Heartbreak Season

CHEERING ISN'T A DREAM. IT'S STUPID

"Where have you guys been!" my mom shrieked giving us each a peck on the cheek.

"Practice, where Ashley almost killed me!" Derek said taking a look at me under his black hair.

"Ashley Margaret karington-lawson!" my mom yelled.

I and my mom agreed that I would keep my dad's last name and take Derek’s dad's last name also. My dad left me, my mom, and little sister, Abby, when I was four and she was two. Even when he was around we never had a relationship with him. It wasn't until Derek’s dad, Daniel, came into our lives when I was six that I realized what a father was.

Me and Abby took to him immediately and began calling him dad right away. We never had a problem but Derek did. It wasn't till the 'crazy thing' happened that he started calling my mom and me and abby his sisters.

Me, Abby, and Rashad, one night, noticed mom and Daniel enter Derek's room where a shouting match went down. Derek was about eight and we had all began living together that year. After they quieted down and Derek’s door opened, My mom and Daniel padded to their room. Derek opened his door and called out "I love you guys" in a muffled voice. We didn't know what was said or why he was crying, we just knew that the next morning Derek actually spoke to me and abby. The first time in a year.

"I’m joining the cheer team at school for my birthday" Abby announced at dinner that night.

"What?" I said just as Derek went "Way to go abs".

"Are you kidding? You're cheering our kid sister into the world of bottle blondes?" I asked incredulous.

"Well she's really good with gymnastics. Are you trying to discourage our kid sister from following her dreams?" Derek argued back.

"Cheering isn't a dream. It's stupid" I huffed.

"Your dream was soccer and you followed it" Abby piped up.

"Much to my dismay" Derek mumbled.

"Soccer is different. It's a sport" I said ignoring Abby.

"Well, it's lame" Abby said.

"Hey, hey" Derek said while me and Rashad looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Soccer is strength, its power, its unity, it's love" the three of us recited.

"Really? Then why is there only one girl on the team?" Abby asked.

"Because she united Derek’s face with the ball today" Rashad said simply. We both burst out into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"Rashad, whose side are you on?" Derek shrieked.

It was really funny seeing a guy like Derek shriek.

"Dude, you know I don't take sides. If something's funny it's funny" Rashad patted Derek on the back.

Derek and Rashad looked like the poster boys for perfect people ads. Rashad was tall and built like a football star. He wasn't huge but he was big enough to make you double think insulting him. He had close cropped hair and the swagger of someone who always knew what he was doing, which  he doesn't, and his eyes were the softest brown ever. Derek a lot like rashad was tall and strong. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes.

The main difference between Rashad and him was that Rashad was nice and you knew he wouldn't say anything without thinking it through. Derek just was a waste of good looks with his obnoxious behavior, and the personality of tree bark. Girls liked him because he said as little to no words to them which made them crazy. One thing I could say about Derek was that he was smart and calculating and he could be a good guy if he put all his strength into it. And by all his strength, i really meant it. 

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"Then stop calling!" I heard Derek yell from him and Rashad's room.

I and Abby shared a room while Rashad and Derek had their own. Our rooms were built loft style with a door that resembled a garage door (it was just painted on either side of our rooms to blend in) that we could open and close whenever. I got off my bed, which was on the right side of the room and walked over to Abby’s side. Pulling up the door i glaresd at Derek. 

"Shut your face!" 

He gave me a look that told me to shut up.

"No, it's not her. Fine" Derek thrust the phone into my hands.

My eyes widened as I tossed the phone back at him. His eyes pleaded that I work with him so I took the phone and pressed it to my ear.

"What?" I said my voice tight.

"Is this Ashley?" the girl on the other line asked.

"Nope" I said simply.

"But it sounds like her" the girl, who I now realized was Derek's girlfriend Sherry West, said.

"If I said it was her would that get you off the phone sooner? Your little fight with my brother is distracting me from my calculus homework" I said staring directly at Derek who was boring a hole through my head with his eyes.

I knew what this was. The constant fighting and bickering just as the soccer season began. The kids at our school called it heartbreak season, the true challenge to everyone's relationship. If only I was in one...

I really couldn't believe she was calling right now. That was the thing about Sherry, she was clingy and jealous. Annoying, in other words.

"Oh okay, I thought Lana was there" Sherry grunted

"Del Rey?"

"Your so funny, Ashley! I meant Lana from fifth period"

I knew exactly who Lana was. Even though the guys were a year older than me, we were all in the same grade. A productive of my genius. Or the fact that I'm a December baby.

"Oh, that Lana" I played dumb

"If you do see her, could you tell me?"

"Derek is an idiot, that's for sure" Derek looked like he was ready to kill me, "but my brother is not a cheater"

"I know. It's just...." Sherry left her sentence hanging

"Gonna finish that thought?" I was already bored

"It's nothing. Thanks, Ash" I was going to tell her not to call me that but she already hung up

"What did she say?" Derek hounded me as soon as I clicked the 'End Call' button.

"The usual Sherry West meltdown ensued, not much else" I replied

"I wish she wouldn't get like this" Derek sighed flopping onto Rashad's bed

"I can't blame her"

"You think I'm going to cheat on her?" Derek yelled

"No. It's that time of the year where everyone seems to start distrusting their significant other." I sighed

"Oh. Sorry" I didn't really understand why he was saying sorry.

"For what?"

"Snapping, I guess?" This was one of Derek's nicer moments, "now get out of my room before I post pictures of you in your ugly Betty days on Face book"

"There's the jerk faced brother I’ve come to know and not love" I said knocking down one of the framed, yes framed, soccer balls off his desk.

"You could've broken that" he shrieked

"That was kind of the point" I said dodging out of his room and bringing down the door 

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HAD TO DEDICATE THIS TO @LittleMissAwesome1 FOR BEING SO INCREDIBLY NICE TO ME AND FOR MAKING ME WANT TO CONTINUE WRITING THIS BOOK WITH ALL THE AWESOME AND POSITIVE FEEDBACK :)

S.O.T.D: LOVE LIKE WOAH:THE READY SET