~ ~ ~
The week went on more pleasantly than I expected. After my dramatically awkward ending to dinner at Jaxon's house on Tuesday, I hadn't expected him to even acknowledge me, but he did. I'd spent Wednesday and Thursday at his house after school and, even with his distracting family, we managed to completely finish our project.
I hated to admit it,but Jaxon was not as irritating to be around as I once thought. I thought about how I would explain that to Melanie, but there was no way that she would believe me.
At first he was a complete asshole, so she would need some convincing. But lately, he'd been more friendly and the jokes that he made were exactly that: jokes.
With everyone sort of on my side, a new plan formed in my head. Rather than ruining their lives, it would be easier to just become friends with them. That way when I left, Melanie wouldn't have to worry about being tormented.
Except for Hanna. That girl needed to be brought down.
It was Friday now and I felt lighter than I had at the beginning of this week. I was content as I walked the halls towards my final class of the day, which was art. I seemed like with my new plan, things were going to be a lot easier.
I walked into the classroom and set my stuff down in my normal spot, taking a seat in the stool. Madison and Rhea entered the room moments after me and sat down as we waited for class to start.
"Okay, you guys I have a serious question for you." Madison waved her hands at Rhea and I to get our attention.
I looked at her in amusement as she fought the smile coming onto her face. She tried giving us a serious look before she began speaking.
"Why don't they play poker in the jungle?" She asked.
Rhea and I rolled my eyes at her. Of course it was one of her bad jokes.
"Why?" I asked.
She snickered slightly before answering. "Too many Cheetahs."
"Why did I ask?" I questioned to no one in particular.
"That was a horrible joke." I turned to find Braden, a friend of Jaxon and Cameron's, shaking his head in mock disapproval at Maddie's awful joke.
"It was kind of funny." I defended her.
"I have a funny joke for you guys." He grinned and leaned against our table. "Why didn't the toilet paper cross the road?"
We remained silent and his grin widened.
"Because it got stuck in a crack." He revealed.
I couldn't help the small chuckle that came from my mouth.
"That was so stupid, Braden." I told him.
"My joke was funnier than that one." Madison mumbled, though I did see her grin at his punch line.
The rest of the class entered and Mrs. Ryden started class.
"Alright everyone! I think, since it's Friday, we all deserve an easy assignment, yes?" She asked the class and we all agreed. "Great! So the only thing I want you to do is, in the medium of your choice, write your name. I know it might be a little hard for some of you, but if you forget the spelling it's right there on your school ID!"
We laughed before everyone went over to the cupboard of supplies.
"You can paint it, draw it, color it, whatever! Just write your name. This is an easy assignment so at least try and make it pretty. When you're done, I don't care what you do, just stay in the classroom." She finished talking before going over to her desk.
I got a piece of plain white paper from the pile and a pack of markers before going back over and sitting down. It took me two minutes to finish writing Melanie's name in cursive and I even added some girly hearts and stars.
Madison and Rhea had done similar things with their names and we were all done and just sitting at our table, conversing.
"Hey Melanie," someone called and I looked over to another one of Jaxon's friends. His name was Alex.
"Yeah?" I asked him.
"We're doing some practice today for tryouts. You should come." He suggested.
I remembered Jaxon telling me about this. It was conditioning. There would be a lot of running and footwork drills.
"I'm not trying out." I told him. I'd grown close to some of the sporty guys in this school through my actions in P.E. and they'd been trying to get me to go out for the team. I made it clear though that I had no interest in it.
"I know, but you'd be a lot of help. The freshman usually have a hard time with ball control." Alex said.
I thought about it for a minute.
"You should come."
I looked over at Jaxon who had spoken. He had a sincere look on his face.
"Well fine, since everyone if practically begging me to come." I said dramatically.
"Okay, get off your high horse, Melanie. I only invited you because it's Friday night and I just knew that you had no plans." Jaxon responded.
"I'll have you know that this is the first break in my calendar in months." I lied. I didn't have anything planned all weekend. I'd been staying at my own house, since I spent after school hours with Jaxon, and Melanie was at her own house. Her parents had come back from their last business trip and she was spending time with them.
