Chapter 35: I'm Winning This For My Boy, Greg

"Nat!"

I'm walking out of my music classroom when I hear my name being called and turn towards the person. Its Alex, he's jogging up to me, Amanda standing there, looking outraged a couple of feet behind him.

"Hey babe," I say, resting my books on my hip.

"Dude," he says. I raise my eyebrows. "You're not coming to the game?"

"What game?" I ask with a 'what are you talking about' look.

"The football game," he says, looking at me. "Tonight."

"Oh, tonight. Right," I say. He sighs.

"Please come! I promise it won't be boring!" he says. I keep walking and he follows.

"You should get back to your girlfriend Alex, I doubt she'd want me there,"  I say before I realize that I do.

"Why wouldn't she want you there?" he asks, puzzled.

"Because... uhm," I struggle to put together a sentence. "She might think I'm trying out for the cheer team!"

That makes no sense. Oh, well.

"Wait... you're trying out for the cheer team?" he asks.

"No!" I say quickly. "I just... er, Amanda just won't want me there since, um, we got into a fight in geography because she got a trivia question wrong."

"That doesn't mean she won't want you at the game. C'mon, I'll give you my old jersey that says Alex on the back and you can cheer me on! The more fans, the better," he winks. I laugh.

"I won't promise anything -" I start.

"Pick you up at six," he says, pulling my ponytail as he walks past. I shake my head after him and continue to my next class.

***

I am not dressing up for this game. Bubbles and Kate are over, getting ready for the night for no reason at all. Its a freaking football match. Leo and Callum are going to be there with us, so apparently they have to dress up. I'm infidelity gonna dress down. Its comfortable.

"C'mon Nat, at least wear a nice shirt," Bubbles complains when she sees me in my ripped jeans and baggy Navy hoodie with an emblem in the corner of my favorite basketball team.

"I'm good," I say, and untie my hair, running a comb through it and pulling it into a messy high ponytail. I chuck on my Converse and wait for Kate and Bubbles to finish their makeup.

I jump almost three feet in the air when a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and pull me into a solid chest.

"Hey, Greg," he says. I turn around in his arms.

"Hi Patricia," I say. He's wearing a hoodie like me and has on a pair of jeans. "Aren't you playing football?"

"We get changed there," he says. "Well, ready to go?"

I turn around to look at Bubbles and Kate. They nod, big smiles on their faces. Kate mouths, 'go kiss him' to me and I roll my eyes.

"See you guys! Don't trash my room. Also, its only Dad downstairs so just sneak out," I say. Alex takes my hand and drags me out the door, down the stairs, hollering a greeting to my dad in the study. He pulls me onto the street and walks down towards his car on the side walk.

We hop in and slam the doors. I pull two parts of my ponytail to tighten my hair as he starts the engine.

"By the way, you're coming to the party with me afterwards too, I checked with your mum," he says. I raise my eyebrows.

"You have my mum's number?" I ask.

"Yeah, we like have secret conversations about you all the time. She loves you, but I think sometimes you just need to be a little more independent. She tells me you still want her to buy you little girl dresses!" he says. I fake-scowl at him and flick his arm.

He pouts. "Hey! What was that for?" he clutches his arm.

"Sorry," I say sarcastically and he pushes my head back. I continue to flick him and we end up annoying each other the whole way.

"Jerk," I say when he slaps my arm playfully after I pull his ear.

"Jerk," he mocks me. I roll my eyes and flick his temple. He pushes my head into the window and I rub it.

"Ow!"

"You started it!" he says, shrugging as we pull into the school's car park.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Are you guys gonna shut up or just never get out of the car?" a voice asks and I whip my head around. Meghan is leaning through the window, grinning at us. Alex unlocks the door and I'm about to get out when he gives me a wet willy.

"Hey!" I yells at him. He's already out of the car. I run around to him and he sprints off in the other direction. "You come back here, PATRICIA!" I yell at him, chasing after his retreating figure.

He finally stops and I catch up to him. I put my finger in my mouth and make to stick it into my ear before he starts running again around the almost deserted car park. He starts slowing down after about five or six minutes and I jump onto his back. He lets out a yell that sounds very much like one Arianna Grande might let out if she saw a spider. I still love her though.

