𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐖𝐘𝐄𝐑.
he gave me a smile, and we watched bella take her turn as quarterback, doing the annual roast.
"when i joined the team, i was worried i wasn't man enough. then i walked in on you guys dancing to the girliest pop song ever and i realized i may not be woman enough." bella laughed.
coach laughed at the team.
"what are you laughing at, coach? it was your cd." bella said.
"newt, good news buddy, i talked to sophie and she's finally willing to go out with you. here are a few dates she has open. the 12th of never." bella pretended to look at her calendar.
i glanced over in sophie's direction.
pepper waved, and smiled.
"and where's the troy? is he listening, or just staring into a shiny spoon to see how good he looks?" bella asked.
"seriously, have you been to the starcade with this guy? he tells you where to sit, what to order, and what compliments to give him!" bella said dramatically.
"last week, he told me to order a large pepperoni pizza and compliment his chewin' skills." sawyer said.
the group laughed.
"does anyone smell something funky? oh wait, it's sawyers gym locker! i can smell it all the way from here!" bella laughed.
"his locker is such a mess, a rat reported him to the board of health! and this guy has a girlfriend? oh, poor pepper. i hope that necklace doubles as a flea collar." bella laughed.
i tried to contain my laughter, but my efforts only brought bella's attention to me.
"what's so funny, cherry? his locker isn't as messy as your love life." bella started.
i looked around the room, everyone's eyes now on me.
"i mean, come on! we can all tell you like sawyer, even though he has pepper." bella laughed.
sawyer and i both tensed up, and i could feel peppers eyes burning into my back.
"was he was right about you only caring about money? do you even have feelings?" bella questioned.
i watched pepper grab her purse.
"pepper." i stared, standing up.
"we're supposed to be friends!" pepper said.
"bella-" mateo said.
"mateo, as always, so quick to defend her! it's so painfully obvious that you have a crush on her, and she doesn't feel the same way!" bella announced.
he glared at her.
"are you more brawn than brain?" bella pouted.
pepper quickly left the room, and i followed after her.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
sawyer was avoiding me.
he thought i was in love with him, which i wasn't.
we were best friends, that was it. i would never come between pepper's relationship, because she's my best friend too.
and now pepper was avoiding me, too.
"pepper, why did you wanna take a break from going out with sawyer?" bella asked, and my attention was immediately drawn to them.
"his lockers so messy! he's like one of those old ladies who has a house full of old news papers, old plastic bags, and old cats!" pepper complained.
i stood next to bella.
"oh, it's you." pepper said.
"i'm really sorry, pepper. i don't like sawyer. how many times do i have to tell you?" i pleaded.
"i don't believe you, cherry. it all makes sense. the amount of time you spend with him, how close you are to him." pepper rambled.
"because we're friends, and we're on the same football team!" i scoffed.
i huffed, fixing my purse and stomping down the hall, heels clicking on the ground.
i kicked open the football locker room door, still stomping.
"what's got you all twisted up?" sawyer asked.
"your girlfriend!" i shouted.
"yeah, she's making me a little frustrated, too. i thought she liked me for who i was." sawyer frowned
i gave him a smile, walking over to the bench.
pepper scoffed at me, and i rolled my eyes, applying another layer of lipgloss.
i turned around, staring at sawyers clean and organized locker.
"what the hell?" i said.
sawyer would hate this.
sawyer walked out, proceeding to get into an argument with pepper about his new, clean locker.
"i thought you liked me for who i am! but apparently, i'm just too messy." sawyer said sarcastically.
"maybe you are." pepper said.
"you know what? instead of being on a break, i think we should just break up." sawyer said.
"i think so too." pepper agreed.
sawyer stomped away, and i followed after him.
"why did i do that?" sawyer asked, his hands in his face.
sawyer missed her already.
"because you felt it was the right thing to do." i shrugged. "gross, that was sappy."
sawyer stared up at me.
"cherry, i-" he started.
"i'm really glad to have you as a friend." he smiled.
"same." i said awkwardly.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
i stood next to bella, going through with the plan we made. bella, to apologize, and me to prove i wasn't trying to come between pepper and sawyer.
"i did the roast last week and what was supposed to be all in good fun, set off a chain reaction that messed everybody up." bella said.
"guys, listen. i know i'm not supposed to feel bad about roasting you, but i do. because all it did was lead to trouble. so we're going to do the opposite. this is the anti-roast. i'm gonna spend the next hour complimenting you all." bella said.
"i'll start. bella's so cheap, she won't let us order off the right side of the menu." coach said.
"coach, this is an anti-roast! you're supposed to be nice." bella reminded.
"i know." coach said.
"okay, i'll start with troy. he's a natural leader." bella walked over to him.
"what? no, i'm not. if i've learned anything this week, it's that you guys are better off without me." troy frowned.
"troy, that's crazy talk." sawyer encouraged.
"you like it better when ricky and luis choose what we do after school. and coach thinks quiet chris, who hasn't said a word all season, should make the team speeches!" troy sat down in the chair.
"but we only made that choice because you told us to pick." ricky said.
"yeah, you're our leader." luis agreed.
"i thought you were going to let quiet chris address the team to help him get out of his shell." coach said.
"which, you did!" chris burst out of a corner.
"yeah, i am a good leader! keep the compliments coming, bella." troy smirked.
"let's talk sawyer. at the last roast, i focused on sawyer being messy. i talked about how he could never throw anything out, and just shoved it all in his locker. but i found out that it wasn't just junk." bella said.
i grabbed sawyers arm, leading him to pepper.
"those movie tickets and restaurant receipts were actually mementoes of every time you guys hung out." bella explained.
i gave her a smile.
"is that true?" pepper asked.
"yeah, that lucky sandwich was left over from our first date. i never wanted to throw it out. i also wanted to finish eatin' it." sawyer explained.
pepper and sawyer made up in a corner, getting back together.
bella spent the next hour complimenting the rest of the team.
"thank you, bella." pepper squealed.
"don't thank me. cherry planned all of this." bella gave me a smile.
"oh. thank you, cherry." pepper said, proceeding to apologize.
sawyer gave me a smile.
he seemed to be looking at me in my entirety.
my red hair laying on my shoulders, pearl necklace sat on my neck, bracelets layered on my wrists.
i was wearing the pretty dress he'd bought me as an apology.
i really didn't have a crush on him.
helping pepper l get back together with sawyer was complete proof that i felt nothing for him.
it was proof we were friends, and only friends.
i didn't like him.
right?