After Everything

Chapter Thirteen: The Note

Brittany stood at Toby's locker, holding his cold brew in hand as she waited for him to show. She periodically checked her watch, becoming impatient with his tardiness. She looked around the hallway, hoping to see him walking towards her.

But instead of seeing her boyfriend, she saw Giovanni. He was clothed in an all black outfit, moving through the hallway as if he was on a mission. He held something in his hands as he approached a locker across from Toby's. Brittany watched as he slipped an index card through the crack of the locker. She furrowed her eyebrows, noticing he was carefully scoping his surroundings before darting off.

Brittany found what she just witnessed to be very suspicious. As she continued to process what happened, she realized the end of the index card was sticking out from the crack of the locker. As Giovanni did, she checked for her surroundings before walking towards the locker ahead of her. She slyly pulled the note out as she continued to walk down the hallway all in one swift motion.

She turned the corner, lifting the note to her line of vision as she read the contents of it. Alivia, meet me on the roof during free period. We need to talk. -Giovanni.

Brittany should have figured the note would be for Alivia. Who else would Giovanni suspiciously write to? She laughed to herself, taking a sip of Toby's cold brew as she crumpled up the note in her hand.

She walked past Cassie, who was standing at her locker and continuing to listen to Jordan's rant, which had been going on since he picked her up for school. She was starting to regret not having Trevor drive her, even if that meant he and Crystal would be screaming to trap music from the front of the car. That sounded better than Jordan's stress rant.

"Let me get this straight," he said, trying to compile all of his thoughts together. "You weren't forced to be the new kicker for the football team? You willing want to do this?"

Cassie shot him a glance. "Yes, Jordan. Last time I checked, I could make decisions for myself."

He laughed to himself, knowing he should have expected the sass from her. "It just doesn't sound like something you'd want to do."

"Actually, it sounds like something you don't want me to do," she argued, staring into his blue eyes. He looked alarmed. "Does it hurt your masculinity that I was asked to join the football team?"

He continued to shake his head back and forth as he tried to understand where her sudden surge of anger came from. "No! What? That's not at all what I think," he defended himself. "It's just that... I know you, Cassie. I know that you feel bad saying no. I just want to make sure this is something you want to do, because, to me, it sounds like you're trying to please your dad. You can tell me if this isn't something you want to do."

"You know me, Jordan?" She questioned, turning away from him as she pulled her math textbook out of her book bag. "Because if I remember correctly, the other day you said you felt like you hardly knew me."

His jaw dropped, recalling his conversation with Cassie at work. He remembered how bad he felt after saying that - and he still felt bad. "I didn't mean to say that. I feel horrible. That's not true," he argued. "Of course I know you, Cassie. I just felt like... never mind. We can talk about this another time," he cleared his throat, changing the conversation back to what they were originally discussing. "Well, I'm happy you want to do this. I'm proud of you."

She turned to look at him with glimmering eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded his head. "I mean... don't get me wrong. I'll be praying every Friday night that you don't get hurt but that doesn't mean I'm not proud of you."