Elise

"Aria?" I called out and heard the lock click before being yanked into the bathroom. The door shut quickly behind me, almost prompting me to scream. The screech was muffled once Aria placed her hand over my mouth. My heart kept beating beyond control until she took her other hand and locked the door again as she let me go.

"Are you insane?" I shouted in a hushed tone.

Aria's eyes shifted both ways. "Maybe?"

I face-palmed at her less than confident response while she stomped her foot and said, "I don't know! What I do know though is that Esmé's trying to go after me."

"You mean that bitch who wears way too much make-up and is like 5'6?"

"Uh-huh."

"Oh you could totally take her." I snickered. "I mean, she's feisty but get a good piece of that hair and down she goes."

"I've already taken her." Aria responded in a hollow tone.

I went from smiling to raising my eyebrows. "Say what?"

"Last Friday." Aria whispered. "We got into this whole thing and she took me out back."

"You fought her?"

"Yep." Aria rapidly nodded. "I thought it would be over but now she's out for blood."

"Oh fuck me." I felt my hands slowly dragging down my face. "Listen, you need to tell her she has no right to do this shit and if she does, she'll be scrubbing toilets the rest of her pathetic life."

"She won't accept it."

"Well she better." I scoffed. "This is our senior year. Our last year in this fucking school. She wants to be all crazy, fine. It's not fine though if she thinks it's cool to beat the shit out of decent girls like you."

Aria stood there silently processing what I just said. Meanwhile, I found myself profusely pacing back and forth only to cringe at the ghastly stench. "Yuck, someone needs to Febreeze this shit."

Luckily, there was a bottle on the counter which I grabbed and sprayed all the way down even if Aria was coughing.

"There." I placed my hands on my hips and stood tall. The smell of cranberries now beautifying the air. "That's much better."

"But what should I do?" Aria asked toward the end of her coughing streak.

"Tell her to fuck off and leave it at that."

"That might be a real bad idea." Aria dug into her backpack and pulled out a bunch of crumpled papers. "You see these are all the threats she's been sending me."

"You're worthless trash. Talk to me again and I'll take you out."

"I can't wait until you're all alone."

"Better sleep with one eye open, puta

"Lay a finger on me again and we'll fuck you up."

"Fucking Christ." I exclaimed when seeing just how vulgar this twisted, little bitch could get.

"And it gets much worse."

I scanned through some pretty nasty messages only to receive more which made me a bit sick inside. "Okay, normally I'd steer clear of law enforcement but this is some serious shit."

"I know."

"So what are you going to do?"

Aria turned away and shook her head. She did this for some time and let out a tiny whimper. She really was scared by all this and I didn't blame her. I found myself sighing aloud as I put the notes on the counter before speaking to her again. "Listen, this girl for what she's worth, is not worth your time. She tries anything, you need to defend yourself by blocking her as much as you can. If you also need backup, I'm around too."

Aria sniffled and said with meek voice, "You are?"

Oh shit, what did I just do? I closed my head and internally kicked myself for not paying attention though I did accept this and told her. "Yeah. I'll be there."

"B-but why?" Aria asked.

I was really tempted to change the subject because the truth was that I didn't know, I just said it. Luckily, I've read enough books and seen plenty of movies to know how to follow up on something like that.

I cleared my throat and stepped forward. "I may not know you in the least bit, but I still think you're pretty sweet. Not to mention, if we're going to be planning this shit hole's events... we might as well get along. Now I don't know about the two blind mice-"

"I thought there were three?"

"And there probably will be." I shrugged. "Either way, I'd rather be your friend than spend more energy hating you. I already hate enough as it is."

"I don't blame you." Aria chuckled. "This world can be pretty bad sometimes."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it."

"Don't I, though?"

She probably did. For all I know, she could be even more messed up than I am. Hell, knowing my luck, I'm probably the least messed up of us four. Then again, Johnny seems to have it made as always. Though I wouldn't expect anything less with guys like him.

Eventually Aria nodded and said, "You know what? I can do this."

"Yes you can." I agreed and patted her on the back. "Now come on. We've got class."

The two of us happily made our way out only to stop cold.

"Ahem." Lyle stood there with a dead look on his face. The glasses he wore only made him look more fierce.

"Whoa." I exclaimed. "Were you waiting here the whole time?"

"She's got my things."

"Oh right." Aria pulled a green draw string bag out of her bag and chuckled. Lyle shot another deadpan look her way before silently moving along.

Meanwhile, Aria turned back to me. "Anyways, thanks for the help."

"You're very welcome. See you around."

"Yeah." Aria nodded. "I'll see you around."

With that, she left and once again I was alone. I couldn't help but sigh before heading to yet another hour of hell. Every hour following was more tedious torture though more rewarding than seeing my brother. It was truly mind-boggling how the fuck my mother thought it was totally fine to bring him back when she knew our history together...I already said goodbye once before and I don't plan to do it again.

