Penalties

Busted. - Chapter Eight

It was only a few seconds, but a strong first kiss.

We finally pulled apart and Alex looked me in the eye. Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice us standing in the middle of the hallway.

I didn't know what to think of us now. Alex and I had always talked about dating when we were younger, but I didnt really understand seriousness of it until about last year.

I instinctively ran off, not wanting the guilt and embarrassment of what just happened.

I went in to social studies, closing the door a bit too loudly behind me. Everyone turned their heads, staring at me. Our teacher wasn't in the room yet, she usually was late getting coffe or hitting on one of my other teachers.

I sat down at a desk in the front of the room, because my vision wasn't that great. I had forgotten contacts this morning, so I sluggishly reached into my backpack to retrive my glasses, Ramming my head into Mark's as I did.

"Sorry," I mumbled as i fumbled with opening my glasses case.

"It's fine," Mark said in a foul tone, turning away.

Did someone tell him what happened with Alex? It truly just was to get him to stop fighting with Dillion. It really didn't mean anything on my part, and I truly hoped that no one saw. I just wanted to forget it.

But unfortuantley, It wasnt that simple.

Mark avoided me for the rest of the day, and at gym, he wouln't even pass me the soccer ball. By the end of the day, I was upset with Mark, Whoever told Mark, and frankly, Myself.

I was mad that I did that to Alex, and more importantly, that I wasted my first kiss in the middle of our school hallway, with someone who had been like a brother to me.

~..~..~..~..~

Soccer practice was chill, because all we did was scrimmage our varsity team. Being defense was hard as expected because all they wanted to do was ram into you, or run you over.

At the end of practice, James, Mason, Emily, and Ashley came up to me.

Crap, I thought, as they approached the bench where I was unlacing my cleats and putting on my slides.

I thought of all of the possible ways this could play out in my head. They could upfront ask me what happend, they could say, "Wow Taylor, you just had your first kiss with your best friend!"

I didnt like any of my options, but it was too late to run now, because they all formed a semi-circle around me, not giving any gaps for me to crawl away now. I smiled at them, but they just blankly stared back at me, no emotion. Until Emily couldn't keep her cool any longer.

"Oh Taylor! Is it true that you kissed Alex!?" She said, squealing at the end. I groaned and put my head on my soccer bag, which I immediately regretted because it smelled like rotten eggs, and wet dog. I lifted my head back up quickly and forced myself to look at my friends.

"We want all of the details," Ashley said, smiling and jumping up and down.

"Ok. Dillion and Alex were fighting. Alex was about to punch Dillion, I kissed him. It meant nothing," I said, getting up, but Mason pushed me back down.

"So, do you not like Mark, because he was really excited about taking you to the dan-" James started, but I cut him off.

"Yes, I still like Mark, A lot. I think," I said being rather unsure of myself.

"Well if you decide to change your mind, Think about it before you actually tell anyone," Mason said, Taking James' arm and walking away.

Just the girls now remained in front of me. "If you still want to, we are going dress shopping for the dance this weekend." Emily said, hugging me and leaving with Ashley. I gathered up my stuff and headed towards my dads car, which was wating for me in the paking lot.

When I got in the car, Carson was sitting in the front seat with his red beats on, and in soccer clothes, but not his normal uniform. This was a goalie uniform. He must have a club game tonight.

"Taylor we are going to go to Carson's club game tonight," dad said patting Carson on the back.

"Is anyone from school going to be there?" I asked, not wanting to be the only kid there, which I usually am.

"Um, I think Hailey, Alex, And Mark are going, if that's okay with you?" Dad asked.

"Um yeah, thats fine," I said, fishing my neon green beats out of my backpack. I listened to music the whole car ride to the fields, which were about an hour away. My club season doesn't start until October, and it September now. My club team would consist of mainly my school team, a few other boys from other nearby club teams, and a few newbies.

The field was filled with toddlers to teenage soccer players everywhere. I had been coming here since I was two to watch Carson's games. Our parents always kept us at seperate clubs, so we didn't get into fights as often. It did help, but didn't really make a huge difference. We honestly got a long pretty well, they just didn't want any conflict between us because we were both very competitive. It may not make sense but that's a conversation for another time.

I found a few of my friends that I had seen at school before, but never talked to other than at Carson's games. I freaked out when I saw Mark's older brother, and Carson warming up.

Great. That means the Mark was somewhere here. I had a feeling deep down that I liked him, but Alex's kiss somehow covered up those feelings.

When I finally made my way over to the stands, with a hot dog and skittles.
Carson's team was playing a team from out of state I think, but at the moment, I didn't care.

Alex was standing down by the other teams goal, talking to a girl with blonde hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. She looked about my age, maybe older.
I didn't care that Alex was talking to her because he was always the flirt, but when he got grabbed her hand and squeezed it before she ran off, now that caught my attention.

I stared in shock at him and something set in my chest. I was sure it wasn't heartbreak, but I think it was jealousy. Suddenly, I didn't feel so good and decided to take a walk and get some water.

The water fountain was halfway across the field, so that meant I would probably miss the end of the game. They were about to mercy rule the other team, so decided to go. I said hello to a few of the kids that i usually hung out with when i came to watch Carson play. Finally, i got to the water fountain that seemed farther away from the bleachers than i thought it was. I wasnt really surprised when Mark approached me when i was walking back from the water fountain.

"Hi Taylor," he said, his voice a little weary.

"Hello Mark," I said stopping my walking to talk to him.

"I heard about you and Alex. Are you a thing yet?" He asked. Everything went akward and my legs started shaking. I didnt know what to tell him, so i winged it.

"No we're not a thing. He and DIllion got in a fight, and I had to break it up, but I didn't know how," I said.

Lies.

"Oh and is that all?" He asked.

"Yes, I swear."

More Lies.

"So are we still on for the dance on friday?" He asked.

"Yes," I said.

Now that was not a lie.

Even though the whole conversation seemed fake, my heart melted at the smile Mark gave me before he walked away.

~..~..~..~..~

The next morning it was Saturday.

I was going dress shopping with Emily, Ashley, and maybe Ava if she wasn't sick anymore. I felt giddy and got dressed quickly. Nothing new happened on instagram, so I just grabbed my phone and ran downstairs.

I rode my bike to Emily's house and her mom took Ashley, Ava, Emily and I too the mall.

This should be interesting.