LIKE YOU MEAN IT
CHAPTER FOURTEEN !

EXCITED CHEERS FROM THE crowds that surrounded them muffled a lot of their conversation. As the Hewitt girl sat with her girlfriend and their friends, Slyvie and Annie, each of them had to basically yell in order to be heard. They were talking about everything and nothing as they waited for the long overdue football game, the one that the towns entire pride rested upon, to begin.

            So far neither team had walked into the field and they'd already been waiting nearly thirty minutes. A sigh of boredom emerged from Nell as she glanced around herself, looking for anything to quell the monotony that was the time spent waiting for a stupid game she didn't even care about. She was almost immediately gifted with the confusing sight of an approaching PJ and Josie.

            She quickly nudged Annie with her elbow and jutted her chin in the direction of the girls.  "I thought they weren't friends anymore." She uttered only to receive a shrug in response.

            A haggard breathing Josie reached them first, taking a knee and gasping for air. She cleared her throat just as she began to speak. "Okay, first off. PJ has something to say to Hazel." This was followed by silence from PJ which caused Josie's head to spin around and glare at her. "The apology. Do the apology. Do the apology!"

            "Okay! I'm sorry that I called your mom a skank." PJ admitted. The fingers of both her hands began to awkwardly intertwine as she pulled and twisted at the flesh. "And I'm sorry for saying that you've no friends, really loud in front of all your friends. And I'm sorry for being an asshole. A lot of the time. Most of th—all of the time."

With a sigh, she continued her apology. "And I do think that it's nice how you always take notes and then you type them up and email them to everyone. And I really appreciate it. Do you forgive me?"

There was a small moment of silence. Then as though it belonged upon her lips, a beautiful smile appeared as Hazel uttered, "Yes."

"I don't wanna interrupt this gorgeous moment but we down have time now cause I got information from a very confidential source that Huntington is trying to kill someone on this team tonight." Josie declared, her voice intense and low as she attempted to stress how important this way.

Annie's brows furrowed. "What are you even talking about, Josie? Nobody's even over there." As she spoke, she gestured down at the completely empty football field.

It was totally barren, vacant of any living soul.

"Oh my god, 'nobody is even over there.' That is obviously a red flag, are we not reading that as a red flag? That is crazy." Josie shifted herself around, her eyes wide and fierce. She was now begging. "Please, Annie. Even though you're a black republican, you are the smartest out of all of us, okay?"

Annie just shrugged. "I mean, obviously I know that. You think I don't know that?" She questioned. Annie knew her worth and it was no secret that she was literally smarter than every single one of them.

Josie's gaze bounced back and forth between the faces of her friends as she desperately pleaded, "Then help us figure this out. We need to stop the game. We need to save them."

The football players of Rockbridge Falls High School were in grave danger and whether the self defence club members liked it or not, they had the knowledge and the know-how needed to potentially save them from bloodshed.

Before Annie could begin to form a reply, PJ suddenly spoke up, recapturing the attention of the group. "Wait, wait. Hang on. Hazel—" she stalled for a moment to stare down at the Callahan girl. "We need a distraction."

A self satisfied smirk slowly pulled at Hazel's lips as her friends all turned to look at her. "Oh, now you want a bomb?" She sarcastically quipped, one eyebrow raised in amusement.

"We gotta go guys." Josie rushed the group up from their seats.

As the rest of the girls began to descend down the steps, Nell couldn't help but glance over at Hazel, look away then immediately look back at her when she noticed that in Hazel's hands was all the things she needed to build her makeshift bomb.

An almost scared sounding chuckle escaped her as she and the Callahan girl walked down towards the football field. "Hazel, babe. Do you just carry that stuff around in your pockets?"

            "Only when my pockets are really deep." Hazel innocently said, shoving one of her hands deep into her pockets to prove how far in they went.

Nell's brows furrowed in amusement. She then leaned over and kissed Hazel upon the cheek before ushering her away. "Just go and please be careful."

A wide and toothy, 'my girlfriend just kissed me' grin appeared on Hazel's lips as she dashed away, bomb materials in hand and more ready than ever to set up their distraction. She planned on using that kiss as an incentive to do her darnedest.

As Nell made her way over to the rest of the club, shuffling in to stand between PJ and Slyvie, she managed to catch the tail-end of Josie's desperate plea to Isabel. "—really hate me right now but the club needs you."

