Playing for Keeps

Traitor

Jason smiled, “Really?”

“Yeah.” I gave him a shy smile and he wrapped his arms around me. I felt slightly uncomfortable being embraced like this by Jason. I did just accept his invite to homecoming. In my mind I felt absolutely terrible. I was just doing this to get back at Bryce.

Jason pulled away, still smiling. His blue eyes were gleaming with happiness. He handed me a red cup that was filled to the top with some liquid. It was too dark for me to see what it was, but it smelled fruity. But this was a party, a high school party and the chances of this being an alcoholic beverage was through the roof.

“Is this-“

“Don’t worry it’s just punch.” He assured me.

I raised my eyebrow, “Ever head the phrase, ‘somebody spiked the punch’?” I asked.

“No, don’t worry. I’m not really into drinking. So I’ve kind of been drinking punch the whole time.” Jason admitted, running a hand through his blonde locks.

I chuckled, “It sounds like the perfect drink for a toddler party.” I joked.

Jason let out a nervous chuckle, as his face turned bright red.

“Don’t worry though, I’m not one for alcohol anyways.” I smiled, taking a drink of my punch.

He let out a sigh of relief and took a drink of his own punch. I glanced at my watch and saw it was nearing 8:30. On school nights my mother wanted me home at nine sharp, if I wasn’t… I didn’t want to even think about what punishments I would receive… No phone for a month, or no internet. The last time I was out late on a school night she turned off the wifi for a month, it was pure torture.

“Crap! Jason, this was fun and all but if I’m not home soon my mom will kill me!” I said, placing my cup on a nearby table. Next thing I knew, Jason was hugging me again. “I’m glad you came Summer.”

I let out a nervous chuckle, still feeling uncomfortable in his arms. “I’m glad I came too. I had… fun.” I hesitated. I sighed with relief when he didn’t catch it. I pulled away and gave him an awkward wave before turning around and heading back towards the kitchen area where I left Brit.

She was standing over near a group of people laughing and drinking something from a red cup. Great! A soon to be mom is drinking beer. That’s just fabulous… I marched over to her, “Brit are you insane?”

“Don’t worry Summer it’s just apple juice! I saw it in the fridge and poured myself some.” She assured me. Jeesh, first fruit punch and now apple juice? This does sound like drinks for a toddler party.

“Whatever, we gotta go! My mom will freak if were not home by nine!” I said in a panicked tone.

“Oh crap! I don’t want that to happen! Your mom is sweet as sugar, but she is scary when she is mad!” Brit said placing her cup down.

“No shit! Now let’s go!” I grabbed her arm and pushed our way through the crowd. We were almost to the door when I sawit…

Jazz had her lips pressed to Bryce’s. Her hands were tangled in his hair and she was straddling his lap. Any sanity I was holding onto slipped away. My hands were clenched and I was blinded by pure rage! How could he?! He knew how much I despised her! He fucking knew that she attempted to take down my team! What was he doing?! God, what was she doing?! Why did she have her tongue down his throat?! What happened to her boyfriend who stayed here instead of going to college? What happened to that!?

I didn’t realize that I was making my way towards them until Brit grabbed my arm, “Summer as much as I would enjoy helping you beat the living shiz nitz out of both of them, it’s not worth it.”

If we were in some sort of cartoon I probably would have flames shooting out of my eyes, I was that pissed. But Brit was right. They weren’t worth it. I pulled my arm out of Brits grasp, and began to make my way back towards the front door.

I could feel the ring that had stayed on my finger even after I broke it off with Bryce. It seemed to be burning my skin. I yanked it off and closed my fist around it. I had wondered why I hadn’t given it back when I ended it, but know I realized why. The ring had made me hopeful. Hopeful that Bryce would still be my knight in shining armor. But, he just proved that that wasn’t going to happen. Now this stupid ring was just a painful reminder of what never was, and never will be…

I pushed myself out the door and into the cool fall breeze. Bit was right behind me. She dug out her keys and started to walk over to her car. I wasn’t ready to leave just yet. I pulled the ribbon out of my hair, the ribbon that I always tied my hair in during a game. I slipped the ribbon through the ring and tied it to Bryce’s trucks door handle.  If I could I would probably write ‘fuck you!’ on his truck as well, but I lacked spray paint.

“Summer! Come on! Its quarter to nine! We got fifteen minutes before your mother kills us!” Brit yelled from the driver’s seat.

I turned around and made my way back to Brit’s car, refusing to look back.

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