Ride

11: POV Jackson (Wonderwall)

She was the one who could have saved me. The pressure, the weight of the world on your shoulders especially when you're playing high school football. The reputation of the school, my own reputation was all in my hands. I looked out the window to see Brad and Reece talking seriously. Reece had his face in his hands, and it was obvious he was crying. I guess we really don't know what we have until it's gone. I didn't think Allie had it that bad. I thought people were still there for her...Okay, maybe that was a lie, I had seen the way the girls had treated her and I should have protected her, but things were so different...

I missed her like crazy. I looked around the room to be met with tear stained eyes and faces. Brody,  some policeman and his parents were sitting on the living room couch surrounding the small table, they were fingering some map and reading through it. Discussing where Allie could have gone. I stood by the door, my arms folded against my chest. My lips have already begun to tremble, but I had to stay strong. Allie would come back. 

Sobs were heard from the kitchen and I knew it was Brandi. The way Brody attacked her was brutal. I would probably be bawling like a baby too if he said something like that to me and I was a girl. But then again it was her fault as well. I could hear mumbling explanations and Lance and others were trying to soothe her. Brandi was my friend too, Allie and I went on countless double dates with her and Lance. But she did this to herself, she abandoned Allie and then she broke up with Lance just because of peer pressure. 

I guess that was the problem. When you're in high school all you really care about is popularity. I had to admit that was what mattered to me as well. I closed my eyes and reveled in all the memories I had with Allie, I missed her so much. I don't know why I did what I did. I felt like the stupidest person on the planet, if I had done something to help her, if I hadn't been so foolish Allie would still be right here and wrapped in my arms, with her eyes glistening and her rosy red cheeks.

"Jackson! Your game!" I had forgotten to ask her before the game started. And there wasn't any time for me to find her in the barrage of people, so I had to wait for coach to call timeout. Our play was perfectly rehearsed, and I knew what we needed to do. Our opponent was down by a lot anyways. I had quickly ran over to my gym bag and grabbed my extra jersey before running over to Allie. 

"Allie! Come down for a minute!" I yelled. I shoved through the cheerleaders who were trying to grope and flirt with me. But I had my eyes set on only one girl. Allie. She looked scared but with encouraging words from Brandi she slowly began to stand up and jogged down the bench stairs. 

"Jack, what is it? You're going to miss your game!" I finally reached the audience seating, halfway I had taken off my helmet and held it in my left hand. The railing was the only thing seperating the both of us. Allie was breathing hard and so was I, she was blushing like crazy as everyone was looking at us. The cheerleaders with their envious looks and the others with looks of curiosity, I saw Brandi giving me a wave and I waved back before looking back into the eyes of my gorgeous girlfriend. 

"Will you wear this?" Allie looked confused. 

"Wear what?" I lifted my jersey from where I had tucked it into the back pocket of my pants, it was a tradition in our school. Boys who have girlfriends should make their girl wear their jersey for important games. And I needed Allie to be wearing my number, number 13. I knew that it was her favorite number as well. It was a total coincidence though, and we often joked that we started dating because she had seen her favorite number on some guys jersey and thought that that guy would be her lucky guy. She wasn't some crazy girl who flung herself at me though. Allie was super shy and her brother introduced us to each other, it was then that I started pursuing her. And lucky me she had liked me back. I felt so lucky to be with her.