Beverly Lights

55

As soon as Juliet walked in through the schools front doors she was met by Olivia. "Good morning!" She said cheerfully. Juliet looked her way and said, "Morning?" And kept walking.

"Look, I was hoping that maybe you and I could talk."

"At 8 in the morning?"

"Yeah. Last night at the Cafe it was really nice seeing you, and I realized that things aren't what they used to be and-"

"They probably won't be."

"I'm sorry?"

"Things won't be like they once were. At least not anytime soon. I get that in your head you thought convincing Jordan to be with Simone was the right thing. But it lead to me having a broken heart, again. I said hi last night because I didn't want to be rude."

Olivia looked at Juliet. She thought after a summer apart the two would be fine. Apparently she was wrong.

From around the corner Layla appeared seeing the two and a large smile came over her face. "Liv, Juliet- hey, um, this is Vanessa Montes. She's the new football coach's daughter. Juliet is the daughter of one of Beverly's biggest boosters and Olivia was the old football coach's daughter."

"Still am." Olivia chuckled. "He isn't dead. Hi." She turned to shake Vanessa's hand after Juliet and look of pure shock came over her face. "Wait. What are you doing here?"

"I literally just told you. She's starting school here."

"Um, I've got to get to class." And Olivia bolted away from the three other girls.

"Sorry. Olivia's normally pretty normal." Layla said to Vanessa then turned to Juliet and said "Is she okay?"

"Beats me. You just saved me from her though. So thanks for that. It was nice to meet you Vanessa." She smiled and walked away.

"Must be the whole coach's daughter thing. Um, speaking of which, has your dad met the team? They can be tough, but I'm sure your dad's tough, too."

Vanessa smiled and said, "He is, but not as tough as my mom."

With tryouts for the football team after school, all the players from last year were hyped up and all the new recruits were nervous. No matter where you went, you couldn't escape the topic.

As Juliet was walking down the hall for 7th period she heard JJ calling out her name. "Jules, hey Jules! Come here." When she looked up to face him she saw him at Asher's locker with Jordan and Asher. "Will we be seeing you at tryouts after school?" "And miss the tradition that's three years strong with my dad? Like he'll allow that. I'll be there after the orientation for cheer tryouts." She smiled trying to avoid eye contact with Jordan.

"That's what I like to hear! Jordan and I are competing for QB."

Juliet couldn't help but glance Jordan's way and saw the upset look on his face. "Are you?"

"Yeah. I was a QB back in the day. Coach Montes thinks I have a good shot at taking out this top dog."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck. The both of you."

"Maybe you guys can talk about this when I'm not around? I'm not even allowed to practice." Asher sighed.

"What? Why?" Juliet asked.

"I'm still on probation from using steroids."

"You're right. I'm sorry." Jordan replied

"Oh, hey, Jordan." JJ smiled. "I just want to give you a heads up and say watch out for number 47 later on the field."

"47? JJ that's you?"