Friendzoned

Chapter 16

Rae

“Get your butt down here before I leave without you.” Jake shouted from my room. It is a few weeks into school and tonight is the first football game. I didn’t really want to go since my brother isn’t on the team anymore but Jake is making me go. He says I need to be more social at school events.

“I’m coming! Do you always have to be so demanding? Jeez.” I said while laughing. Ever since the eighth grade end of the year pool party Jake and I have been really close. He is probably my best friend right now. It makes it really easy to get places since he has his own car so we go out all the time. He decided after a couple weeks of hanging out that he needs to stop liking me so it doesn’t ruin our friendship. Ever since then it is never awkward between us.

The cheerleaders were handing out football posters at the gate when we got to the game. Football is a really big sport at our school so all the students are always there. Jake and I went to our normal spot and sat down next to Lexi who was holding a foam finger in one hand and nachos in the other.

“HEY! Have you seen Samantha lately? She dyed her hair bright red. It looks awful! You think she would be a bit more responsible after she had her baby.” she shouted, jumping up to give us a hug. Lexi and I have been friends for a long time now, but one thing I have learned is that she is brutally honest about everything!

“No, I haven’t seen her in a really long time” I replied.

The game has been really intense so far. We are up by 1 and the other team has the ball. It’s only half time, so anything is possible. Jake went to the bathroom and Lexi went to talk to some of her other friends. I was just sitting alone on the bleachers when Ryder’s friends Alex and Nick came up and said hey.

“Hey there Rae! How’s it going?” they asked. I wonder what they want.

“Hey. I’m pretty good. Why are you talking to me? You never talk to me.” I said confused. It’s true though. The only time they ever talk to me is if they want something. Alex has asked me out a few times in the past two years but I always turn him down. He is just like Ryder.

“What?! What are you talking about? We talk all the time!” Alex smirked.

“Yeah, right. What do you want?” I asked laughing. I don’t know why I found this so funny, but it was so obvious they wanted something.

“I’m really hurt that you think we only talk to you when we want something…” Nick said sarcastically. “But anyway, Abby wants to go to a dance this weekend in town and she wants me to go with her. Well, I don’t really wanna go without Alex or Ryder and I know they wont want to go unless they have a date.  So I was wondering if you would want to go with one of them. You could choose which one. Ryder doesn’t even know I’m asking you this.” He explained.

“That’s really sweet of you to ask me, but I’m not really into dances. It’s just not my thing. Sorry.” I answered.

“Oh. Well thanks anyway. See ya later!” Nick shouted as he walked away. Bleh. I hate turning people down, but it just would have been way too awkward. Oh well. The game was about to start again and Lexi and Jake weren’t back yet. Hmm… I wonder where they are. Just as I thought this they both came into view. Lexi looked like she had some new gossip to tell. She always gets this really excited look on her face when she has gossip.

“Oh, my gosh! You will never believe what I just found out!” she said excitedly.

“What’s up?” I asked all interested. She always has the best news.

“Do you remember when we found out that Samantha was pregnant and we didn’t know who the father was? Well it turns out she had a DNA test done since she had been sleeping with so many guys and they found a match!” she exclaimed.

“No way! Who is it? Is he from our school?” I asked. Everyone has wanted to know who this was for a really long time now.

“His name is Brandon Lewis. I guess he is from a school down south. Not many people have heard of him.” She said.

As soon as she said his name, everything went black. I can’t remember what happened after that. I couldn’t tell you who won the football game either. I just remember waking up the next morning with a bunch of tissues all crumbled up all around me.

I took a few minutes to do the math of when they would have had sex and I cried even harder when I found out that we still were dating. I can’t believe it. He cheated on me. The only guy I ever thought I loved and he freaking cheated on me!! Is Samantha the reason Brandon broke up with me?! Did he decide he liked her better? I can’t even believe this is happening to me!!

I have been so depressed ever since I found out about Brandon and Samantha that I haven’t been at school all week. My mom just thinks that I am really sick. I don’t want to tell her what Brandon did. She might not let me date anymore. Relationships suck. I have been getting calls from Jake like four times a day to make sure I’m ok though. Most of the time I have been too sad to answer, but when I do I keep the conversation short and happy. I feel bad having to lie to him about being sick but I don’t want him to know how weak I am.

I don’t know why I decided to climb into Ryder’s room like old times again. I guess I just couldn’t handle crying my eyes out anymore. I had to talk to someone about this. I knocked our secret knock on his window. Why am I even doing this?