Falling for Friendzone

Chapter 4

"Feelings change, and so do people. This could be your chance. Think positive!" Katie shook my shoulder to get me to lighten up. She knew how badly the situation was eating away at my heart.

I jerked away from her grip."Not with the queen of b*tçhes in my life!" I was taking all of my pain and anger out on Katie, but one look into her blue eyes showed me she knew and understood my reasonings.

"Ellie, it's been years since we've had to deal with Peyton, maybe she's changed!"

"Yeah right, I'll never forget what she did to me! She ruined my reputation for months!" My eyes were getting glossy as I thought about the horrid memory that will always be stuck with me.

It all started in 5th grade when Peyton was my neighbor. She was short with wavey brown hair with blonde highlights and eyes that sparkled. She was gorgeous. I wasn't really friends with Katie and the twins yet, so I hung around Peyton. We were pretty close and I considered her my best friend. We were both very well liked among the other kids and were nice to everyone. Years went on and we both made new friends, but stayed pretty close. She didn't go to our school, but we played each others schools in sports, we were the same position in everything, and it was always a huge competition to see who could outdo the other and be named the better player.

When we were freshmen, we both started varsity as the point guards. Our teams were both undefeated and regular season was over and in two weeks, my team, the Pirates, were scheduled to play the Warriors to see who would make it on to play at the state tournament. We were starting to drift apart in our friendship, or so she thought, so she invited me to a party that one of the seniors in her school was hosting. I went along with her because she promised me that it would "help mend our friendship" and there wasn't going to be any alcohol. As an athlete, I didn't believe in drinking, I had too much to lose. Others could rot their future away on the foul stuff, but I wanted something better.

When we got there, everyone was grinding and holding red solo cups that I assumed weren't filled with juice. I told Peyton I wanted to leave, that this was destined to end badly, but she said I didn't have to drink and she went to get to get me a pop. She brought it back in a red solo cup, telling me this way people wouldn't peer pressure me into drinking because it looked like I already was. I took a swig and it seemed fine, so I drank my pop and started to relax just a little. Eventually some older guy occupied the rest of my worry filled night by dancing and talking with me. After a while, I started feeling dizzy and wanted to leave, so Pey took me home without a second thought.

The following afternoon at practice, everything seemed normal until the police came in and said that there was a report of players taking drugs. I looked around at my fellow players, and instantly felt rage that someone would be doing such illicit things that could harm the rest of the team. I knew I would be fine, so I wasn't nervous at all, but when my results came back positive, I was shocked. My coach was so disappointed and lost all respect for me. I was suspended for the rest of the season, which meant missing the state qualifying game.

I had no idea why I had drugs in my system, till I remembered the party. When I got home I ran next door to talk to Peyton, I figured there must have been a misunderstanding and she would help me understand what happened, but when I told her, she just giggled and gave me a barbie doll smile and said, "looks like the Pirates won't be going to state!" I stared at her in dissbelief and shock and I ran to my parents and told them what she had done. With a bit of convincing they believed me, but when we went to the police, they told us we didn't have any evidence that Peyton drugged me. We ended up loosing the basketball game, so the Warriors went to state, and most of my teammates-the ones that didn't believe what happened- blamed me and still do.

The good news is Peyton moved away before she could ruin my life anymore, and the next season was normal considering we got a new coach that hadn't heard the lies about me. People forgot about it and things faded behind new drama and rumors as usual in most, if not all high schools. The news about this stayed pretty quiet, inside the sport team and mostly just girls. The guys hadn't even heard about it. You think that it would have spread more, but it didn't. Then again, guys were pretty oblivious. Everyone just assumed either my grades were bad or I had got caught drinking.

"She drugged me Katie! No one trusted or believed me!" I cried out with tears running down my face and makeup smearing. Katie pulled me into her arms and whispered reasurring things into my ears.

After a few minutes, she broke the silence. "You have to tell Lane about this!"

"No! I can't! So many other people didn't believe me, why would he!" I fired back at her.

"But yo-"

"Katie!" I interrupted. "Please, just let me handle this." I begged.

"O-okay, but she is bad news, and if I were you I'd still tell Lane that you're not helping him get with a b*tch."

"Dont worry," I reassured, "I'll be fine; he's my best friend, what could go wrong?" Everything. Everything could go wrong, my subconscious reminded me. She was right, this wasn't my greatest idea, but the thought of Lane drew me in like a potion.

"He's your best friend that you're in love with." She gave me a sad smile, in which I returned. It was true, and I'm pretty sure everyone sees it except him.

I lead Katie downstairs and gave her a hug to thank her before she left. As soon as the door shut, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, to see and picture of Lane flipping me off; he never liked taking pictures. I pressed the answer button as I held the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Ellie, hey! I'm going to pick you up in ten, and we can head somewhere to talk, okay?"

"Er-Yeah, sounds good, see ya." I hung up the phone and threw it on the couch as I ran up the stairs to get ready.

Ten fricken minutes to get ready, I thought. Ugh. What do you wear to talk about your loves' love life? I wasn't sure, but I was in for an evening that I don't think I was mentally ready for.