The Boy I've Always Loved (Completed)

Cheers!

When I arrive home after school I go straight into my bedroom instead of getting a snack from the pantry and am glad to not have to work. This fear of losing Zack envelops me and I start to cry more than ever and cannot control it. I begin to reminisce and pull out the first yearbook I see. It's the eighth grade yearbook and there's a picture of me in my cheerleading outfit with him, Kaliegh his older sister who was in cheer with me and Mercedes. I recall making the cheer team and the first ball game of the year.

It was sunny and warm when the game began. Zack, his family, and my family showed up to watch us cheer the football players on. My parents, my brother Johnny, and my older sister Ava walked towards us and each of them gave me a hug, and spoke to me for a while. While we spoke, Kaliegh's parents and Zack arrived and walked over to us as well. They all took turns hugging Kaliegh and as soon as Zack finished hugging her he walked towards me to give me a full on hug which I awkwardly turned to a side hug and said,
- "This is weird!"
- " I know!" He laughed and replied. As soon as the game started, they all sat down and we stood on the sidelines of the field and cheered.

As the evening grew dark, it also brought a chilliness that made me shiver. We hadn't bought our cheerleading jackets and I didn't want to put on something that didn't match the uniform. Some of the girls had light sweaters. I was one of the ones that hadn't prepared for the cool weather. I kept rubbing my arms to warm myself up and when I finally couldn't stand it anymore asked Ava and mom if they had a jacket I could wear.

- " Well I have one on but I'm wearing it because I'm cold too! You should've brought your own." Mom reprimanded. I didn't say a thing because even though I was cold and had very few parts of my body covered at the moment whereas she didn't, I knew I wasn't going to get my way. Right after a few seconds she began to take it off as if immediately regretting what she said. But Zack walked up with jacket in hand.

- "Oh it's okay Zack. I am going to give her mine. I really didn't mean what I said." Her kind reply seemed like she didn't want him to think ill of her and I rolled my eyes. It always baffled me how she could be so rude to me and super sweet to others within a matter of seconds.

- "It's alright Mrs. Montgomery. I'm not cold at all. It feels good out here." He replied energetically as he handed me his jacket. I took it and immediately put it on and thanked him.

"Thank you! You're a life saver!" I exclaimed.

- "No problem. I don't mind this weather." Shrugging his shoulders, he brushed it off as nothing.

My family and Zack's family were always at the games. He and Johnny weren't there when they had play rehearsals. But when he did come he would always try to give me a big embrace and looking back it filled me with the same weird mixed feelings of excitement and fear. I awkwardly turned to the side and hugged him every time. Other than Kaliegh's and my family none of the other cheerleaders hugged their families. Our families even hugged one another. But when it came down to Zack and I hugging there was a twinge of weirdness between us. It could have been all one sided, but it was there none the less.

Crying still, I relived yet another memory. It was either the next to last or the last game because I was tired, tired of the girl's incessant conversations about the same thing. Drama! "So and so said this about me." "So and so is flirting with my boyfriend." "So and so is posting crap about me behind me back." "So and so is so fake." It was excruciating to sit with these girls and listen to them go on and on about drama that they could easily evade. But I had chosen to be one of them so I tried to ignore it all and treat it like a grain of salt. The effect and affect were inevitable. I had had enough of it and the affect of it built up inside me. I knew it would surely make me blow up and say something soon, but the effect it created was one that I would have never seen coming.

I stood amongst the huddle of cheerleaders waiting for the team to walk out and run through the banner we'd made. The girls were going on about one of the girl's that was supposedly after one of the member's boyfriend when in reality he had been hitting on her and asking her to go out with him while he dated this cheerleader. But did they care about the details, no. They only cared about defaming her name and speaking ill of someone, whether innocent or not of the said gossip.

I watched the field house intently blocking the nasty comments the other cheerleaders were making and expecting the football players to come out anytime. Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke, saying.

- "Hey Sadie."

I turned around, saw Zack's face, and embraced him as hard as I could and called out his name in joy. Nothing or no one could have eased my mind the way Zack did at that moment. He had perfect timing and I welcomed his presence more than ever. I needed it at that precise moment and forgot all weird, awkward feelings I usually had when we hugged. All that dissipated. Reliving the moment reminded me how warm and comforting it was to have his arms around me. After a while, he smiled and asked.

- "What was that?" I shrugged my shoulders and responded excitedly.

- " I don't know!"

And ever since we embraced one another and the thought made me cry even more! I couldn't believe my senior luck.