            Isabel stopped in place as a scoff slipped from her lips. "To what, have sex with them?" She sarcastically inquired with a roll of the eyes before turning back to face the cheering crowd.

PJ decided to speak up, hoping that that perhaps if more than just Josie asked that the girls would change their minds. "Guys, we really really need you. We do."

"In your fucking dreams, PJ. Which you don't deserve to have." Brittany sneered at the girl. Her honey coloured eyes became shrouded in darkness. "When you sleep, it should be like, total darkness."

            Everyone's jaws slackened significantly at the anger that had dripping from Brittany's lips. "Wow, fuck." Annie uttered as Nell glanced awkwardly between PJ and the scorned cheerleader. "Yeah, she's pissed."

            "Okay, maybe if you just listened to us." Josie attempted once again to convince the cheerleaders. She failed once again as the football players began to bulldoze in front of them all, the desperate pleas becoming drowned out by the cheers from the crowd. "Isabel, I wouldn't be asking you if this wasn't important."

"We don't have time for this." PJ reached out a hand and gripped at the fabric of Josie's jacket, pulling her away from the dead-end that was the cheerleaders. "Josie, come on."

With no other option, they had to reply solely on the bomb. They all quickly ran down field and began to wave and motion towards the Callahan girl, who was crouched down by a tree at the other side of the field.

"Hazel, it's starting!" Annie cried out, capturing the attention of the groups bomber.

Hazel stumbled to her feet before rushing back across the field, her arms swinging back and forth. Every called for her to hurry as they gestured her over. Their hearts were beating violently against their ribcages, their breathing growing haggard as the countdown to the explosion continued. The very moment that Hazel finally reached them, they all ducked down in a tight embrace to shield themselves from the blast.

Then...nothing. No explosion came and no distraction had been provided. There was no fire, no burning tree. Everything was just as it was mere seconds earlier.

They all slowly lifted their heads in confusion, brows furrowed as they turned to glance back at the unburnt tree. "Hazel, it's not working." Annie uttered.

"For fuck sake." Nell grumbled. She wanted to cry. She didn't even want to save Jeff in the first place and now their explosion hadn't gone off? What the fuck?

As Hazel began to plunge her thumb deep into the big red button on the controller, trying to apply pressure to activate the explosion, PJ suggested, "Maybe turn it off then back on?"

The Callahan girl continued to fiddle with the controller. "Give me space." She demanded, brushing aside all of the hands that kept reaching out to meddle with the device.

            Annie groaned in annoyance. She knew this wasn't going to work. "Okay, Plan B. We need to get the cheerleaders to make out." She informed the rest as she began to rush back to cheerleaders, who had all begun to entertain the crowd.

            PJ was practically pressed right up against Annie as she followed her, asking, "Which cheerleaders?"

            "Hey, guys! Kiss each other." Annie bellowed at the group of girls, who had now begun to look puzzled.

            PJ quickly caught on to the fact that Annie wanted every cheerleader to kiss. She subconsciously nodded her head as she began to pinch both her fingers together and pressed them together, in an attempt to convey what they wanted the girls to do. "Make out with each other!"

            The Hewitt girl added, "Don't be afraid to use tongue!"

            Honestly, they all looked absolutely insane but in that moment none of them cared. They had to find something to distract everyone and stop the game from beginning and what better way to distract a large crowd then playing upon the obsession most had with watching women make out with one another?

              Hazel had taken the initiative to run up onto the bleachers, stopping right ahead of the cheerleaders to animatedly jump up and down and wave her arms in the air. "Guys! Make out with each other!"

"Nell, run up and kiss her!" PJ suddenly demanded, using her hand to shove the Hewitt girl towards the stands. When Nell stumbled and shot PJ an annoyed look, PJ sighed. "We need a distraction, you have to."

Nell's nose turned up in disgust at PJ's suggestion. "Don't use our relationship to titillate the male audience." The raven-haired girl replied with a roll of the eyes before attempting to turn back to the cheerleaders.

She was stopped by the relentless PJ, who absolutely refused to back down. With a scoff, PJ's gaze fixed into a squint of disbelief. "Please, as if you don't wanna jam your tongue down her throat. Just grow up and do it or I'll do it for you."

Was she right? Of course she was and it really pained Nell to have to admit it. She didn't want to submit to PJ's demands but after the threat of PJ kissing Hazel if Nell refused—well, Nell wasn't about to let that happen.

