Chapter 39 | Corn dogs

Isabella:

"No Mr Miller today?" Mr Carter asks when Lucas' reply is absent as the register is called out. A murmur of 'no's' erupt from the class

"I think he's down with something," Merrissa, a girl sitting at the back of the room, responds.

Yep, he sure is down with something alright.

It's currently Friday and since our 'encounter' on Sunday night, Lucas hasn't made an appearance at school. Grace had heard from Aidan that he was skiving because he felt too embarrassed to face me but he had however been coming after school for practice seeing as their semi-final game was this evening.

It was better this way, things at the party had gotten too awkward. From seeing Lucas, well, from seeing all of Lucas, to my sleepy state almost making me expose things I most definitely did not want to reveal, I needed a little time before seeing him again.

The history lesson goes by in a daze, Mr Carter kindly puts on a documentary on the Cold War which I promptly sleep through and I find myself jolted awake by the bell that rings signifying the end of the lesson.

Grabbing my bag and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I follow the rest of the class out of the room and into the jam-packed hallway where I meet Grace on the way to the canteen as she strolls out of Maths.

"Woo! Guess who just bunked study period to watch sweaty, yummilicious football players train for the game tonight," Mia gushes the moment Grace and I take a seat at our lunch table.

"Mia you have a boyfriend," Grace snorts, pulling off her backpack and placing it on the empty seat beside her. She begins to unzip her bag before pulling out a blue plastic box containing her lunch - peanut butter and jam sandwiches with the crusts removed and cut into little triangles. She pulls out the note written from her dad and quickly reads it before tucking it into the pocket of her jeans. John always made packed lunches for Lucy and Grace with little notes which had corny dad jokes written on, it was adorable.

Mia takes a bite of her apple as she shrugs. "Sammy was watching with me," she explains before turning to look at me with a knowing smirk. "Also Lucas came in for practice today."

I narrow my eyes at Mia's smug face. After I had told the girls about what went down Sunday night, the only part of the story the two imbeciles had thought was important had been the fact I had seen Lucas' penis. They hadn't stopped annoying me about it since.

I roll my eyes. "Lucky fucker," I huff. "He got to miss History, it was a drag."

"Didn't you just tell me you slept through the entire lesson though," Grace retorts, an eyebrow quirked.

I quirk an eyebrow back. "Yes because it was dragging."

"Anyways," Mia interjects just as I throw my crumpled up tissue at Grace's head. "The semi final game is tonight, what are ya'll wearing?"

Grace furrows her eyebrows confusedly. "Aidan's jersey of course what else?"

Mia tsks. "I mean what accessories and pants and stuff are you going to wear, because I have these really nice pair of shorts that will match Dylan's jersey really well."

***

"Mia those shorts are short enough to be worn as underwear."

"Exactly," my best friend beams, twisting her body around so she can peer at her ass. "They're the perfect length and make my ass look fat."

She then snaps her head around to meet my gaze. "You should borrow these Bell, I mean they'll be slightly longer on your short ass legs but would look so good on you, your butt has grown ginormous over the last two months."

I stare at my reflection. Mia is exaggerating for sure, yes I had gained a little bit of weight over the past month or so which may or may not have situated itself in my ass but it definitely isn't ginormous as how Mia stated. Her comment does however bring a smile to my face as it reminds myself of all the progress I have made.

"I'm good with my leggings for now," I tell her with a grin just as she crosses her arms across her chest and sighs.

"At least tie the jersey up at your waist or something." She reaches over but I promptly swat her hand away.

"No."

"Okay how about this," she offers. "Rock, paper scissors to the best of three, if I win I get to tie your jersey." I give her a blank stare which she takes as hesitation. "Aw you know that you'll never win against me that's why you're not even trying." She presses a hand over her heart causing me to roll my eyes.

"...Fine," I sigh, out stretching my fist.

"Yay," she clasps her hands together. "Okay, rock...paper...scissors!"

It's her rock against my scissors.

"Dammit." I say just as Mia cheers loudly.

"Haha I win!!"

"Okay again, rock...paper...scissors."

This time I'm the one to jeer. It's my paper against her rock. "I win, I win!"

"Shut up Bella." She whacks my arm. "We still have one more round."

"Rock...paper...scissors!"

It's her scissors against my paper. Fuck.

"YES YES YES!" Mia screams before cupping her hands around her mouth and whooping loudly. She then grabs me by the bottom of my jersey and drags me closer to her.

"Best of five?" I offer, trying to inch away from her grasp.

