Stay Courageous

Chapter 18

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Kat's POV
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There was basketball practice Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the three days Zoe and Stella were out of town at the concert. Those days that Zoe wasn't with the team, Madison for some reason seemed more irritating than usual. It was like there was no one there for her to feed off their misery and it was effecting her.

"What, no Miss Hot Topic today? She must be scared to show her face to the team again since she didn't follow her new dress code at all last week. I swear to God, it's like she tries to dress like a freak," she was saying Monday after practice in the locker room.

"She's at a 5 Seconds of Summer concert with Stella Ridley for the next two days so-" Madison interrupted me.

"Ugh, good. We can have at least three days of real practice for once. We won't have that fat, clumsy couch potato slowing us down," the rest of the starting five laughed at her. Maybe Zoe was right. I've never actually seen Madison be an outright bitch to me before. She usually seems so chill. I wanted to say something to defend Zoe,  but frankly I didn't want to lose my spot on the team. And if Madison was this belligerent with her use of power...

"Kat, I meant to ask you and Sam, I'm having a sleepover for the whole team on Friday. I haven't had a chance to ask you because," she shuddered dramatically, "Zoe's been with you all the time. Come?"

I thought about this carefully. If I said yes, I could get Madison to like me better and then maybe she'd ask Sanders to make me a starter. But Zoe would give me crap because she hates it when I hang around Madison. But if I didn't tell her...

"Sure. I'm free Friday. Sam?" I noticed that Sam had been careful to stay out of the conversation entirely. She wasn't one for big social gatherings anyway, and she also was aware of how Zoe would react.

"Uh, I'd love to, but my sister's visiting this weekend from college and my mom wants me to spend time with her. Sorry," she went back to messing with something in her bag.

"Boo. You whore. Okay, so we have Katie-"

"Kat," I corrected her. Katie was so girly.

"Whatever. Kat, Tia, Rene, Yevonne, and Pamela," she basically recited the names of the starting five plus me. Apparently no one else was going to be able to come. Well this was going to be sufficiently awkward.
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Tuesday, it was the same deal with Madison basically trashing Zoe in the locker room. Did she really hate her this much just because of the way she dressed? There's got to be something else going on here.

"Oh and the black lipstick. Hate it."

If she really couldn't stand Zoe this much, why talk about her when she wasn't even here?

I got home that afternoon still stuck on the same question. This was something I was going to need help with if I was going to get to the bottom of it. I flopped on my bed and took out my phone, ready to call Sam, when it started ringing. Zoe was FaceTiming me, but wouldn't she still be in the concert? The show would have just ended at the very least. And why was she FaceTiming me? I clicked the answer button.

The video didn't load right away when it went to FaceTime, so I said "dude, you're at a 5sos concert! Why are you calling me? Go have fun! Go listen to your idols play!" The voice that answered back was not Zoe's. It was better.

"Well, it's hard to listen to 5sos play if you're in 5sos. I suppose I could buy my own album though." He chuckled. No way. This could not be who I think it is. I didn't give Zoe and Stella meet and greet passes.

The picture on the screen finally materialized. Calum was FaceTiming me. Calum Thomas Hood was FaceTiming me. I screamed. Calum laughed. My mom came running up the stairs.