"How can you not like football?"
"Thomas, I'm not going over this with you again."
Thomas rolled his eyes at the flat look I was giving him. I had already told him twice the reason why I didn't like football. I didn't like football because of Sean. He played it all his life, and when he was trying to date me, he continuously asked me to go to his games. I even had to go to some of them because Cassie forced me to. He made the sport completely horrible for me, even when it had nothing to do with him.
And the fact that my ex-boyfriend was now playing the sport did not make me feel any better about it. It made me hate it even more.
"You shouldn't hate a sport just because of a person," he now smirked, as if he enjoyed my past pain. "It's not like you and Sean dated or anything. You were just friends."
He'd never understand what I had to go through with Sean. I didn't think anyone would. Except maybe Blake... but he wasn't exactly someone I was talking to at the moment. Especially about the past.
I was just glad that I could now look at Thomas without wanting to cry. Though they looked alike, he was really nothing like his twin brother at all. They were actually complete opposites. And I was thankful for that. I didn't know what I'd do if I had to deal with someone who looked and acted exactly like Blake.
I had agreed to go shopping with Jane and Thomas. Soon, that turned into going shopping with not only them, but Jaz and Christian as well. It sounded like a fun outing, until I heard what we had to do beforehand.
"I really want to see Blake play," Jane informed me when she saw that I did not want to go see Blake play football. "This is the only time they'll ever have a game during the day. Will you please come with us, Leah? It'll be fun!"
I highly doubted that. I hadn't even liked football in the first place, so this was just another reason to dislike it. It made me really glad that I hadn't made the cheerleading squad, or else I would have had to watch Blake play all the time.
I let out a sigh, giving in to what Jane was asking me to do. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. I mean, if he kept his helmet on the whole time, I probably wouldn't even be able to recognize him.
But oh, was I wrong about that. Even with his helmet on, I could tell which one was him, and not just because his last name was printed on the back. I could just tell.
This was such a bad idea. Was it too late for me to go home?
"Hi, guys!" a voice suddenly greeted, and Mona was now taking a seat behind us in the bleachers, twenty minutes after the game had started. "I didn't expect to see you guys here!"
I wouldn't have been there, if it was up to me. I would have liked to be far, far away from the football field at that very moment. But once again, I was doing things that made my friends happy and me absolutely miserable.
"Who are we even playing?" I had to ask, not recognizing the colors of the other jerseys.
"Nowhere really important. Just Crosspointe," Jane answered with a shrug.
"Our old school," Mona informed me now, and I didn't even bother to tell her that I already knew that she, Blake, Thomas, and Jane had come from Crosspointe. She then leaned forward as she said to Jane, "Do you remember Ian Andrews?"
"Of course I remember Ian Andrews." Jane scoffed, as if Mona was stupid.
Mona grinned. "Do you know he moved back?"
Jane gasped. "He did?"
"He did! And he's playing today!" Mona now explained, pointing to a certain guy on the field that I couldn't decipher. "He isn't on the team, but he's standing in for some guy that got hurt last week. Isn't that sweet of him? He's cute and nice. And obviously athletic. He's everything a girl could ever want."
Wasn't she supposed to be dating Blake? I would have never talked about another guy like that if I was in love with someone else. Sure, I could point out how attractive someone might be, but I wouldn't have gushed like Mona was.
But much to my surprise, Jane was gushing just as much, even though her boyfriend was sitting right beside her. "I know," she sighed dreamily. "He's perfect. Do you think he's still dating Aria?"
Mona shrugged, her eyes never leaving this Ian guy. "I don't know. But they were really cute together. Like the perfect couple."
Usually I wasn't interested in gossip about people I didn't know, and now was no different. I didn't know this Ian or this Aria, so it didn't matter to me in the slightest. Even Thomas looked bored out of his mind, and he knew these people.
"Enough about the pretty boy," Thomas now interrupted, and I silently thanked him for it. "Can we just watch the game?"
