Crushing on the Enemy (3 page)

After a moment of silence his dad spoke again.

“The coach kick you in the shin for screwing up or something?” his dad laughed.

“Screw off!” Jake retorted and stomped into his bedroom.

He stopped short of closing the door and returned to the kitchen. Jake snatched the classifieds off the table and returned to his room. He knew he had to direct his anger into something useful or he would have to endure another restless night of sleep.

He thumbed through the classifieds and circled anything that looked like something he might be able to do. Even if he had to work late nights and weekends, he was going to have the money to get the hell out of this town when he graduated college.

Alyssa's dreams were filled with images of Ryan, Katie, and most surprisingly the Rattlesnake player who had retrieved her pom-poms. His blonde hair and blue eyes haunted her. Alyssa knew she should be grateful that he had retrieved her pom-poms before they were destroyed by the stampede of fans, making their ways to their cars.

Quietly, she climbed from bed and crept silently downstairs to get them. Her mom was already up and making breakfast.

“Hey, honey,” she said quietly.

“Hi Mom,” she yawned.

“Are you okay?” her mother asked.

“I'm fine,” she said turning to head back upstairs.

“Did you lose the game?” she asked.

“No, we won,” Alyssa said and sprinted back up the stairs.

If her mother had came to her last night and asked what was wrong, Alyssa would have poured her heart out, but this morning the wound felt raw. She didn't want to think about it, much less talk about it. In fact, she had decided that she was going to live the rest of her life pretending it didn't happen.

Alyssa dropped her pom-poms into the sink and cleaned them slowly, making sure that every last strand was perfectly clean. If she had to pay to replace them, her mother would kill her. Pom-poms were quite expensive after all.

After she finished with them, she turned her attention to her uniform. The butt of her skirt was dirty from sitting on the concrete. Usually her mother took care of her uniform, washing it by hand for her, but this time Alyssa wanted to do it herself. After all, if she cheered in college her mom wasn't going to be there to do it for her.

The work occupied Alyssa's hands, but not her mind. Hot tears fell down her cheeks as memories from the night before surfaced.

“Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!” she said and turned the water off.

She slid down the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees. She had spent three years dreaming of the day Ryan asked her out and it had only been a joke.

“I bet Katie put him up to it,” she sobbed, “she's mad because I'm head of the squad and she's not.”

A knock on her bedroom door startled her.

“I'm not hungry!” she called.

“I've brought it to you,” her mother answered through the door.

“Fine!” Alyssa sighed and forced herself to her feet.

She straightened her brown hair and wiped away her tears the best she could. There was no use in trying to act like she wasn't upset, because her mother wasn't that stupid. Actually, she didn't think her mother was stupid at all. She just chose to ignore when Alyssa needed her. The thought made the beginnings of anger stir within her belly.

“This isn't her fault,” she sighed as she walked to the door, “so, don't take it out on her.”

“Thanks, Mom,” she said taking the plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.

“Can I come in?” her mother asked.

“It's not a good time,” Alyssa said.

“I'm worried about you, darling,” she answered.

“I'm fine,” she told her.

“Then tell me what's going on,” her mother plead.

“Ryan made a fool of me,” she said trying not to cry again.

“Is that why you're fighting with Cody?” she asked arching a graying brow.

“What?” Alyssa demanded, “This had nothing to do with him! The world doesn't revolve around that jerk.”

“He's not a jerk, Alyssa,” her mother retorted, “I expect you to give him the same respect you would give me.”

“Respect is earned!” she retorted, “He's not my father! As soon as you let him move in, he tried to step right into Dad's shoes!”

“He has not!” her mother snapped, “He's trying to be a good parent!”

“Then maybe you should have him a baby, because he's not my dad!” Alyssa said and handed the plate of food back.

She shut the door and stormed back into the bathroom. This weekend was going to be a long one. She picked her cellphone off the counter and thought about trying Mattie's old number to see if it was still the same, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She had gotten herself into this mess and she knew she had to clean it up alone.

Alyssa spent most of the morning doing her book report and finishing her other homework. Her fingers tapped away at the keys as if she could rid herself of her sorrow if she typed quickly enough.

The afternoon seemed to drag on forever and Alyssa paced. She thought about going to the field to run laps, but what if someone else was there? Could she look them in the eyes? She finally forced herself to get dressed and head to the field. Alyssa refused to spend the next year avoiding people just because Katie had some fun at her expense. Her revenge would be to live like nothing ever happened, even if she felt like she was dying inside.

To her dismay, Katie and Ryan were already at the field running laps together. She could hear his breathless chuckle from the gate. Alyssa almost lost her nerve and went home, but she couldn't imagine spending the rest of the day locked in her room avoiding her mom and Cody. Running usually cleared her mind and she hoped that today's run would be no exception.

She jogged enjoying the feeling of her running shoes hitting the pavement. The sound they made was soothing to her wounded heart. Something was still normal and it made her smile. She quickened her pace until she was running at full speed, but soon regretted it. Her paths crossed with Ryan and Katie who were playfully pushing one another. She rolled her eyes and ran passed them.

