"Dude... hey. Did you hear anything I just said to you?"

I looked over at Charlie who looked irritated at me. We were sitting in study hall, and I had zoned out as Charlie began talking about his weekend at his cousin's wedding. I didn't mean to, it's just, ever since that date Friday night, I couldn't stop thinking about it. None of it made sense. Like, why did Zoey and Cameron go on a date? What had happened that made Cameron and Brianna's breakup so bad?

All these questions ran through my head the rest of the weekend and throughout the whole school day.

And now, here I sat in study hall, zoning out to Charlie's rant about how his cousins are the worst.

"Sorry, what?" I shook my head and gave a sorry smile.

He huffed before repeating the question. "I asked how your date was with Brianna."

I looked at him with a shocked expression. How did he know about the date?

"Uh it went alright. How did you know about it?" I wondered why he was asking me now and didn't ask me earlier, like at lunch.

"Zoey told me. She came to the wedding too... and boy, was she upset," he replied.

"She was upset? Why?" I questioned with subtle excitement for some unknown reason. Maybe I was just happy that she didn't like her date with Cameron or that maybe she was jealous. Ha! Who am I kidding? Why would she be jealous?

Charlie looked at me in disbelief. "Um you seriously asking me that? She saw you with another girl... of course she'd be upset! Are you that dull that you can't see that Zoey likes you?!"

For some reason Charlie appeared annoyed with me.

"Excuse me? She doesn't like me. She wouldn't have gone on a date with Cameron if she liked me." My words came out with such bitterness that Charlie looked slightly worried.

"Wait... what? She never mentioned anything about a date with Cameron. She did ask me if I wanted to go to see the Power Rangers movie, but I had homework to finish up before the weekend... you sure it was a date? She probably asked around seeing who'd want to go..." Charlie scratched his chin in confusion.

"Well, would you count flirting, cuddling, and kissing with someone at the movies not indications of a date? Because all of those are usually signs that they were on a date!" I tried to sound calm, but I ended up sounding like a jealous, little bitch. Which, is kind of what I am.

"Woah woah woah!! Did you just say they ... kissed?!?!" Charlie nearly yelled causing everyone to turn in our direction. Even Zoey and her friends turned their head at us. I averted my gaze back to Charlie, and his cheeks were a slight red. "Sorry everyone..."

All the students went back to work, almost as if the random outburst didn't occur.

"So, Cameron and Zoey kissed? That doesn't make sense... Zoey literally talks about you all the time to me... I swear she thinks I'm a girl with all the talking and gossiping she does with me." He shook his head with a laugh. I laughed to myself because Charlie literally was a girl when it came to gossip. He was the one always, and I mean always, gossiping about everyone and everything at our lunch table.

"Yeah. Even Brianna saw it, and let's just say she wasn't too thrilled," I whispered, hoping Zoey wasn't eavesdropping as I noticed her head slightly shift towards us.

Charlie sighed as he closed his calculus textbook. He had it opened on the same problem for fifteen minutes now and didn't get anything done.

"Yeah , Brianna and Cameron's breakup was bad... I wouldn't be surprised if she'd be upset, and especially seeing Zoey being the girl, too. But like seriously ? I'm about to go up to her and ask her why she was went on a date with him." He then stood up, and I felt my stomach drop as I knew exactly what he was going to do. He gave me a smirk before saying, "actually, I think I will right now."

With that, he walked over to Zoey's desk. I sunk back into my chair, throughly embarrassed.

After a couple seconds of watching him maneuver his way through the desks to hers, I decided to get up as well. I needed to stop him from making the situation worse.

"Zoey, that's not how you do that problem..." I heard Charlie's voice mutter as he stood over her. She looked up at him, annoyingly.

"Charlie, what do you want?" She crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows.

He gave her a slight smirk before responding. "Oh nothing my dear cousin, just came over to ask how your date was with Cameron this past Friday." I noticed her gulp with a shocked expression. "You know, I hear he is a great kisser..." He now was leaning down, bending so he was face to face with her.

"What? What on earth are you talking about?" She appeared surprisingly calm even though we all know, deep down, she was frazzled.

Before Charlie could respond, I had walked over to them. They both looked up.

"Charlie... I uh ... figured out that problem you were working on..." I trailed as my eyes met Zoey's for a brief second. She was tapping her pen, nervously.

Charlie sighed while giving me a straight face. "Alright. I'll come over in a minute." I walked back to my desk watching Charlie whisper something in Zoey's ear. Her eyes shone with shock as he walked back to his seat next to me.

