lemonade | ethan

twenty seven

"hey, you're pretty good at that." i tell alexandra as i stand behind her. she sells one of the cake pops to a mom and a little girl, being extremely social to them and trying to subtlety convince them to buy more.

"thanks." she says once they leave.

i spot my mom and mrs miller coming over from behind us. "devon! the treats look amazing!" mrs miller exclaims.

"you'll for sure sell a lot today!" my mom adds.

"thank you." i replied. "i shouldn't take all the credit though. alexandra here is quite the cook."

my mom looks at mrs miller, who looks at alexandra awkwardly noticing she was a south sider. mrs miller just smiles before walking away, not knowing what to say to her.

my mom follows like a lost puppy, trailing behind mrs miller as she went to go welcome people for coming like she owned the place.

though she did organize most of it with my mom, it's a soccer game. not a school dance.

"well, that was awkward." alex laughs, sitting down on one of the stools.

i shake my head. "they don't know to communicate when it comes to south siders. it's crazy, really."

"i don't blame them." she says. "the norms they grew up with are slowly starting to change."

"you know, if i had to guess, i think the reason for that change would be you. as cheesy as it sounds." alexandra explains, shrugging her shoulders.

i shake my head, confused. "our town is just opening their eyes. it's not me."

alexandra sighs. "you're the most popular girl in our town right now. people follow you. before you were your mom and clayton's mom, who carried on hating south siders. you're opening everyone's eyes because of the actions you partake in. like this bake sale, for example. or standing up for south siders whenever you get the chance." she explains. "you even hang around me."

"well, because you're fun to hang around." i shrugged. "come on, alex. there's no way the norms change because of one person." i say, taking a sip of my lemonade.

"they already have." she shrugged. "maybe it's because the north siders can't afford to lose you and your family because of how popular you guys are. even if you are dating my brother—"

i almost choke on my beverage at the mention. "dating? no, we aren't..." i nervously chuckle, my cheeks heating up. why does it sound so nice to hear people thinking we're a thing. "we aren't dating."

she snorts. "you could've fooled me. if you want people to not think you two are boyfriend and girlfriend, maybe you guys should stop acting like you are."

"we do not!" i exclaim, laughing.

"really?!" alexandra rhetorically asks. "hello, beautiful!" she laughs, mocking words ethan had said to me earlier today over the phone. i laugh along, my cheeks turning pink.

i don't care what alexandra says. we do not act like a couple.

if anything, this is probably a one sided relationship where i like him and he doesn't. to be completely honest, through his occasional flirting, i never know if he's legit or if he's just teasing me knowing i have feelings for him.

seriously, how do i know?

LEMONADE

once the game started, alexandra and i couldn't peel our eyes away. even though we were working the booth, we were so completely distracted by the intense soccer match between brooklyn bay and our rivals.

many people have come to our stand, but as the game went on, it slowly started to get less and less busy for people were busy watching.

as alexandra and i watch closely, i spot a customer wanting to buy some treats in the corner of my eye. i tell alexandra i'll handle it before turning around to be faced with maya and some of her friends.

"so.. halloween baked goods. genius. but you're never gonna raise enough money for the stolen charity money with this cute little bake sale." she claims, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"i will." i state, confidently.

she chuckles. "come on, dev. no one is going to buy these with your new reputation. you hang around south siders. this food is dirty."

"maya.. you may have the looks, the friends, the clothes, the attitude and the boyfriend but i still run this fucking school even if i hang around south siders." i state, referring to how alexandra told me earlier that i was still followed. "i have sold enough baked goods to go above the charity money limit."

"yeah." alexandra says, butting in. "so take your negative comments and leave!"

maya shakes her head. "wow. glad to know you've updated your friends into poor south side little girls." she says, putting on a fake frown. "she looks so sad."

alexandra turns around, ignoring maya's comment. "one day, devon. you'll know who your real friends are. us." maya says before leaving our stand.

"alex, don't listen to her. she's just jealous that even know i've broke standard, she can't pass me. it's all she wants before senior year is over. to be more popular than me for once." i shake my head, sighing. "i'd give it to her anyway if that meant she'd leave us alone, but it just doesn't work like that."

"i'm glad you'd do that. but it's good that you still have it." she replies. "you have a voice, and you use it for good."

"look, they're gonna score!" alexandra yells, getting the attention of everyone who wasn't paying attention.

raymond passes the ball to ethan. ethan passes back to raymond. raymond scores. the town goes wild.

the game continued on up until halftime, where alexandra and i got super busy. during halftime, we decided to sell hot chocolate since it was super cold out. it's something the crowd would buy watching a soccer game rather than cupcakes and rice crispy's.

pretty soon, the game started up again. occasionally, people would come up but alexandra was too invested in the game, so i took care of everything.

"who's winning?" i ask her, busy dealing with customers rather than watching.

she chuckles. "brooklyn bay, of course. times almost out." her leg bounced up and down. you could tell how much she wanted ethan's team to win.

as the end of the game rounded up, everyone sat at the edge of their seats when they wound up tied with so little time left. alexandra groaned, anxious about what the end result would be.

in short, the next point would win.

"come on, ethan!" alex shouted, encouraging him to score.

the crowd murmured, cheering whenever they'd be close to scoring.

"twenty seconds on the clock. brooklyn bay has got it in for them!" the game being broadcasted. "looks like our rivals might win this, fred."

the crowd cheers 'brooklyn bay' as they fight for the ball. it all went in slow motion when a kid from our team passes the ball to ethan. he takes the ball, dodging opposing members before it's passed to sonny. time stops as he has the opportunity to score.

he kicks the ball. the crowd goes silent. the time runs out.

"brooklyn bay steals the game! winning 3-2!" the crowd screams, the boys celebrate. alexandra jumps in her seat next to me. i scream at the top of my lungs.

"sonny scored the winning point!" alexandra exclaims, super excited. she embraces me in a hug, jumping up and down.

i laugh, watching as the boys jumped and hugged eachother. eventually the crowd ran in themselves, forming one big group of people celebrating.

this game would go down in history. and i'm so glad the south siders get to be apart of it.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

sorry i've been gone for awhile.. oops.

i got a new job! five below. it's sooooo fun