Dear Ex-Girlfriend (Lesbian, Girlxgirl, Gay)

Chapter 19. Tug of War

Chapter19. Tug of War

Tug of war was a test of supremacy. With two evenly matched opponents on each end of the rope, you get to measure strength, drive, and the willingness to win. Life was like that too, especially mine.

"Start!" The commencement of the war didn't begin with the word. It began with a short whistle.

"Ungh!"

"Pull!" A classmate screamed behind me.

"Our grades count on this! Freaking pull, Destiny!" another threw in.

I coiled the rope on my right hand and pulled.

"Heave!" Ester yelled from the other side.

"Ho!" The students from the bench laughed as someone said.

The match had barely begun, yet my arms and shoulders were already strained. My legs too. In front of me, Ester's face was bright red, cheeks puffed, neck taut. She'd manage to transfer from her P.E class to mine so we'd have a few classes together. Good for us, though bad for competitions.

"Lean back!" my teammate suggested. Most of them did it, but I stayed how I was. Ester was moving forward to dominate our side of the line. I should probably too.

"Hey!" I grunted as we met in the middle. Tug of war wasn't tug of war without a few snippets of conversation here and there. We might as well have milkshake too.

"Hi!" she grunted back. Looking behind her, she screamed, "Harder!"

"Doesn't. Sound. Right," I huffed.

"Deal with it."

"Stop gossiping and pull!" someone yelled. And so we were back to pulling.

Sometime between the constipation of tugging, and the thoughts of losing, Ester smiled at me and let go of the rope. The subtracted member allowed my side to dominate, thus we tumbled backward to a win.

"What the hell, Ester!" her teammate yelled. They were collecting themselves from the pieces of the fall. "This is our quiz for today!"

She shrugged and wiped her brows. "If this is your basis for pass or fail, you're doing something wrong with your studies." She turned to me and grinned again. She looked so much like her twin that way. It made me cringe. "Bench?" She gestured to the seats.

"Sure." I dusted myself up, received congratulatory pats on the back from my teammates, and followed her.

Ester didn't wait once we were seated. She wasn't good at keeping her thoughts back. Unlike some people I knew. Cough. Genesis.

"Spencer is a stupid boy," she said.

"He's your brother."

"He's a twat," she repeated. "I don't make the habit of defending twats. Brother or otherwise." Ester's lips were pressed into a line as she shifted to me. Only then did her dark eyes soften. "But forgive that twat."

"Es. . ."

"I don't like meddling in relationships, you know that. I've been keeping my mouth sealed ever since Genesis came back, but this." Her shoulders hunched. "What are you kids doing with your life?"

My shoulders hunched beside hers. "I have no idea."

The whistle sounded in the gym for the second time. Ester and I watched on the sidelines as another power struggle began.

After a while, she said, "We're all friends first, and whatever happens next is always secondary. We swore by candlelight."

"If your Lit club hears that." I teased her with an elbow to the rib.