It Would've Been You

XII

𝐈'𝐌 𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐍 more than usual. But I'm not complaining. Solely because I enjoy toying with her at any chance that I get. Like right now. She's been waiting for someone in the parking lot for the past five minutes.

With my gym bag slung over my shoulder, I approach her. She doesn't even notice since she's busy staring at her phone. "You're here late," I mutter, crossing my arms. Football practice just ended. I never saw her around at this time, or maybe she deliberately avoided me.

"Holy shit, Cameron." She jumps, putting a hand on her chest. Her expression immediately switches to annoyance when she registers my voice.

"That's not a very friendly greeting." I tease, "It doesn't hurt to smile sometimes."

Then I remember what this is about.

"Are you seriously still upset?" I know the answer—or the lack of one, already. She doesn't look at me, but her jaw tightens. I can't help the smirk tugging at my lips. "Morgan, I didn't mean to kiss you, alright?"

I've never seen someone get upset over a kiss like she did. She practically stormed away before I could even consider apologizing. "It was my mistake."

"It was." She mutters, walking toward the jeep pulling into the parking lot. I follow after her. I find myself doing this way more than I should.

"Can we just—" I stop mid-sentence when I notice the guy in the driver's seat, and assuming it's her brother, I don't want him to think I'm harassing her. I'm certain she would use it as an excuse to keep me away from her too. I watch as she slams the door shut, and I exhale heavily.

How was I supposed to know she'd freak out over something as stupid and simple as a kiss?

I run a hand through my hair and head back toward the front of the school. Zion's waiting there, leaning against the wall with his gym bag at his feet. He tosses me a water bottle when I get close.

"Was that Sydney's friend?" he asks, nodding toward the parking lot where Morgan's jeep just disappeared.

"Yeah." I twist the cap off of the bottle and take a swig. Zion is staring down at the concrete pavement. "Are you good?" he asks, not even glancing up.

I shrug, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Yeah."

He raises his head, finally looking at me. "You don't look like it.

I know I can always talk to Zion, even if he's dealing with his problems. Sometimes I just need a reminder that I'm not completely surrounded by idiocy. He's the only one who didn't let all of this popularity shit get to his head.

"Neither do you."

Zion scoffs.

The boys haven't given him a break since the video came out. He doesn't seem to want to talk about it so I try not to bring it up. Before I can say anything else, I hear Luke's voice calling out from across the parking lot. He's jogging toward us, his hair still damp from practice, and there's a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"There you are!" Luke says, clapping me on the shoulder. "You coming later?"

"Coming where?" I ask, already regretting it.

"The party at Hollis' place. His parents are out of town and it's gonna be loaded. Plenty of girls, plenty of booze. Exactly what you need to get out of your funk."

I roll my eyes. "I'm not in a funk."

Luke lowers his voice like he's sharing unknown information. "Look, I know you've been off our game since Coach benched you. But tonight's the night to bounce back. Some rebound action, you feel me?"