Being Ashlyn

Chapter 27

"Fiona, we need to talk." Ashlyn said once she reached the girls locker room the next Monday afternoon.

"Sure but can you wait until after track practice?" Fiona said, rummaging through her locker to get her jersey. "I'm kind of in the middle of some-"

"I can't do it anymore!" Ashlyn blurted out.

Fiona's busy hands froze as her eyes widened. "What do you mean? Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?"

"Uh-huh." Ashlyn nodded.

"Damn." Fiona glanced around the room. "Alright, I need everyone to get out of the room except for Yvonne, Tessa and Ashlyn!" She ordered.

The other girls groaned but since Fiona is their captain, they obliged nonetheless.

"What is all this about?" Tessa asked once the last of the girls went out.

"Ashlyn said she can't go through with our plan anymore." Fiona frowned.

"What? Why?" Yvonne asked.

Her three teammates looked at her expectantly. "I just can't! Levi has been nothing but nice to me and the thought of lying to him just keeps me awake at night. This thing has been killing me inside. I'm sorry but I can't keep pretending to like Levi. Especially when he hasn't done anything to hurt me."

Instead of being furious like Ashlyn had expected, her teammates merely gasped in disbelief.

"He hasn't hurt you at all?" Tessa asked, shocked.

"Nope."

"He hasn't texted another girl in front of your eyes yet?" Fiona asked.

"Never."

"Impossible!" Yvonne chimed in. "Levi always does that to his girlfriends!"

"But he never does that to me. Well, at least not yet." Ashlyn shrugged. "Which makes it harder for me to lie to his face when he's done nothing wrong! I need to end this. I need to tell him the truth."

"No! Not yet!" Fiona exclaimed. "We need him to be way more in love with you in order to hurt him to the maximum! Like very, very in love with you. You can't break up with him now because you guys have only been together for a few weeks!"

"What do you expect me to do?" Ashlyn asked exasperatedly. "I'm sick of pretending!"

After a moment of silence, Fiona snapped her fingers. "I got it!"

"What's your plan?" Tessa leaned in closer.

"Since dumping Levi at such an early stage loses the whole point of our plan, we'll get Levi to dump Ashlyn instead."

"How are we going to get him to dump me?" Ashlyn cocked her brow.

"Yeah, Levi won't dump her because it's obvious he likes her. Like a lot." Tessa pointed out.

"Exactly." A mischievous smile crept up on Fiona's lips. "Ashlyn, you'll have to be the worst possible girlfriend ever. You're gonna have to be mean to him. You're gonna ignore him like he's invisible. Levi would get hurt so badly when you treat him like he's nothing."

"It's brilliant!" Tessa clapped her hands together. "I can't wait to see his face when Ashlyn does that to him."

"Yeah." Yvonne nodded. "And once he had enough of you treating him like crap, he'll dump you and you'll be free."

"Let's face it, Ash." Fiona continued. "You don't have to pretend anymore. Being mean is something you're already good at. Right, Ice Queen?"

"Right."

*************

Ashlyn tried convincing herself that things would get much easier now that she can be her normal usual mean self to Levi. But then why did her palms get sweaty when she sees Levi walking towards her from across the field?

"Lover boy is heading your way." Fiona elbowed her. "Remember to put your bitch mode on."

Ashlyn nodded, watching Levi as he strutted his way from the school's pool all the way to where the track team was. Behind her, she could hear her other teammates talking animatedly about how good her so called 'boyfriend' looks. With just in his swimming trunks and his muscular physique, Levi looked like one of those swim wear models people see in magazines. Not to mention his still damp hair and the water droplets that still clung to his body.

"Hey Ash." Levi smiled wrapping his arms around her. "Haven't seen you all day."

'Be mean, Ash! Be mean!' She chanted inside her head. Taking a deep breath in, Ashlyn transformed her face to a frown. "Get off me! You're making me all wet!" She sneered, pushing his arms away from her.

The girls behind her fell silent. Even though they looked busy doing their stretches, Ashlyn was sure they were straining their ears to hear the conversation.

Levi released his grip hesitantly. "Ouh, sorry. I didn't thought you mind." He said with a look of confusion on his face.

Ashlyn didn't blame him. He had hugged her numerous of times and Ashlyn had never complained about him being wet from the pool. "Well, I do mind."

"I'm so sorry. Let me get you a towel." He said, jogging back to the pool.

Ashlyn turned back to her teammates and saw everyone was staring at her. Everyone was looking at her disapprovingly except for Tessa, Yvonne and Fiona.

"Good job, Ash! Keep it up." Fiona patted her shoulder.

"Shhh! Levi's coming back!" Tessa warned.

Her teammates resumed their stretching as if nothing happened and Ashlyn waited for Levi to get to her.

"Here you go." Levi panted from his jog. "Let me wipe for you." He said, reaching out with the towel.

"I can do it myself." Ashlyn said coldly, snatching the towel from Levi's hand. She wiped the traces of water on her arms and threw the towel back at him.

Levi stood awkwardly three feet away from her as if afraid to make her wet again. "So Ashlyn, do you want have some lunch after practice?"

"I can't. I...uh...have plans with someone already." She said.

"Someone?" Levi frowned. "Who?"

Ashlyn darted her eyes to her teammates and caught Fiona's eyes. "With Fiona."

"Fiona?" Levi looked towards Fiona who was smiling innocently.

"Yup, she's going out with me." Fiona said with a satisfied grin on her face.

"Okay, cool." Levi nodded. "I guess we'll have lunch some other time then."

"I have no time." Ashlyn shrugged. "You should go back to your team now."

Levi opened his mouth to say something but instead, he just sighed heavily. "Alright." He gave Ashlyn a sad smile before walking back to the pool dejectedly.

"Did you saw his face just now?" Yvonne gave her a side hug once Levi was out of hearing range.

"He looked like a sad puppy!" Tessa joked.

"That was freaking awesome!" Fiona added.

Ashlyn laughed half-heartedly. "Yeah. Just awesome."