The Championship

VII: Cruel

VII: Cruel

The next morning when I woke up, my phone was clutched in my hand, Jason's message still resting on my home screen. I hadn't replied because I didn't know what to say, and anyway, I would see Jason later today so it wasn't like my lack of response was a huge deal.

I got dressed quickly and ran downstairs to have breakfast with my mom.

"There's pancakes on the counter!" She said, and went back to reading some newspaper article on her tablet.

"Mom, you know the newspaper is for like.. boomers, right?" I laughed.

"Sydney Ann," She scolded, rolling her eyes at me.

I smothered my pancakes in syrup and began to eat quickly, eyeing the clock. I didn't have long until I had to get going.

"Got any plans tonight mom?" I asked.

"Not tonight, but Sydney, please don't forget we're hosting a neighborhood barbecue on Saturday, and I'll need your help setting up. If you wanna bring those big strong football friends of yours I wouldn't complain." She said with a wink.

"Got it, mom. I'll ask them," I told her, and finished my last few bites. I rinsed off my plate and stuck it in the dishwasher, giving my mom a quick hug before I was off to school.

With some perfectly timed lights and maybe a bit of speeding up at the yellow, I made it to school with five minutes to spare, and I walked over to the fountain in front where Lilly, Reid, and Paul where standing.

I snuck up behind Paul, placing my hands over his eyes and saying, "Guess who?"

"The devil?" He asked, turning to face me and wearing a smirk.

"Ha ha, very funny." I replied sarcastically.

"How did things go last night?" He asked me quietly while Lilly and Reid were talking about some plans they had later.

"Umm, the drive was fine, but as for Jason, I don't really know. He didn't wanna talk about it." I whispered.

"Didn't wanna talk about it? You drove like five hours just to pick him up." Paul whisper yelled, exasperated.

I shoved him in the shoulder, "Shut up, it was an hour there and forty-five back. But yeah, I don't know he seemed pretty upset."

Paul frowned which basically summed up how I felt. 

Right then, the warning bell rang, signaling that we needed to get to class. Paul wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground. "Have a wonderful first period, my dear best friend, I'll see you later."

I hugged Reid and Lilly and began walking to class. In the crowd of people, I noticed Jason was just up ahead of me. I sped up and excused myself between a couple people until I caught up to him.

"Hey, Jason," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder gently.

He jumped a bit and turned to me with a perplexed look on his face, "Oh, hey Sydney."

"Are you- is everything okay this morning?" I asked hesitantly.

"Fine," He muttered, stopping abruptly, "This is my class, I'll see you later."

And then he was gone.

I stood there for a moment, utterly confused as to why he was being so cold when I felt someone shoulder past me and I regained my bearings. I was in the middle of a crowded hallway, and I had probably less than a minute to get to class. I could deal with Jason's mood later.

The next few periods passed slowly, and of course I kept seeing Jason in the hallway, but every time we would make eye contact, he would look away quickly. This all went on until lunch where Lilly and I sat across from Paul and Reid, laughing as Paul described some story from their football practice the other day.