"Let go of me!" he thrashes around wildly as I try and stick my finger in his ear. "Let go of me you bastard!"

"Never!" I yell triumphantly. He runs quickly towards his car, me still on his back. He starts jumping up and down and I fall off.

He starts running again and I follow. When I'm about to jump on him again and tackle him to the ground, he turns around and lifts me onto his shoulder, fireman style.

"Alex!" I groan. "I must look like some weird emo you're carrying around after my house got set on fire."

"You are an emo, dude," he says and walks me towards the car again, where I see everyone waiting for us. Oops. There's Meghan and Kate, Chloe and her boyfriend. Bubbles, Callum, Leo and Amanda. Amanda's got her arms crossed and is shaking her head whilst tapping her foot on the paved cement, looking furious.

I twist myself around to make my body pressed against his neck. I put my finger into my mouth before sticking it in his ear. He yelps and pulls me over his shoulder.

"Bad move, brother," he says. And then he starts tickling me. I start giggling and fall to the ground, writhing like I'm having some kind of seizure. He's laughing at me and I gasp for breath.

"STOP!" I scream through my laughter. "STOP IT! I'M DYING! CAN'T BREATHE!"

He stops and helps me up. I gasp for breath before turning to him and pulling his head down with my arm, wrapping it around his neck and pushing my fist into his soft hair, rubbing it down on his scalp.

He twists away from my hold and tries to fix up his hair. I laugh at him and he pouts, poking me in the stomach. I glare at him and flick his arm. He's about to push my head back when we hear a series of coughs.

We both freeze and turn to look at the group of eight.

"Sorry guys," Alex says calmly. "We're ready now."

He pick my up so that I'm on his back and walks forward, leading the group and piggybacking me. I wrap my arms around his neck and lean down.

"I have legs," I tell him. He shrugs.

"I know. But do you want to use them?" he asks.

"Good point," I say, nodding at the question.

"You better have a bunch of pom-poms, ready to wave them whenever I get the ball," he says, turning slightly to face me and raising his eyebrows.

"Maybe I do," I say, smiling slightly. He chuckles and I lean my head over his shoulder, so our cheeks are touching. "You better have a big sign that reads 'I'm winning this for my boy, Greg.'"

He laughs and I tug on his ear. "Don't laugh about that! You better!"

"I will, I will," he says, and stops laughing.

We walk a few more meters before he drops me and turns around. "I gotta go," he says, nodding his head in the direction of a doorway. I nod and he walks off, calling to me from over his shoulder: "You better have those pom poms ready, dude!"

I shake my head at the ground, smiling slightly. Then I see the shadow on the pathway, obstructing my vision. I look up. Amanda is outraged. Her hands are on her hips, and her mouth is squished into a grim line. If this was Looney Tunes, steam would definitely be coming out of both her nose and ears.

"H-hi Amanda?" I say nervously, as though I should be asking the greeting.

"You little clown! You think you can just sidle up to my boyfriend and immediately he'll fall for your dumb charms. Well look around you, sweetie," she gestures with her hands, looking around her. "I don't see any boys drooling over you. So go back to Paris, no one needs you here, let alone my boyfriend. So stay away," she hisses before pushing me onto the bush behind us and trotting away.

Everyone else turns the corner quickly. "Hey, Nat," Leo nods at me. Callum smiles at me, the grin taking over his whole face. Bubbles runs over to me with Meghan and Chloe behind her. Kate looks at me with a worried glance. I'm glad they didn't see that.

"What happened?" Bubbles asks, holding out a hand to help me up. I let her, taking her hand and brushing myself off once I'm upright.

"Oh, Alex pushed me," I roll my eyes. They laugh and we begin walking into the stadium.

***

I'm glad I wore a hoodie, its freezing. Bubbles is curled up into Callum, same with Kate and Leo and Chloe and Kevin (her boyfriend). Meghan is sitting with me, as close as she can. The game's only just started.

Its around eight, so the sky's dark and the stars are out. We're all sitting in the back of the stands, on the very top one. Amanda and her cheer leading group have just finished their dances. When Alex jogged onto the field, she pulled him to the side and they shared a five minute long kiss until the umpire decided to break them apart. I swear I saw her open her eyes at one point and look directly up at me before smiling against Alex's lips and kissing them harder.