"What did you just tell her?"

"Nothing much. Just that we are going to the volleyball game tonight. Right?" He looked at me and winked. I never had mentioned I'd go. I mean, I have wanted to go, but I wasn't really planning on it.

"Uh I don't know. I have stuff to do..." I scratched my head. I knew I was going whether I wanted to or not, considering Charlie was giving me his infamous puppy eyes, and I couldn't say no to those. "Ugh alright. I'll go."

Stupid puppy eyes.

Charlie grinned at me. "Good. I just can't wait to see Zoey and Brianna fight for your attention..."

This is gonna be an interesting night.

*****

The bleachers were almost full as I walked into the gym. A big volleyball net was centered in the middle as girls in tight jersey tops and short spandex shorts were practicing hitting the balls back and forth to each other. Our girls were wearing blue with white lettering, while the other team had an ugly gold color. It seriously looked like someone saw some vomit and thought, "hey that'd be a great color for our team!"

As I approached the student section of the bleachers, I felt someone come up from behind and tap my shoulder.

"Hey! You came to cheer me on?" The flirtatious voice was none other than Brianna's. I spun around to see her wavy hair in a high ponytail and her uniform seemed to accentuate every curve on her body. For being skinny, she still managed to have womanly assets No wonder guys go to the games.

"Of course! I figured I better come considering you're coming to my game Friday night... right? " I replied with a flirty wink. Did I seriously just flirt? Who am I ?

She nudged my arm before being interrupted by another familiar, female voice. "Bri! We need you in front to practice blocking!"

Zoey looked at me, no wait, glared at me, as she yelled for Brianna. She death gripped the volleyball that was between her hands, and for a second, I thought the ball would pop.

"Alright. I should get going! I better be seeing you cheer!" Brianna gave my arm a playful squeeze before hustling out on the court.

I casually checked her out as she ran towards the net by a couple of her teammates. Let me tell you, Brianna is really easy on the eyes.

I was interrupted of my view as Jordan jumped in front of me.

"Ooo Joshy finally came! Ready to watch some hot girls get aggressive over a ball ?" He smirked as he dragged me over towards the front of the bleachers.

Charlie and Skylar were sitting down in the front as well, both decked out in blue and white. Honestly, if they weren't popular football jocks, they would be getting made fun of by everyone with the ridiculous attire they wore. They even had on blue and white tutus.

"So, Joshy... who's name will you be cheering on ?" Skylar smirked.

Okay, what's up with everyone now calling me Joshy? It was a stupid pet name that Zoey had called me when she was drunk. Now, everyone seemed to call me that.

"Obviously Brianna... dumbass," Jordan retorted back giving my shoulder a pat.

Skylar shook his head in disbelief. "Nu uh. I'm betting that he cheers for Zoey! I mean look at Zo! She's already in her animal mode, and that shit is hot!" My gaze shifted from the two idiots to Zoey who looked fiercely at the team across the net. Her eyes shone with such intensity that I felt slightly nervous for the other team. She literally looked like she was a predator stalking her prey, and for some odd reason, it was hot as hell.

"I mean, look at how he's gawking at her! He hasn't even looked at Brianna yet!" Skylar piped up behind me, and I turned around shooting him a glare.

"Stop talking about me like that! I'm here to support the whole team, alright?!" I cried out, realizing how whiny and pathetic I just had sounded.

"Aw we're just teasing you. No need to get your dick in a twist." Skylar grinned at me, and all I could do was laugh. Did he seriously just say that?

"Dick in a twist? Isn't it panties in a twist?" I laughed back.

Skylar only shrugged before saying, "well you don't wear panties, do you?" I laughed harder, and tried to focus my attention back on the court.

The girls had just started, with our team serving first. Amira was the one to serve, and I peeked at Charlie out of the corner of my eye to see him smiling widely. His gaze fixated on Amira, and only her. I could see how much he really liked her.

Just as Amira served it over the net, the opposing team seemed to hit it back, insanely fast. I saw Brianna bump it up, getting incredibly low, considering that she's fairly tall. The ball rose up high and as it came down, Zoey pushed it up lightly with her fingers, or set it up, for someone to spike it across.

Yeah, that's right. I know my volleyball terminology. I did have a mom who played it all through high school and college, and I've seen my cousins play before.