It was obvious that he wasn't saying this out of jealously over the fact that his girlfriend was talking about another guy, but out of boredom instead. Obviously, Ian wasn't any type of threat, even though the two girls had just been gushing over him moments before. But I wasn't in any place to judge. And neither were Jaz and Christian, who looked just as confused as I was.
Finally paying attention back to the game, I now saw the ball flying through the air. My breath caught in my throat when I saw that the player who caught it was Blake.
"Go, Blake!" Mona called out from behind me, making me cringe. "Go, Blake! Go, Blake, go!"
"Is she aware that there are other guys on the team?" I couldn't help but mutter to Christian.
He rolled his eyes at me. "Blake has the ball, Leah."
As Blake ran, he turned his head to find Mona. But instead of her, he saw me instead. Then he got tackled.
I automatically jumped up, along with a few other people, since this seemed to be their automatic reaction to when someone got tackled. Mona was standing behind me, but I ignored her. All I cared about was the fact that Blake was on the ground and he was not getting up.
I heard a whistle, and everything went quiet. I could hear the quiet murmur of the crowd, but nothing else as Blake finally sat up off the ground, pulling his helmet off and pointing down to his ankle when someone asked him what was wrong.
"Blake!"
I thought I had been the one to shout it, but I wasn't. I thought I was the one that ran down onto the field to be with him, but I wasn't. Because it was actually Mona who did all those things, and I just continued to stand there in the bleachers in silence.
"Can we go to the mall now?" I asked, looking over at my friends, wanting nothing more than to get out of there. "Blake's not playing anymore and we came here to see him."
Jane bit her lip. "But Blake's hurt..."
"Blake's fine," I scowled, looking away from him and his girlfriend. "He has his own personal nurse."
I didn't dare look at them. I didn't want to see them acting like a couple, or her making his twisted ankle feel better. I just wanted to get out of there before I exploded.
Seeming to notice I wasn't comfortable, Jane nodded. "Okay. Let's go."
I thought going to the mall would make me feel better, but I was wrong. I was glad that I was now away from Blake and Mona, but the pain didn't completely go away once I got into the mall. I still couldn't get Blake being tackled out of my mind, or Mona rushing to his side instead of me.
But why shouldn't she have rushed to his side instead of me? Mona was Blake's girlfriend now, not me. I had no right to go help him when he was hurt. That was her job now.
If Christian ever got hurt, then it would be my job to rush to his side to help him. But Christian hadn't gotten hurt, and hopefully he never would.
I followed my friends from store to store, but split up from them once we were inside a shop. I wasn't very interested in buying anything like the rest of them, so I just preferred to be alone. Even Christian seemed to notice this, so he let me have my space.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get that stupid football game out of my mind. I tried to distract myself with things in the stores, but it didn't help in the slightest. All I could think about was Blake and Mona and Mona and Blake. Nothing else.
I let out a gasp when I ran into someone, and took a step back to apologize to the person. My eyes went wide when I saw that it was Blake.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, though it sounded more like a demand than I wanted it to.
Blake shrugged. "Mona wanted to go to the mall."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. "And you just have to do everything she wants, right?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his eyes narrowing, and I wasn't sure if this was a rhetorical answer or not, so I chose not to answer. I only shook my head and looked around for Christian. Where was he?
"Nothing," I shrugged, even though it was obviously a lie. But all I could notice was how close Blake and I were to each other now, with no one else around us. "It means nothing."
"Hey," a new voice now said, and I let out a sigh of relief as Christian made his way over to us. "What's going on here?"
Blake glared at him. "Nothing. We're just talking."
Christian didn't seem to believe him. "Really, now? Because I find that really hard to believe."
"Maybe you should learn what you're talking about before you mouth off, actor boy."
"Maybe you should just accept the fact that Leah doesn't want you back, football boy."
