AYANNA'S POV:

'" Hey, Aya, can i come to your house for a little while?"Max asks after i am changed out andd heading to my car after the game.

"Yeah, i'm sure my mom won't mind,"I reply.

"Great! We could paint our fingernails, brush out hair, and talk about boys all night long," he says in a high pitched girly voice.

"Shut up! We do not do that, well at least not all of us,"I say with a pointed look at Sharon. She is kissing Bryson and they look happy. My heart sinks and i don't even know why, he was a jerk this morning and i should have nothing to do with him.

"Earth to AYa! Don't drool over that a-hole. He's not worth it, as you figured out this morning,"Max says and flips Bryson off even though Bryson doesn't even see him.

"Obvisouly you're right,"I say with a sigh.

"I know i am! I tried to warn you, butuh, i guess now's not a good time to say i told you so,"Max says and grins sheepishly.

"To soon,"I agree and he nods.

"I'll follow you to your house,"Max says andd jumps into his truck.

As i pull out of the parking lot i look over and see Bryson looking at me. We lock eyes and he smirks. I quickly look away and groan at myself. Jerk! He's a jerk, Aya, remember that.

When i get to my house Max pulls up to the curb on the side of the stree and jogs over to me.

"I'm so hungry! My stomach is eating itself. Hopefully someone in your household is a good cook,"Max complains as we walk into my house.

"Well come on into the kitchen then, andd i can get you some food," Mom says with raised eyebrows. Max grins and holds out his hand.

"sorry, i didn't mean any dissrespect,"Max says and they shake hands.

"It's quite alright,"Mom says and leads the way to the kitchen.

She sets some chips and pizza on the table and we both dig in.

"So, are you two going out?"Mom asks and i start choking. Max slaps my back andd grins.

"Of course,"he says and i elbow him.

"Of course NOT. Max is in love with Maggie,"I explain and glare at Max who just goes right on eating, chewing right in my face.

"Oh! Maggie is a sweet girl,"Mom says.

"Yeah, she is,"Max says with a soft smile.

After we finish eating i lead the way to my room and Max plops down on my bed. He grabs my labtop off of my desk and gets on the internet, and looks up at me with a sly grin.

"Quaterback wants to talk to you. Is this your stalker?"Max observes.

"No! He's not a stalker and give me that,"I say and each for my labtop. Max moves it away from my hands and reads what it says.

"Oh Aya! I wish you would understand how much i love watching you walk home everynight and i love looking through your window because i am a stalker,"Max lies.

"It does not say that!"I say while laughing.

"You're righht, it doesn't,"he says and hands my labtop back.

"I know i am,"I say confidentally and Max snorts.

"Modest much?"

"You know it,"

"Well i better go, but don't be late for practice tomorrow morning or Coach will pull you back down to JV only,"he explains and i nod.

"I won't be," I say.

"Max leaves andd i lay down on my bed with a sigh.

Bing Bing! I look over at my labtop and see Quaterback wants to talk.."

'what's up"?'he types.

'not much, just got home from the game, you?'i type back.

'pretty much the samme...you played really well tonight and congrats on making varsity,'he replies.

I freeze and stare at the screen.

'you were there?'i ask.

'course,'he types.

I think back to what max and Maggie wanred me about. I mean, what arethe odds that this guy is a stalker? He could just be a really social guy. He's probably just one of Bryson's friends and they think it's funny to mess with me.

'well i got to go,'i say and log off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

"Did i say you could stop running?"Coach yells as one of the younger boys falls to the ground. We have been conditioning for two hours and Coach has not let up yet. It's probably because of that stupid party. I knew i shouldn't have gone, but too late now.

"No sir,"the kid says weakly, but doesn't stand up.

"Well get up!"Coach yells.

Bryson walks over to the kid and starts whispering to him. The kid finally nods and stands up. Bryson slaps his back in a guy way, and they both get back in their positions.

"Quick feet, go!,"Coach says and we all start doing them as fast as we can. I am sweating and breathing hard and it feels like my legs are about to fall off, but when i look over and see Bryson keep going that gives me the strength to push on.

After what feels like an eternity, Coach yells stop and i think we're done, but then he tells us to start doing up-downs.

That's where we run to one side of the football field and back, and that's one. We have ten to do...

I groan and when he blows the whistle i take off, but when i get to my fourth one, i start slowing down and i know that if i don't finish these than we will have to do them again.

Bryson grabs my arm and drags me with him, forcing me to keep pace with him.

"I can't do it, stop,"I huff, but he shakes his head.

"Come on, Jones, give me everything,"Bryson says, out of breath.

"I gave that all an hour ago,"I say, but as we tallk i can feel the tension leaving my body.

"Give me 150%.. You got this, we can do it together,"Bryson says and all of a sudden Max grabs my other arm and Bryson shares a look with him.

"Come on,Aya, if i can do this, you can do this," Max says and that makes me speed up, just a litttle.

"Three more, ok? You can do this, you're tough,"Bryson says.

We finish and i am surprised to see that we beat everybody.

I collapse on the ground, my chest heaving, and i groan.

Bryson and Max sink down next to me.

