Quarter High Chronicles: Fight for the Spotlight

It's Begging to Look Alot Like Brenter

This week has been so boring and stupid. But, all that matters is that it is finally winter break! No homework stress. No boy drama because, let's be honest, I'm too picky. I guess Netflix will be my only bae this Christmas! Most importantly I will remove She Who Must Not Be Named from my mind. Hopefully I won't have to see her until the next Peter Pan rehearsal. Which is the dress rehearsal that is in about three weeks and is a day before the real deal. Stress free holiday here I come!
"Go! Carter!" Brenda shouts excitedly, snapping me from my thoughts as Carter skillfully passes the opposing football team player, ready to make another touch down. This is his best game this season. I happen to look to my right, past Annabelle and a bunch of other people, and see a man at the end of the bleacher with clip board who is intently watching Carter and writing things down. I look back to my left and see Brenda on the edge of her seat watching the game. Carter just made his third touch down. If Luke, our school kicker, makes this field goal we will be ten points a head.
"Hey, who is that guy over there?" I ask Annabelle motioning to the guy with the clipboard who is sitting further down on the bleacher.
"I bet he is a recruiter." Annabelle replies. "He looks like the one who checked me out during softball-" Annabelle stops her hazel eyes brightening.  "What if it's for Carter?! Omg! That would be amazing! I was considering it but I didn't really want to go out of state. But, Carter does and the scholarships the could get! Man, I hope that guy is who I think he is!" Annabelle continues excitedly.
I knew Carter was possibly going out of state. When he was going out with Nancy she posted a stupid photo of them together on Instagram with the caption, "So glad I can be with my bæ while I can. All these out of state colleges want him. I'm going to miss him so much.." Agh. It went on for ever and it seemed so fake I literally unfollowed her. I don't know what made me want to follower her in the first place but that doesn't matter. What does is my new best guy friend might be leaving the state. Darn. I really like Carter. Omg! Brenda! Does she know? She is going to be heart broken. All of a sudden our side of the bleachers jump up and scream in excitement.
"We won!!!" Brenda yells jumping out of her seat. "We freaking won play offs!" I'm going to go congratulate Carter!" She shouts excitedly.
"We'll come too!" I add and Annabelle nods. After wrestling through the crowd of people, practically the whole town, we finally get to the field where all the football players and cheerleaders are celebrating. Brenda runs up excitedly to Carter but there is a crowd of jocks who are demanding his attention by excitedly jumping around and high fiving.  Normally, Brenda would run up to Carter and he would pick her up and they'd do this dramatic winning kiss. They are so adorable. I guess play offs are more exciting than our usual games. I can see Brenda's sweet face fall and I start to make my way to her. All of a sudden Nancy's stupid face pops up in front of me.
"Isn't it great! We won!" Nancy says in her fake nice voice.
"Totes great! And you did amazing! I don't think anyone could even notice your fall. It's a good thing you heal quickly." I say in the same fake voice and fake smile. I made sure to mention her quick "healing" because her arm is completely fine and she "sprained" it or something dramatic like that only a week ago. I look past Nancy and see that Annabelle got to Brenda. She also managed to  grab the attention of all the football players and convinced them to have an after party at Pablo's Pizza.
Annabelle and I really want to go but Brenda doesn't want to, obviously hurt by Carter avoiding her.
Eventually, we convince her to go and when we arrive it's crazy. Literally the whole school is here, even Nancy who never eats pizza because again she is not human, showed up. We go up to the ordering station and all order our own slice of pizza then make our way to the only empty table. It has trash on it from the last people that were here. We clean it up and sit.
"Gosh. I've been here for a whole five minutes and Carter still hasn't taken one minute to recognize me." Brenda says angrily looking back at him sitting with the rest of his football friends.
"I'm sorry, Bren. He's probably just caught up in the excitement of the game and will give you a big apology later." I reply.
"Totally! And, right now, that just means more girl time!" Annabelle adds on.
"You're right, guys." Brenda says with a small smile.
"I mean, I'm always right." Annabelle says jokingly while flipping her hair back dramatically. Brenda and I both break into laughter.
Annabelle, Brenda and I end up staying there until there is only a few people left in the whole pizzeria. One of those people is Carter. He finally comes up to our table. "Hey, can I talk to Brenda privately." He asks all of us not as energetic as usual.
"Sure." I reply. Brenda then scoots out of her chair and walks outside with him. Carter is very open so it scares me on what he has to tell Brenda. It has to be important if he doesn't want me and Annabelle to over hear. Plus he was avoiding Brenda all night. They didn't have a fight, Brenda would have told us about that. They did seem awkwardly distant on Wednesday.