"Ugh, fuck you for being right." Nell groaned out with a deep, heavy sigh. As she began to make her way up to the bleachers and to her girlfriend, she suddenly spun back around on her heel, a glare locked upon PJ. "If you ever touch her, I will break your fucking arms off."

"Noted, now go!" Was all PJ said in reply, using her hands to usher the Hewitt girl away. She didn't take the threat seriously, she wasn't scared of Nell at all.

"Hide your kids cause here comes Huntington!"

The Huntington players, clad in their white and yellow uniforms sauntered onto the field, walking right up to the Rockbridge Falls players. Tension grew at an instant as the groups of hormone ridden boys began to exude aggression towards one another.

As fast as her sneakers clad feet could carry her, Nell ran up the steps of the bleachers, sidestepping away from those in the crowd that had begun to stand in order to cheer. "Hazel!" She yelled out, capturing the exasperated Hazel's attention.

"What do we do?" The Callahan girl asked of her girlfriend, only to be silenced only a second later by the press of lips upon her own.

            Nell leaned herself forward just as Hazel uttered her final word and captured the girl's lips with her own. A squeak of surprise from Hazel was soon replaced by a soft and satisfied sigh as she found herself kissing back, her hands padding against the Hewitt girls body, each place she held not feeling right enough. Their tongues danced together intrinsically. Despite the vibrating sound of applause that emitted from the now gawking crowd, neither girl paid them much attention, both too lost within each other.

            Nell's fingers clenched desperately to the fabric of Hazel's shirt that hung loosely by her hips, unconsciously pulling the Callahan girl as closely as she possible could, their hips pressed so firmly together. One of Hazel's hands had found purchase upon Nell's face, cupping her cheek so tenderly as the pad of her thumb gently stroked her cheekbone.

            "Can we please stop looking at the dyke parade?" The announcer exasperatedly uttered, the man more than likely rolling his eyes. "Who do I have to blow to get this game started already?"

            The groans and sighs from the crowd managed to pull the two from their kiss, both of their lips stinging from the intensity though neither were in any pain, if the grins they wore as they pulled away were anything to go by. Nell allowed her hand to trail up Hazel's body until it reached the Callahan girls hand, grasped it in her own and pulled Hazel along to join the others.

As they stepped into the small circle the group had formed on the sidelines, they heard Josie freaking out. "Look, I found empty barrels of pineapple juice. There is pineapple here."

            Annie's voice wavered. "So, they're gonna poison Jeff then."

            "Where the fuck is it?" Josie cried out. She was freaking the fuck out.

             PJ had become quite jittery as she struggled to figure out where the Huntington players had hidden the pineapple juice. "Fuck, I'm thinking really quick. What if it's in their mouths and their swishing it around and they're gonna spit it out mid-game?"

            "What?"

A grimace pulled at Hazel's face as she said, "I hate to say it, but it might have something to do with their semen."

"Gross." Nell responded with a grimace of her own, her nose turned up in disgust. She most certainly didn't wish to discuss the football players semen.

Josie was growing more and more impatient. She heavily sighed in frustration as she responded, "Obviously, it does not. What is wrong with you?"

"They kissed on the mouth." Slyvie randomly uttered, the girl giddily grinning the widest grin ever as she gestured to Nell and Hazel. "With tongue."

Nell's eyebrows creased together in confusion as she stared over at her green cap clad friend. "You've seen us kiss before, Slyvie."

"Not with tongue, I haven't."

Before any other response could be uttered, Annie, who had wandered off in deep thought suddenly spoke up. "They're gonna spray the field."

"What?" Everyone questioned, their gazes turning to face the republican.

Annie didn't respond. She just began to jump up and down on the spot, almost revving herself up. "Okay, we're gonna have to run. We're gonna have to run!"

She took off running. Then all of the others followed, the muscles in their legs burning as they raced across the field. Cries of frustration tumbled from the lips of some as groans rumbled inside the chests of others.

The Hewitt girl wanted to scream. Saving the life of some football player was absolutely exhausting. "All this to save Jeff!"

"I feel like I have asthma now!" PJ cried out.

They kept running until they reached the two opposing teams. Huntington had managed to get some of the Rockbridge falls players on the ground, using all of their weight to keep them down. Jeff was one of them. Immediately the girls began to kick and push at the bodies of the Huntington players, sending them toppling.

