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➳CHAPTER FOUR
To say that she had it so much, Marie Bell once again found herself running through the halls of Liberty High. This time she wasn't chasing after someone, instead, she was very late.
She had been let off her shift at Monet's an hour later than scheduled, due to a surprisingly busy Sunday morning, and she wasn't exactly sure how long a baseball game lasted, but she had an awful feeling that she wasn't going to make it in time.
"I should've just told my boss that I had to go," Marie panted to herself as she sprinted towards the door at the back of school which led out towards the baseball field, "I should've just looked her in the eyes and said, 'Sara, I've got to frickin' go'."
She shook her head as she stumbled outside, the sun beaming down onto her face tortuously as she continued her jog around the corner to where the baseball field was located. However she found herself colliding with a taller body as she turned the corner, before jumping back in shock at the unexpected contact.
"Montgomery, Jesus, you scared the crap out of me!" Marie exclaimed, staring at the taller boy with wide eyes as he stood with a baseball bat in his hands, casually swinging it in between his fingers.
"Games over," is all he said with a shrug, before sauntering off past her, triggering an eye roll from the girl.
"Shit!" she cursed, smacking her hand against the wall next to her before instantly regretting it as her skin fell victim to the harsh brick. Of course, she swore again in response to the pain.
She shuck her head and clutched her hand before carrying on walking, figuring that she would probably pass Jeff on her way down to the field and she would be able to apologise then. She squinted her eyes as she saw bodies approaching in the distance, trying to work out who exactly was walking in her direction through the blazing sunlight that hindered her vision.
There were a couple of players from the team, and a few girls swooning over them as they flanked them. Yet Marie furrowed her brows in confusion when she realised that Jeff was not one of them - especially as one of the girls was his Winter Formal date, Kelsey Reagan.
"Is that Marie Bell?" she heard one of the girls mumble as they grew closer, "I've never seen her at a baseball game before."
It could have just been a harmless comment, because it was in fact, a fact. Yet it caused Marie to blush slightly in embarrassment upon hearing the girls shocked tone when mentioning her name. She never particularly liked being the topic of conversation.
"Hey," Marie spoke up, walking towards the group as they were about to pass her, "have any of you seen Jeff?"
Marie could pinpoint the exact moment Kelsey's smug grin vanished from her face, it wasn't even a casual deterioration of her permanent expression either, one moment it was there and then next, there was no trace of it. She whispered to her friend, but it was still loud enough for Marie to hear, "I told you Bryce said he'd seen them together at the party last night."
"He's still down at the field," Courtney replied, imitating a sweet smile that looked somewhat false, especially when Kelsey attempted to discretely nudge her. Marie was surprised that Courtney had dared to watch the baseball game after the whole Sheri thing.
"Thanks," she muttered, before walking past them and towards where the field was. Frustration was an understatement regarding as to how she felt. She was irritated with herself for not standing up to her boss for once, and she was annoyed at Kelsey and the other girls petty comments.
Her eyes desperately scanned the field and seating when she reached the railing that surrounded it. There were still a few people leaving the stands, and the Coach was having a discussion with the Principal down on the field, so it took her a moment to spot Jeff, stood alone, leaning on the railings over on the other side of the field. He didn't notice her until she was a couple of metres away, walking towards him in a fluster, his eyes had been captivated by his surroundings.
"Hey," he smiled slightly, "you didn't make it?"
"I didn't make it," she confirmed, "it was a really busy morning at Monet's and I ran all the way here and...sorry." She bit her lip, sometimes excuses weren't necessary, only apologies.
"No worries," he shook his head at her, "I'm just taking it in, the field. I might not be playing on here again anytime soon."
"Look, don't worry," she decided to join him as he gazed over the field, leaning her back against the railings as well, she didn't feel mesmerised by it as Jeff apparently did, but she pretended to anyway, smiling slightly, "me and Clay, we're gonna get your grades up, and then your parents will stop worrying, and Coach will have to let you play."
"Is that so? Because you seem pretty damn sure of that," he raised a brow as he looked down at her, to which she nodded determinedly, he smirked before asking, "Marie Bell, is that a promise?"
"Oh please, anyone will tell you I'm terrible at promises. If I say yes, it'll totally jinx it," she shrugged.
"Don't you dare jinx my grades," he chuckled, gesturing to the field, "I'll miss this place if I carry on failing, it's like a second home to me."
"You are such a drama queen!" she laughed, as she took a step back from the railings, facing him as she walked backwards, "come on, if you're really freaking out about it then we'll do some work now."
➳➳➳
An hour later and Marie and Jeff were sat together in a booth at the corner of Rosie's Diner. Marie had made up a list of fact questions about US History, and to her dismay Jeff seemed to be having a hard time coming up with any answers.
"You're doing it again!" Marie exclaimed after taking a sip out of her strawberry milkshake.
"Doing what exactly?" Jeff sighed rolling his eyes at himself, clearly frustrated, "look Marie, I don't know the answer to any of these. Oh, apart from 'what is the first name of George Washington?' because you kinda put the answer in the question."
"The whole bridge of the nose thing," she raised her brows before imitating Jeff's favourite confused gesture, pinching the bridge of her nose and squinting her eyes shut, sighing over exaggeratedly, before bursting out laughing at her own stupidity, "and oh my God, did I actually? Maybe you should be the one tutoring me."
Jeff opened his mouth to speak, but instead he paused, scanning her face before smiling slightly at her laughter, "it's cute."
"What is?" she asked, taking another sip out of her milkshake, her typical order at Rosie's, before frowning upon realising that she had drank it all.
"Your laugh."
"You're a great liar my friend," she raised her brows, shuddering as she recalled seeing various horrendous photos of her laughing throughout different stages of her teenage years.
Jeff looked back down at his work, scratching his head before asking, "so we're friends now?"
His face was still staring at the paper in front of him as he spoke, but even from across the table she could see the smirk on his face, his eyes drifting along the sheet of paper as he hesitantly waited for a response.
"I suppose you could say that."
➳➳➳
(a/n) a shorter chapter for you guys! i'm kinda excited for the next chapter because that's when some proper drama will start happening (i hope)! also i cannot believe that this story made it onto the top 1000 fanfics earlier this week, wow, thank you all!
