoped that it wouldn't be so awkward when they were working out together. That would ensue him to dread the workouts instead of looking forward to them. However, he already found himself looking forward to them, so he was unsure of what was to come.

"Yeah, I follow professional teams somewhat. My father follows them more diligently that I do. I guess my favorite team would be Puddlemere United," he replied to her question. He didn't really care about who was playing the game or who won, per se. Caleb just loved to watch the game, period. Though, his father was a Puddlemere United supporter, so Caleb guessed that if he had to choose, he would inherit his favorite team from his father. "So, whose your favorite team?" he asked, thoroughly curious that this girl could like so much about Quidditch. He always thought of girls like his mum and his sister, not very interested in the sports side of things.

[Kelsey Addlentty]

Kelsey had been looking down at the ground after admitting her insecurity. However, when she heard him tell her he thought she was going to be brilliant for team, she looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks. I bet you are too.” She told him.

Kelsey laughed lightly when he mentioned he was too tall to be a Seeker. “Yeah, that’s probably true.” She said to him. “But I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who wasn’t sure what to do.”

She nodded when he asked if tomorrow at the same time was good. “Sounds perfect.” She told him. She was honestly getting fairly excited for it. She generally worked out alone at school, and rarely ever at all over the summers unless her brother was around. She often hated working out with friends at school, but that was primarily because she always felt like she out-ran everyone else. She was glad to finally meet someone who could keep up.

She smiled at him when he said he followed teams somewhat. “Oh yeah. Puddlemere United is a really good team.” She agreed with him. She heard him ask her who her favorite team was, and she had to think about it for a minute. “Honestly, it changes just about every other day something. Nearly anytime I hear some team did something even the slightest bit cool I drop whatever team I’m already following and pay attention to them.” She told him, and then laughed slightly at her own ridiculous habit. “Although there is one team I’ve followed for as long as I can remember. The Fitchburg Finches. Not many people around here have heard of them. Their actually a team from America, Massachusetts to be exact. Their kind of the one team I’ve never stopped following.” She told him, wondering if he would find it odd that her favorite team wasn’t even from their continent.

[Caleb Holden]

At the compliment, Caleb smiled and blushed. "Thanks," he said, watching his foot scuff itself into the ground. He looked up slightly at the shorter girl. "I wonder if anyone actually knows whether or not they're perfect for a position unless they've been trained specifically for it and love it already," he questioned out loud.

"Good. It's a date then," he grinned at Kelsey. He was already looking forward to the workout. It would keep him motivated and probably challenge him more that he would challenge himself. After all, he had to appear to be strong and fast and fit to impress Kelsey.

He listened to her babble on about not really following a team, just liking all the cool tactics. As she was talking, Caleb started to wonder if Kelsey knew how cute she was. It took some willpower for him not to become a quivering mess of a human while standing here talking to her because he thought her to be attractive. Then, he wondered where those thoughts were coming from in the first place. You hardly know the girl yet. Don't be hasty to judge her by her looks only, Caleb, he rationalized in his mind.

"You follow an American team? Are they any good? Why would you follow them?" Caleb thought it odd that she followed a team across the sea from where they were at school, unless she followed the team in the same manner that he followed Puddlemere.

Soon, Caleb started to tire from just standing around. He also wanted a preview of how hard he was going to have to drive himself in these workouts that the duo were going to have. "Want to have a preview of what we're going to do tomorrow? Come on, it'll be a short race," he laughed, deep within his baritone voice. "I'll even let you have a slight head start, so you can really beat me," Caleb added with a wink.

[Kelsey Addlentty]

Kelsey was taken aback a tiny bit when he said it was a date then. But she shook her head slightly when she thought he wasn’t actually looking at her, and figured he hadn’t met anything at all by it. Although she had to briefly wonder to herself if that would be such a bad thing. After all, he seemed really cool and nice and cute and everything. But then again, she reminded herself that she knew basically nothing about him. Somehow though, she knew during these work outs she’d probably subconsciously find a way to show off or something.

She nodded when he asked about why she would follow an American team. “It’s kind of a long story.” She informed him. “But I guess in a nut shell it’s because they were always my brothers favorite team since they were the closest team to New York and I just kind of, went along with it and started really liking them too.” She told him. “But yeah, their pretty good. Won the US League 7 times.”

She heard him mention a race, and felt a smile spread across her face. “A race, huh?” she asked him. She was getting tired of just standing around. And she wanted to see how fast he was. “Yeah, ok." She started pulling her thick hair back into a ponytail when she heard him say she could have a head start, and gave him a jokingly offended face. “Oh, I’d take that head start but I wouldn’t want to have to wait around that long for you to catch up.” She said to him, simply playing around with him, having no clue how fast he really was.

Kelsey finished pulling her up, and then just looked up at him. “First to the lake wins?” she offered to him. And then without even waiting for him to answer, she screamed out “Go!” and then took off running towards the lake as fast as her legs would allow her.