I didn't mind going to their practice tonight. In fact, I was almost looking forward to it.
The rest of the period went on with the whole class in one discussion. It was fun, everyone was so different in personality.
When school ended I told the guys that I'd meet them on the field and I said goodbye to Maddie and Rhea. I walked to the locker room where I changed into my P.E. clothes. There were a few other girls in there doing the same. I assumed that they were preparing for practice as well.
Out on the field there were at least forty people. It was quite a turn out and I immediately understood why the captains were calling me in for help. I wasn't going to be modest, I knew that I was good at soccer. I'd even played on a team in middle school, but I stopped when my parents kept missing my games for work. You lose some of the joys of playing when there's no one there to cheer you on.
"Everyone, come over here." Jaxon's loud voice boomed over the field.
Some of the players looked scared, some looked excited, and others just looked cocky.
"We're going to start off with something easy. Four laps around the field. After that we'll be doing drills. I'll split you into four groups and you'll each get a captain to work on technique with you. We'll rotate groups so that you get to practice a little bit of everything, then tomorrow we'll scrimmage." Jaxon spoke with authority and no one questioned him.
We all started running laps, Jaxon, Cameron, and I were at the front of the group while Alex dropped back to help encourage the laggers to keep up. After the fourth lap, most of the players were out of breath as Jaxon started splitting everyone up.
He sent a group with Cameron, one with Alex, one with me, and kept one with himself. I grabbed some small orange cones and gestured for my group to follow me to an empty space at the other side of the field. Two of the girls were far behind the rest of us because they were busy staring at Jaxon while he explained something to his group.
"Come on ladies! If you actually make this team, you'll have plenty of time to stare at him." I called loudly. Everyone turned to the girls who quickly caught up with their cheeks reddening. Various chuckles went around the field.
I started them off with simple passing drills, then we worked on juggling and ball control. There were some really talented people out here, and some who were struggling. I showed them technique and slowly they started to improve. We switched groups after every twenty minutes or so and soon, I had my original group back.
I told everyone to take a break and they all sighed in relief. I saw Jaxon jog towards me and I walked over to meet him.
"Hey, how's your group looking?" He asked me.
I glanced back at the players. Most of them were sitting in the grass, talking while others stood off playing with the soccer balls.
"They're doing really well. Just tired." I answered
He nodded. "Yeah, the other groups look that way too. I think I'm going to wrap it up for today." He glanced at the sky where the sun was starting to set. It would be dark soon.
He called everyone over again into a circle and announced that this practice was over. He told them how good they'd done and also gave them tips to take home with them. He announced when the scrimmage would begin tomorrow and let everyone leave.
"I'd really suggest coming tomorrow. It's great preparation for tryouts on Monday." Jaxon finished.
As everyone dispersed he turned to me. "Me, Cameron, and Alex are gonna go get something to eat. Do you want to come?"
I smiled slightly but someone cut me off before I could answer.
"Uh, hey Jaxon." We both looked over at the brunette who was twirling a strand of hair around her finger and batting her eyelashes at Jaxon. She looked about fifteen.
"What's up?" He asked her.
She blinked rapidly. "Oh, I was just wondering if there was anything extra that I could work on to make the team. Like extra practice and stuff."
He raised an eyebrow and she blushed deeply.
"It's hard to know after just one day. How about I let you know after the scrimmage tomorrow?" He suggested.
Her face lit up like Christmas and she nodded eagerly.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow!" She flashed him a smile before skipping off to where her friends stood.
I waited until she was a good enough distance away before I started laughing. Jaxon rolled his eyes.
"Are you coming or not?" He asked trying to ignore my laughter.
I calmed myself down before nodding. "Alright, let's go. Unless you changed your mind and you want to take your number one fan out?"
"Shut up." He said, but I could hear the amusement in his voice.
We didn't bother changing before we met the other guys in the parking lot. They told me to meet them at the pizza parlor in town and I agreed. We all met outside the restaurant before going inside.
