[ C h a p t e r - T w e n t y ]

Play the song before you read! DO IT! :D You'll get a joke later on.

Fun Fact: I chose the name Jonah because one of my favorite actors is Jonah Hill. Along with Dave Franco. I love them, omg.

Chapter 20

I’m glad that the football game is at the other school because they have an indoor field, unlike my school. I was currently dressed in the warmest yet ‘fashionable’ clothes that I could find. Meredith said something about looking cute but staying warm. I was wearing a blue sweater and an undershirt with the thickest pair of jeans in my closet. I was wearing my snow boots and I had my hair up in a messy bun.

Since tickets are available at the stand, Jonah and I are getting there early so we can make sure we actually get tickets. The game starts at 7 but Jonah’s already on his way and its only 5:30. My stomach felt like mush as I stood in front of the mirror and examined myself. I brushed my eyelashes with mascara and I put eyeliner on.

My door flew open to reveal my brother whose face was covered in brown stuff, which I’m hoping is chocolate, and he was grinning childishly. “Why aren’t you ready?  You have a date in two hours!”

My brother stared at me for a minute before he frowned. “I know.”

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re going to cancel on Mere! She’s going to be crushed!” I exclaimed and he shook his head.

“I don’t know what to wear; I haven’t been on a date since junior year,” he told me as he kicked the carpet.

“Why don’t you take a shower and I’ll pick something out for you?” I told him and he nodded.

I walked into my brother’s room, heading towards his closet. I flipped through the various clothes before I grabbed a black t-shirt and black jeans. Deciding to go from emo to casual, I grabbed a red, black and gray button down shirt and tossed that beside it. I grabbed his red Converses and threw them beside the clothes before I went downstairs, waiting for Jonah to show up.

~~~

About 20 minutes after I set up my brother’s clothes, he came downstairs, dressed fully with a grin on his face. “You look nice…thanks to me.”

My brother rolled his eyes but didn’t bother wiping the grin off of his face. “You do, too, I guess. You look like a penguin.”

I looked down at my outfit. “How? I don’t resemble a penguin at all.”

“Yeah you do, you waddle because your clothes are too thick,” he told me while scarfing down a cookie.

I just scowled at him. “What are your plans for tonight?”

“I made reservations at this restaurant and after that, we’re going to go walking along the boardwalk," he told me with a shrug. I stared at my brother, who knew he was a closet romantic?

I nodded my head. “That actually sounds nice.” I smiled. He nodded his head enthusiastically. “Bring an extra sweater.”

“Why?” he asked me as he ate another cookie.

I grinned. “Mere isn’t going to wear a sweater and she will only break the rules of fashion if you give her your sweater.”

He nodded as soon as a car horn honked outside. He looked at me and grinned before wriggling his eyebrows. “Get that kiss.”

I escaped the house while he continuously made kissing noises. When I got into Jonah’s car, he smiled at me. “You look like a penguin.”

“Just drive, boy.”

~~~

Jonah glanced at the clock. “We’re going to be so early.”

“You can always drop me back home and then go drive around,” I responded with a serious expression.

He looked at me with a sad look. “You don’t want to go?”

I let out a loud laugh, falling into a fit of chuckles. “You should have seen your face, so vulnerable.”

Jonah growled. “I hate you.”

“We both know that isn’t true,” I replied as I stopped laughing. I glanced at him before starting to laugh again.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah; what do you want to do? We have thirty minutes to kill,” he told me.

I shrugged, turning to look at Jonah. “Do we have a song?” I said jokingly. He grinned and nodded. He remembers when he said that our song was ‘Hurricane’ by Panic! At The Disco?

He glanced at me with a deadpan expression. “Our song is a slamming screen door, sneaking out late, tapping on your window; when we’re on the phone and you talk real slow cause it’s late and your momma don’t know.”

I let out a howling laugh, clutching my stomach as tears streamed down my face. He had his laughter under control, most likely because he was driving. I attempted to speak but I gave up and rested my head in my hands as my body trembled with laughter.

When I finally stopped laughing, I glanced at him and started laughing again. That’s the best kind of laughter- when you’re around someone you’re comfortable with and they make you laugh genuinely; they aren’t trying too hard. I don’t know why but that’s the best laugh I’d had in a while.

~~~

When we reached the football field, we were still early but not as early as we would’ve been. Jonah and I managed to get seats near Georgia, who was seated in the third row from the bottom because she claims you get a better view of the football player’s butts. We were seated in the first row at the bottom and the twins were seated on the second row from the bottom.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Jonah as I stood up. I needed to use the bathroom. Jonah nodded as I walked right by him and out of the stands. I walked towards the school where the doors were open. They were selling snacks and drinks but they also had a set of bathrooms open.

I felt someone grab my arm and I turned around to see Francis. I’d been avoiding him ever since the janitors closet incident. He couldn’t possibly know it was me, right? “What?”

He kept his hand on my forearm as he stared at me. “What are you doing here?”

“I have a friend playing,” I snapped, attempting to rip my arm out of his grip.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “As far as I know, you have no friends other than that Jonah kid and he isn’t on the football team,” he replied and I narrowed my eyes.

“No, it isn’t Jonah; his names Weston,” I retorted, managing to yank my arm out of his grip.

He tilted his head sideways before he nodded his head, his eyebrows rising slightly. “You’re here rooting for the other team, huh?” he asked. I scowled at the second meaning behind it but answered it nonetheless.

I shrugged. “It’s not like I like anyone on the school’s team.”

“You liked Arthur,” Francis smiled innocently and I gritted my teeth.

“Liked, past tense, idiot,” I snapped.

He grinned. “Shaw seems to have a thing for you.”

I glared at him before rolling my eyes and walking to the bathroom.

