This is the end! Yaayy [:
I sighed as I walked into the church’s lobby for basketball practice. Britini ran up to hug me with a huge smile. I smiled, I guess it was a sad smile, though, because Britini stopped and looked at me worriedly.
“Are you ok?” She asked.
“Drama on top of drama is getting to me” I answered wearily.
She hugged me, “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it!” she said, smiling brightly.
I nodded, “We should go in. It’s going to start soon”.
She nodded and we walked in, in silence.
Nicky saw me and gave me a silly smile, I gave her one back.
“Six laps around the gym” Coach Hannah said, looking at her watch.
We all lined up at the baseline, and the workout started.
"Water break!" Coach called out. We all jogged over to our water bottles on the other side gratefully and started chugging.
“Um, Nie?” I heard a soft voice ask as I set my bottle down, my eyes grew wide with shock at the voice.
“Ye- yeah?” I asked, spinning around to face Alyssa.
“I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for being a jerk.” I started, but she continued, “I said we could keep being friends, but I totally ignored you. I’m sorry,” she finished, looking at me.
‘She’s looking, at me. Gosh, it’s been forever since she did that. It’s been forever since she talked to me. Oh man, she wants to be friends again! Like, totally start over. Wait, what if it’s the same as last time and she continues to ignore me? I really don’t think I could handle that. Does she mean it though?'
Out loud I asked, “Are you sure? Take your time. I don’t want you to feel forced or anything.”
She nodded, “Yeah. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t want to, nobody’s forcing me.”
“Oh.” I felt stupid, of course no one would force her, and even if they did she probably wouldn’t. That’s just Alyssa. I smiled hugely, feeling like I was walking on clouds.
I was about to say something, but Coach Hannah brought be back to reality, “Annie, Alyssa! Let’s go!”
“Sorry!” We replied, running to where the rest the group was.
"Go grab your waters and stretch." Coach Hannah said, indicating that practice was over.
I grinned at Nicky, "You're acting weird!"
I laughed, "Dude, Alyssa said she wanted to be friends again!"
Nicky's eyes widened, "No way! She didn't tell me." She said, pretending to pout.
I grinned, "I can't believe it though! I thought she hated my guts, and never wanted to talk to me again!"
She was about to reply, but her mom's call to 'hurry up', interrupted her. She grinned, “Bye Nie!” Nicky said, jogging out the door.
“Eep!!! Wait!” I exclaimed, running after her to give her a hug, and secretly hoping for one from Alyssa.
“Cya tomorrow for theology, Nie” Alyssa said with a smile as she came up to hug me.
I smiled enormously, “For sure!”
“Annie, your mom’s here!” Nicky said, popping her head back in like something you might see on a cartoon.
“Sweet, thanks!” I replied giggling, “See you ladies later!” I said, waving to the girls who were still there.
“Bye!” Britini, Miranda, and Allie replied, waving.
‘Now the only thing to deal with is Hayden. That won’t be hard. We pretty much had the crappiest relationship ever.’ I thought as I made myself a PPJ sandwich for dinner. ‘Alyssa forgave me! We’re friends again!!!’ I thought with a huge smile.
“Why are you smiling creepily at your sandwich?” Tony asked, in a bored and slightly depressed voice.
I grinned, “Alyssa and I are friends again!”
He shrugged, “That’s great. What’s for dinner? I’m starving!”
I held up my peanut butter jelly sandwich. He looked and sighed and looked down.
“Something happen with you and El?” I asked, knowing that he only got this depressed when something happened between him and El.
He nodded, “She’s basically ignoring me.”
“Crap!” I exclaimed as I dropped my peanut butter knife by my foot, “I thought you guys were doing great, what happened?!”
“You okay?” He asked. I nodded and turned to the sink to wash the knife. He sighed, “We are fine! At least, we were. I don’t know what’s wrong!”
