Crushes Over Papercuts- A Mid 90s Tale

Chapter 55

The roar and excitement of the crowd echoed off the gym walls.

"'I'm really nervous," I whispered to the girls as we passed through the front door. The butterflies in my stomach that had been fluttering since we got in the car now seemed poised to take off. I secretly hoped they'd carry me away with them.

Lauren smiled. "This is the easy part."

"And the fun part," Lily winked then motioned to the backpack strapped to her shoulder which held the evidence from the day's covert mission. Hours earlier she had picked up the photos from the pharmacy so we could examine them before the game. They turned out perfect, better than any of us could have anticipated, but their presence and what we intended to do with them tonight had completely consumed my thoughts. I didn't know if I had the strength to go through with it.

What if this all backfired on us?

"It would be a lot more fun if we could find a seat," Tiff said as we scanned the home team side and saw there was no open space.

An excuse to leave.

"Maybe we should wait another day or next week," I suggested.

"Look!"

I followed Nicole's pointed finger to see Cody waving his arms over his head from the fifth row. I smiled at him and he motioned us to join him.

"Ben told me to save you guys a seat," he said as three of his friends made room for us on the bench.

I sat down next to him. "We're down by eight points?" I asked.

"The other team is kicking our butt and to be honest, Ben's game seems a little off tonight."

My heart sank thinking that I might be the reason he was struggling. Before we kissed goodbye and Ben had to leave for his game today, he told me: Be careful. Courtney has shown herself to be completely unpredictable and I could never forgive myself if anything happened to you...especially if it was because of me.

He was right. Though I wasn't worried about my physical safety when it came to Courtney, I did worry that if I didn't end her reign of tyranny now, I'd have to deal with a monster for the rest of high school.

Their coach called for a timeout. Ben hurried off the court and we caught eyes. The tension in his face relaxed and the butterflies in my stomach flapped their wings, but now for a different reason.

The point gap shrunk to five points when the buzzer screeched at the end of the second period.

"I'm going to get a drink. You guys want anything? My treat." I didn't want to sit in the stands while Courtney and the cheerleaders did their halftime routine. She hadn't detected my arrival at the game but once she stood on that center court, I doubted I'd go so unnoticed.

"That's perfect!" Lily exclaimed. "Let her see us sitting here without you and assume you weren't allowed to come."

Tiff leaned over. "I've got two questions. One, can you get me a coke and two, why are we holding onto these photos? We should give them to her now to psych her out before she performs."

"No, no, no," Lauren shook her head. "We don't want to cause a scene. We have a plan and we should stick to it. Photos are for after the game and only if they're necessary."

Nicole stood up. "I'll go with you."

I placed our order at the concession stand.

"We can wait to do this, you know," Nicole said as the clerk filled the cups. "I can tell you're worried. It doesn't have to be tonight."