…. BRYSON’S POV:

I walk into the kitchen to see Maggie sitting on a chair eating some toast. I roll my eyes at her.

“What are you still doing here?” I ask her and she scowl s at me.

“I live here too, I can go and stay as I please,” she mumbles.

“Nobody wants you here so you might as well go,” I snap and she looks hurt. I instantly regret it, but don’t say anything.

“I don’t see why you have to be so mean… What did I ever do to you?” she says quietly.

“Because you can’t just go and say whatever you feel like saying to my girlfriend. Obviously you knew that and you did it anyway, so really this is your fault,”

“You could have stuck up for me! I am your sister and you just let her talk crap about me and now no one wants to even look at me without glaring and or laughing except Ayanna and Max,” she explains.

“Ayanna is not as great as she seems,” I lie and Maggie glares at me. She stands up and walks right up to me.

“You are so judgmental! You say Aya is not great but you are way worse than even Sharon,” she snaps and I flinch.

“You don’t know a thing I am going through,” I snap back and she raises her eyebrows.

“You’re right. I don’t because you won’t talk to me about it! Ever since I stood up to Sharon you have been ignoring me. But from what I hear you are not that happy about being with her anymore. But yet, you refuse to dump her or stand up for yourself,”

“Why don’t you just mind your own business?” I yell and she shoves me backwards.

“It’s kind of hard to when you practically shove your business in Aya’s face and then she tells me about it,” Maggie says and her eyes soften.

I close my eyes and sigh. Of course Aya tells Maggie everything….

“Bryson…I just am tired of fighting with you and you ignoring me,” she says quietly and I watch her walk away. It takes everything I have not to call her back and apologize for the way I have been acting.

I don’t know why I can’t just swallow my pride and say sorry, but I just can’t… And it really is true that I can’t dump Sharon. I don’t know why… Every time I think about it I force myself to stop.

I grab my backpack and head to school.

When I pull into the parking lot I see Sharon waiting for me with a frown on her face.

“We have to talk, Bry,” Sharon says and I roll my eyes.

The break up talk… It’s funny how she is using it on me when all I have ever wanted was to use it on her.

“Yeah we do,” I say and make split second chose. “You need to stop bullying my sister and Aya. Just because you are self-conscious and selfish doesn’t mean you have to be a b with and itch. So, I guess with that being said, I am dumping you,” I explain and Sharon’s mouth drops open.

“You can’t dump me! I was going to dump you!” She screams and everybody looks at her in shock. I turn and see Maggie grinning at me. I smile back and walk into the school feeling relieved…

AYANNA’S POV:

I am standing by my locker when Maggie walks over to me with Max holding her hand.

“Guess what, guess what, guess what?!” She practically shouts.

“What?” I ask and look at Max for an answer, but he shakes his head indicating that he has no idea what has happened to make Maggie so happy.

“Bryson just stood up for us!”

“Against who?” I ask and she glows with happiness.

“Sharon… And he dumped her!” Maggie explains and I raise my eyebrows skeptically.

“Are you sure?” Max asks and she nods.

“Of course. I was standing a couple feet away from them when it happened,” Maggie says and I grin at her happiness.

“That’s good that he stood up for you,” I say and Max rolls his eyes.

“Yeah it’s good that he FINALLY stood up for his sister,” he says and Maggie scowls at him.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” she replies and that shuts Max up. He really can’t argue with her because he always loses.

“No, you don’t understand, Aya. He stood up for you too,” Maggie says and I almost spit my coffee out of my mouth.

“What?!”

“It’s true, just go ask him,”

“I’m not going to go and ask him about it. But are you sure you heard correctly?” I ask her and she quickly nods.

“Heard what correctly?” Caleb asks form behind me. I turn and push my emotions about Bryson away.

“Hey, there,” I say with a grin and he smiles back at me and takes my hand.

“Hey yourself,” he says and kisses me quickly.

“I was just explaining to Aya how Bryson stood up for me,” Maggie explains and I smile at her in relief. I really don’t need Caleb to think that I have feelings for Bryson.

I mean, I really like Caleb, but I still can’t forget Bryson. No matter how hard I try…

“That’s great, Maggie,” Caleb says with a grin in her direction and she nods happily.

“It really is,”

“So, are you ready for practice today?” Caleb asks and I shrug.

“Well, at least we don’t have to run anymore,” I say and Caleb grins at me.

“Because of you,” he says and I roll my eyes.

“It is not. I think Coach just was tired of watching us suffer,” I say and all of us laugh at the idea.

“Coach is never going to get tired of watching us suffer,” Max says with a chuckle.

“Never…” Caleb says and starts laughing…

“Slut! Get out of my way,” Sharon snaps when I am walking to my table for lunch. Sharon shoulders past me and I shove her back. She whips around and glares at me.