“I don’t know, we didn’t really talk much while Alyssa and I didn't, especially about relationships.” I explained, feeling terrible for him.
He sighed again and walked away.
‘Something’s going on with him and El? Last time I checked she was totally in love with him, and I know he’s totally in love with her! It’s hasn't even been a year, what happened?’I thought as I nibbled on my PP&J.
I didn’t have any nightmares about Alyssa for the next few nights; I had nightmares about El and Tony.
“Look at this match making list we made up!” Alyssa exclaimed as she came up to hug me at youth that Friday in the auditorium.
“Another one? I thought we were only going to do this, like, once every six months!” I laughed, sitting down on the couch.
The match making list started at our youth winter camp. Nicky, another friend, and I spent the weekend in the same room, and we came up with a list. We matched all the people we could think of from our youth, and decided, since there were other people coming to youth, we’d remake it every six months.
“There’s, El and Brandon-” Alyssa started, till I cut her off.
“El and Brandon? What about Tony?” I demanded, surprised.
Alyssa and Nicky exchanged nervous glances and El became suddenly interested in the floor. “I kind of like Brandon.” El explained.
“I don’t mind that you like another person beside my brother, but you seriously need to get rid of one person before even thinking about another one!” I exclaimed, still in complete shock. This was her second time in a row doing this.
She nodded, “I know, but I don’t want to see him crying.” She replied.
“No one wants to see anyone cry, unless their jerks. He’s crushed, and you’re just going to continue to hurt the both of you until you do something about it, he doesn't know what's going on.” I answered.
She nodded, “Yeah I’ll hurry up and do it after youth.”
I shook my head, “Do it now. The longer you wait, the more your determination wavers.”
She looked at Alyssa and Nicky, who gave an encouraging nod, and she walked off to find Tony.
“I’d better find Hayden as well.” I said with a small, timid smile.
Alyssa looked away as Nicky asked, “Why?”
“He… Um…” I started, finding I couldn’t finish. I looked away and, coincidently, looked at Hayden and looked away quickly again.
I looked at Alyssa, “He cheated, with Abby. I guess he cheated within three days of asking me out.”
Both of their eyes got wide, “He cheated? With Abby of all people?” Nicky exclaimed. I nodded.
“Yeah. The day he asked you out we gave him a ride home. He kissed me before leaving” Alyssa said, completely shocked he used Abby as well.
I shrugged, “Well, I’m definitely dumping him!” I said with a little laugh, trying to cover up my tears and failing as a tear slipped down my cheek. I quickly brushed it away, and stood up.
“I’ll be right back! Alyssa? Thank you so much for forgiving me. I’m so sorry I screwed up, and I’m happy you let me come back!” I said with a smile. She smiled back brightly.
“Come here a sec?” I asked when I got to him. He looked at me and sighed, like I was taking up his time,
‘This’ll be the last time I take any of your time. I promise.' I thought. My heart raced at the thought of freedom from him.
“So, what’s going? With us, I mean.” I asked, looking him in the eye.
He sighed, “I don’t know. It’s like, I can’t date. Something in me just won’t let me, like, I don’t know!” He finished, exasperated.
“That’s totally fine, I used to be the same way. Let’s just go back to being friends, okay?” I said with a smile, knowing forgiveness was the sweetest revenge, and I wanted to make him regret ever letting me go.
“I’m so sorry, Nie!” He exclaimed, sounding sincere.
I shrugged and quoted one of my favorite songs words, “I’ll be fine.”
I smiled and walked away, towards my friends, singing the rest of the song in my head, ‘I'm not gonna beg him to stay, cause I got my pride, I'm not gonna cry, there won't be no tears falling from these eyes. Don't need him to see, that it's killing me, so this is what I'll say. You don't have to worry about me boy, I'll be fine. You don’t have to call me again boy, it’s alright. You don’t have to ask me if I will be okay, boy I'll be fine, boy I'll be fine.’