"That can't mean good news." Says Annabelle when we see Brenda and Carter walking away from the restaurant.
"I know. I feel like the next time we see her, she is going to be a mess." I voice.
"Maybe he is going to make a grand gesture that is super romantic to apologize for his behavior!" Annabelle says hopefully.
"I don't know. That's not the vibe I got." I admit sadly.
"OMG! I have an amazing idea! We should follow them!"
"Oh my gosh! We're not stalkers, Annabelle!" I say not wanting to invade the privacy that Carter obviously wanted.
"Yeah, but if we go we will get the first hand perspective on what happened. Plus it'll be fun!" I think about it for a little. If Brenda finds out, she'll probably be really pissed, but, if she doesn't, we'll know what happened and be able to comfort her with third party perspective on what went down.
"Fine." I say warily.
"YAAAAS!" Annabelle replies as she hops out of her seat and quickly heads towards the door.
Once were out, we see the couple turn the corner into town square. Brenda and Carter continue strolling as Annabelle and I creep behind them. This is actually kinda romantic because there are beautiful fairy lights strung on top of all the buildings and even around the trees in the park across from us, all in preparation of the holidays. It's kind of early to start decorating but it is after Thanksgiving so I deem it acceptable. Plus it casts the perfect ambiance for this situation so I silently thank my mom for convincing the town council to decorate early. Annabelle and I make sure that we are a proper distance away from them. We want to be able to hear what is being said but can't be detected. They haven't talked about anything serious which really contradicts Carter's tone earlier. Maybe he just wanted alone time with Brenda.
"So, Brenda." Carter says looking down at Brenda.
"Yeah." Brenda replies quickly obviously nervous about the outcome of this conversation. After a second or two of what looks like him mentally debating something he says, "I'm really sorry about tonight. I should've said hi to you after the game but I was just so happy that we won playoffs that I got distracted." Carter says guiltily.
"It's fine, don't worry about it I understand. It was super crazy." Brenda says with her smile back on her face. By now they have reached the end of square which means they can either turn around and go back to Pablo's or go across the street to the park. They keep walking so I guess they choose the park. Annabelle and I start speed walking and take an alternate route to the park so they don't spot us. We make it behind the trees as the adorable couple sit on the bench laughing. The trees sparkle off the glistening lake and Brenda is excitedly talking to Carter. He seems like he is interested in what she is saying and has a genuine smile on his face but for some reason I feel that he is somewhere else and I'm hinting a touch of sadness in his eyes. It must be from the shadows the moon is casting or something. How could Carter be sad sitting next to a beautiful girl on a beautiful November night?
"Omg! Emily!" Annabelle quietly squeals!
"What?" I say slightly alarmed.
"It's a Brenter wonderland!"
"Haha omg!" I say laughing really hard. The fact that I can't laugh because the love birds might hear only makes me need to laugh more! We came up with that ship name when Brenda and Carter first started going out.
Once I pull myself together I hear Carter saying, "I am so sorry I have been distant. I've been so nervous because coach said recruiters are gonna be coming to watch me play. My parents knew this too and have been really pushing me to focus."
"It's fine. You guys just won playoffs so football season is almost over which means more time for us." Brenda says while closing the gap between them with a kiss.
"It's begging to look a lot like Brenter..." Annabelle softly sings beside me which makes me giggle a little but I immediately stop when Carter rejects Brenda by backing away.
"Ive-I've been thinking that-um." He stutters then stops and continues, "Okay so a guy from OU came up to me between the end of the game and the after party and told me we need to talk and gave me his card." Brenda looks down and shakes her head. I can tell tears are brimming her eyes. The look in Carter's eyes alone makes my heart break. He looks like he is in pain but he continues, "Brenda," while lifting her chin so she looks at him, "I think we should break up.".
"No. Oklahoma is only- only an- an hour and a half away. We can make this work Carter." Brenda pleads.
"Bren..." He says reaching to wipe a tear but she turns away. I can't take my eyes off of them. It is heart breaking. They clearly love each other. They should make it work! Brenter is a thing that must go on! I can't allow them to just give up on each other. This perfect relationship can not brake up! "It's not just a distance. I really need to focus on my grades and...." Carter continues.
"I've had my fill on being a stalker. Let's go." Annabelle says taking me away from Carter's voice. Her face oddly missing a smile and her eyes missing their usual glimmer. I nod in agreement knowing that this is an intimate moment they won't want us spying on. Even though it is horrific and hard to tear my eyes from I turn and follow Annabelle.