“Don’t ever call me a slut,” I snap back and she raises her eyebrows.

“Oh, you deserve it. I can’t believe you slept with my boyfriend,”

“I did sleep with him in every sense of the word. Sleep! Is all we did,” I explain angrily and she rolls her eyes.

“Likely story,”

“It’s a true story and if you weren’t so stuck up maybe you would have actually believed Bryson when he tried to explain that to you,” I reply.

“Well, well, well, I guess we will just see who comes out on top. You can have Bryson, he’s old news to me and I dumped him already,”

“Oh really? I thought he broke up with you,” I say sweetly and she clenches her fists.

“Well I guess you heard wrong,” she snaps.

“I don’t think so,” I reply and she reaches up and slaps me hard on the cheek. I freeze and stare at her while my cheek pulses. I drop my food down and punch her in the face.

She gasps and holds her face in her hands.

“Don’t ever, EVER hit me or call me names,” I growl and she glares at me while her eyes fill with tears.

“You don’t want to mess with me,” she snaps.

“Too late,”

“What happened?” Bryson asks as he walks over to us and sees Sharon holding her face and my red cheek.

“Well, Aya punched me for no reason,” Sharon lies and Bryson raises his eyebrows at me. I glare back at him. I don’t have to explain myself to him… “And she called me a slut”.

I gape at her before answering Bryson’s questioning gaze, “I did not punch her for no reason and I definitely did not call her a slut. First off, she called me a slut and then accused me of sleeping with you and then slapped me so I punched her”.

“I told you I didn’t sleep with her,” Bryson says to Sharon and she glares at him.

“So again you will believe her over me, typical. You can have him, Aya, but trust me he’s not that great,” Sharon says and walks away and joins her friends who all glare at us.

“Thanks,” I mutter to Bryson and he grins.

“Anytime,” he replies and I roll my eyes before walking away.

When I sit down beside Caleb he looks at me.

“Why is your cheek all red?”

“Nothing…”

At practice Coach is glad to teach us more plays and I’m also glad because our next game is in two days and I don’t feel at all ready for it.

“Aya, why don’t you play varsity quarterback right now so I can see how you handle it,” Coach suggests and Bryson looks at him in shock. So does the rest of the varsity team.

“I am not having a girl through me the ball,” one of the guys shouts and I glare in his direction.

“Then I guess you will be benched,” Coach says and that shuts the guy up.

When I jog into Bryson’s position Drew glares at me.

“You better hope you throw the ball perfectly,” he says as I bend down behind him. He grabs the ball and waits… I stand there for a couple minutes before Drew stands up and glares at me.

“You gonna say hike, princess?” He snaps and I blush. Oh yeah.. How could I forget about that? Jeez, I need to pull myself together.

“Sorry…”

We get down into position again and I yell hike. Drew hikes me the ball and I look downfield to throw the pass. I throw it just before getting tackled by 235 pounds of muscle. I grunt as I hit the ground and the JV guy gets off me and helps me up.

Max glares at the other tackle and the guy shrugs innocently, but it didn’t escape my notice that he had a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

“Why don’t you do your job, Noah, before I tackle YOU,” Max shouts at the right tackle.

“Why don’t you back off?!” Noah snaps and Max clenches his fists.

“It’s ok, Max, it happens,” I say to Max and he gives the guy one more look before getting back into position.

“Guys! Game is in two days, practice like you play,” Bryson yells at the guys and they look at him in shock.

“We only practice like we play when you are our quarterback, Bryson,” Drew says and Bryson walk over to him.

“Then I guess I will have to have you benched,” Bryson says and Drew looks shocked.

“Fine, fine, fine, we’ll practice correctly,”

“Good and Jones, nice pass,” Bryson says to me and I grin.

“Hike,”

I catch the ball and pass it down the field to Matt. He catches it and runs a 20 yard touchdown.

“Nice throw,” Coach yells and I see Drew giving me a look of respect which surprises me more than anything.

We run a few more plays before Coach calls it a day and we all go and change out. In the locker room, I brush my comb through my sweaty hair and head out of the locker room to see Caleb waiting for me.

“Nice practice,” Caleb says but I can hear the jealousy in his voice. I feel bad because he is a better player than I am and I got more attention from Coach than he did, but I really don’t want to apologize for something that wasn’t under my control.

“You two,” I say and he rolls his eyes.

“Right… Cuz it’s so great being pulled up onto varsity and still playing for JV during practices,” he mutters bitterly.

“I’m sorry that happened,” I say and he shrugs.

“That’s ok, it wasn’t your fault,” he says and is back to being the happy guy I like…

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-BECKA