Chapter 18: Drama Llamas are a Mood. So is Lulu.

       "When exactly are you going to be able to put pressure on your leg?" Lulu asked as I was putting my stuff away in my locker.

       "I don't know," I said. "A few weeks."

       Lulu frowned. "That's not a good enough answer."

       "Well, I don't know what you want me to say," I said. "I don't have an exact date when my leg will be healed. Even my doctor didn't say an exact date. She just said if I stay off of my leg and properly take care of myself, I should be good in a few weeks."

       "You should fire your doctor and get you one that knows your exact heal date."

       "That's not how injuries work, Lulu. There isn't a set date where I'll be healed. Why is it such a big deal for you anyway?"

       "Uh, because you're my friend," Lulu said in an obvious tone. I raised an eyebrow, not believing in the answer she told me. "What? I can't care for my friend?" 

       "The truth, Lulu," I said.

       "Okay, so every year, the seniors of this school have a camping trip overnight somewhere in Ruralburgh," Lulu said. "It has been a tradition forever and the best part is that it has nothing to do with the school. It's just the seniors who plan the camping. No teachers or parents whatsoever."

       "Just a bunch of stupid teenagers who will probably smuggle alcoholic drinks onto the trip, maybe even some weed, even though we have to wait until we're nineteen to consume both alcohol and weed?" I asked.

       "Exactly," Lulu said. "Sounds fun, right?"

       "I'm pretty sure you and I have opposite ideas of fun," I said.

       "So... Is that a no to the camping trip?" Lulu asked.

       "Well, when is the trip?" I asked.

       "Don't know yet," Lulu said. "But I'm the one planning a date since I'm the one who found a location for it. That's why I asked when your leg is better so I could make sure you could come to it. And the good news is you're more than welcome to bring a guest. The camping trip is mainly for seniors but every year, people do invite other people. There is a special person you should definitely invite. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Cough, Sawyer, cough."

       "Wait, are you trying to hint that I should invite Sawyer?" I asked. "You're being unclear right now."

       Lulu rolled her eyes and gently punched my shoulders. "To clarify since you're apparently an idiot--"

       "I'm sarcastic."

       "--Yes, you should invite Sawyer. Because you know who's going to be there? Kitty. And you know what that will cause? A lot of anger for Kitty which will make me quite happy."

       "Why would I do that?" I asked. "Invite Sawyer when Kitty is going to be there?"

       "Jamie, you seriously are an idiot," Lulu said. "I just told you. To make Kitty angry so I can be happy. Does she even know about you and Sawyer yet?"

       I shrugged. "Don't know. We don't go out much because of my leg so she hasn't really seen us together yet. I mean, he does give me a kiss every time he drops me off from school but considering Kitty hasn't told me she's going to kill me yet, she probably hasn't seen it. Unless she's quietly plotting my death..."

       "No, trust me, I know Kitty," Lulu said. "If she saw, you would know. Sawyer is picking you up from school, right?" I nodded. "Okay, so make sure Kitty is outside and then give Sawyer a big kiss. And wait until I'm there to record her reaction."

       "I'm not doing that."

       "Oh, come on. I need a video of her looking like her head is going to explode and what better way to do it then find her ex-boyfriend now has a boyfriend when she was, and possibly still is, very biphobic?"

       "Why don't you just whip out your phone right now, get right to her, and say 'Jamie is dating Sawyer' and film her reaction?"

       "Because she won't believe me. She needs proof. Physical proof. Then again, I could always get Beau to tell her since Beau is a very trustworthy person and rarely lies."

       "Don't drag Beau into drama," I said. "He's too precious for it."

       "You're right," Lulu said. "He is so precious. One time, he got sad because he accidentally stepped on a wood bug and it was so hard to cheer him up after. He felt so bad for the wood bug. I love him so much."

       I didn't get how Lulu was the most oblivious person in the world when it came to Beau's feelings for her. She was normally very observant but when it involved her, she had no clue what was happening.

       "Anyway, can you kiss Sawyer and make sure Kitty sees it?" Lulu asked. No surprise that she went back to that even though I did try changing the subject.