This seemed to be the last straw for Blake. Even with his injured ankle, he lunged for Christian, pushing him into a clothes rack and knocking it over with them. This immediately got everyone in the store's reactions, including our friends, who rushed over immediately.
"What's going on?" Jane asked me when she saw the brawl going on in front of us.
"I..." was all I was able to say. "I don't know!"
Mona looked terrified; like she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to be doing. I didn't blame her, for once, because I didn't know how I was supposed to stop this fight. I did not want either of them getting hurt, especially when Blake was already injured!
"What's wrong with you two?" I shouted, trying my best to break them apart. "Blake! You just hurt your ankle! Stop it!"
"You're worried about him?" At first, I couldn't tell who had asked me this. I scowled when I realized it was Mona. "Blake's your ex-boyfriend! Why are you worried about him?"
I wanted to hit her, but I knew another fight breaking out would not be the best thing that could happen right then. I was surprised that no security guards had shown up yet, since all the employees looked absolutely terrified.
"I can still worry about Blake's safety, Mona," I informed her rather harshly, very annoyed with her at the moment. "Just because we're not dating anymore doesn't mean I can't worry about him. And just because you're dating him now doesn't mean I can't worry about him either!"
"Christian's your boyfriend now," she just had to remind me, and I was getting angrier and angrier with every word she said. "Worry about him and not Blake! I'll worry about Blake! That's not your job anymore! He has me now!"
"That's it!" I found myself snapping, spinning on her. I wasn't even thinking about what I was doing as I lunged at her, causing us both to fall onto the floor, knocking another rack over along with us.
Mona was in too much of a shock to react right away, and so were the rest of my friends. I was surprised that none of them had pulled me off of Mona right away, but it wasn't like that was what I wanted them to do.
This new fight between Mona and I caused Blake and Christian to completely forget about each other and stop fighting. They just stared at us, their eyes wide. I was really surprised that neither of them immediately came to our rescue.
Or Mona's rescue, more like it. Since she wasn't even fighting back.
"Go, Leah!" Jaz suddenly cried out, but then shut her mouth when she saw the look Jane was giving her. Thomas, of course, looked way too amused for his own look, but this look went away when he saw the look Jane was now giving him.
"Hey, hey!" Deep voices were shouting, and suddenly arms were being wrapped around me and I was being whisked up off of Mona, though this didn't stop me from trying to get back on top of her. At first I thought that it was Christian who had picked me up, but I was surprised to see that it was actually a security guard. "What's going on here?"
Crap.
"She finally cracked," I could hear Thomas mutter over to Jane, who elbowed him right in the stomach.
"I... I... I..." Mona was shaking. She had no idea what to say. I couldn't help but smirk at her. The tears in her eyes. The terror on her face. I had a feeling I hadn't ever had before, and it was honestly really scary.
"There's no fighting allowed in the mall," one of the security guards said, his eyes narrowing at me. "You're going to have to leave."
Still in the mood to pick a fight, my head cocked to the side and an innocent smile adorned my face. "Make me."
Being basically carried out of a mall was, surprisingly, not the most embarrassing thing I've ever had to go through, so it didn't even matter to me that people were staring. Mona, however, looked absolutely mortified.
The boys were being escorted behind us like normal people, but the guards thought we were going to lunge again, so they kept a tight grip on Mona and me. But I didn't really mind that all that much.
They placed us right outside the entrance of the mall, which told me they didn't really care if we were there or not, they were just doing their job so they wouldn't get fired. They didn't even tell us that we couldn't come back or anything. They just put us down and made their way back inside.
Mona looked like she was going to start crying. I was surprised she hadn't already. This whole experience was embarrassing and traumatizing. I wasn't affected by it in the slightest, but she was starting to get really upset by it. And I couldn't help but laugh at her a little.