I clutched my pencil tighter and scribbled the last of my drawing just as the bell rang.

Time to hide from my family, I smiled to myself and turned in my paper only for Mr. Poe to cut in.

"Can I speak with you for a moment?" he asked.

"Sure." I nodded.

"I've noticed over the years, how much your art has evolved."

"So you've been stalking me or something?"

"I wouldn't say that, more like observing a very dynamic artist."

He pulled out my portfolio and as the drawings were taken out, I turned away. "Please don't–"

"I was really worried about you, Elise." Mr. Poe responded in a calm tone. "I remember before Thanksgiving break, you were so excited for your brother to come home and then something changed."

"Listen, we really don't need to go into this."

"I wouldn't if I wasn't concerned," Mr. Poe said as he put the darkest drawing I had made and today's work side by side. "Notice the similarity?"

"Yeah." I refused to look or I'd fall apart all over again.

"Is there something I should know?"

"Nope." I shook my head and grabbed my things.

"Elise, I understand what you're going through."

"Look, I'm not going to hear this." I abruptly turned and face him. "All you need to know is that what he did, what he put my family-our family through... isn't forgivable. I don't know how she forgave him 'cause I haven't."

"Yet you still cling onto this hope and love. I see it in your art. You want to move forward."

"Well there's something we agree on." I chuckled before walking on out. "Have a good weekend, sir."

Once I was far down the hall, I ducked right into the nearest bathroom. My heart was pounding like it was earlier in the day. I felt myself holding onto the nearest wall and sniffled. What? No... Why was I sad? I already used up my tears on his worthless ass, why did I feel like this?

My eyes were wet and that was when some girls came inside.

Shit, I hid behind the wall sticking out while they went on about whatever.

"So did you hear Haley fucked both Cam and Wes?" Audrey, the head cheerleader asked.

"She does get around." Her friend, Desiree followed up.

"She is so desperate, it's just plain sad." Odessa scoffed.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'd do both too."

Huh, never had that voice before, My nose wrinkled and I poked my head out enough to see a girl with black hair and a purple streak. She had smooth, tan skin and seemed like a pretty decent girl. Unlike the others, her voice wasn't so... condescending nor overly fake and perky.

Unfortunately, they weren't so kind about what she had to say and Audrey flipped her auburn hair and sneered. "Uh, excuse me? What did you say you little slut?"

"I'm just saying, those two guys are drop dead gorgeous. I don't blame her for getting ahead of herself."

"Wow. You must be dumber than I thought. Not to mention, she cheated on her man."

"Hey, you did the same." The new girl fired back. "Did you forget the whole Brendan thing when you were with Seth?"

"Well it's not cheating when he should've been doing more throwing and less blowing." Audrey corrected her. "Yeah, I found that one out the hard way."

"Seriously Kim, that was low of you to say." Odessa berated her.

"You know that's why she can't stand pussies like him and Lyle." Desiree remarked.

Oh hell no, I felt my one hand ball into a fist though decided to back down from confronting them.

Kim responded by saying, "I can't believe you act like this. Seth might be a dick for dragging you around but Lyle's innocent. Plus... he lets you pet bunnies and shit. Not every guy is like that."

"Exactly." Audrey agreed. "But since you get so wet for losers like them, I'm afraid you can't sit with us anymore."

"What?"

That was followed by Desiree pushing Kim to the floor and the other two snickering in delight.

"Bye, bye, you stupid bitch." Audrey waved and strutted away with her girls in tow. Once the door was shut, Kim shook her head and sniffled. That was when I let out a deep sigh and came out of hiding.

Kim gasped upon seeing me. "You heard the whole thing?"

"Yep." I nodded and extended my arm out which she grabbed to rise up. "Jesus, why do you even hang with them? They're awful."

"I know." Kim chuckled and folded her arms. "They literally give us cheerleaders a bad name because the rest are actually so sweet."

"Then why were you with them?"

"The other girls were so busy but these ones weren't. Surprise, surprise." Kim tilted her head back and smiled. "I tried giving them a chance like any good person. They're as shallow as they come."

"Well at least you don't have to deal with them anymore than you need to."

"Yeah..." Kim slowly nodded. "Shit. Oh shit, I'm an idiot."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I promised this girl I watch that I'd attend her soccer game today when I've gotta be at the football game tonight."

"I could fill in."

Kim's head raised and she stared deeply until I shook my head. "I mean from the sidelines. I'd never wear a cheerleader uniform and–"

"Oh I totally get it," Kim said in an understanding manner. "And thanks. You're really helping me out."

"No problem."