Zoey's set was perfect as a another girl, who was gawky and had blazing red hair, spiked it fiercely to the opposing team. The girls in the ugly gold frantically tried running to the spot where the ball would hit, but to their dismay, it bounced on the hardwood floor, causing our girls to rush in a huddle, screaming some weird chant. Something like, "chick chick boom". They stomped as they said the chant and patted each other's backs before returning to their positions.

The volley went back and forth, with only the opposing team getting it a few times. The score was now 23-15 with us in the lead. I was beginning to get into the game, as I didn't even sit at all.

Apparently it's a tradition ( yep, another tradition) to stand up for most of the volleyball games. It kept the girls pumped up and the students. Charlie and Skylar would start up some derogatory chants towards the opposing school's student section. It was quite amusing, and I eventually joined along, getting way too into it.

Jordan looked at me smugly as we finished up a chant as the girls were preparing for the next serve.

"You liking the game so far?"

I nodded as I set my gaze on our next server. Zoey.

Her short, black hair was pinned up by an athletic thin headband, and although she didn't have curves like Brianna, she still looked hot, as her face was shiny with sweat and her eyes still dancing with flames. As she lifted the ball and smacked it hard, I heard her name screamed by one person that was new to my 'dislike' list. Cameron Blake.

"Yeah, Zoey!" I turned my head sharply to where he stood near the exit and the end of the student section bleachers.

Why was he here? Last I remember, she slapped him for calling her 'Ryan's leftovers'.

His gaze shifted from Zoey, who was now back to setting the ball up for the redhead to spike it again, to me. His lips curled to an eerie smirk, and I only found myself blankly staring back, emotionless. I didn't want him to think he got under my skin, even though he really did.

I had avoided him the whole day at school, as he sat by Ryan and his small "gang" at the opposite side of the lunchroom. It was actually nice to not hear him constantly talk about his sex life. Which got annoying real fast. The only person at our table who seemed to enjoy talking about things like that was Jordan, and he even started to get annoyed with Cameron.

Unfortunately, I knew something like this was going to happen. Him, showing up and causing unnecessary drama. The one thing I absolutely despised and tried to avoid besides my dad's lectures about finances. And those were horrible.

Cameron, still giving me his creepy smirk, made his was over towards us in the front row. He sat next to the other side of Jordan, and I noticed Charlie and Skylar look over. Charlie appeared slightly upset, and Skylar, oblivious to literally everything, just gave him a quick nod before focusing back on the game.

I tried ignoring him by watching the game, which the first set was done, our girls winning it of course. They, now, prepared for the second set, which would possibly be the last one if our team won again.

As the teams switched sides, Cameron spoke up. "So, our girls are killing it?" I mentally eye rolled at the stupid question. Did he not look at the scoreboard because he obviously would be able to see that they were, in fact, winning.

"Yeah! And dude... Zoey is a beast out there! I mean, all of them are, but she's like playing harder than I've ever seen before!" Jordan was the first to respond to the jerk face. He was right though. Zoey was practically leading the team with her fierceness. She is a team captain, but like, even then, she seemed to have such an authoritative vibe that all the girls followed.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see how she's like in bed. I'm sure she's just as fiery..." Cameron slyly remarked, and I stood up, instantly. Clenching my jaw and balling my fists up. What the hell? Talking about Zoey like that?

"Woah man, you alright?" Skylar asked me. He and Charlie were talking amongst themselves, so they didn't hear Cameron's disgusting remark. I was seething with anger as I faced him. Now both guys winced as they saw my anger.

"No. I better get a drink. Want me to get you anything?" I needed to get out of their fast before I caused a scene. Which was probably already too late as everyone in the student section was staring at me.

"Okay...I guess I could go for a Gatorade," Skylar spoke hesitantly before answering my question. I gave a slight nod before making my way towards the concessions in the hallway. Just as I walked past Cameron he made a smirk, as if knowing I was angry with him.

"I heard you slept with Zoey. Tell me, what I should prepare myself for." His dark eyes bore into mine, egging me on to start a fight.

I let out a deep breath to calm myself before answering him. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's exactly what we did... sleep. We didn't have sex." My voice came out so low and with such edginess, I noticed Jordan look at me with wide eyes. Probably shocked that I nice ol' Josh could become dark and brooding when the right buttons were pushed. And my god, Cameron really pushed my freaking buttons.

"Oh sweet. I'll be the one to take her virginity then!" His voice was laced with such ickiness, I knew I was going to punch him if I didn't leave.