But I was not done with just Mona yet. I was still angry. I still hated her just as much as before I punched her. Now that we were outside the mall, they didn't care what we did to each other, because it wasn't their responsibility. But I wasn't going to tackle her again if I didn't have to... even though I kind of wanted to.
"This is all your fault!" I shouted at her.
"All my fault?" she scoffed, trying her hardest to fix her hair that I had pulled. "I'm not the one that jumped someone in the middle of a store! That was you! This was your fault!"
Yes, I had been the one to jump her. But she wouldn't shut up over the fact that I couldn't worry about Blake anymore. Even if we weren't dating anymore, I still had the right to worry if he got hurt! Just because we weren't together anymore didn't mean I wanted him to get hurt in the fight with Christian.
"No..." I shook my head, now realizing something. "It wasn't my fault. But it wasn't yours either." I now looked over at Blake, looking him up and down. "It was yours."
Without even waiting for a response, I turned away and stomped off, knowing Christian was going to follow after me.
But he didn't, because I was being stopped before I could even get too far. Blake now grabbed onto my elbow, spinning me around so I was now facing him. I said nothing, he said nothing, and we just stared at each other.
He looked angry. He looked upset. He looked like he was going to kiss me.
But he didn't.
Instead, he let go of my elbow and let me go. I turned away, not looking back as I stormed off away from him and toward where I knew the car was. He didn't try to stop me, and I could hear Christian hurriedly following after me.
I stopped next to the car, since he had the keys and I couldn't get inside. But he didn't unlock it right away, which caused me to spin around and give him a look. But he still didn't unlock the car.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded, his eyebrows furrowing at me.
For some reason, if felt like giving him a smartass remark. So I simply said, "You and Blake were doing it."
"So if Blake and I jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" he asked me now.
I just stared at him. "You did not just say that."
Seeming to understand his mistake, his eyes immediately grew softer. "Leah. I'm sorry."
I shook my head, turning away from him and starting in the opposite direction through the parking lot. "I'm walking home," I informed him, not in the mood to deal with anyone right then.
He grabbed onto my arm before I could get away. "No, you're not." He shook his head, and I refused to look at him. "It's not safe for you to walk home."
"I want to be alone."
"I understand that. I'll drive you home and then I'll leave you alone."
"Fine." I yanked my arm out of his grasp and started back toward the car. "But that doesn't mean I'm still not angry with you."
I knew that he hadn't meant to say what he said. It was an expression; it was an honest mistake. He didn't mean to be malicious or rude. But I was just so angry that I just didn't want to deal with it.
"You know that was a bad idea," he scolded me now, but I wasn't in the mood to listen. "The show's in a couple of days, Leah. You could have gotten really hurt, or you could have really hurt Mona."
I shook my head. "That was kind of the point, you know."
"Why did you do that?" he repeated, now quietly instead of angrily.
I placed my face in my hands. I wanted to cry, but I knew I couldn't. I didn't want him to know how much this all was affecting me. I wasn't supposed to care about Blake anymore. I couldn't cry over him.
But I couldn't control it. I was sobbing into my hands now, but Christian didn't wrap his arms around me and hold me. He wanted an answer before he did anything like that.
"Because... I just... I snapped!" I cried, knowing that this was no excuse to physically attack someone. "I just did it. I wasn't even thinking. She was just driving me so crazy, so I just... I just attacked her!"
This wasn't like me. It wasn't like me to jump someone because I was angry at them. I was the type to verbally fight with someone, not physically. So the fact that I had done this really scared me. The way I had acted after it all happened really scared me. That wasn't me. That was someone else.
"Come on," my boyfriend sighed, wrapping his arms around me and letting me rest my head on his chest. "I'll drive you home. I think you just need a good night's sleep and some time to yourself."
I agreed with him. That was exactly what I needed. But I never thought I'd ever be able to get enough.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today is my third anniversary of the day I joined Wattpad! I really can't believe I joined Wattpad three years ago...
Nine chapters left! The next one's going to be fun. >=D
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)