Alyssa kept her head down as she began her second lap. When she passed the pair again, they had barely made any progress. For a moment Alyssa thought about tripping Katie, but then decided against it. She didn't want to sink to Katie's level.

“I heard you were out in the parking lot with one of the snakes, Alyssa,” Katie called after her.

“Shove off!” Alyssa called back.

“I guess it makes sense. You're a loser, he's a loser, so you should do well together!” Katie laughed.

Alyssa cringed and flipped them a bird when Ryan's chuckles joined Katie's giggles. She sped up even more forcing her tired muscles to run faster. Hot tears streamed down her face as she ran to her car. What else was going to go wrong?

She drove home and parked her car. Alyssa hesitated before getting out because she could hear angry voices coming from inside. What in the hell were they arguing about now?

“I'm going to the mall,” she said to her flushed reflection in the rear-view mirror.

She wondered around the mall for a few hours before her stomach began to growl. Alyssa made her way through the Saturday crowd to the food court. As she sat alone eating her tacos she realized it was the first weekend she had spent alone since becoming a cheerleader.

“This sucks,” she thought to herself.

Mattie walked by with her mother, but didn't make eye contact with Alyssa. It pained her, but she didn't blame her ex-best-friend for ignoring her. After all, she thought, what comes around goes around.

She was about to leave when a boy joined her table. Alyssa's eyes grew wide when she realized it was the boy from the parking lot.

“Go away!” she hissed.

“Are you always this foul tempered?” he laughed.

“No!” she snapped, “Just go away.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because everyone is already saying were an item,” Alyssa said.

“Why do you care what they think?” he asked.

“Because it's bad for school spirit for us to be seen together,” Alyssa sighed.

She took a deep breath and stomped off leaving her trash behind. Usually, she had better manners than that, but today just seemed to be getting worse by the second. Alyssa went home and made her way upstairs. She could see that her mother had been through her things. Usually she would storm downstairs and raise hell, but today she was too tired and felt too defeated to do anything more than cry. She didn't understand why her mother felt the need to go through her things. She never caused trouble in school and always kept her grades up. She never sneaked out to meet boys or go to parties, but yet her mother and Cody made her feel like a criminal everyday of her life.

Jake was more confused than ever about the girl's behavior. He had been happy just to see a familiar face, even if it wasn't a friendly one. Usually the mall wasn't a place Jake enjoyed going, but today anywhere was better than his house.

It entertained him that all it took was a few seconds of talking to someone in a parking lot for people to assume you were dating her. He chuckled to himself.

“I could do worse,” he mused.

Although he wasn't sure he wanted to date a girl who was caught up in what her 'friends' thought of her. Although, he guessed that he wasn't being very fair to her. She had been quite upset the night before and he knew from watching his mother that girls don't recover from emotional situations as quickly as guys did. Anyway, the girl wasn't his concern. She most likely had just gotten into a fight with her boyfriend and they'd kiss and makeup on Monday, or at least Jake hoped so, because if he was honest with himself he hated to see a pretty girl cry.

He ordered some tacos and ate them slowly. He hadn't told his dad, but shopping and tacos weren't his real motive for coming to the mall today. He was putting in applications at the sporting goods store and a couple of the restaurants. Jake knew that his father wouldn't be happy about it, but he would just have to learn to deal with it.

Jake could hear his father's probing questions even now before they talked about it.

“What girl are you trying to buy a ring for?”

“Who are you saving up to run off with?”

“Is she really worth it, son?”

Jake hated how his father would often reflect his emotions onto him. Just because he had been girl crazy as a teenager, didn't mean Jake was. Actually, most of the time girls confused him. There was no understanding the female gender. A few girls had shown interest in him in the past, but it quickly faded away when they found out that he didn't want to get serious with anyone until after high school. One had even broken down and cried. It was a dirty business dealing with girls and their emotions.

It was still early in the afternoon when Jake finished eating and he didn't want to go home yet. He sent a quick text to Craig to see what he and the guys were doing tonight. His reply made Jake laugh, because surely it must be a joke.

“We're going to TP the Panthers' football field!!!!! lol”

“R U serious?” he text back

“Yep, U should come with us,” Craig answered.

“I don't think so,” he wrote back, shaking his head.

His teammates were out of their minds if Craig was being serious! They could get arrested for vandalism!

“Come on, chicken!!” Craig text back.

“No!” he replied.

He turned his phone off and left the mall, heading towards Craig's house where the guys usually hung out on the weekends. Usually, his parents both worked most of the time, so it was a convenient place for the team to chill.

The lights were all out and the door was locked, which usually meant no one was home, but Jake knocked anyway. When no answer came he knocked harder. He banged until his knuckles were sore before he gave up.

“Damn it to hell, guys,” he swore under his breath, “the coach is going to kill you if you go through with this.”

Jake got back into his truck and drove back towards the Panthers' territory. He'd just have to make it to the field before the rest of his teammates to ensure that he was there in time to stop them. Jake didn't understand how anyone could be so dumb!