Perfectly Unseen

52: fear of catching loseritis

F e a r
of catching loseritis
~+~+~+~

"Ailie!" The blonde cheerleader ran over to me, her face beaming with excitement.

"Hey, Missy," I smiled back politely as she grabbed hold of my arm, "How was the cheerleading practice during the lunch hour?"

"Eventful. Courtney wouldn't stop bad mouthing Ash so I slapped her." She chuckled, pulling me towards the cafeteria that had been all set up for the Pregame Festival.

The extra tables and chairs were all stacked along the back wall leaving one long table in the front that held what appeared to be purple and silver decorations. Along with some smaller tables set up into what looked like something you'd see at a market, the festival wasn't exactly what one would picture. Nonetheless, many students were scattered around decorating the building with school spirit decor, not minding that the festival was a decorating committee scheme.

"Wait, you slapped her?" I gasped quietly, looking at her in shock.

Her eyebrows furrowed a pinch as she thought about it, "She went too far and she knows it." She shook her head and smiled, "But don't worry. She's fine. I gave her some ice and she apologized for being such a bîtch."

I bit my lip as I studied her with my stomach in a clench. She really cared about Ashton. Enough so to slap one of her teammates.

"Let's make a banner, okay?" She grabbed my hand, taking me over towards the table that held paper and drawing tools.

We laid out on the floor, as a few more students asked to join us since it was a bigger job than just the two of us could handle. Anna, one of my classmates and a known artist in the school, quickly jolted down our school cheer in big bubble letters so the rest of us could begin to colour it in.

"Missy," I spoke, glancing up from the word 'masochists' as I watched her pull her silky hair up into a high ponytail, pinning the curls up out of her face. "Have you ever fallen in love?"

She looked at me as her bright eyes instantly dimmed, she nodded. "Yeah. It was a long time ago though." She sighed, her lips curling up slightly as she lost herself in the memories. "We were really young. Seems more like a lifetime ago than just four years." Her turquoise eyes snapped to mine as her lips pursed bitterly, "Yet, it also feels like it was just yesterday that I lost them."

I gnawed my bottom lip sympathetically as the anxiety bubbled inside of my gut. "Who was it?" My face heated up as I flushed in embarrassment, "Sorry. It's none of my business."

She smiled gently, "It's okay. But I don't really like to talk about it." She shrugged, turning back to her stripes.

Was it Ashton? Were they in love once upon a time? And why was the thought of that making me feel so weak?

~+~+~

"Courtney, Ailie Dawn. Ailie, Courtney Webster." Missy waved her hands between myself and the white haired girl in front of me after pulling me towards the scattered group of gossiping girls decorating the boys' lockers.

Courtney's purply blue eyes slowly looked me up and down, clear distaste twitching along the curve of her blood red lips. Her hair was cut short as she played with one of the longer pieces in the front with her skinny perfectly manicured finger. She made a sound of disgust, crossing her arms as she eyed Missy expectantly. "And she's here, because..?"