"Nice job,"Bryson says and pats my back. It's strange that he's being nice. He's like a girl on her period. His mood is everywhere.

"ok, that's it. Be prepared to do this tomorrow and if you skip practice, you will do twice as much and not play in the next game,"Coach says and we are dismissed.

"You might have to carry me off the field,"I say to Max and he laughs.

"I was thinking that you might have to carry me,"he says and we grin at each other.

"Come on you two, i have my wife and kids and dinner at homee, let's go," coach yells and i hoist myself to my feet. I help Max to his feet and we head towards the locker rooms.

"You stink,"Max ggrumbles and i spit my tongue at him.

"I was thinking that about you,"i say back and he looks affeneded.

"How rude,"he says and i grin.

"Just telling you the facts," I replies.

I walk into the girls locker room and grab my cleaan clothes, but before i even start changing out, Sharon walks into the locker room, followed by the whole cheerleading squad. Sharon looks at me and smirks when she sees that i am dripping sweat.

"Work hard?"She asks and the others snort with laughter.

"Harder than you ever will,"I say witha grin. She narrows her eyes and looks like she wants to hit me.

"I highly doubt that," She snaps andd shoulders me out of the way.

I stumble back and glare at her back. I really want to punch her in the face, but somehow i maanage to just walk away.

When i walk out of the locker room i see Bryson is talking to his friends, but when he sees me he stops and watches me as i make my way over to them.

"Can i talk to you?"I ask him, but he doesn't move. "Alone..."

Bryson walks a little ways away from his friends and nods at me to go ahead and talk.

"Listen, thanks for helping me during practice today,"i say and Bryson nods.

"I was just being a good captain, nothing more,"he says and inwordly i wince, but on the outside i don't even blink". That's not what i wanted to hear, but i guess it dones't really matter.

"well thanks anyway,"I say.

"Bry, let's go,"Sharon yells and Bryson jogs over to her without another look at me.

Sharon glares at me and whispers something to Bryson. He laughs and she grins sweetly at him.

I grind my teeth together and walk away.

"Hey, sweet thing,"Max says and i grin at him.

"Hey, thanks for helping me at practice,"I say to him and he nods.

"Anytime, i seriously hate conditioning. It is so long and tiring. My first year of football, we conditioned so hard that i almost quit before the second week was up, but my best friend, at the time, came over and helped me through it,"he explains.

"That's nice,"I say and he nods in agreement.

"I am surprised that Bryson helped you though. Escpecially after how he treated you yesterday," Max replies.

"Me too, but he is just trying to prove that he is the better choice for a captain than anybody else,"I say.

"Is that what he said to you?"

"Pretty close,"

"Jerk,"Max mutters. "Well i guess i will see you on Monday, joy," Max says and takes off to his truck. I ahve a feeling that he plans on spending the day with Maggie.

"Hey! Aya! Do you want to come to the Hub with us?"Caleb asks and jogs over to me with some of his friends following him.

"What's the Hub?"I ask and Caleb stares at me.

"Seriously? That's just sad," one of his friends, JT, says.

"It's this place where you can eat pizza, play video games, laser tag, and go carts," Caleb explains and i raise my eyebrows.

"I am totally in,"I reply and he grins.

Caleb hops into my car to direct me to the place and the rest of his friends pile into a different car. When we get there it looks amazing.

"so, laser tag first?" Caleb asks when everyone gets there.

"Of course,"

The guy tells us the rules about what not to do and puts vests on us that have 'guns' attached to them. When we get into the room, we immediatly spread out, but i soon realize that this thing has three floor levels. I run towards the walk way that leads up the levels and go to thetop floor. I hide behind a wall that has cirlces in it and wait for someone to come up here.

It doesn't take long and soon one of the guys comes running up. I ninja roll around the wall and come up shooting. He sees me just a few seconds too late. The laser hits his vest in the right spot and he groans.

"See ya,"I say and quietly sprint back down to the second level. I carefully walk into the dark room and look around before heading to a far corner.

I hear someone behind me and i duck just in time. I spin around to see the person running away. I jog after him, but see another person out of the corner of my eye. I sprint behind a wall and hear a curse. I grin.

I slowly walk around the wall, with my gun ready, and shoot the first person i see.

I hear his vest power down and i grin.

"Gotcha,"I say.

Just then Caleb ninja rolls out of no where and shoots me.

"I'll get you back,"I warn him and he grins at me before running away from me.

I quietly jog after him and when my vest powers back up, i run up behind him and press my gun up to his vest, but dn't shoot.

He freezes and turns around slowly.

"Times up,"I say and my laser hits his vest. He drops to the floor dramatically and pretends to die.

"Tell my mom i love her and that i won't make it home for dinner,"he says and makes a show of coughing into 'death'.

"oh i will,"i say.

The lights come back on and our vests shut offf. Games over. I help Caleb to his feet and we all exit the room. When we get the vests off we all head for the pizza room.

"So, did you have fun?"Caleb asks and i grin.

"Do you even have to ask. And i am pretty sure i beat everyone at laser tag," I say and everybody immediatly denies this.

"You wish,"

"Yeah right,"

"Nice try,"

I grin and stuff my face with more pizza...

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THANKS LOVELIES-bekca