PURE HEROINE II 13 REASONS WHY

new girlfriend pt. 1

"It's not about what people do when they break a promise, it's about the lie."

❥

"Hey, Hannah, Clay!" Sheri and Liz greet the two of them when they walk to the counter in the cinema to buy some sweets a few days later. "Haven't you been here last week?", Clay wonders. "Uh, yeah, but I can come here again, right?", she replies trying not to be suspicious. Damn, right, they have cameras here. And Clay is Jeff's friend, he would definitely tell him. 

But.. why the hell would he watch the security cameras when nothing has happened? Is he even allowed to? Stop overthinking, Liz thinks to herself. "Sure. Charlie just couldn't believe how you didn't like the new spiderman movie. What can we give you?" "As always, popcorn sweet and salty and the biggest coke you have, please." "Coming", Clay tells the girls working on his order.

"Liz, are you coming to Jeff's party? Clay and I thought that we could go there together", Hannah asks her in the meantime, "He said you're coming, too, Sheri?" "Uh, which party?", the girls asks unknowingly.

What she doesn't know yet is that Jeff enjoyed his valentine's date. Well, not too much as he wouldn't say he's in love with Leah, not even close to how much he loves Liz. However, if he wanted to have another girlfriend during school or at all, it would be the right time. When school is over and Liz and him go to college together, they'll have time for themselves and there's not going to be someone else.

Liz also wonders why she didn't get an invitation to a party. It's not about the party at all, but by how close they are, it confuses her that she's the one not being invited. It's a party if Sheri is there. Would the boys be there, too? Then why not her?

"Sheri? Clay?" she repeats herself, they obviously know more. "Well", Sheri begins slowly, "Jeff throws a small party with us and he didn't invite you because Leah will be coming." "Great. Honestly, I'm happy for him and I understand that", she tries to act as normal as she could in front of Clay and Hannah. Clay could tell Jeff if she said something bad now.

"You know, we can get back home", Sheri offers her friend as soon as they sit down but Liz shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. At least they're not dating, right? He promised me." "I don't think so. But if Jeff is with Leah, you could be with Scott, you know." „Still not possible. Scott is his best friend, Leah is nobody to me. He would freak out." "We'll figure it out", Sheri promises Liz.

The new situation first hit her at the next baseball game. Usually, Jeff and Liz talk before his game and she always wishes him a good game but this time, she already sees him with Leah when she arrives with Sheri in their cheer outfits. "I didn't expect them to be so close, especially not after I told him why she's obsessed with him", Liz tells her friend skeptically. 

"You did?", Sheri asks surprised as Liz never thought it's something to talk about. "We've been having a conversation at Bryce's party and he asked me why I am so critical about her so I've told him about the things that she's said in middle school and high school." "So, did he defend you?", Sheri questions wondering why Jeff would still be talking to Leah then. 

Leah's made some harsh accusation of Liz the past years, the worst being a lie about Liz cheating on Jeff. She somehow always managed to tell those lies to everyone but Jeff. So why would he still act so nice around her? "I've got no idea. We haven't talked since then but from what I can see there, he hasn't", Liz sighs, "But it doesn't matter. I don't need anyone defending me, especially not a boy." 

"Hey, Sheri, I've got a problem with the choreo. Can I talk to you about it?", Sophia, another girl from the cheer team, interrupts their conversation. "I'll be in the changing room telling the others to get ready", Liz says to Sheri signalizing her that she should help Sophia while she's preparing the rest of what has to be done before the game.

"You're not with Jeff?", Scott asks Liz as soon as he sees her right before the game. That's unusual for her as Jeff always wanted her to be around as a lucky charm before a game but looks like Leah's taken this position. "He's busy, don't you see?", Liz chuckles nodding into their direction but laughs as she's had time to accept it. 

"Looks like you need a new player to talk to before the game", Scott adds being excited for her reply. Would she give in and flirt back? "I think I've got great company at the moment, don't you think?", she replies flashing him a flirty smile and Scott grins back. "If we win tonight, we have to think about something we do before every game. Then you're my lucky charm", Scott decides. "And what if you don't?" "We will." 

"Great mentality, my boy", Monty suddenly says behind them and lays his arms around the shoulders of his friends, "Els, Rosie's afterwards? If we win, it's on you, right?" "Sure. And if you don't, it's on you." "We're going to win", Monty grins repeating Scott's word and runs off to the field. "You're expected to be somewhere so good luck", Liz smiles at Scott and quickly hugs him. It's the first time that they've hugged each other in public and Scott couldn't even hug her back as it's happened so quickly but he definitely enjoyed it.

"There's my lucky charm! Why did you leave so early yesterday?", Jeff asks Liz in school as she's quickly left the night before as she never got the chance to talk to him and didn't want to watch him hang around Leah all the time. "Monty, Bryce and I went to Rosie's", she tells him. "I hope you celebrated our victory." "Of course", she chuckles about his love to baseball, "By the way, I wish you good luck with your girlfriend." "My girl-"

"You don't need to hide it from me", she replies rolling my eyes. "Are you jealous?", he grins enthusiastically wiggling his eyebrows. Jeff hasn't confirmed if Leah is his girlfriend but he also didn't deny it. So he's really dating her, Liz notices. "No, I just tried to be nice. You could have told me. You were the first one to know about Justin and we haven't even been dating."

"How did you find out?" "Oh, Hannah asked me if we could go to your party together and Sheri said Leah would be there. I saw you with her at the game and well, you looked pretty close." "Hey, I'm sorry that I haven't told you. I wanted to ask you but I don't want Leah to think that I still like you."

Liz scoffs. So he doesn't like her anymore? What about all their promises then? What about him being jealous of Justin although it's never been serious to her? What about him telling her who she can't be with? And what about the fact that they've ended their relationship due to him being focused on baseball until college? Why can he be with Leah then?

"It doesn't matter", Liz lies not hiding her disappointment. "Come on, you can't be annoyed by Leah and me. I thought that especially you would be happy for me." "That's got nothing to do with that! Of course I'm glad that you found someone but do you really think I say it's great when you prefer her over your friends?", she summarizes the situation as easy as possible.

"You're not really happy for me", Jeff complains. "Wow okay, I've got to go now", Liz shakes her head and turns around to walk to her car. She's realized that in this moment, they couldn't have a conversation without a fight so she decided to let this topic rest for now. In the mirror of her car, she sees Leah jumping to him happily. In that moment, something inside of her broke, a tiny piece of her heart.