Kim dug into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "I couldn't remember who I was supposed to cheer on since it's all fucked up. Anyways, we were assigned a number. Mine's nineteen. Find him on the field and cheer from the side."

Suddenly, Kim laughed and shook her head. "Shit, I never even introduced myself. You probably think I'm a weird stranger."

"Nah, it's fine."

"I'm Kimberly." She shook my hand. "Kimberly Lockhart but most people call me Kim."

"Elise Roswell."

"Roswell?" She paused and put her finger to her chin before pointing at me. "Hey, my sister went to the same college as your brother. I think I even met–"

I put my hand up and briefly hummed a noise. Her eyes gradually went from determined to sympathetic. Their hardness softened to the point she gulped and said, "Oh right... I'm so sorry about what happened."

"It's cool." I smacked my lips and turned away. "Nineteen, right?"

"Yes."

"Great. I'll keep a look out for that lucky guy."

"Thanks again."

I didn't even bother to respond, I just left. It wasn't that she was annoying me, it was that I needed all these reminders of my past to stop. What was so wrong with this day that it had to keep reminding me of shit I e tried to forget? Ugh...

After making it to the bleachers, I stewed about in my misery until I heard more people arrive. They went on about their lives while I cracked open a book that would hopefully take my mind off the noise both outside and inside my head. On the other hand, Fahrenheit 451 wasn't the best choice. Damn, I should've brought the book with that Indian chief. I loved it so much.

Thankfully, my dissatisfaction came to an end once the team rolled onto the field. As they ran through the banner, the cheerleaders squealed and got all acrobatic with flips and kicks. One even did a backflip and the crowd went wild. Not because she landed on her feet but because she caught the ball.

I scanned through each team member on the list and their numbers. Then came nineteen...

"Son of a–" my voice escaped me as he made his way into the field. I sat back and shook my head once he threw the ball to his buddy and threw his fist into the air.

"Someone's full of himself."

I turned to my left and saw a familiar someone as he sat down next to me.

"Oh, hey Dylan." I greeted him.

"Hey Elise." He chuckled. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"What can I say? I'm a whole new girl."

"Really?"

"Fuck no." I scoffed. "Though I did do something weird today. Seriously, I volunteered to cheer for him."

"You wanted to be Johnny's cheerleader? Boy, the world's really turned upside-down."

"I didn't know it was him."

"Of course you didn't."

"Really though, I didn't." I repeated much louder than before. "But it could always be worse. I could be cheering for... other people."

My eyes shifted toward Logan, who seemed to ignore half his team to run the play. In the process, Johnny did his best to hold off the other team though got brought down in the process. I almost felt bad for him. Almost. Surprisingly, Logan got down to the twenty yard line before getting sacked. It was still a risky move nonetheless. Things didn't get any easier over the course of the entire first half. Between a constant change of strategy and the other team always ready to pounce, this was a disaster.

"Yo, I'm out of here." Some tool named Brett Norwood grumbled after the other team scored again for the fourth time.

"Yeah, this blows." Another prick groaned. I couldn't stand this Stanford "Stan" Dlapa. He always acted so angsty and pious.

"Seriously," he whined. "I could even do a better job."

"Then maybe you should've tried out for the team."

"Excuse me?" He turned his head around and looked at me all confused yet pissed at the same time.

I folded my arms and responded back. "You heard me."

"You're lucky you aren't a dude." He grumbled.

"It beats being a girl."

Dylan snorted when he heard that, though it also led to Stan turning his attention toward him. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing."

"Really, 'cause I know you didn't just–"

"Hey, we're trying to watch the game!" this grown adult shouted. "Either zip it or get out of here."

"This isn't over." Stan threatened before grabbing his red baseball cap and storming out.

After he was gone, Dylan burst out in a fit of quiet laughter. "Holy shit."

"I know." I nodded.

"What just happened?"

I was about to answer, when Logan handed the ball off to Johnny who sprinted down the field. He was blazing it up so much, I stood up and yelled. "Go Johnny! You can do it!"

Johnny briefly looked into the crowd though I sat down fast. He then fled down further and made it to the end zone. Johnny smiled so vibrantly as he took off his helmet while grabbing some Gatorade. Once again, he tried searching for me in the bleachers but couldn't because I turned away. Eventually, he went back in position and I watched the game normally once more. With the field goal being good, a stroke of good luck seemed to reign down upon them as they quickly began catching up. In one final play, Logan almost missed his throw when Johnny thrust the other team's main linebacker away. Logan threw it to Cam, ultimately scoring them the win.

The crowd around me cheered. The team applauded Logan for his throw and Cam for his touchdown. Johnny celebrated with them too though I could see this empty look on his face. It was only brief as he shook his head and the team poured Gatorade on the coach and the reporter.

"I'm not the coach!" She shouted before looking down and seeing through her shirt. "Oh."