~~~

When I sat back down, Jonah frowned at me. “I’m really sorry to tell you this.”

Now it was my turn to frown. “What?”

He sighed, looking down at his hands. “Savannah, Sierra drank all of your soda and ate your chocolate bar!”

Sierra gasped. “I didn’t, he did!”

I laughed but rolled my eyes. I turned to Jonah and frowned. I pronounced his name slowly. “Jonah.”

He looked at me with a guilty look on his face. “Yes?”

“Can you please go get me a soda and another chocolate bar? And this time, some Skittles?” I asked and he stared at me for a moment before he nodded and got up. I smirked, turning to look at Sierra and Sabrina. I winked at them, making a motion with my hands that meant ‘wrapped around my finger.’

“I saw that,” Jonah shouted to us and I grinned innocently at him.

The football players came barreling onto the field. Weston ran in our direction, with his helmet in his hands. He was grinning and making stupid faces as he ran towards us. He tripped slightly on the turf and he turned and glared at it before he reached the 3 foot barrier keeping us from being tackled by the towering players.

“Hi!” he grinned at us, his eyes looking at each one of us. He found Jonah’s empty spot and he frowned. “Couldn’t get him to come?”

As if on cue, Jonah came walking through the isles, apologizing quickly to people as he held his arms in front of them, filled with snacks and drinks. I raised both of my eyebrows. “I said to bring me a chocolate bar, a drink, and Skittles, not the entire vendors stand.”

“I know, they just restocked and I couldn’t help myself,” he replied before he saw Weston. He smiled at him. “Hello.”

“Can I have some?” Weston asked as Jonah sat down. Jonah smacked his hand away.

“You know you’re not allowed sweets before a game, or ever,” Jonah replied as he opened a candy bar. I took it out of his hands and began eating it. He glared at me before he opened another. Sierra took that one and this continued on until everybody in our small group of friends aside from Weston had candy.

Weston was currently frowning. “I want candy.”

Jonah slowly ate a Starburst. “Too bad.”

Weston snatched the entire pack of Starbursts from Jonah and continued to open the small squares, shoving them into his mouth as Jonah watched in shock. The coach blew the whistle and Weston ran over, still chewing the candy.

I turned to Jonah who was still staring at Weston. “What’s wrong?”

“He gets really hyper when he eats candy before a game. Last time, he was ramming into players and laughing like a maniac. Every time he made a touchdown, he’d roll on the floor giggling.”

I stared at Jonah before I looked at the field, ready for the hilarity that is a sugar high Weston to break out.

It turns out that Jonah was right. Weston is a nutcase on the field when he’s hyped up on sugary snacks. Currently, he’s rolling around on the floor because his team got a touchdown. People were laughing at him and he was oblivious.

Jonah sighed. “He’s going to regret this.”

I nodded my head, my eyes glued on the game. “Who do you think is going to win?”

Jonah turned to me. “The score is currently 21 to 0. Who do you think is going to win?” Our school’s football team is terrible.

I nodded. Francis was currently glaring at Weston, his fists curled into a ball. Shaw was also glaring at someone, but it wasn’t Weston. It was me and Jonah. I inconspicuously nudged Jonah. “Jo-bro.”

Jonah turned to me with a small smile on his lips. “Yes?”

“Shaw is glaring daggers at us,” I muttered as I stared at him. “Look slightly to your left, but don’t be obvious.”

Jonah nodded but despite my warning, he snapped his head to the left and made continuous eye contact with Shaw. Neither of them was looking away anytime soon but Shaw had to eventually because his team was calling him over to the field.

~~~

Weston and his teammates were cheering. The majority of the crowd was cheering, including Jonah, Sabrina, Sierra, Georgia, and me. Weston’s team had won. I turned my head slightly as my eyes met Francis’s. Every time I made eye contact with Francis, I felt a tinge of guilt spiraling through me, not for being a jerk to him but for kissing him and then coming here with Jonah. It’s not like we’re in a relationship, Jonah and I or Francis and I, it just feels wrong. Especially when I didn’t even tell Jonah about it, we’re friends so he should know. Right?

I shoved the thought to the back of my mind; it’s not my problem right now. He doesn’t know and I’m going to pretend I don’t. Instead, I attempted to make my way through the crowd to the trash can. I needed to fully clear my mind and being around Jonah and in Francis’s line of vision wasn’t helping.

I had to walk towards the parking lot to find a secluded trash can, but not too secluded; I don’t want something bad to happen to me. When I reached the trashcan, I dumped all of the empty water bottles, soda cans, chip wrappers, candy wrappers, and other items into it with a sigh of relief.

I turned around to see Francis only about a foot and a half away from me. I glanced over my shoulder to see the indoor stadium in the distance, people slowly exiting it. I could hear the excitement from all the way over here. Before I could even process what was happening, Francis filled the gap between us and was pressing his lips to mine in a persistent manner.

I was standing there in shock, like he was doing when I kissed him in the janitor’s closet. I gasped audibly and I felt him pause for a minute before he continued kissing me. Does he know? Did he realize it was me? When he finally pulled away, I was staring at him but he was looking over my shoulder. He leaned in slightly so that his mouth was near my ear. “You weren’t that bad of a kisser before.”

Before he walked away, he lightly pressed his lips to my cheek and walked towards the stadium which left me staring in the empty space where he just was. I heard footsteps behind me and I closed my eyes tightly. Please don’t tell me that’s who I think it is.

“So, you and Francis, huh?”

Jonah.