Frienemies
By:.


It was a perfect day for a football game; The air was warm and crisp with a refreshing wind. My cheer squad was 100% prepared. We finished our routine warm ups early and even had time to squeeze in an extra pep talk! I had a pretty amazing feeling about this game. As we slowly approached the place on the track, reserved for us cheerleaders, the crowd went wild. The sense of having dedicated fans gave us a reassuring boost we needed before any type of game. We quickly did a few more practice drills until I felt confident we were ready to deliver some pep to our audience. In the rush of excitement, Webb, an amazing male cheerleader, approached me with a crazily large grin on his face. Today was the first day he would be cheering at a real football game. He has always been a little hesitant to cheer because of his gender, although I knew that on the inside he was overjoyed. Webb explained to me that his parents were here and that we needed to “give it our all”. When didn’t we give it our all?
A damper was put on my mood as the cocky loser known as “Crash” made his way out onto the field. He was the “star” of the show... all the time. I mean, I have never really liked him. At least, I can't remember a time I did, considering his first words to me when he moved here in second grade were, “Is there something wrong with your face? You look like one of the Whos from Whoville!” He was not just rude, but he was ALL about himself! Everyone on the squad went nuts as they hollered “Crash! Crash! Crash!” which got the crowd going too. Soon the only words coming out of people’s mouth in the whole complex was either, “I LOVE YOU CRASH!” or something like that. Strangely enough, even some guys were shouting that. I just stood there though. I made my way off the track to the concession stand where in which my best friend, Rachel, was working. She immediately gave me the, “Do you see the way people are reacting to Crash... ugh” look that we tend to give each other often. She is not a big fan of him either,obviously. We talked for awhile until I had to return to the place on the track where I will be tortured by the crowd’s love towards Crash. Great.
The whistle blew and the football soared down the field, a perfect kick. Within five minutes Crash had already scored. Every girl was in love with him. As a matter a fact, I bet that if he told them to jump of a bridge they would probably do it in a heartbeat. The worst part is that Crash didn't even acknowledge them. All he does is blankly stare into the crowd as if he is hypnotized by someone out there.
We were up 48 to zip, and it was only half time. As the dance captain, Lucy, and her team made their way out to the center of the field to perform their halftime number, I noticed Coach Smith escort the starting string to the bench. The second string was actually going to play for once. Then I noticed Crash, paying no attention to the dancing girls who begged for just one second of eye contact from Crash, staring out into the crowd again. I attempted to follow his eyes out into the crowd to see if I could figure out who he was drooling over... no success. It was probably a girl. But what girl could fit his expectations? Here is the thing about Crash, he can get any girl in the whole entire school, yet he chooses to be a single antisocial person. I just don’t understand that kid.
The dance team pranced off the field with grins of success on their face. The crowd roared. I politely lead a cheer to basically tell them that they did great! Although I didn't really pay any attention to their dance since I was so caught up in why Crash was blankly staring into the crowd. I almost felt the need to know what was going on in Crash’s life when honestly I didn't care. Suddenly, the game started back up and the second string players trotted onto the field. It seemed to be going smoothly until I saw that Coach Smith’s face turned a bright tomato red. I could almost see the steam pour out of his ears as he hollered “CRASH GET OFF THE FIELD”. Crash actually had the guts to go back onto the field to play some more. Who did he think he was? I could practically sense the feeling of despair as the second string running back looked over to Coach Smith with big puppy dog eyes begging for playing time. The coach literally dragged Crash off the field. The crowd cheered for Crash and I was the only one with my hands on my hips refusing to clap as I gave him “the glare.” This mystery person in the audience must be pretty important to give him the gut to pull something off this mean.
The whole squad left about 15 minutes earlier considering the game ended, but for some odd reason I felt the urge to stay. I stared at the pink wall in the girls locker room and did something I haven’t really done in a while, think. Many things ran through my mind like, “Who will vote for me in the cheer captain re-election. Or what slogan will I use? How about: ‘Jane Forbes will bring you cheer, vote for her as cheer captain this year!?” No thats too blah. Then something really weird happened. I heard bawling coming from the boys locker room next door. Who would cry after such an amazing game? Without thought I put my ear on the wall and somewhat listened in. I didn’t hear anything but crying. I slowly arose from my comfy little spot on the ugly forest green bench and walked out of the locker room into fresh air and headed down to the boys locker room.
The halls were deserted with not a kid in sight. As I approached the door of the boys locker room, I heard footsteps coming from inside. The door slowly opened and the smell of sweat and axe crawled into my nose. Yuck. The ripened red face of my mortal enemy whose eyes were swelled with tears walked out the door. A cringe must of snuck onto my face.
“Yah, I know how amusing this must be for you Jane. Take my picture now so you can tell all your little friends what a crybaby I am. Come on take out your phone already,” mumbled Crash.
I just stood in dead silence.
“Don’t worry Jane. I have all night cause you know I am a antisocial loser.” How did he know I called him that?
I finally managed speak, “What happened to you?”
He looked up at me with biggest blue eyes I have ever seen. His eyes were huge with a pool of a light baby blue in the middle and I could practically feel his sadness.
He mumbled, “My parents don’t care and either do you.”