No one's scored a goal yet, but we're only a few minutes in. I haven't spotted Alex yet. I know he's a quarter back, but I don't know where those things stand, sooooo....

I finally see the word: Collins, on the back of a jersey followed by: 08. They continue playing for a few more minutes before Alex scores a try. The crowd cheers and claps. Alex looks up from the feild and meets my eyes. He grins and reaches into his pants' pocket. He takes out a sheet of A3 paper and unrolls it. I can barely read the words, he's so far away, but then he jumps up and down, smiling at me and I read what it says:

"I'm winning this game for my boy, Greg."

I smile at him and wave imaginary pom poms. He laughs at me and chucks the sign away, taking a drink of his waterbottle. Before he jogs back onto the field, he looks back up at us, throwing me a wink and a smirk.

Every one turns and looks up at us. I blush, which makes Meghan laugh at me. I see a couple of glares from Amanda's cheer squad, including one from Amanda herself.

I twist the heart necklace that hangs around my neck at all times, I wonder how much it was, I'm sure there are a couple of diamonds on the patterned side of it.

The game continues for about half an hour before Meghan sits up again. "You really like him."

I shrug and play with my necklace again.

"Out there, in the car park, you too wouldn't take your eyes off each other, its like you knew we were all there but you didn't care because you could only see each other. I think he likes you, too," she says. I shake my head, twisting the heart pendant around the chain.

"Meghan, he has a girlfriend," I tell her. She shrugs.

"I don't know why he's dating her. I've seen that cow kissing about ten different boys while their fling's been going on," she scoffs, shaking her head and frowning at the brunette shaking her pom poms below. "There's some thing... off about their relationship, like, I mean, everyone knows he likes you, except you-"

I interrupt her. "He doesn't like me. He's with Amanda."

She ignores me and continues, "- But he's still dating her. I have a theory. What if he's trying to make you jealous? I know its working, too. I see the way you bite your lip and your shoulders sag when you see them making out. Also, Alex only started asked her out just after Noah asked you out. I think that could also be one of the reasons why he didn't."

"Well if that's what he's doing - and he's not, I know he genuinely likes Amanda - then its a darn stupid thing to do," I say, shaking my head. I look back to Alex, who's sprinting with the ball before he throws it to someone else.

"He doesn't genuinely like Amanda. And, well, it is a stupid thing to do, but dudes do crazy things for love," Meghan shrugs, pulling her cardigan closer around her. "You were just looking at him them and I could practically see the hearts coming out of your eyes."

"He doesn't love me," I say, a little too loudly, because Callum shuffles over to us to join the conversation.

"I think he does, you know," he says, matter-of-factly.

"He doesn't!" I say. Leo shuffles over to Meghan's side and leans around her to speak to me.

"He does," he says.

"No, he doesn't!" I say quickly, pulling my hood up and pulling on the drawstrings until only my nose and mouth are visible.

Bubbles and Kate must've joined the conversation, because I hear them both say, "He does!"

I mutter, 'go away, guys," under my breath. They continue talking about Alex's love for me. I scoff mentally. As if he likes me. I'm way out of his league. He's the hot, cool bad boy that everyone loves, including me now, apparently. I'm the un-cool person who likes books and movies and does weird things like lipsync to Arianna Grande in her bedroom when she's home alone. I'm not a hot cheerleader who's perfect for him. Someone like Amanda.

Am I too young to be in love? Its only been, like, five months of me really knowing him. Is that enough? I'm so stupid, of course its not enough. I don't love him... Right? Its probably just a tiny crush. Yup.

I feel someone elbow me in the ribs just before the crowd cheers. "Nat, he's looking at you."

I push my hood back and see Alex's laughing face, he must've been looking at the emo that was me, with their hoodie pulled over their eyes. I smile at him before looking away. How the hell are his teeth so straight and white? And why do his dimples have to be so darn cute? And his hair? Why does it have to be so perfectly curly and messy? And his eyes? Why do they have to be so blue, like the ocean, so deep that you can't look away from them?

