Playing For Love

by Dana Burkey

“You still don’t believe me, do you?” she asked looking at the three of us. “Well, whatever. I don’t need to sit here and take this. You guys are nothing but a bunch of bitches. I never should've tried to be your friends to begin with.”

  And with that she got up and left our table! She just grabbed all of her stuff and walked over to sit with her sister, who was no longer sitting with Ross and Jordan and their friends. I watched her go and was stunned. She was getting mad at us for asking her about something she had been lying to us about since Thursday. And I had a feeling she was still lying to us even now.

  “Did that really just happen?” Corra asked, still watching where Taylor had gone to sit with her sister.

  “I think so,” I said with a shake of my head. “What did you guys say before I got here?”

  “We told her we saw the photos online and knew she was at the dance and hanging out with Jordan,” Beth explained. “And she told us the party got cancelled. So when we asked her why she told us all about the party yesterday, she didn’t have a good answer until you walked in.”

  “When I walked in she said she made the choice to not hang out with us,” I commented, trying to put all the pieces together. “Why would she lie to you guys one second, and then make up a new lie again when I showed up?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Corra asked with a frown. “She was trying to steal Jordan from you and her plan backfired when he spent more time with you then with her at the dance!”

  “She can’t steal him from me,” I said with a laugh. “He’s not even mind to begin with.”

  “You know what I mean,” Corra smiled.

  “She’s deleting her photos,” Beth said in shock turning her phone to us. “She's deleting all the photos with her and Jordan that Lizzy posted.”

  “Why?” I asked, no longer angry but instead just really confused.

  “She knows her plan failed,” Corra said simply. “She tried to get Jordan to like her, but instead he spend time with you at the dance even without your boobs hanging out of your dress! And now, she realized that no one's going to see those pictures and be fooled by them.”

  “This is so weird,” I said with a frown. “Was she only friends with us until she could use what we said to get Jordan or get better friends or something?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like it at all,” Corra added.

  After that, we tried to move on from the whole thing and spent lunch catching up on everything I missed at school yesterday. It wasn't much, but there were some notes from class I looked over so I'd be ready to go in a few classes I had with either Beth or Corra. It wasn't the most exciting and fun way to spend lunch, but after everything went down with Taylor I wasn't up for anything too crazy. The argument with Taylor bothered me all day. So, on the ride home I knew I needed to get answers from people I could trust.

  “So did you guys hang out with Taylor and Lizzy at the dance?” I asked, then immediately regretted opening my mouth. But then, everyone was silent for so long I worried I had said it in my head.

  “Kind of,” Skyler began. “You’re friends with Taylor, right?”

  “Not really, I guess,” I said with a shrug. “She kind of lied to us a bunch and then was acting really weird at lunch today. When we asked her why she lied to us about missing the dance, she called us bitches then went and sat with her sister.”

  “Oh,” Skyler said. She then looked at Ross, who sort of raised his eyebrows. That was apparently code for something and made Skyler turn to face me head on. “The whole time at the dance they were acting really strange. Trey said he thinks he heard them talking about drinking before the dance. And I overheard Taylor saying some not so nice things about you a few times.”

  “We were going to tell you but didn’t want to make you more upset while you were sick,” Ross explained. “And we had a feeling everything Taylor was doing would come out eventually.”

  “It kind of did I guess,” I nodded. “She acted like we were the ones who were in the wrong or something for even asking questions.”

  “I’m sorry Fi,” Skyler said with a sigh. “We should have said something sooner.”

  “No it’s okay,” I told them. “It sucks that she lied to us, but in a way I’m glad I found out from her. If I;d it from you guys, I might not have believed it or something. This way I got to talk to her about it after I saw pictures online and it kept things from sounding like a rumor or something.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good point,” Skyler agreed. “Hopefully now there won’t be any more drama.”

  I nodded then turned my attention to my phone. I sent a quick text to Beth and Corra letting them know that it looked like Taylor and his sister might have been drinking at the dance and were also talking bad about me behind my back. I was interrupted when a text from Jordan popped up on my phone. It was all of the silly emojies, all in a row. I smiled at them and then looked over at Jordan, who was smiling at me. He had been silent the whole conversation about Taylor, so it was hard to know what he had been thinking.

  I wrote back with a few random emojis as well, and was happy to see it started an emoji text back and forth between us that went on until around my soccer game started! It was weird that he could cheer me up without saying anything, but in a way I think it worked better than anything he would have said really.

  When I got home from school, I changed into my uniform and then did homework until Skyler picked me up. She got me early so we go get hot team for me to sip on while I watched the warm-ups. Sadly I really only got to watch the games just sitting there on the bench. No cheering or jumping around for me. It made it feel like not a real soccer game, but when it was over Jordan still congratulated me all the same!

  “Great game Fabulous Fiona!” he smiled, wrapping one arm around me in a side hug.

  “Thanks,” I laughed. “But hopefully, tomorrow I can actually play some.”

  “Well, if you need more help getting back into it after being sick we could train together this weekend,” Jordan offered. “I could probably use some early training for basketball season anyways.”

