Settle For Less (A Before You Exit Fan Fiction)

Homecoming Disaster

Upon arriving at the massive football field two hours before the most important game of the season, the homecoming game, I noticed that Chloe was nowhere to be found and so was former captain Daniel Nightshade. I started my warm up stretch beside the newbie freshmen, Jessie Rosati. She tensed at the sight of me standing beside her, eyes wide and all over me.

            “Hey,” I said awkwardly. “May I join you?”

            She nodded lightly and she did her stretching more cautiously than before. Doing splits beside Jessie, I saw a familiar figure walking toward our direction. When Howard reached the far end of the field near the bleachers where Jessie and I were warming up, he smiled at me. “Hey, I just wanted to say good luck.”

            “Ha,” I said standing up. I saw Jessie fixing her messy hair consciously from the corner of my eyes. “I won’t need it. You, on the other hand, will.”

            “Don’t think we’re good enough?” Smiling at him, I shook my head. “I am hurt, Zoe. I thought you knew me better than that.”

            “I do know you better than that. That is why I am wishing you all the luck you can get.”

“Thanks, I’ll win it for you.”

“Howard—”

“I know what you’re going to say. Relax, I was just joking.”

“Obviously you didn’t know what I was going to say. And I thought you knew better. Anyway, I was going to say that Daniel is the one who always wins the game for us.” Teasingly, I patted his cheek. I heard Jessie giggle from behind me. Howard narrowed his gaze toward her. She tensed at the sight of him glaring at her and started mumbling an apology.

            “Stop it, you bully,” I said, punching him in the arm hard. At that, he laughed and winked at Jessie, who blushed.

            “Anyway, I need to get back to my boys.”

            As he turned away from me, I caught his arms. He looked down at my hand on his arm and back to me. Before I could stop myself, I came to embrace him tightly and naturally. I missed Howard. He will always be a part of my life even if he’s not in my heart anymore. I kissed him on the cheek and whispered, “Good luck, captain.”

            He looked stunned but before he could reply, I had already gone back to my warm up next to Jessie and flushed. Jessie stared at me with wide green eyes. After regaining her sock, she asked, “So you and Howard are back together?”

            I blinked at the question. Jessie and I never really had a conversation. I barely know her and she barely know me. Yet here she is asking me about Howard with curious eyes like she’d known the whole story about us. “What? No! Why would you ask that?”

            She lowered her head. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought—well, he still loves you, you know.”

            “I, er, how could you say that?”

            “I see the way he looks at you,” Jessie said sadly. “You’re lucky to have him crawling at your feet.”

            “You don’t know the whole story.”

            “Look, you’re Zoe Lockwood and next to Chloe, most of the guys in school droll over you. And you don’t even notice them. All other girls envy you. All guys would leave their girlfriends for you. Well maybe except Daniel Nightshade since he’s with Chloe. I’ve had a crush on Howard since like forever and he never notice me since today. Though you, I never seen him looking at anyone like that before. Not even Nina Andrews.”