       "Nope," I said as I closed my locker. "But I should be heading out now. Sawyer is probably already waiting for me and I want to get home so I could just lie down on the bed."

       "Fine," Lulu said. "But I'm going to be standing outside to see if Kitty is out there and if she is, please kiss Sawyer so I could record her reaction."

       "You're obsessed," I said before heading out of the school. 

       Sawyer's truck was pulled to the side where he normally parks it when dropping me off and picking me up. He was waiting out of the truck for me so he could help me get into the passenger seat before putting my crutches in the back.

       When I got to him, he smiled at me and gave me a quick kiss which, like always, made my heart skip a beat or two. "Hey," he said.

       I smiled back. "Hey."

       "So how was school?" Sawyer asked as he helped me get into the passenger seat.

       "Meh," I said. "The same as always. Classes are boring, Lulu is annoying..."

       "Hey!" Lulu suddenly called out so I looked over to see her standing somewhat close by. "I heard that!"

       "Are you stalking me?" I asked.

       "No," Lulu said. "I told you, I'm going to be standing outside to see if Kitty is here so you two could make her jealous and I could record said jealousy."

       "If you ignore her, she'll go away," I told Sawyer in a loud whisper so Lulu could here, just to tease her.

       "Wow, you're such a rude individual," Lulu said. "I became friends with you on the first day of school and this is how you repay me?" 

       "Bye, Lulu."

       Lulu ignored me and stayed put as she looked at Sawyer, who was placing the crutches in the back of the truck. "So Sawyer, I have a favour to ask."

       "Does it involve making Kitty jealous so you could record her reaction?" Sawyer asked.

       "Absolutely," Lulu said honestly.

       "Sorry, not interested," Sawyer said. "I would just rather stay away from Kitty in general. If she finds out I'm dating Jamie, that's whatever. I just don't want to let her find out just for the purpose of making her jealous and angry."

       "Fair enough," Lulu said. "I'll just find another way to record her being very angry for my sheer entertainment. By the way, you remember the senior camping trip that happens every year, right? You should totally go with Jamie and not because Kitty will be there and that will make her mad."

       "Again, bye Lulu," I said and this time, Lulu did leave, waving her goodbye as she walked off. "I apologize for her. She has a clear hatred for Kitty, as you can see."

       "She's not the only one," Sawyer said, closing the passenger door close for me before getting into the driver's seat. "I just choose to ignore the people I hate."

       "I sometimes do, depending on the person," I said as Sawyer started up the car, driving us home. "For Kitty, I do ignore her. Unless she talks to me. Then I don't. But at least she hasn't tried talking to me for a while. Either she's silently plotting some sort of revenge or she just stopped caring about what I do with my life."

       "I highly doubt it's the second option, unfortunately," Sawyer said.

       Whatever the reason was, I was glad I had avoided Kitty as long as I could. She was way too annoying.

       Unfortunately, the reason didn't last too long because as soon as Sawyer pulled into the driveway of the farm, I noticed a car there that didn't belong to the Birch family or my mom. I had seen that car before, though, and I remembered exactly who it belong to.

       Kitty's mom.

       If her mom was here on some mayoral business, Kitty probably tagged along just an excuse to be here and try to see Sawyer.

       Too bad Lulu wasn't here to capture the moment because chances were, Kitty was going to find out about me and Sawyer today, especially if Sawyer's siblings had the same amount of pettiness for Kitty that Lulu pertained.

       I was right; Kitty did tag along with her mother. As soon as Sawyer and I walked into the house, we saw Mayor Ward talking to Trey and Beth in the living room, and with Mayor Ward was in fact Kitty.

       When Kitty noticed Sawyer and I, though mainly Sawyer, she got up from the couch she was sitting on and walked over, a smile on her face. "Hey, Sawyer. I was wondering where you were."

       "I was picking up Jamie from school," Sawyer said. "You know, since it's hard for him to walk."

       Kitty looked at me. "I've been meaning to ask what happened and if you're okay."