As Josie grabbed hold of Jeff and began to pull him auk and away from the ground, she yelled out, "PJ, cover the sprinkler!"

"I got it." PJ quickly slammed herself down upon the sprinkler, ass first on the nozzle to stop any and all potential pineapple juice squirting free.

Unbeknownst to the girls, while they got Jeff free from the grip of some straggler Huntington players, the rest of congregated at the edge of the field, each and every one of them wearing expressions of utter contempt. PJ slowly rose to her feet as the players began to make their way forward, the desire for blood pulsing in their veins.

Huntington wanted a fight and they weren't gonna stop till they got one.

Isabel, Brittany and Stella-Rebecca had all joined the group. After witnessing the bravery their friends had possessed as they'd risked everything to run onto the field to save Jeff, the three girls knew that what had been screamed at them earlier had been true. The club needed them.

Standing all in a row, spread out to appear bigger and cause fear within the girls, the Huntington players snarled over at them. The one at the front, the ringleader so to speak, pulled off his helmet before his jaw fell and the loudest yell imaginable ripped from his tongue.

A cacophony of battle cries from the girls echoed across the field in response as every single person began legging it. Each girl ran towards the opposing boy, mouths wide as they continued to bellow their anger.

PJ managed to duck out of the way as Huntington's ringleader attempted to swing his helmet at her head. She swung her clenched fists at the expanse of his cheeks once she rose back up, the sharp and bony part of her knuckles colliding harshly against his flesh.

Brittany's hands had blocked each swing at her body before she lifted up her knees and jammed it deep into the football players gut, sending him crumbling to the ground in pain.

Annie had ducked down to avoid being tackled when the cleat clad feet of another player came right for her face. Her hands quickly rose to defend herself, fingers gripping tightly upon the leg before she gnashed her teeth and burrowed them into his exposed calf.

Screams of agony could be heard all the way across the field.

A punch to the face sent Nell crashing to the ground, a cry of pain leaving her bloodied mouth as she thudded hard against the grass. The Huntington player loomed above her, ready to pounce when the Hewitt girl reared back her leg and sent it right into his groin, the sole of her foot violently bashing at his genitals. He whimpered as his balls began to ache and he fell to his knees. She rose to her feet, laid one hand upon his shoulder before ramming the base of her other hand against his nose, effectively sending him to the grass for good.

The sword that the mascot had been carrying fell out of his hands as he ran for his life, crashing to the floor right by Slyvie's feet. As a player began advancing towards her, she realised that this was her moment. She grinned as she bent down to pick up the weapon before lifting it up to swing it at the him. She rose it high above her head, though she had underestimated its weight and was brought to her back in seconds, grunting in pain.

The player stepped towards her just as she gripped the sword above her chest. Before he could back away, the tumbling body of one of his teammates flew into him, through him off balance and right onto the sword. The sharp blade pierced through flesh and bone in seconds, the horrific squelch of muscles being torn and sliced. His body slid all the way down the blade until it reached the hilt.

Isabel's foot had slammed against the chest of one player and while her clenched fist pounded against the cheek of another, both boys falling to the ground. When she caught sight of someone using their body's entire weight to crush Annie against the grass, Isabel took off running, using the curled up body of a wounded Huntington player to get a bounding start before whacking the boy on top of Annie with all the strength she could possibly hold in her fist.

A Huntington player had gotten Tim in a tight grip, using the expanse of his forearm to choke the boy. Using his intensity as a distraction, Hazel rushed up him and bashed him against the skull with a stray helmet she'd picked up from the field. She was breathing heavily as she looked over Tim, staring down at him for a brief moment before moving on to help her friends.

The ringleader had gotten back to his feet and headed right for PJ. He was relentless in his pursuit to get her. He swung, he kicked and all of his hits landed. Blood spewed from PJ's mouth as she cried out as her body banged into the ground. Just as the boy made a move to end PJ for good, his swinging arm was stopped by Brittany who gripped at his flesh with one hand before punching him deep into the eye socket with the other.

Brittany then reached out and pulled PJ to her feet. The two girls then spun of their feet to face the boy, running at him as their fists swung. He managed to dodge Brittany's punch but couldn't just out of the way into to avoid the sharp crabs of PJ's foot against the back of his knee. As Brittany then slammed her own foot against his stomach, PJ swung her closed fist up against the bottom of his chin. Blood flowed from his mouth as his entire body flew back and crashed against the grass.