[Caleb Holden]

"Ah," Caleb nodded, "Another adopted team through the family. Though, if you ask my sister, she'll say that she doesn't like Puddlemere, just to be a pain." Just then, something clicked in his head. "Wait, you're telling me that you don't live here ..." he waved gesturing to the vicinity of the school and surrounding sky. "You live in America?" He didn't mean to sound so surprised. Caleb had never met somebody who lived across the Atlantic before. Sure, there had been trips when he was younger; some of his family lived in Canada. But still, he never thought that he would befriend somebody who lived on a different continent during the summer.

He liked that she agreed quite readily to the race. "Yeah, o--" he started to agree to her terms. Then, she took off. Caleb sighed. He hadn't been sure if she would accept the head start; some girls were funny about accepting 'handouts' like that, but apparently not Kelsey, even though she had made a joke out of it. He found himself smiling at the thought that she was far easier going than his sister was.

Oh, bugger. He had forgotten that he was only suppose to give her a small head start. He took off after her, lengthening his stride and trying to find a pace where he could actually catch up. In his desperate attempt to catch up, he felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins and picked up the pace. Soon, he was treading on her heels. He didn't want her to think that he was going to just let her win, which was his idea, but he wanted to put it a fair fight. Truth was, Kelsey was actually making it a bit of a challenge to keep up. Merlin, she's fast he thought, coming up beside her and keeping pace. He briefly wondered if they were going to be able to stop before reaching the shore of the lake, of if they would just run straight into the water.

[Kelsey Addlentty]

Kelsey nodded when he said that his sister says she doesn’t like Puddlemere to be a pain. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Ask anyone else in my family besides my brother and I, and they’ll just tell you it’s a waste of life.” She told him. “Even my grandparents.” She added on.

Kelsey couldn’t help but laugh slightly when he figured out what she’d said. She got nearly the same reaction every time she mentioned. “No, I live here. In England.” She informed him, giving him a quick smile. “I was born in America though. My dad grew up there and my mom moved there when she met him. I moved here when I was about 8. But I haven’t been there since.” She admitted. Although, she was planning on trying to live there for a year after she graduated. She couldn’t wait to be out in the crazy city again.

As she was running, she could feel her adrenaline going through her body almost immediately. She wasn’t sure how long it would take him before he started off too. Or how fast of a runner he was for that matter. She just kept her head straight and her eyes locked on where the lake was. However, after a minute or so, she couldn’t help but look back to see how close he was. To her surprise, he was practically right behind her. Oh my god he’s quick. She thought quickly, trying to make her legs go faster before he caught up with her.

After they were nearly neck and neck, and the lake was finally in sight, she took everything she had, and ate up the rest of her adrenaline, making her legs pump even faster. She smiled at herself, thinking she was going to win. She turned herself around, running backwards. “Oh come on Holden! You can do better then this!” she yelled back, in a jokingly fun matter. She smiled at him, and then turned back around. As she did so, she realized she would run into the lake if she didn’t stop right at that moment. “Crap!” she yelled out without thinking. She knew she’d never be able to just stop now, so she made a quick decision to dig her heel into the ground, and basically fall to the ground. So she did so, and slid to the very edge of the lake.

When she was finally stopped, she let out a large breath, and laughed lightly, not even looking to see if Caleb had been smarter than her and had made a real stop. She sat up, looked out at the lake, and pulled her socks and shoes off, slowing putting her feet in the cool water.

[Caleb Holden]

Caleb laughed with Kelsey at the fact that only she and her brother were Quidditch fans in her family. "Cassie just likes to give anybody a run for their money," he said, shaking his head. "Mostly she says it just to annoy Dad," he added, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you moved here, then," Caleb grinned. "Do you miss it much? America, I mean. Do you remember much of it?" He wasn't sure if this was a touchy subject for her or not; he didn't know why Kelsey's family had moved. Perhaps there was a private reason that she would not want to disclose. Caleb also didn't have much experience with people who had moved. He had only known his one home, which was the same for many of the pureblood families he had grown up with. At school, it was hardly a discussed subject, since everyone lived in their House.

Caleb started to slow up as they ran closer to the shore of the lake. He was having a tough time keeping up as it was while the distance to the shore of the lake diminished quickly. He was also going to let Kelsey win the race, but she didn't know that yet. However, when she turned around to taunt him, he started to say "Kelsey --" warning her of the lake before it came up. But, quickly she was facing forward and seeing the lake. He was only at a jog as he saw her fall. Hurrying over to check on her, Caleb cursed himself for almost hurting her, although indirectly. He hadn't warned her of the lake shore being so close and had also suggested the race. "Kelsey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked, the words rushing and tumbling over his tongue in an attempt to be released faster. He quickly scanned her body with his eyes, checking to see if there was any blood or limbs that looked funny.

As she sat up, he sat beside her, removing his own runners and socks. He put one foot into the water, feeling the cold water send a feeling of shock across his warm foot. Then, he stood up, and walked ankle-deep into the water. He turned to face Kelsey. "Fancy getting wet?" he chuckled. Not giving her enough time to answer, he bent to reach for the water, skimming his hand along the water and sent the spray at Kelsey.