She shakes her head and holds my by the arms to stop my protesting. I huff as she ties up the knot so the jersey just sits above my belly button. I am wearing high waisted leggings so when Mia pulls away, I tug up the waist so you can only see the slightest sliver of skin of my stomach.

"Why you guys screaming?" Grace asks, strolling into the room. "We can hear you from downstairs."

"I lost rock, paper, scissors," I grumble causing Mia to let out another excited squeal again, Grace winces at Mia's shrill voice before absentmindedly taking a bite of the snickers bar in her hand that no doubly my grandma gave her.

"Are you guys done," she says with her mouth full of chocolate. "Val and abuelita want to start heading off so they can get good seats."

I nod before picking my my phone from the bed and shoving it in my bra. Mia quickly fixes up her ponytail before following Grace and I down the stairs.

"Oh my God," I gasp, the moment Sofia and my mom come into sight. Mia bumps into my back before poking her head out from over my shoulder and peering at what I am staring at. Grace does the same, swivelling her head around before her gaze falls on my baby sister and my two friends begin squealing promptly.

Shoving me out of the way, Mia hurdles over to Sofia and swiftly plucks her out of my mothers arms.

"Awwwww her little jersey," Grace coos, her bottom lip jutted out. "It's so freaking cute!"

Sofia is dressed in a little purple top with the word 'Miller' sewn into the back in large yellow letters, she is wearing tiny yellow shorts and her hair is tied into two bunches. My grandma had been working hard on making this miniature version of Lucas' jersey so that Sofia could wear it  to surprise him, in hopes of cheering Lucas up after he had gotten his heart broken. Don't ask how my abuela found out Lucas had gotten cheated on. I don't know either. She had somehow managed to find out even despite my friends and I not telling her and Lucas couldn't have told her either as he hadn't stepped foot inside our house since Sunday.

"Look you two are matching," Mia gleams, smiling brightly before pointing back and forth between my baby sister and I.

I cross my arms across my chest and narrow my eyes at her. "Don't remind me," I mutter, grabbing my hoodie from where it was draped across the banister.

I had been blackmailed.

Once my mom had been informed on Lucas' situation she had threatened to take away my phone and laptop if I didn't wear his bloody jersey to this bloody game. Why they were so persistent on me wearing the jersey, I had no idea, especially since Sofia had her miniature version anyways.

Mothers can be so cruel.

Little did they know however, was that I was planning on wearing my hoodie the entire time, to cover the back of the shirt.

I did not want to be caught dead in this jersey by Lucas - it would probably set him off on another investigation and ramble of questions.

"We should get going," I announce, shoving my feet into my air forces before doing up the laces. "Don't want to be late."

"Aw look," my grandmother coos, clasping her hands together, a wicked twinkle in her eye. "She's in a hurry to see her boyfriend," she adds in a sing song voice causing me to shoot her a nasty glare.

Mia and Grace snicker and my mom's lips curl up into a smug smile. Deciding not to begin an argument I merely roll my eyes before walking out of the front door.

Seeing the outside world, Sofia promptly runs after me and I take her hand before guiding her down the steps of the porch. She jumps down each step, almost tumbling face down to her death as she takes a dangerous leap but I promptly prevent her from falling and haul her into my arms.

Grace skips down the driveway, overtaking Sofia and I, Mia following suit. The two girls shove each other to try and claim the middle seats and Grace surprisingly wins their little tiff.

We all clamber into my mom's frankly ugly blue mini van, my mom and grandmother at the front, Sofia in her baby seat with Grace grinning cheekily at Mia before settling down in the middle seat beside my sister whilst Mia and I get cramped into the back.

Mia grumbles next to me, wiggling around in her seat trying to get comfortable. "Why couldn't Grace sit at the back," she whines, shoving me to the side to make more room for herself.

Grace spins her head around before sticking her tongue out immaturely at Mia. "You lost and I have long legs."

I sigh. "No need to flex Gracie."

This only causes my blonde friend's smile to widen before she turns back around to face the front.

My grandmother fiddles with the aux player at the front and lets out a cheer when single by the neighbourhood plays into the air. Sofia nestles down in her seat and Grace begins to hum along to the song and Mia grumbling beside me.

The drive to the school is quite fast, it only takes us 4 songs to get there, although it does feel like hours with Mia constantly whining about how it's so squashed at the back.

Once my mom finishes parking the car, Mia practically tramples over me to get out of her seat and on seeing her frustration, Grace decides to take her sweet, sweet time getting out of the car and helping Sofia out of her car seat.

"I'm going to the concession stand," Grace announces, once we all get out of the vehicle and begin walking towards the stands overlooking the playing field. She signals for me to come with her and I follow her through the crowd as Mia, my mom, Sofia and grandma head in the opposite direction to find us good seats.