She saw people snapping pictures and waited a minute before covering herself up. Meanwhile, Dylan was on a roll writing down everything he could.

"What a comeback." Dylan remarked as he scribbled words down on his notepad. "This will sell big time."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Trust me, this is huge! We haven't won a game in awhile."

"Now that I think about it, last year's team sucked." I agreed, remembering the senior class from last year.

"I heard they ousted its best player and then tried getting him back."

"Ha! Karma sure got them good."

"Well it would've been more satisfying if he didn't become the laughingstock of the district."

"True." I nodded. I then checked the time and grabbed my bag. "Guess it's time for me to keep hiding again."

"From who?"

"Family."

With that said, I was gone. Even though there were so many places to hide, I chose the top of the hill overlooking the field. I probably should've ducked inside the grocery store but then I'd be tempted to buy shit I didn't need like candy or a kabob. I really could've gone for one of those right now. Then again, I wouldn't get the nostalgic view that I got from the hill so I sat there and stared into the night sky, drifting off into my own mind.

I let out a sigh and took out my phone. I sent a message to a certain someone before getting lost again, though it didn't last long. Despite nobody noticing me before, I was found.

"What's a girl like you doing out here?" Johnny asked.

While I was tempted to jump off the edge or look back at him, I simply continued looking forward. "Wanted a change of scenery."

He kept striding up the hill until coming to a full stop. "You mind if I join you?"

"Knock yourself out."

"Cool." He chuckled and plopped himself down next to me. He then sighed and shook his head. "It's so weird being out here."

"Trust me, this was the last place I'd ever want to be."

"What changed?"

"My fucking brother." I told him. "Yeah, I used to be so close with him."

"I've been there before."

"What, you had a falling out too?"

"You could say that." Johnny veered away from the subject by the awkward tone in his voice. "But enough about me, what about you? I saw you out there with a book. Are you still a bookworm?"

"Are you still the linebacker?"

"Hey, I'm the main one. I'm important too."

"Yeah, tell that to your team or the crowd."

Johnny snickered to himself. "Damn, you have no chill, do you?"

"With everything I've been through, my tolerance is pretty thin."

"That's shocking."

"How come?" I asked still trying not to look at him.

"Well I sorta pegged you for this silent badass that could handle anything. What could possibly scare you?"

"This is going to sound real pathetic but I'm trying hard not to go home." I told him while staring out at the empty football field. "It's not that I can't, it's that I feel if I do... I'll relive the nightmare I went through before."

"Did he do things?"

"He could've done much worse, but this still stung."

"He really hurt you, huh?"

"Not just hurt me..." I corrected him. "He ruined me. He ruined our family, our fairly good life, and my transition into adolescence yet I still love the bastard. It, it's so crazy how somewhere inside me, I still love him. I don't want to, but I do. He's still my brother even when he wasn't."

"Damn. I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Oh don't be." I sniffled and chuckled again. "Life's filled with all sorts of shit. If we kept agonizing over everyone else, we'd never get anywhere."

"You know it's okay to be open, right?"

"Well do you know it's okay not be an arrogant tool?"

"Of course." Johnny scoffed. "Now if you're talking about disbanding from my buddies, it's not that simple."

"No, I'd never ask you to do that."

"Great."

"Yeah." I laughed in an uneven manner while nodding my head. "But for your sake though, don't fall down that rabbit hole. You'll never come out."

"I already have." Johnny smiled as he nodded. "Why do you think I transferred here?"

"Not enough action in the upper west side?"

"I wish it were that superficial." Johnny jested. "Unfortunately, it's not."

"Life isn't either."

"True that." Johnny agreed as he gently put his arm on my shoulder and stared with me at the empty field. He kept quiet until he patted me and asked. "Hey, I was thinking maybe, uh..."

"If you want to date, I'm not interested."

"Aw hell no." Johnny snickered upon hearing that. "No, I was just wondering since Normack keeps bugging the living shit out of me about plans, if you wanted to meet with our group tomorrow. Logan and I had plans except he cancelled."

"Poor you."

"I know." Johnny nodded. "So, you up for that?"

"Sure."

"Cool." Johnny exclaimed. "Now, I'm assuming you need a place to stay since you're avoiding–"

"Actually, I have a ride waiting."

"You, what?" I finally faced Johnny, who still looked charming as ever with his scruffy hair and smug but cute, face.

I let out a sigh and explained. "I already contacted someone before."

"Oh." He chuckled and nodded. "That's-that's just awesome."

"That's not a problem, is it?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "Besides, I've got other shit to do."

"Really?"

"Yep." Johnny quickly responded as he grabbed his blue duffle bag. "Are you still up to meet tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Great. I'll see you around."

"Yeah." I nodded as he left in a blink of an eye. "See you there."