"Is everything always about sex? Do you not see how amazing of a person she is? Heck! I'd love to be even just friends with her again, if that means I can just hear her babbling again." I couldn't believe the words spewing out of my mouth. All the guys were now staring at me, jaws agape. "Oh! And for the record. Calling her 'Ryan's leftovers' Friday night killed any of your chances to get with her."

I didn't realize how close I got to his face until I felt his breath on my face as he spoke up. "Yeah?! Well, if you love her so much... why are you with my girl right now?! Huh?!"

Did he just call Brianna, his girl?

"Your girl? Ha! She literally hates your guts! You hurt her, buddy! Don't forget that!" I spatted in his face. Now he was standing up, glaring at me.

"You know nothing! She's playing the victim when actually, she's the one that hurt me! So don't be telling me that I hurt her because she's the one that I caught kissing my brother!" Cameron's anger was replaced with a hurt expression.

She cheated on him with his brother? Wasn't his brother like my brothers age? Holy crap.

I didn't know what to say back to him, so I just stared back at him for a couple seconds.

"Um yeah I guess I didn't know the whole story. Sorry. But that still doesn't mean you can talk about such vile things about Zoey." I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly before returning to my seat.

For the rest of the game, I felt so weird. Cameron sulked in his seat, not standing up with the rest of us while we cheered on the girls to a victory.

I still couldn't believe that Brianna had done that to him, and with his brother? I needed to hear her side before completely assuming the worst of her because she just didn't seem like that type of person. There had to be more to the story.

After the game, Cameron had left without saying anything to any of us. Charlie and Skylar ran up to Zoey, high-fiving her and saying congrats. I walked over to them, and Zoey furrowed her eyebrows.

"I just wanted to say good job. You were a beast on the court," I shyly said to her. She gave me a soft smile.

"Thanks."

I wanted to hug her but before I could Brianna came up behind me and grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the group.

"Thanks for coming. It means a lot to me," Brianna sweetly said to me, her hand still on my arm. I wanted to look at Zoey, but I knew she was probably shooting daggers at both Brianna and I.

"Yeah. You guys were awesome! I'll definitely be coming to more games," I stated. Brianna's smile grew, and then she gave me a huge hug. I stood awkwardly still before hugging her back. I will admit, I like her hugs, but it felt weird with everyone around us watching.

"You're the sweetest! I better go clean up. I probably smell so gross," she said pulling away from me while crinkling her eyebrows. I just gave a slight laugh.

"Nah, you don't stink. But I do have something to ask you once your done." I had to ask her about her breakup. I needed to know her side too.

She gave me a questioning look before nodding. " Alright, I won't be anymore than 15 minutes if you can wait that long?"

"Yeah. I'll wait." She smiled and walked over to the locker room.

After 15 minutes, she came out with a jacket on over a t-shirt and sweatpants. She walked over towards me, her bag slung over her shoulder.

Being the gentleman that I am, I grabbed her bag and slung it over my shoulder.

"So, what was it you wanted to ask me?" Her voice was still bubbly, and I felt bad because I knew what I was going to ask was going to ruin her perky attitude.

"Well, Cameron was here and umm ... he and I got in a little tiff, and he mentioned something about your breakup...." As I mentioned his name, her entire mood shifted, and she bit her lip curiously.

"What did he say?" Her voice was like ice compared to her sweet one just moments before.

"Uh well he said that the reason you guys broke up was because you kissed his brother..."

She froze and a look of alarm arose on her face.

"Wha...what? He told you that? Oh god... it's not what he is making it seem like... I had to... his brother would've told my parents about the... nevermind..." About the what?? I nearly screamed out loud.

"You know, you can trust me Bri... whatever you say stays between us. I'm not like Charlie who gossips like women at a salon." My statement made her chuckle slightly. It was true... he literally was an old gossip at a salon.

"Well... uh... this stay between us, alright!" She pointedly said to me, and I nodded.

She let out a sigh before continuing.

"His brother told me he would tell me parents that I had done LSD with him if I wouldn't kiss him back..."

****A/N****

Hey everybody!

And holy crap! Sorry you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out Josh's reaction to the crazy information.

Let me know your thoughts on Cameron and Zoey. ;)

Also, I've been thinking of doing a short story about Amira and Charlie because they're honestly so cute ughhhh ❤️

But anyways, thank you for reading! Your support is so amazing!

Please comment and vote! ( I will be editing this later on... so if they're are any errors, I'm so sorry haha)

Much love <3
~Madelyn Joy