The concession stand - if you can even call it that - is a small red and white stripped pop up booth where corn dogs and a various number of nuts are being sold. There's a large cooler off to the side where water bottles and soda are placed, but that's about all.

The line for the stand is fairly short seeing as we had arrived to the game pretty early. "Hey Matt!" Grace greets the ginger boy running the stand and I copy with a friendly wave.

"Hey girls, what can I get you," he smiles, a small dimple poking out in his left cheek. Matt was a fairly nice boy, I hadn't spoken to him much but he was in a handful of my classes and always smiled at me in the hallway.

Grace glazes over the small selection of snacks. "We'll have....6 corndogs and 3 bottles of water please."

Matt nods and begins getting our order ready just as Grace turns around to face me.

"You're having a corn dog right?" She asks and I nod my head in reply.

"Yeah, why not."

Her lips quirk up into a little smile and she begins to pluck out a $20 note from in between her phone case and phone but I shove a handful of $5 dollar notes towards Matt before she can pay.

"Puta I was going to pay," she mutters under her breath just as Matt takes the money and stuffs it into his belt, aka the makeshift cash register before digging out some change.

"Here you go." He drops some coins into my palms before giving Grace the corndogs and sliding the bottles across the counter. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you!" We both tell him simultaneously as I reach over to collect the bottles and cradle them in my arm. Grace on the other hand carefully holds onto the sticks of the corn dog, trying not to get the dripping sauce onto her clothes.

She begins to mutter something under her breath about how she was going to pay for the snacks or something as we get closer to the viewing stands and I begin peering my eyes around and over the crowd in search of my family and Mia. It doesn't take me long to spot them however as seeing as the big sign my grandmother is holding seems quite eye catching.

I duck under someone's arm before clambering up the steps to where they're situated, Sofia's eyes lighting up the moment she spots Grace walking towards them with the food and begins wiggling in my mothers arms.

I squeeze past my grandmother to get to one of the empty seats she had reserved for us beside

The corn dogs get handed out to all of us and Sofia begins munching happily. Mia devours the crunchy snack in two seconds flat and pouts when she looks down at her empty stick. I on the other hand, take time eating mine, nibbling on the outside as I scan my eyes across the field directly ahead of us.

I wrap the hoodie around my self tighter as a cold breeze surges through the air and rustles my hair. The sky is a hue of oranges and pinks as the sun begins to slowly set; the lights of the pitch turn on automatically as a result and I watch as the cheerleader down on the grass warm up, getting reading to begin their routine.

As the stands begin to grow increasingly crowded and my corn dog has made its journey into my stomach, the school's marching band begin their song. The mascot runs into the middle of the field and loud cheer's begin riling up.

The announcement goes off, introducing the two teams and the crowd goes crazy as we all watch the Lakeside Lions and the Baskerville Bears rush into the field. My grandmother begins her frenzied screaming, loud enough that the players down on the field snap their heads up in the direction of the stands. Dylan and Aidan begin waving like crazy and Lucas spins around to blow my abuela a kiss which she makes a huge show of catching and clutching it to her heart.

Our banners go up and we begin waving them around like mad as the two teams get into their positions, the tension in the air thick as well all wait excitedly for the game to begin.

The horns blare and the screams start up again, louder than ever. Grace's face is already tinged pink and my mom has Sofia balanced up on her shoulders.

The beginning of the game is tense to say the least, the lions are not off to a great start. There are a lot of groans and boo's within the first quarter of the game, the Bear's are absolutely slaughtering the Lions and by the first half - there's still not much improvement. I can feel the frustration radiating off of the players as they run back inside the locker rooms for half time.

"Damn," Grace blows out a low whistle, placing the banner back down gently on the ground before turning to face Mia and I. "That's not good."

I nod grimly, shrugging off my hoodie, it was getting hot from the heat of the bodies in the packed viewing stand. "You can say that again."

"They're not usually this...bad, I wonder what's going on."

I shrug my shoulders. "Maybe they're just having an off day."

We continue talking for a couple more minuets, rolling my eyes when Mia suggests the reason why they're doing badly is because I saw Lucas' penis and that is somehow still on his mind and that apparently our encounter on Sunday and our mini argument has stemmed a series of events ultimately leading to Lucas wanting to rail me in the shower of the locker rooms.

Yeah, I don't know where she got that idea from as well but now I'm imaging having sex with Lucas in the shower...not fun. (Fun).

Grace snickers just as I tell Mia to hush down a little seeing as my grandmother and her prying ears are standing right beside her.