EITHER DO I? why would he care what I thought? I managed to say “ME?” He quickly turned away and stared at what appeared to be the spider creeping up the wall. Suddenly I felt bad for Crash. (I never thought I would feel bad for my worst enemy, but I did.) Lost in my thought, I didn't realize that Crash was already half way down the hallway.
I consider the next day at school a disaster. Never mind, I wouldn’t “consider” it a disaster, it WAS a disaster. Crash wasn’t there, so all day my brain was coming up with lists upon lists of where he could be. Maybe he was moving because he hated me. Possibly he tripped and broke his arm because of me. On the other hand he could've gotten eaten by a wild bear cause of me. Basically, all my ideas had one thing in common. They were all because of me. Have I been the one being mean to him? Thoughts stormed through my brain overcoming EVERYTHING (I mean everything) going on. I gazed off during every class and have no idea what the homework meant. On top of that, finals were coming up and I needed to hold on to my B+ grade average. My brain was so distracted by the one person I hate that I totally forgot that the cheer re-election was TODAY! I got on the bus, and opened my assignment notebook and in big pink letters on the page it said “CHEER ELECTION TODAY :)”. In the rush of realization I sprinted to the front of the bus where Mrs. Nancy, our bus driver, wouldn’t let me off the bus without a note. So I found one of the open seats in the front of the bus (there is always a bunch of those) and sat down anxiously. I counted down to my spot. 6 more stops. 3 more stops. MY STOP! As soon as the bus halted to a stop, I ran. The chill of cold air crawled up my spine as the wind whistled in my ear. I already shot a text out to all the girls on my team telling them to wait for me to get there cause I had some work that I needed to make up. I grabbed my bike and began peddling as fast as I could. I made it to school in under 10 minutes tops. Rather than the fact that I was sweating like a pig, I still had a chance!
As I walked into the auditorium where we were supposed to be having our election I realized the eighth grade boys basketball team was taking up the whole gym and that our cheer squad was totally out of sight. I panicked. Their coach told me that the girls were clearing out by the time he got there, so he figured he could use the space. Two words in that sentence gave me the chills: girls and clearing. I must have looked like a fool prancing down the hallways looking for girls that I probably had no chance of finding. So here I am alone in the school. Crash is why I am not cheer captain. I pull out my phone and quickly go to my messages. Nothing. Then as I began to put my phone away a random number pops up. I select View now. Hey Jane its Crash... About yesterday. My heart raced as I slammed my phone into the pocket of my backpack. I can’t even think about Crash. He ruins everything.
Lunch: The time of the day where kids forget about homework and tests and just relax with their friends as the air is filled with the gross smell of cafeteria food. I anxiously approached my table where my team was sitting. All eyes were on me as if I had murdered fourteen people with my bare hands. Great. I took a seat next to Rachel. Glares were exchanged around the table.
As I was about to speak Aly blurted “We had to elect without you. Cheer elections should be in front of work you can do after a 10 minute meeting don't you think?”
I nodded as a knot just formed in my stomach. A lump crawled into my throat.
“Who won?” I mumbled.
More glances were exchanged.
Aly said without hesitation “Well I did.”
I never really hung around Aly, but all the other girls did. Maybe that is why she won. I was begging to know if they even considered me.
That conversation dwindled away quite quickly after Rachel broke the silence. “So did you guys hear that Crash vandalized the school?”
I had a down right horrible day. Crash’s text was stuck in my head as if it was imprinted in my brain. It kept replying “Hey Jane, Its Crash... About yesterday..” As I boarded my bus and whipped down into my seat, I slowly pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my back pack. The screen was flashing “ One new message! One new message! One new message!” Eagerly, I hit view now. Crash and I texted for hours. I never thought I would say that. What else shocked me is that he started that rumor about himself vandalizing the school so people would stop praising him like he was a God. Turns out he is actually pretty nice. Yuck, did I just call Crash nice? Anyways, I never really finished reading the text he sent. it read: ... I was kind of upset because my parents have never came to a game of mine before. On top of that the girl I like doesn’t like me back. In fact she HATES me. :( Being the dumb blonde I am, I asked him if the girl he liked was the reason he kept looking for her in the crowd. He liked me. Ew. I obviously had no feelings for him. He was the reason I am not cheer captain. He was the reason I am behind in school. He was the reason I am so unfocused. He was the reason for everything. Is it really fair to blame him for all that stuff? I think so. I told him I kind of hate him... or did I say highly dislike? Anyways, he said he won't bother me anymore as long as we can be FRIENDS! FRIENDS!!!! Obviously, I said sure and that was the end of conversation. So, now I lie on my bed staring at the ceiling just thinking. This is how it all started.
Another perfect day for a football game. I met Aly and the rest of the squad out by the track. She leads us through some practice drills and we walk to our place reserved on the track for the cheer squad. Sounds familiar right? Except for this time it is different. Instead of thinking about how prepared we are or how the game will go, I am listening. In the middle of the stretch circle my best guy friend, Crash, comes over and taps me on the shoulder. I whirl around and wish him luck before his big game. He points out his parents in the crowd. I give him a hug and he prances out onto the field. He looks back and flashes me his gorgeous blue eyes. As the girls go nuts for Crash, so do I. He needs support right?

THE END!