"He's still looking at you!" Meghan says. I turn back towards the field and see him looking at me while talking to a teammate. He quickly looks away. I look down. Meghan basically jumps in her seat. "He was doing love-heart eyes too!" she squeals. I roll my eyes and elbow her in the ribs.

"Shut up," I murmur.

***

"Nat, Nat, Nat, wake up!" somebody's tapping my cheek furiously. I open my eyes. Meghan finally stops and pushes my head off her shoulder. "The game's done. We won."

"That's good," I say through a yawn.

"Bro," Kate walks over. "You should've seen his face when he saw you were asleep. Actually, you should've seen the number of times he looked at you through that half an hour. Once a minute, I'd say."

"I doubt that," I say, finishing my yawn.

"Ready for the party?" Leo says, hooking an arm around Kate's shoulders. We all nod and set off. It takes around ten minutes to get down the stairs because of the amount of people going down them.

We finally reach the bottom and walk out to wait outside the change rooms for Alex. The boys have been sitting with us this week, and I'd say they'll continue to. Our group's status got boosted to: Group of girls who got lucky and have a bunch of hot guys sitting with them.

I'm in the middle of chatting with Bubbles when a hand clutches mine and spins me into the owner's chest.

"Hey, sleepy head," he grins down at me. I shove him off me and punch his shoulder lightly.

"Well done, babe," I say, patting him on the head like he's a small child. "Good game."

He scoffs. "Like you watched it."

"I'm sorry! I didn't know I was going to all asleep, and it wasn't like I thought it was boring or anythin-"

Alex puts a hand over my mouth a chuckles. "Its fine Nat," he laughs. "I was joking."

"Oh, right. Ok," I nod and he pulls his hand off my mouth. "So.. where's the party?"

"Max's house," he shrugs. "One of the boys. Let's go!"

"Ok," I say and let him drag me along to his car. "Is Amanda coming with us?"

"No, she's going with Dave."

"Dave?" I ask.

"Her... friend," he says, hesitating. I give him a questioning glance before slipping into the car.  He slams his door and offers me some gum. I take it and put it into my mouth.

We drive in silence for a while before he asks, "Do you remember our bet?"

"The one we did about the pizza? Yeah," I nod. He turns the music down and stops at a red light.

"My cousin's wedding is coming up. Its in Paris," he says. I sit up straighter in my seat.

"Paris?" I ask.

"Yeah, they're gonna hire out that stretch of land in front of the Eiffel tower," he says. I gape at him.

"Is that even possible?" I ask.

"Apparently. My family is really wealthy, you know that right?" he asks, turning to me and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, totally," I shake my head and scoff. I though it was just his non-extended family with heaps of money! Imagine how much his grandparents must have!

He raises an eyebrows at me with a smirk. "Anyway, so they're gonna pay to have everyone cleared from the area and have the wedding there. Susie's crazy," he shakes his head. "And they said I could have a plus one. So you're coming with me."

"But... Alex, I think you should go with Amanda," I say, looking at him with caution. We pull over near the house with the bright lights and pounding music. Alex unbuckles and turns his whole body toward me.

"Nat, I wanna take you. And also, you lost the bed," he says.

"But, babe, Amanda's your girlfriend!" I say.

"I don't care. We can go as friends, I know how much you want to go back to Paris," he says and makes to move out of the car. I grab his hand and pull him back. He sits down and turns to me, confused.

"Alex, I do want to go with you, but I don't think its right. Even if we do go as friends Amanda is still your girlfriend, and you're supposed to take your girlfriend to a wedding if you have one. Its the rules."

"Rules were made to be broken, Nat," he says and actually gets out of the car. I get out and meet him at the bonnet.

"Its not fair to Amanda for you to take me," I try to reason with him, gesturing with my hands. He grabs them and lowers them.

"Yes it is, I'm going to Virginia with Amanda in a few weeks, just after your birthday. C'mon Nat, you lost the bet. You have to come with me. Amanda won't mind, I'll talk to her."

"No! Alex, we can't go, you have a girlfriend, take her! I'm not your girlfriend. I won't ever be. Please don't take me to that wedding, you need to go with Amanda."