            Throughout all of their fighting, Josie had taken the task of rushing Jeff to safety from the sprinklers upon herself. With all the strength her body could muster up, she had hauled the boy's flailing body over her shoulder and carried him across the field. Once she reached the sidelines, her legs gave put and both she and Jeff crashed to the ground. Groans escaped them both.

            "You saved me." Jeff mumbled, his gaze that was once filled with contempt towards Josie now filled with complete gratitude. He was looking at her as though she had arranged the moon and stars.

            "You—You're welcome?" Josie questioningly replied, her brows furrowed. As Jeff's hand rose up to clutch her cheek, she swiftly grabbed it and halted its movement. "Oh, no. No."

            The girls had all gathered together in the field, each of them breathing quick gasps to settle their racing hearts and quell the adrenaline that was flowing though their veins. Their clothes were splattered with blood, some of it their own but mostly the Huntington players. Small cuts were scattered across their faces, adorning their lips and cheekbones.

            Hazel rushed over, concern in her eyes as she looked at the group. "Are you okay?"

            "Yeah." The girls all breathed out, nodding their heads.

            Nell found herself glancing around the field, taking in the sight of all the collapsed football players, each of them covered in their own blood. Not one of them was moving. "We didn't just kill all of these guys, did we?"

            Suddenly a player that none of them had noticed came creeping up behind the oblivious Callahan girl. "Hazel!" They all cried out. This caused Hazel to spin around and instinctively stretch out her hands to protect her friends.

            Before the player could lay a finger on any of them, Josie appeared behind him and called out a "hey" which caused him to turn only to be greeted with a kick to the face. The blood from his mouth flew through the air and splashed itself across the group of girls as he slammed to the ground.

            The silence that followed grew tense and awkward fast. The girls all suddenly felt the weight of a crowd full of eyes upon them. They all continued to breathe heavily as they shifted around to glance over at the dumbfounded crowd.

            The sprinklers then came on. Pineapple juice spat at them from all of the nozzles that were spread across the field. Tim, who had been nursing his bruising neck crashed to the ground face first. The tip of his tongue grazed the ground for only a second before he cried out, "It's pineapple juice! Turn it off! Turn it off!"

            After only a few seconds of the juice spraying across the field, the sprinklers were shut off, putting an end to what would have been a severe allergic for Jeff.

            Tim was in awe as he rose to his feet. His jaw had slackened considerably as he stared over at the girls who had saved Jeff. In a slow clap, his hands began to crash together in applause. "Yes! This is the Viking way!"

            "Thank you." Tim continued to cry out in appreciation as the gawking crowd started to also clap. Soon enough the entire audience had started to applaud the sheepishly grinning group of girls, everyone in the stands letting out uproariously loud cheers.

            A wide grin pulled at Hazel's lips as she turned to face her girlfriend, the words, "We fuckin' did it!" excitedly falling free from her lips.

            Nell giggled in response, her eyes taking in the splatters of blood that was painted across Hazel's face. She'd never looked so beautiful than in this moment. "Hey, look. I know we just, you know, murdered a bunch of boys but this seems like a good time." She began with a half grin. When Hazel nodded her head, signally her to go on, Nell then admitted, "I really freaking love you."

            Hazel chuckled as her eyes lit up. As the cheers from the crowd continued to echo across the field, Hazel found herself replying, "I lov—"

            Only to get cut off by an approaching Slyvie who was screaming at the top of her lungs. "Yes! Yes Queen!" The intense volume of her voice scared the hell of the two who quickly smiled at their friend.

            The Callahan girl quickly turned back to Nell, leaned forward to press a soft peck against her lips before uttering a confession of her own. "I love you too."

           Pride for their town's victory had enveloped everyone in attendance. Football players and the cheerleaders had run onto the field, each of them yelling out in joy. Then out of absolutely nowhere,

            Bang! Crash! Fire everywhere!

           The bomb that had been set up by Hazel suddenly detonated. Silence fell across the whole crowd as their gazes shifted to watch as the flames grew wild and the burning embers danced in the air.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

jamielee's thoughts.
chapter twelve. not proofread.
this fic is finally over! dudes i hope everyone liked nell and Hazel's relationship. they said I love you which is cute and killed a bunch of boys which is so slay of them. anywho I hope you enjoyed :)