  “That'd be great,” I agreed, reminding myself to act calm even at his offer.

  “We can chat about it more later,” he assured me.

  As he climbed into Skyler’s car for a ride home, I happily got into Ross’s car. Even with all the Taylor drama through the day, things were ending pretty okay. I don’t know if I'll play in the game tomorrow or not, but I think even if I sit out it'll be okay since it'll give me a reason to need to take Jordan up on the offer to practice with him. I just hope when we do practice I don’t look like a total idiot. I know he used to play in middle school so there’s no way he is as bad as Ross, so I don't know if he'll be on my level or way better than I am. Maybe I'll try getting in some extra practice on my own before him and I practice just in case. Anyways, I should finish catching up on homework before bed.

  October

  OCTOBER 1ST-WEDNESDAY

  On the way to school, Jordan was more or less busy talking to Ross and Skyler about their physics class and a test they have soon. I used the time to text Beth and Corra since they had an idea to go to the movies this weekend and we were chatting about the best new releases. Once we got to school I walked in kind of with everyone else, but they were still talking about physics so I didn't feel like I was really involved in their conversation or anything. Then, right when we got into the school and Ross and Skyler turned to go to their locker, Jordan turned to me.

  “Good luck at your game tonight,” he smiled. “I have a project I’m working out so I don’t get to be there to cheer you on or anything.”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “And it’s okay. I don’t know if I'll really play much. I have a feeling running isn't going to be too much fun so soon after being sick.”

  “Well, send me updates on how the game is going if you get a chance. Then I can feel like I'm still there watching the game.”

  “Okay,” I grinned, and couldn't have been happier. />
  “See you later,” he said, and with that he turned and walked off down the hall while I turned and went to my locker with a grin plastered on my face.

  Sadly, as I walked in the door of my history class I all but ran into Taylor. She obviously thinks I’m lower than dirt even though she’s the one who lied to me. Or at least that's the way her glare made me feel! It was honestly like a dagger was going from her eyes right to my eyes, and my heart, and brain, and any other vital organ it could get to!

  I looked away immediately and went to my seat, glad we'd been assigned seats alphabetically so I was across the room from her. It also gave me the time to text Beth and let her know about the look Taylor had given me. She didn't reply until right before lunch since she was busy in class and likely not checking her phone, but when she did finally text me it was obvious that she was just as baffled by the whole thing as I was. And, when we filled Corra in at lunch she was on our side right away. It was impossible for us to understand why Taylor was acting this way, and we had a feeling there would be no way for us to understand it anytime soon. I don’t like losing friends, but in a way I feel like Taylor made the choices here to not only damage but also end our friendship!

  The rest of the day I tried not to think about it too much, and was basically just waiting and waiting for the end of the day and my soccer game. I got a few more text updates from Corra and Beth, who were getting death stares from Taylor as well. But thankfully when I got on the bus to the away game, I was able to hang out with Torri and Hayley and Maggie and not think about things too much. Instead, we spend some time talking about the dance and then all sorts of other things. At the start of the season, it was hard for me to open up and chat with the girls on the team, but now they're actually people I considered to be my friends!

  When we got to the game, it was starting to rain a little and it was getting colder and colder outside. That alone made my lungs hurt a lot and even jogging around a little to get warmed up for the game was a problem. Both of my coaches weren't sure that having me play at all was a good idea, but I was determined to help the team! So, I got ready to go and started in the game. I wish I could say that I was amazing and did great and scored like a billion goals! But, in reality, I was coughing so much after about 5 minutes that I was taken out of the game. Then, Coach Heather made me wrap up in one of those shiny heat blankets under an umbrella for the rest of the game. She said she was worried I was going to get sick again, and she wanted me healthy for the games next week. So, I sat there wrapped up like a baked potato in tinfoil wearing a nose mask and cheered the team on to victory.

  I was planning to stay for the second game, but my mom showed up to take me home and get me out of the cold after the coaches made me call her. Some of the girls on the team joked around about how I was lucky to get out of the rain, but I knew it was all in good fun. They could tell I wasn't doing super well, what with all of coughing. So, with hugs from everyone I climbed into the car and headed home. It was then, as I was finally warming up in the car that I remembered that I never sent Jordan any updates.

  “Sorry, I didn’t text you sooner. It started raining at the game so I lasted all of 5 minutes before the cold and wet weather made me a coughing mess. I’m actually heading home now so I don’t get to see varsity play. But JV won, even without me doing anything to help other than cheering!”

  Once I hit send on the text my mom and I started talking about soccer and school and everything else. We chatted the whole ride home and then while we ate some dinner since I only had snacks on the way to the game. By the time I headed up to my room a little bit ago to work on homework, and, of course, write everything down, I kind of forgot about texting Jordan at all! When I checked my phone, though, I saw he had written me back.

  “Stay warm and get some rest, Fabulous Fiona. I’ll let you know if I hear about varsity. Hopefully, they still won even with their good luck charm missing.”

