𝑾𝑨𝑳𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑫𝒀━━𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒎.

𝒗𝒊. 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆

( walking tragedy ! )
chapter six, vending machine
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━━the group of cheerleaders lined the stands of the gym, with one spot next to chrissy left empty. the girls jumped up and down as the basketball team ran in, and, over all of the screaming, chrissy managed to ask the girl next to her, "have you seen ara?"

the brunette shook her head. "she wasn't in the locker room either."

cameras flashed, and the audience waved all sorts of flags and posters and pompoms around chanting "let's go tigers!"

ara sprinted through the hall as fast as she could, while also making sure her uniform was in check and that her hair wasn't an absolute mess. she managed to reach the gym right as the basketball team began warming up and took her place beside her friend, ripping off her white jacket.

"where were you, coach is going to kill you!" chrissy shouted, handing ara one of her two pompoms. she used the side of her forearm to wipe the sweat now dripping off the side of her head. she really needed to run more. the coach approached the other side of the court and gave ara a disapproving stare, but she smiled in response.

she lazily looked over her shoulder, "just ran into someone," ara shrugged, "no biggie."

suddenly a booming voice came through the speakers━━the principal. "everyone now, please rise for our national anthem." he motioned for everyone to do so, raising his arms up.

as he was introducing the singer, ara reached down and grabbed her foot. "what are you doing?" chrissy whispered, looking at her from the corner of her eye. she didn't answer but inspected the dark line across her shoe. after she had subtly licked her finger, she began attempting to rub it off━━it somewhat worked, the dark color was no longer present but a large indention remained in the leather.

"all better now." the girl looked up and placed her right hand over her heart, facing tammy thompson who was now in the center of the court, holding a microphone. "jesus christ."

"what a sight for sore eyes."

"you can say that again." one of the other cheerleaders chimed in, trying to hold in her giggle. they all knew tammy was not a good singer, even though she had moved to nashville after graduating last year just to pursue her dream. don't get her wrong, ara was all for having big dreams, but at least hers were realistic━━unlike the girl who was now getting ready to begin her song. ara held her breath.

it was one minute and forty-five seconds of agony, but nevertheless, the crowd began cheering once she finished and walked off. then the game began.

hawkins was scoring left and right until one of their players got pushed down. "you've got to be kidding me! that's so illegal! refs!" arabella screamed, completely forgetting that she was there for another purpose.

"ara!" chrissy widened her eyes and started laughing, as her friend managed to yell at the referees every single game. her and jason must have been on the same page (for once) because he walked up to the other team's player and started talking shit. but of course the damned ref had to break it up━━ara was really looking forward to seeing jason get beaten up.

the teams were neck and neck, with the tigers behind by a few points. halftime was called, and the basketball team began frantically bickering about their next play. "come on guys, dont screw it up. please." ara had been waiting all season for this━━well, less for the actual game and more for the parties after winning. they were always the best. she could get absolutely blacked-out drunk and her parents couldn't tell her she couldn't go because it was "for the team."

the cheerleaders were able to take a break in order to give the basketball team some focus. "hey, chrissy. i've been meaning to ask━━how did it go? you know, earlier..." she trailed off the end of the sentence as to assure that nobody would hear.

"pretty great, to be honest. i don't know how you two always argue," here it goes. "he's actually really sweet." great. her too. ara gave her an unamused look, crossing her arms. she never should've asked.

"has he ever given me a reason to not treat him like i do?"

"i mean, no...but have you ever tried?" tried. that one word always got to her. a word that represented something right in front of her; yet something she couldn't quite reach. it represented her mistakes and her twisted view on the world━━because it never seemed to fit anyone else's liking. ara always tried. always. but it seemed as though she made the wrong decision every time.

her thoughts were cut off when the buzzer sounded, signaling for the game to resume. the girls had to go back to cheering, and for once, arabella didn't mind it. it provided a distraction from her and chrissy's awful conversation.

she wanted to focus on the way their team had the ball, or that jason was about to score━━but she couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that she may have made another mistake. one that wouldn't be easy to fix.

ara's head felt as if it was going to explode, and the noise inside the gym was enough to set her off the edge. she dropped her pompom and grabbed her jacket off of the floor, hastily making her way out of the nearest door. she needed fresh air. or water. quickly.

was she near a water fountain or an exit? she couldn't think clearly and her ears were ringing, loud enough to drown out the noise of her footsteps. she didn't realize she was running until she looked down at her feet, coming to a stop in front of a vending machine. halle-fucking-lujah.

digging through the small pockets in her skirt, she grabbed the first coins she found and shoved them into the machine, fingers fumbling. "please, please work." she crossed her fingers as a loud rattling came from the box, but nothing came out.

"you've got to be shitting me!" she screamed and crouched down, sticking her hand through the slot, trying to reach for anything. nothing. that was just her luck. ara turned her back to the machine and leaned against it, dropping to the floor and catching her breath.

"aren't you supposed to be in the gym?" she didn't open her eyes to see who it was━━and she didn't care. she just needed to get her pounding headache to go away. "hello?" he snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her jump.

ara inaudibly grumbled into her hands that were now covering her face. "ugh." she drug her palms down downward until she reached her chin, then plopped them into her lap. "what do you want?"

"to be civil." eddie said, dropping down beside her.

"did chrissy tell you to say that?" she tilted her head to look at him, noticing the look on his face. "oh, you're being serious."

he chuckled, "yeah, for once."

reaching up to the necklace around her neck, she fidgeted with the silver heart charm on it, spinning it between her fingers. "you're um...not going to tell anyone about earlier tonight?"

"you really think i'd stoop that low."

"i mean━━i guess not." she let out a small laugh and leaned her head back, resting it on the vending machine.

eddie threw his hands up, "well, i guess that's better than nothing!" she looked away to hide the smile creeping onto her face. the two of them were talking━━getting along, and they hadn't even said one hurtful thing yet.

she felt a finger reach the side of her face, tilting her head towards him. "i like it when you smile. you should do it more often." usually she would have yelled at a man for saying that, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at him. or to think. or to move. his presence somehow captivated her━━and she didn't know why.

he grinned, showing a pair of dimples she'd never realized he had. letting go of her, he eased himself off of the floor and walked away.

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( note ! )

━━  .* ੈ✩‧₊˚  /  IM SCREAMING.

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