Heartbreaker

Chapter 2

 Casey walked out of gym, feeling absolutely nasty. The locker room showers never worked, so now she smelled like sweat and perfume, in an attempt to smell less like sweat.

 "Hey Case!" Jess yelled, using her nickname.

 "Hi!" She went in for a hug, but Jess backed away.

 "I don't need your sweaty dodgeball hands all over me." Jess said laughing.

 "How did you know we played dodgeball." Replied Casey, making one of her eyebrows shoot up sky high in question.

 "Cause that's all we ever do!" Jess said.

 They both laughed aloud.

 Casey and Jess got into the gym line and soon filled there trays up with gray unrecognizable goop, possibly meatloaf and sliced carrots.

 Together they sat down at their table. The one they always sat at, Nina, Carol, Kiko and Melissa were already there chatting, when they saw Casey they quickly moved away to fit her and Jess.

 Soon Casey was talking, she could feel all her friends looking  at her, not only that, she could feel the tables around her looking at her, she could feel all of the lunchroom looking  at her, as she talked, absolutely entranced. It was some kind of magic to feel just how important she was. Casey lived for it. It was no wonder she was the most popular person in Sage High.

 They quickly finished lunch and headed outside for their brief period where they could walk around on the pavement.

Casey lead the group, laughing and talking with the others. Casey loved school and her friends. It was heaven compared to actual life in the small town of Sagewood. Business's constantly closed down such as her mom's old bakery and it was an almost constant struggle of living for some. She was luckier than others, as her parents were divorced, her dad had it move to LA for his job and payed child support as well as Casey visited every summer. Her dad always bought her tons of clothes and stuff, that she would take back to Sagewood.

A cluster started building around Casey and her friend group. They all continued laughing and chatting as others were clearly listening. She didn't mind.

  Nina had to go to the bathroom so Carol and Melissa went with her. Carol because Nina forgot a pad that day, Carol always carried tons of pads and tampons. Melissa because she wanted to reapply her mascara.

 It was just Casey, Kiko and Jess now.

 "My Dad wants to name Bibby, Amiya. But Jenna wants to name her Izumi, I suggested Mai. But they both glared at me and continued arguing about what to name little Bibby." Kiko explained. Bibby was the pet name for the newest baby in Kiki's family. Her father and step mother were constantly arguing about what to name her. If she had a choice she would vote for Izumi.

 Jess and her continued nodding along to Kiki's story, to be honest, they heard this everyday and zoned out sometimes. Suddenly Kiki said goodbye and ran off to talk to her crush. Zack Micsterly, April 2nd to April 16th 2023. Long time no see. Casey had dated him once. But most of her friends had crushes on people she dated before, and neither her, them or the lucky boy seemed to mind. She was just glad that they were happy.

 "Hey. Your Casey right?" A voice like honey said from somewhere above her.

  She looked up,  Casey immediately noticed his shirt dirty blonde hair, tousled to the extent it still looked good, but it made her want to drag her hand through his hair. He had deep brown eyes, and tan skin, like he spent a long time in the sun.

 "Uh, yeah? And you?" Casey replied.

 "Finn." He said.

 So that was what the mystery boy was named, Finn. She did not recognize him, but she suddenly wanted to know so much more. 

 "Are you in our grade? 10th?" Casey's head tilted slightly.

 A sharp jab to her arm from Jess answered that, "uh, yeah. He's the new boy." 

 Oh, that was what the new boy looked like, she would have to see if he proved better than her dream boy.

 "Yeah, I recently moved her from Oregon." He said, his eyes staring intently at her.

 "Oh, cool." Casey smiled. "What brings you to Sagewood?" 

 "Grandparents, there is a really nice elderly home in the next town over, my parents and I moved here to be closer to them." Finn said sheepishly.

 "Wow, that's actually really sweet." Casey admitted.

 "Thanks. But do you know why that kid over there told me to steer clear of you." Finn pointed at a black haired kid playing football with a couple friends.

 "Jared Hooft, August 20th to September 3rd 2024." Casey accidentally said aloud.

 "What?" Finn replied confused.

 "Oh sorry. Nothing. I dated Jared for a brief period before dumping him, guess he's still upset about it." She said, shaking out her hair.

 "You don't seem to be." Finn said softly.

 "No, for me it was a long time ago. It wasn't anything to special for me." Casey stated.

 "Oh." Finn said in a down tone.

 "No, I mean, he just wasn't the right person for me. There is someone out there, just right for me. Just not Jared." Casey internally kicked herself for slipping up.

 "Could I by chance get your number." Finn asked.

 "Oh my god, yes!" Casey said with partial enthusiasm. She pulled out a pink piece of paper with her number already written out.

 "Seems like you are prepared for this." He joked.

 "Well yeah, it's tiring to write it out over and over whenever I get a new number." Casey smiled and handed it to him.

 "Thanks. Text you later." Finn waved goodbye. 

  Casey waved back.

 "Oh my god! That was so cute! Your convo!" Jess exploded into squeals.

 "I know right!" Casey smiled wide. "I got to complete it somehow!"

 "You're not gonna stick with him are you." Jess said sadly. "He seemed perfect for you." 

 "I'm not getting anywhere near Dalton so I gotta do this." Casey said. 

 "You could just not do it." Jess pointed out.

 "I don't quit." Casey replied, getting up and walking away from Jess.

Thanks for reading! Please don't be silent readers, comment or vote! Hope you enjoyed it!

Xoxo,

Lemon