Miss Grande

Chapter 39: Why Are You Here?

   Texting Ariana had been weird. I was still upset with our situation, and she didn't seem to see any issue.

   Go ahead, just flirt with someone in front of my face.

   At least when I was flirting with Justin it was because I was trying not to give in to the attraction I had with my coach to put her in a bad position. More importantly, I didn't do it in front of her face. Well... other than the time when we went for ice cream, but she was with someone else too. That cancels out, right? Childish, I know, but justifying this is the only thing keeping me from losing my mind.

She had been the one to start whatever we had going on between us. She was the one that continuously pounced on me in the bathrooms, not that I minded. What bothered me the most was that, despite being the one to start it, she refused to acknowledge that it was real. She wouldn't mention anything to me and would just randomly decide to act like I didn't exist.

   I had to see her everyday in class and at practice, and I had to go out of my way to avoid Justin in the halls. He'd only really been working there for less than a few weeks, and I still managed to be late to 15 different periods because I ducked into the bathrooms to avoid him- several times a day.

   How good of a teacher do you have to be to stand outside the door and greet all of your students?

   I somehow managed to stay away from them as much as possible throughout the rest of the week.

   I had been ditching on Cam and Sel for Trent, which kind of made me an asshole. I never wanted to be that girl, the one who blows off her friends for her boyfriend, but being around Trent was just easier.

   I never had to worry about accidentally letting anything about Ariana slip. I wasn't even sure if Selena knew much about what had happened with Justin. I knew I needed to tell them, but first I needed to get everything off of my mind and relax. Deciding how to tell my best friends some of my biggest secrets that I had been keeping from them for a while could wait. What they don't know won't hurt them. Isn't that the saying?

   When Saturday came, I went to the park to play soccer. It was more than just a sport to me. I had been playing so long that it became my escape from everything else. It was so easy to forget about everything going on in my mind and just focus on my body and what I needed to fix to get better.

   If only personal growth came to me as easily as soccer did.

I made my way to the park and started warming up and stretching until I saw a small, all-too-familiar figure coming close to my general direction.

Her hair was down and looked beautiful. Her clothes were causal: an oversized sweater and some leggings with trainers. It was odd seeing her at the park. I figured it was a coincidence until I remembered that she knew I was going to practice this weekend.

   "Hey," she called out with a smile.

   I huffed. I was still upset with her, but I decided against ruining my day with a sour attitude. "Hey."

   "Practicing?"

   "Trying to."

   "What's stopping you?"