"Lets backtrack a bit shall we," I tell them, narrowing my eyes at my crazy best friend. "First of all, the team doesn't consist of only Lucas so I doubt one silly encounter has led to all of that," I pause and wave my hand at Mia, referencing to her weird suggestion. "But if it is, then maybe Lucas is still thinking about the fact he got cheated on and that is distracting him."

"Eh," Mia shrugs. "I still think my theory is more realistic." Her lips then curl up into a little smile.

"Lets go," she tells us before grabbing mine and Grace's arm and swiftly hauling us through the crowd and down the metal steps.

"Go where? Oo are we going to get more corn dogs," Grace says loudly over the loud chatter and half time music before gazing over Mia's head and narrowing her eyes at me. "I'm paying this time!"

I shake my head and chuckle quietly as Mia begins dragging us in the opposite direction of the concession stand. This causes Grace to begin squawking out in surprise and my eyebrows draw together confusedly.

"Where are you taking us Mi?" I protest, trying to shake my arm from Mia's iron grip.

She ignores me and continues dragging the two of us past the large group of people congregating near the bottom of the field. Mia then shortly after comes to a halt and we take in where she has brought us.

We're standing in a little cove/tunnel near the entrance to the locker rooms that then lead to the playing field.

"Sorry no entry allowed," a supervisor standing guard tells us, his beefy palm stopping the three of us from getting closer to the door.

"We're not going inside," Mia replies smoothly, patting down her hair. "Plus we are girlfriend, sister, girlfriend of three of the players." And with that she shoves past the supervisor, Grace and I following suit as we huddle sort of near the locker room doors. The supervisor is a pretty lousy security guard. He doesn't even bother to follow the three of us, he just glances back down at the tablet clutched in his hand.

"Wait a second," I exclaim, as we finally stop walking and suddenly realise what Mia had just told the security guard as she bounces on the balls of her feet, waiting excitedly for the players to rush out. I recall her saying girlfriend, whilst pointing to Grace, sister whilst pointing to herself and girlfriend again...whilst pointing to me. "I'm not Lucas' girlfriend!" I state incredulously.

"Firstly it was just an excuse to get us over here, I'm not any of their sister's am I?" My friend quirks an eyebrow. "Secondly, I didn't say you were Lucas' girlfriend, I could've meant you were Liam's or Ben's-"

I cross my arms across my chest stubbornly before cutting her off. "Shut up Mia!"

She grins cheekily before snapping her head toward the direction of the doors that have been thrown open and where the lions are emerging from.

Aidan is the first to come out, having been captain and all, and his eyes light up the moment he see's his girlfriend. He quickly slaps Grace's hand in a high five and then a fist bump and then a number of other hand gestures and I quickly realise they're doing their 'before game' handshake, which they had done earlier today after school as well.

A couple of other players run out afterwards, following Aidan onto the field before I finally spot Dylan and Lucas' large figures appearing out of the locker room.

Mia throws her arms Dylan and he spin-hugs her just as Lucas slows down in front of me.

Awkward tension blooms into the air as his gaze meets mine and he only pauses for a second to shoot me a nod of acknowledgement before running past and onto the pitch causing an uneasy feeling to swirl around in the pit of my stomach at the interaction - if you could even call it that.

"Mia why did you bring us down here," I hiss once the remainder of the players rush out of the doors and Dylan returns back to his team, my eyes trained on Lucas getting onto position on the pitch.

"If your theory is right about Lucas being distracted by Ivy, then seeing you would have taken his mind off it," she responds in a matter-of-fact sort of way, looking proud of herself.

I stare at my friend incredulously and suppress the urge to sigh. "That theory is worse than the one you just had about him being distracted about him thinking about railing me."

She turns to face me, clasping her hands together and her face softening. "Aw you're thinking about him thinking about him railing you."

I blink slowly. "What?"

She doesn't respond and just continues staring at me, smiling in a silly sort of way.

"Okay I'm going back to the stands, you're creeping me out."

"No let's stay here," Grace murmurs, out stretching her hand to grab my elbow, stilling me. She's staring wistfully at Aidan who is crouched down slightly, getting ready for the second part of the game to begin, her eyes trained on his derriere. "I like the view."

Before I can protest, Mia grabs me by the hand and forces me to sit down on the rocky concrete. My butt hurts from the harsh impact of the solid ground and I wriggle around trying to get comfortable. Okay, I guess we're watching the rest of the game from here.

━

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hiii!! So sorry for not updating for a while, school has been so busy :/ also I just want to say thank you so much for 19k reads! That is so amazing, I literslly can't believe I have that many reads already :,) I appreciate it so much! Lots of love - Mai x