       Awe, she was trying to act sweet in front of Sawyer. At least I knew he wasn't going to fall for it, and neither was I.

       "Horseback riding accident," I said. "And don't pretend you care. You hate me."

       "Don't be silly," Kitty said. "I don't hate you. I don't have any reason to hate you."

       I really wanted to break the news to her right here but I knew Sawyer wanted to try his best to avoid any drama that would come with Kitty so I didn't say anything. Now if one of Sawyer's siblings were to say something, I wouldn't stop them.

       So hopefully one of them would, especially Erica. I knew she would definitely be happy to tell Kitty that her ex-boyfriend was dating someone else.

       "So, Sawyer, can we talk?" Kitty asked.

       "Sorry, I have to help Jamie get upstairs," Sawyer said.

       "Then afterwards?"

       "It might take a while."

       "It's okay. I am going to be here for a while because of what my mom needs to talk to your parents about."

       "I mean it's going to take however long it will also take for your mom to finish talking to my parents."

       Kitty frowned. "Come on, Sawyer. I just want to talk."

       "Last time you said that, you dumped me for being bisexual," Sawyer said. "So ain't gonna happen."

       "Please, Sawyer," Kitty said. "I really want to apologize for what I said. It was the stupidest and most ignorant thing I could have ever said to you."

       "It's not just what you said," Sawyer said. "It's when you said it. It's what happened afterwards. You didn't even visit me in the hospital when I was recovering from the injury. And don't say it's because we were broken up because if you ever end up in the hospital, I would visit you."

       "So much for not talking to her," I said, once again in a loud whisper purposefully for Kitty to hear and get mad about.

       I loved being a pest.

       "Don't you have anything better to do?" Kitty asked.

       Oh, how I wanted to make an innuendo about Sawyer with Kitty's question. I was so tempted to but I was also determined to not make things worse for Sawyer when he didn't want to get involved with anymore Kitty drama.

       But it was such a good innuendo.

       So good.

       Screw it. I didn't have the willpower to keep my mouth shut.

       "As a matter a fact, I have have something better to do," I said. "Or someone but you're kind of occupying him right now with your false apology."

       Sawyer sighed heavily. "I knew you were going to say something like that. Can't you ever just keep your mouth shut?"

       "Nope," I said proudly.

       "Wait..." Kitty said slowly. "Does that mean you two are...?" She didn't finish her question because she looked a bit too disgusted to even question if we were dating. I didn't know if it was because she still had feelings for Sawyer and didn't want him dating anyone or if she was really against the fact that Sawyer was attracted to other men but either way, her disgusted look kind of pissed me off.

       So I was definitely going to crank up the innuendos if it came to it.

       "That's just Jamie's thing," Sawyer said. "He loves saying innuendos but that doesn't really mean anything. He did say innuendos all the time before we even started dating."

       "So you are?" Kitty asked.

       "Dating?" I asked. "Yes. Along with banging." Sawyer nudged my side to tell me to shut up. Not happening, dude.

       "Well, I am... so happy for the two of you," Kitty said through clenched teeth, trying to hide her anger. "So. Happy."

       "Awe, thank you," I said. "That means a lot."

       Kitty scoffed and turned around, walking back to the living room where her mom was.

       I leaned towards Sawyer. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"

       "Probably," Sawyer said.

_________________

jamie is such a fun character to write i love him so much uwu

also now we need a spruceworth x rural crossover because the chapter title reminded me of calvin. calvin would definitely be enjoying the drama happening right now and he would get along perfectly with lulu. and grant would 100% get along perfectly with jamie. they love their innuendos, except grant isn't afraid to say innuendos around his boyfriend's dad and brother lmao poor august and shaw.

no but seriously a spruceworth and rural crossover can totally happen since all my fictional towns/villages take place in the lower mainland; spruceworth, meadowcliff, now ruralburgh. grant lives in spruceworth and was in meadowcliff at one point so those crossovers are easy to do oof.

also tabia and fyodor (boarding schools) are also in the lower mainland so they can be included. PLOT TWIST: HOLDEN WENT TO FYODOR (aka the school parry attends)