Bitter

six - cal

   I wasn't able to see Lydia's reaction to the pen ink on her sweatshirt, but when I got a glimpse of her the next day after school at my soccer practice, I knew she had finally noticed it and she definitely wasn't happy about it.

   I had just scored a goal and was jogging back to my team (Coach Wane had split our whole team into two, so I was with Jason and four other boys). I heard them whooping and cheering and I felt pride instantly travel through my body. One glance over at the bleachers and I saw Lydia standing beside the railing, in front of the chain link fence. She was wearing a different sweatshirt than usual and she had her arms folded in front of her, either from the slightly brisk weather or to try to intimidate me. If it was because of the latter, she wasn't succeeding and she never would.

   I knew she was being weird, but decided to ignore her and we started playing again, all of us in our positions, Coach Wane watching from the sidelines, the other team staring us down. That was when I thought of what Lydia might be there to do. She had done it before. She had taken my bag and thrown it in the creek beside the school, soaking everything, and no one even saw her when she'd done it. She had stolen it after practice was over. None of my teachers had believed me when I told them what had happened to my homework that first time, so what would make it different this time around? Lydia would probably make up some lie that the wind had blown it away and she was just trying to return it to me. I couldn't win. Ever.

The whistle blew, everyone was suddenly running, and the ball was a blur, being passed from person to person, all while I watched Lydia head for my bag sitting on the bleachers. She picked it up and that's when, with one last glance at my focused teammates, I ditched the game entirely. I thought I heard Coach Wane's angry shout behind me, but I wasn't even paying attention to that. Lydia was darting away with my bag slung over her shoulder and that was way more important.

I peered back and saw Jason look at me and shake his head in confusion. Clearly no one else had noticed Lydia and to Jason, the game was higher on his list of priorities than preventing my stuff from getting ruined in a creek. I didn't have time to answer him, and instead, turned back to face Lydia and chase after her. How was she so fast? I should have caught up to her seconds ago.

The forest next to the school loomed in front of me as Lydia disappeared behind the veil of dull green. I sprinted after her, crashing through leaves and breathing in cold, paralyzing air, before huffing it out in a cloud of breath. She leapt over a fallen branch and I did the same, coming so close to catching her that my hand grazed her sweatshirt hood. One more short burst of energy and I yanked on her hood, pulling her back so she slipped on the leaves covering the ground. She fell down hard, but surprisingly she still held my bag tightly in her grip.

I came to a halt in front of her and jerked the bag away from her. "I'll take that," I said, swinging the bulky bag over my shoulder. "Nice try though," I added as I whirled back around and marched the way I came.

Lydia's quiet mumble sounded from behind me. "Maybe you shouldn't have told your friends to cover my clothes in ink," she said.

"Hey," I snapped, looking back at her as she stood up, brushing stray leaves from her pants, "I wasn't the one that threw mud on somebody's mom's car." Her gaze locked with mine and she just put her hands in her sweatshirt pockets. She stayed silent and I was satisfied. "Exactly," I grumbled, facing forward, hearing her footsteps following behind me.

   She sighed, then spoke in a small voice. "Well, I wasn't the one who purposely soaked somebody driving by them as they were walking home," she shot back.

   I rolled my eyes. "You should've expected it."

   She let out a tiny, bitter laugh and there was a pause before she replied, "And you should've expected the mud after vanishing for two months and expecting to get away with what you did." I tensed a little at that.

   Her words lingered in my ears for longer than they should've. Suddenly the leaves crunching under my feet were way too loud and the wind that was picking up slightly was way too cold. I kept my eyes trained down on my shoes. We both shut up for the rest of the journey through the forest, our feet crushing the dead grass on the ground on our way back to the soccer field.

   Long story short, I saved my breath from trying to explain that Lydia was stealing from me (no one ever believed me), and she squeezed her way out of getting in trouble yet again. That was always how it went and I resented her for it.