now or never (LUKE PATTERSON)

17

Luke and Lydia came back just in time before the game started. Lydia kept her eyes opened for number nine; Justin's number. She also remembered that Jason was also on the team but she wasn't really here for him.

Macey on the other hand also had a sign that said 'LETS GO JASON!!' with the number 26 all around the board.

They past around the hotdogs, popcorn and candy to everyone. Alex wasn't paying attention to anyone, he was eating his popcorn like he never had popcorn before.

"Slow down or you'll choke." Lydia said the Alex and he smiled sarcastically. He then threw some popcorn at her, making it also hit Luke. "Shut up, Lyds." Alex said and she smiled widely while laughing.

They all watched as the game started and the cheerleaders ran onto the field. They started dancing along to the music while the boys all laughed and talked about what they liked about each girl. Lydia just groaned at hearing the boys. She loved them, but not when they got like that.

"She looks amazing!" Reggie said and Lydia followed were he was looking. "Ryan is such a bully." Lydia said about the cheerleader who was smiling brightly whilst dancing. "A cute bully." Luke said and Lydia rolled her eyes playfully.

Her smile then faded. She was completely shocked at what she saw.

Riley, with blonde hair. Cheering and smiling widely as she performed.

"What the hell..." Lydia said under her breath, she felt her heart begin to pound. She suddenly remembered how Riley never tried coming over once, she was probably with the cheerleaders that whole break, changing her hair color and learning the cheer dances. It all made sense, it clicked.

Lydia looked down at her hands as she reached for the popcorn. She avoided looking at the cheerleaders as the guys still pointed out things. She just didn't understand why Riley wanted to fit in with them. She missed the Riley with super dark brown hair, and black smudged makeup around her eyes. Now she had bright blonde hair, sparkling eyeshadow, fake eyelashes, bright pink lip gloss.

It was weird to see the girl like that. She was used hearing Riley talk about the girls who looked like that.

Lydia's eyes wandered over to Justin as him and his teammates were huddled up. Her eyes then wandered over to Luke's side profile. He was starring at the cheerleaders with a smile on his face as he ate his snacks.

He then began clapping snapping Lydia out of thought to see the cheerleaders run to the sidelines. She sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "You okay?" Reggie asked the girl gaining Luke's attention. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said and put on a smile as best as she could as she watched the boys from both teams run onto the field.

Luke nudged the girl and she looked over at him. "You're not okay, I can tell when you're lying." Luke commented and Lydia sighed. "It's Riley, she completely changed, she hasn't been talking to me. I mean...we did get into an argument but I didn't think we weren't going to talk to each other. And now that I finally see her, its when she has blonde hair and is on the cheer team." Lydia said. "It's fine. Maybe try talking to her after the game, you can probably clear things out." Luke tried his best to give her advice. "Thank you, for always listening and giving me advice when you can. What would I do without you." Lydia said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

Luke smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. "Thank you for being around, I think you make me a better person." Luke said lowly, for only her to hear and she smiled. "You make me a better person too." she said and looked back over to the game.

She winced for the guy on the other team who had gotten tackled. "That had to hurt." Reggie said and Lydia laughed, he was thinking the same exact thing as her.

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The crowd cheered loudly for their team that had just won by one point. Lydia clapped and cheered making sure that Justin can hear her. Which he did because they made eye contact and Justin smiled at the girl. She smiled back as widely as Justin.

The team jumped up and down while lifting up number thirteen. He had made the last touchdown.

They started to empty the bleachers as some people went down to congratulate the team, and some just leaving instantly since it was a little dark.

The boys, Macey, and Lydia started to head down the bleachers and once they made it to the bottom Lydia stopped on the last bench and looked over to Luke who was now talking to Macey. She simply shrugged and called for Reggie instead, he looked over at her and she smiled. "Catch me!" She said and jumped Reggie ran up to the bottom of the bleacher, quickly catching the girl by the waist.

"You psycho!" Reggie joked. "I would have landed on my feet, but thanks for actually catching me." She laughed as Reggie put her down softly. "Get a room." Alex called making their head snap towards the boy. "We're best friends, idiot. Don't make it awkward." Lydia said. Alex laughed and Bobby nudged the boy. "Yeah, Lydia's like a little sister to me." Reggie said and Lydia turned to the boy and fist bumped him.

They soon started walking out but Lydia quickly stopped them, making Macey roll her eyes.

"You guys can head to the car, I'm going to talk to Riley real quick." Lydia said and they all nodded.

Lydia ran back to the field pushing through the people who were still on the field celebrating and talking.

She then made it to the group of cheerleaders she then walked up to Riley and cleared her throat.

"Can I talk to you?" She asked and Riley simply nodded while following her away from the crowd.

They stood their awkwardly. "What do you want?" Riley snapped and Lydia sighed. "This is new, everything's new. Riles you don't have to try to fit in. Like you said, "fitting in sucks, I'd rather stand out." What happened to that? You're suddenly at every party someone throws and now you have blonde hair." Lydia said. "I don't need you to sound like my mom. I still stand out more than anyone at this school. And why does it matter to you? Just because you don't have a life doesn't mean you can try to ruin mines." Riley said and Lydia was completely taken back.

"I have a life, and if anything, it's certainly better than yours. And I feel like it matters to me because I find it sad that you are constantly trying to fit in with back stabbing people who care nothing for you. I was just trying to be a good best friend and check in to see if we were still on the same page. But obviously we're not anymore. You're nothing but a fake friend. I always thought that we'd have each others back, but it was a stupid thing to ever think, I never thought that you'd stoop down so low and become a fucking loser." Lydia spat as tears filled her eyes. Lydia walked off. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to tell Riley. She wanted to say more things about the girl but left it at that. She knew that the others were waiting for her so she had to hurry.

Riley on the other hand was taken aback because she had never heard such words from Lydia, she had completely made the girl upset, and it clearly showed.

As Lydia walked off the field her eyes landed on Luke who was leaning onto the pillar. "I thought you were going to wait in the car." Lydia said. "I told them I'd wait for you." He said. "So how'd it go?" Luke asked as they began to walk. "I was stupid for even trying. Me and Riley aren't on the same page anymore. She's a whole different person." Lydia said. "I'm sorry, it was stupid of me to tell you to talk to her." Luke said making Lydia shake her head. "No, it was the right thing. Because now I know how Riley feels" she said and grabbed Luke's had.

"Again, thank you." She said.

edited