  When I read that, I was kind of shocked! I actually had to look back at my journey entry and make sure, but there it was! I called myself the team's good luck charm just days ago! I have a feeling Jordan said it thanks to the nose guards the whole team wears, but it made me feel like we were on the same page and totally clicking and all that! I sent him a smiley face in reply and ever since then we have been going back and forth sending each other smiles and other funny emoji’s. It’s not helping me get a ton of homework done, but it's making me super happy after the looks from Taylor to start my day!

  OCTOBER 2ND-FRIDAY

  So, I never got around to writing yesterday since there wasn't too much to write about! Taylor's still giving us looks anytime she sees us, and I honestly think she's blaming us for nothing! I mean, how did we do anything wrong when she lied to us?! I'm trying not to think about it or put too much energy into it anymore, though, so moving right along, after school I had a ton of homework and was too busy all night to write!

  Today I at least had the football game to make up for a rather boring day at school. When school got out, we headed home to eat dinner and actually do some homework before the game. I was bummed that I needed to actually take the time to do any work at all, but it was kind of nice to know that Ross also had work to get done. In the end was left just as the game was starting when Beth and Corra got my house. We picked up Jordan on the way as well and literally got out of the car and had to race to The Pit to see any of the 1st quarter.

  I feel like the late arrival should've been a hint that things weren't going to go as planned. By the end of the 1st quarter, we were down by quite a bit, and then Thomas Miller, who is one of our best players got hurt. He twisted his ankle pretty bad and was taken out of the game. From there the game went from bad to worse. We were just losing by more and more at every play, and by halftime it was hard to even stick around and route for the team.

  “Even if they lose we need to show our support,” Skyler mentioned when someone commented about leaving at the half. “We'd hate it if people watching one of our soccer games left early, so I plan on staying until the end.”

  It was clear as soon as she said those words that we would be staying until the end as well. And honestly, it made me really happy in that moment that Skyler was dating my brother. She's really pretty and a great soccer player and everything, but she's also a really nice person who thinks about other people too. I honestly would've been okay with leaving until she said that, but once I thought about it I knew she was right. Staying was the right thing to do, and exactly what I needed to do! And it didn’t hurt that Jordan, who had been hanging out with some friends on the other side of The Pit, decided to stand with us for the rest of the game.

  “You have a game tomorrow, right?” Jordan asked me once he had moved to stand near us.

  “Yeah, in Denton,” I nodded. “Going to be a long bus ride first thing in the morning.”

  “We’re stopping for a lot of coffee on the way to the bus,” Skyler commented, having overheard our conversation.

  “Do you feel like you're ready?” Jordan asked, clearly remembering how little of the game I played on Wednesday.

  “I hope so,” I said with a sigh. “Hopefully it won’t be too cold out so I won’t get my lungs freaking out before I even run.”

  “Just go run around the track a few times tonight and see how your body reacts,” Ross offered with a grin.

  “Yeah, we can all race,” Jordan added with a laugh.

  “Speak for yourself,” Corra said with a scowl. “I only run if there is ice cream at the finish line.”

  As everyone began announcing what they would like in exchange for a run, I couldn’t help but think about the offer from Jordan to train. I needed to find a good time to work it into our conversation, but it was a little hard with everyone else there. Sure, Corra and Beth knew how much I liked him, but what would Skyler think? Or Ross for that matter? Were they aware of it at all? I mean, if my mom could tell, could everyone else see that I liked Jordan so much? Or worse, did Taylor say anything about
it at the dance?

  When the game started back up it was clear the team was ready to put their hearts back into the losing battle. They fought hard, and we screamed louder than ever before. Sadly, though, at the end of the game they were behind by 14 points. It wasn't the first loss of the season, but it was the first one I was there for, so it was a pretty big bummer.

  “I guess you can’t win them all,” Beth frowned on the way to the car.

  “They lost last week too,” Ross pointed out. “And now that Thomas got hurt who knows if they have a chance at the play-offs this year.”

  “Well then, I guess we better make sure the soccer team wins to make up for it tomorrow!” Skyler announced, bumping into my shoulder for added effect.

  “We’ve been doing okay so far this season,” I nodded.

  “What do you mean ‘okay’?” Skyler asked. “This is the first time both teams have been undefeated this late in the season! We might finally have a shot at state again!”

  We were at the cars then, so we loaded up and headed home. During the ride, all I could think about was what Skyler had said, though. I guess I was trying to impress Jordan so much, or just not look like an idiot out on the field that I never really realized neither of our teams had lost yet. I actually took out my phone and checked, but I guess in soccer a tie game is still really good. It’s not a loss, and so in a way it’s like just as good as a win! I didn’t know that, and honestly didn't know if we lost the first few games of the season or not since I was out of town. To make sure what Skyler said was true, I even looked up our season record and sure enough both teams were undefeated!

  “So what happens if you keep winning?” Beth asked once we were back at my house and having some snacks before her and Corra headed home.

  “I guess if we keep winning we could go to state,” I shrugged, not really knowing for sure.

  “Is that like usual for our teams?” Corra asked, knowing about as much about school sports as I did until I check in with Google.