Callie Reeves is a perfectionist. She has control over everything from her friends to her grades, the cheerleading squad she captains and anyone inbetween - even when it comes to dating.
After creating a list of rules to keep her no-strings attache...
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"How does it feel?" Nina asks me the moment I sit down beside her.
I look at my wrist. Its a shade paler than the rest of my skin from being hidden for six weeks and actually using it after it was removed was terrifying. It also was a little bit tender and I've been given a stress ball to work on getting the strength back in the muscle.
"Odd," I roll it carefully, my heart immediately picking up pace that it'll cause me some pain. "I'm not allowed to lift anything heavy for at least a week and no cheerleading stunts for two . . . at least not being a base for flyers."
"I bet you're itching to do some flip trick or whatever." She jokes and I scoff, swinging my bag onto the table to get out my lunch.
"Hey I thought you weren't coming today," Summer places her tray down opposite us, two of her soccer friends joining the table as well. "How does it feel?"
I pry the clasps off the container using my left hand and smile slightly. "I'm glad it's off."
I unwrap the fork from the napkin and dig into the meatloaf pasta combination. Sam made me lunch - something he assured was nutritious and better than a salad I would typically have on the off day I couldn't be bothered with a sandwich.
And if he hadn't airplaned a mouthful when I was protesting this morning I would've left it at home. He added some sauce to it that's like gravy but a little bit of a kick to it.
So while it may sound and look disgusting, it tastes really good.
"So Callie," One of the girls starts, cracking open the can of her soda and avoiding eye contact. "Have you heard the rumours going around?"
I stab some pasta and meatloaf pointedly. "What rumours?"
She watches my stabbing for a moment and follows the fork up to my mouth. Forcing eye contact I cock an eyebrow and see her swallow at the passive aggressive warning. When it comes to rumours, I probably don't want to know.
"Um. Apparently you and Sam Brennan are dating," She glances to Nina then back to me. "Is it true?"
I chew slowly and intentionally make her squirm until I swallow my food. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Oh . . . girl code so nobody does anything stupid," She explains and gives a surprising smile to me. "I think you guys make a cute couple by the way."
"You should know that there's a few girls who have crushes," The other girl speaks up and she doesn't look as pleased as the former timid one. "Plus his ex is a real bitch . . . apparently she threatened the new girl after they kissed at a party, even though it was a dare . . . so be careful."
That doesn't sound like Aspen. She used to be nice and caring, her threatening someone just seems absurd. But at the same time I wasn't expecting Faye to want to ruin my life either.
