the choice • charlie conway

chapter twenty six

sadie

I'm so glad to be home.

Don't get me wrong, I loved getting to see my cousins and spend time with them. But, they become a lot after a while and I can only spend so much time with them before I start to go crazy.

On the morning of Thanksgiving, Sam came up to me and apologized for dragging me to the party the night before and for how she acted while we were there. She also apologized for leaving me by myself while she went off with Jason. I forgave her, but as her punishment I made her tell me everything she knew about Miles.

First, she spilled that we were at his house. When she told me, my jaw literally dropped. I never would've realized we were at his house if Sam hadn't told me. That place was an actual freaking palace and I swear the backyard rivaled a luxury resort.

After telling me more about him, Sam gave me his Snapchat and told me that he was asking about me after I left. She also told me that I didn't have to use it if I didn't want to, but he's a really good person who's worth making a friend out of.

I told myself I wasn't going to add him, but something inside my head just told me to do it while I was at the airport. I didn't check to see if he added me back until after my flight, because it wasn't really a big concern to me. When I saw he did add me, I hate that a part of me became excited.

Which bring us back to now.

Miles has been texting me nonstop, trying to get me to come visit him. If I'd known he was as whiny and needy as he is, I would've thought twice before letting Sam convince me to add him. Don't get me wrong, he's nice, incredibly good looking, and a good person to talk to, but he's not Charlie. No one will ever be Charlie.

The hockey state final is today, and all of us on the soccer team who are involved with one of the guys on the hockey team one way or another have decided that we're going to match for the game. The outfit is definitely basic, but I think it's super cute. White shoes, black leggings, and a white long sleeve shirt, with the varsity letterman jacket of the boy we're with.

Morgan and I are pairing our outfits with gold jewelry, while Ella is pairing it with silver, which she's annoyed about. She usually goes for gold jewelry like Morgan and I, but she wants to wear this stunning Tiffany necklace that Adam bought her for her birthday last year. Besides, that girl has more jewelry than she knows what to do with. She'll be fine.

After getting up bright and early to get ready, the three of us meet up with the other girls for an early breakfast in the dining hall. We're joined by Faith, Blayke, Justine, Tatum, Lily, and Addison. Even though Faith isn't on the soccer team, we weren't going to let her miss out on our matching outfits. That'd just be plain mean.

To quickly fill you in, Faith is obviously dating Fulton, Justine is dating Caiden, Blayke and Mason are finally dating, because Mason decided to ask her out at our state champion celebration party, Tatum is talking to a senior on the team named Josh, Lily has been on and off with a junior named Christian since the beginning of the year, and Addison has somehow gotten herself involved with Luis.

Over the course of the playoffs, we've all become so close. We obviously get along really well, and it's nice to have a group of girls that you know will have your back.

People start to filter in as we're finishing up, and I quickly become uncomfortable with all of the jealous stares that are starting to be sent our way. Why can't girls just be happy for other girls when they're with someone attractive?

Addison quickly notices my uncomfortableness and stares at the girls glaring at us. "Let's make them even more jealous Sade. What do you think?"

I look back at her to see a wicked smile on her face. "Addie, what are you talking about?"

She bats her eyelashes innocently and stands up on a chair, holding her hands to her mouth. "Hey girls! Would one of you mind getting a picture of us? We'd really appreciate it!" When they all stare at her in shock, she places her hands on her hips and raises her eyebrows at them. "Really? No one?"

I don't know where the sweet and shy Addison who I knew at the beginning of soccer season went, but this Addison is fearless and full of fire. "You know," she continues. "I just think it's really rude that all I'm doing is nicely asking one of you to take a picture of us and instead of agreeing to it, you're all glaring at us. None of us have done anything wrong, so stop looking at us like that and just take the stupid picture."

As she's standing up on the chair with full confidence, I look at the other girls. They're all just as shocked as I am, even more so when one girl finally rolls her eyes and reluctantly takes Addie's phone from her hand.

"Thank you!" Addison says, dramatically sighing as she crosses her arms. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

The girl doesn't answer her, instead scowling as Addison gets down from the chair and gathers us all up for the picture. We pose together and smile as the pictures are being taken, thanking the girl awkwardly when she steps forward to give Addison back her phone.

I guess Addison isn't satisfied, because the girls are still staring at us when she looks back at them. To rub it in even more, she says very loudly, "Girls wait! We have to take a selfie! Come back!"

Tatum clearly finds this whole thing to be hilarious, because she's laughing so hard that actual tears can be seen in her eyes. We all squeeze together so we're all seen in the camera, and pose as Addison takes what seems like a million pictures.

After breaking apart, Ella stares at Addison in shock. "Holy crap Ad, where did this sudden boldness come from and why didn't I see it on the field this season?"

She smiles at Ella and shrugs. "I don't like seeing my friends hurt. I'll go to hell and back to make sure that they're okay." As she says this, she looks at me and smiles. I grab onto her hand and smile back. She really is the perfect addition to our team.

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For the entirety of the day, the whole school is buzzing with excitement. There hasn't been a single class where my teacher went five minutes without talking about the game. Seeing how much this school cares and loves the hockey team really crazy to me. Even after winning eleven straight championships, everyone is acting like this is the first time they've been there.

When the final bell rings, I practically sprint to the parking lot. Now that Ella is sixteen and has her license, she's able to drive me, Morgan, Addison, Lily, and Blayke to the game. Miles keeps texting me while I'm in the car, and-

Miles.

I have to tell Charlie about him. He deserves to know who he is.

When we get to the parking lot at the stadium, we sit there for a bit as everything starts to sink in. This is it. So much is riding on this game. The guys are about to give everything they've got, just like we gave our everything in our final.

If they win, they'll continue their streak and stay the kings and queens of high school hockey. If they lose, their streak is broken and they'll have to deal with the repercussions of losing.

I don't want Charlie to blame himself if the team doesn't win. I know he will, and I can't have that happen to him. He's too perfect to blame himself for something that he can't directly control.

This is going to be an extremely nerve-wracking game.