Suddenly, he's inches away from me, he lowers his head to speak into my ear. He's still clutching my hands and I'm conscious of his warm breath on my neck.

"Who said you won't ever be my girlfriend?" he asks. I whip my head around to face him.

"W-what?" I ask, stuttering.

"Why don't you want to come with me? Is there something you need to tell me?" he asks quietly. I move my head to look up at him. He studies my face.

He knows something's wrong. I think to myself. We stand there, looking into each others eyes for about thirty seconds before I say quietly, "Actually.. yeah, there is. I-"

I'm interrupted by the sound of a car honking. Leo and Kate are in the front, Meghan, Bubbles and Callum are in the back. "Get in, lovebirds, we're going shopping!" Bubbles calls out the window. I roll my eyes and Alex turns back to me. He gives me a look as if to say 'we'll continue with this later. I'm worried about you.'

The others hop out of the car and Alex drops my hands as Leo goes to park.

"Ooo," Meghan coos. "You two were holding hands!"

"Natalex is almost at their first stop! Kiss-land," Bubbles claps. I roll my eyes and walk up to stand next to Alex.

"More like the Titanic's almost hit the glacier," I say. Bubbles pouts at me and Alex gives me a weird look. I smile back at him, as though everything's OK.

***

The party is poop. Someone gave me a drink that I thought was jelly and I drank it. And a few more. Alex finds me in the kitchen, downing my tenth drink. Or was it twentieth? I don't know.

"Nat!" he yells at me and takes the glass from me, slamming it down on the counter. "What are you doing?"

I giggle. "My friends left to go kiss guys and I had no one to make out with so I drank these! They're really yummy! Are they jello?"

"No, they're not, Nat! That's alcohol!" he yells at me. "You're drunk."

"Ooo, alcohol!" I yell out, testing the word on my tongue. "I like it. I've never had it before."

He grabs my hand and leads me to the bathroom. We burst inside and he locks the door.

"Who the hell offered you one of them?" he asks.

I shrug and giggle, sitting down on top of the toilet seat. "Some dude. He had a buzz cut. He wasn't as handsome as you are, though."

Alex freezes and opens his mouth, gaping at me.

"What?" I ask, giggling and swinging my legs.

"Oh, God, you're really drunk," he says and crouches down next to me. I sniff him.

"You smell sooooo good!" I yell and stand up. I almost fall over, but Alex catches me. I lift my legs off the floor and snuggle into him. He stands up and walks me over to the sink.

"D'you have a fever?" he asks me. I shrug. He checks my temperature before pulling out a cloth, wetting it, and pushing it onto my forehead.

"You're like my doctor. A really hot doctor. You're always looking after me! And you're hair's so curly!" I say and push my hands into his hair. He freezes and pulls my hands off him.

"How many of those did you have?" he asks. I shrug and look into the distance, tapping my chin with my index finger.

"Ten? Twenty? Thirty? I dunno!" I yell out and almost topple off the vanity before he steadies me.

"I gotta take you home," He mutters.

"Gimme a piggy back!" I yell at him and he spins around. I clamber onto his back. He opens the door and walks out. I see him talking to Leo and wrap my arms around his neck, resting my head in the nape of his neck.

***

"Nat, you need to wake up," a soft voice whispers in my ear. I'm in my bed. I sit up. Alex sits beside me, his shirt off and his hair all messy.

My head hurts. "Ow," I press a hand to my forehead. I look over at the clock. 1 o'clock. "What happened?"

"You got drunk. I drove you home and carried you up here. But you need to get into you pajamas because its twenty eight degrees and you might melt in that hoodie.

"Thank you," I say and make my way over to the bathroom, yawning and grabbing my PJ's on the way.

I get changed and brush my teeth, throwing my clothes in the basket and walking out. Alex is lying in my bed. I collapse onto my mattress and he hands me an Aspirin and a glass of water. I thank him and take it.

I pull myself under my covers and turn my back on Alex. He settles down behind me. We shouldn't be sleeping together. But I'm pretty sure I saw Amanda kissing 'Dave' in the hallway when I was drunk. And besides, we're just friends.

Just friends, I remind myself when Alex wraps his hands around me and pulls my back into his check, nestling his head in my neck.

_______________________________________________________________

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