We agreed on two large pizzas, one pepperoni and one sausage. Alex went over to the counter to place the order while we found a table. It was only a minute before Alex came back with four empty cups and a pitcher of soda.
"So Jax, who was that freshman following you around all day?" Cameron asked with a grin.
Jaxon shook his head in annoyance. "Which one?"
I laughed. "I think he's talking about your number one fan. You know, the girl you promised extra practice to."
"Extra practices?" Alex wiggled his eyebrows.
"I did not-"
"Yes, you did." I deepened my voice. "I would love to give you some advice after the scrimmage tomorrow."
"That is not what happened, Mel." He tried to sound stern but he eventually joined in with all of our laughter.
The server came up beside me and placed the two trays on our table. I glanced at him to find that he looked extremely familiar. My eyes wandered down to his name tag before widening.
I lowered my gaze immediately and stared at my plate. I hoped that it had been long enough that he wouldn't recognize me. He never called so I figured that he hadn't actually been that interested.
I felt my nervousness build when he didn't leave right away.
"Do you guys need anything else?" He asked.
"No we're good, thanks man." Cameron answered.
I wished that my hair wasn't secured in a pony tail, then maybe I'd have some coverage of my face.
"Brynn?" I froze by kept my gaze down. Maybe if I didn't answer he would leave.
"Brynn?" He repeated and I winced, looking up finally.
"Sorry, who?" I asked, playing dumb.
"It is you. Do you remember me? Todd?" He asked me with a hopeful expression. "You dyed your hair. It looks really good. Sorry I never called, I accidentally left your number in my shirt pocket and it got washed."
I pressed my lips together and tried not to let my face show any emotion.
"Sorry, I don't remember you." I shook my head and tried to look convincing. The guys kept sending me questioning glances.
"Ouch." Todd laughed a little. "I thought I was at least a little memorable. Well, it was nice seeing you again anyway."
He walked away from the table and I dropped my head to avoid the guys' gazes.
"Um, what was that about?" Jaxon asked.
"What was what about?" I grabbed a piece of pizza off of the tray and took a bite from it. I took a drink of soda right after since the pizza was still hot and it burned my tongue slightly.
"Who's Brynn?" Cameron asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know. Obviously not me."
"He seemed really sure that it was you." Jaxon pointed out.
They all stared at me. I could tell that they weren't going to believe my 'I've never seen him before' story.
"He delivered pizza to my house once and asked for my number." I shrugged again.
"So, you gave it to him?" Alex asked.
"No, I gave him a fake number and a fake name." I lied.
I let out a relieved breath when they all started laughing. I was grateful that they bought it so easily.
"That's harsh, Mel." Cameron said.
I grinned and took another bite from my pizza. That was easier to avoid than I thought. I felt extremely at ease with these guys, like I had been friends with them my whole life. It was hard to believe that Jaxon and I were so against each other in the beginning.
I would definitely have to try and convince Mel that he wasn't that bad.
We finished off both pizzas after about an hour. Well, the guys did anyway. I stopped after three pieces but they continued to devour everything.
At the end of the night I said goodbye to the three of them and walked over to my car. I stopped short when someone called out to me.
"Hey, Mel, wait up." I turned to Jaxon who was jogging to me from his truck.
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to be at the scrimmage tomorrow?" He asked stuffing his hands in his pockets.
I tilted my head and thought about it before shrugging. "Why not?"
He nodded and gave me a small smile. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yep, see you then." I returned his smile before getting into my car.
I was almost disappointed to go home. I hadn't seen Clara, Maeve, or Marina all week. They'd been at my house so much before that they were falling behind in their homework packets. They were at the independent school with me but if you didn't stay on track, your homework really piled up.
My house was empty right now but I put on a smile, knowing that I at least had something to look forward to tomorrow.
~ ~ ~
Hey guys!
Here is an update :) I hope you guys liked it.
I'd love to hear what you think so please COMMENT and VOTE!!
Along with this chapter I would like to announce that I have put up the prologue for my newest book. It's called Daisies and I would really appreciate it if you guys would go on over and check it out.
Thanks so much for reading!
Until Next Time.....
~Lori~