Chapter Fourteen

"I never knew he was such an ass. Why would he say stuff like that? He practically called you a slut," said John in annoyance.

"I think you were sweet for trying to defend me," I said cautiously.

"Anytime. I really like you, Callie," he said. I blushed and glanced out the window.

"Thank you," I said as sweetly as I could muster.

With these words, John seemed to decide that our coupledom was secured so we walked hand in hand into the building. Sawyer hadn't yet arrived, otherwise I'd have loved to flaunt it in his nose.

Though Jenny was there, talking at her locker with one of our cheerleader friends. I dropped his hand as I saw her, and ran to her in anger.

"You bitch!" I said accusingly.

"What?" she said innocently.

"You set me up! You knew that I'd have to ride with Sawyer if I didn't ride with you, so you got him to come! I'm not in love with Sawyer Scott, get it through your head!" I demanded. She rolled her eyes. And was it my imagination, or did the entire hallway stop and listen to our conversation in apparent surprise?

"Liar. Why else would you spend every waking moment with him? Every moment with him since you were three years old? Why else would you care if he made out with me?" she asked calmly.

"Because we're friends! And he's in love with you, remember? Like the boys on the basketball team, I'm the same to him. And I couldn't care less if he made out with you, I just care that he abandoned me for having a different point of view from you and him," I protested.

"And you'll punish him forever for that?" she asked.

"For a while longer. And anyway, this isn't your business. This is between him and me," I reminded her.

"And John Fenning, apparently. What is it with you two?" she asked curiously.

"Not much. He thinks he's my boyfriend but he's not, I wouldn't care if he made out with someone else," I said honestly.

"Are you making out with anyone else?"

"Please. If I did anything with Sawyer Scott it would be broadcasted on the six o'clock news," I reminded her.

"Speaking of which," said a familiar voice from behind me. I sighed.

"I wasn't talking to you before, but now you expect me to?" I asked.

"Why not?"

"Because you punched out my…" I faltered, and he grasped my shoulders and turned me to face him. My eyes met his, so full of pain. "My boyfriend! You tried to kick his ass!"

"And I did, though as I recall he threw the first punch. I was just defending myself. Though really it was hardly necessary," he said cockily.

"I'm going to kick your ass," I declared. The listeners laughed.

"Don't laugh, she's caused some pain in her own time. Callie I'm sorry," he said.

"Piss off," I retaliated, dragging Jenny down the hall with me.

Lauren was on the floor above, talking with some of her friends. Her eyes lit up when she saw us, and she ran over.

"Is it true?" she asked eagerly.

"What, about John getting beaten up by Sawyer? Yeah, completely," responded Jenny.

"People are beginning to say you made out with Sawyer," she said.

"I didn't. And wouldn't that kind of bother you?" I asked in surprise.

"Not really. I'm way over him," she said easily.

"That's incredible. I could never abandon a crush like that so easily," I said. They laughed.

"Really. When have you had a longstanding anything, besides Sawyer?" asked Jenny.

"Sawyer and I have nothing, we never will. And shut up," I advised.

"One problem though, if he really ever did like me he managed to drop that pretty quick to fall in love with you," said Jenny thoughtfully.

"Can we please, please, talk about anything else in the world?"

We didn't.

I didn't have to come into further contact with any of them until practice that afternoon. Jenny didn't teach us anything new, we just practiced our old routines. I realized by the end of the practice that it had been low-key for a reason-she wanted to observe Sawyer and I, and she didn't want teaching to get in the way of this.

He caught up with me as Jenny and I put away our equipment in the storage cupboard. She conveniently had to go to the bathroom, leaving us alone.

"Callie I'm sorry," he said.

"God, why can't you just leave me alone?" I asked crossly.

"Because you're too good of a friend to me," he said.

"I was, not I am," I corrected.

"You're still my friend, even if I'm not yours," he said. My mouth twitched, I had to pinch my cheeks from the inside to keep them from smiling.

"People keep talking about us," I said as I turned to leave.

"Yeah, I keep getting asked about you. Your boyfriend keeps giving me threatening looks," he said, laughing.

"He's not my boyfriend," I said. Oops.

"Then what is he?"

"He's just there. We make out, I'm not even sure if we're exclusive. By the way, why am I talking to you?" I asked.

"Because you're cutting me some slack?" he said. Hopefully?

"In your effing dreams," I said, leaving the closet.

I managed to track Jenny down before she left, and was therefore able to get a ride home in our car. Lauren had already left, having presumably walked to our house or the Scott's.

Daddy wasn't home, but Mom was. She was painting the main floor bathroom.

"Hi Callie, Jenny," she said distractedly.

"Hey Mom," I said. Jenny glanced at her.

"Peyton," she said, sweeping upstairs. Mom abandoned her paintbrush and sat down dejectedly.

"She's going to forgive you," I said comfortingly, putting a hand on her knee.

"She said she has forgiven me, but she hasn't," she said.

"Jenny's not going to hate you forever."

"Part of me tells me that, but she's done a damn good job so far. I mean it's been weeks since she's actually talked to me, and she's fine with your father," she said.

"Not really. She just pretends to be to get to your nerves," I confided.

"She tell you that?"

"No, it's just fairly obvious to me. How was your day?"

"Oh, good. Haley came over and then we went out for lunch. Sawyer and Tess are freezing her out too," she said. I nodded, doing my best to pretend that I knew that already. "Is Sawyer still not talking to you?"

"No, he's trying to get me to talk to him. It's really weird," I said.

"He's what, pursuing you?" she asked. This with a searching look.

"Yeah, he really wants to go back to being friends," I said with emphasis.

"Sure. Squirt, I'm going swimming. You coming?" she asked, standing. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll go change," I said. After we had we went outside to the pool, and more than once I glanced inside and remembered the face I'd seen the last time.

Author's note: I know I've been focusing primarily on one issue perhaps more than I do normally, so get ready for someone to appear again. And I think this is going to be a lot longer than 'Early for Two' so be prepared for that.

And the contest! So the winner will email me (not review. If you review with your response, you are disqualified). So they'll email me with Brooke's ending, and I'll write it and add it into the story somewhere in the near future.

And without further ado the winner is……… Nathen'sraven! Congratulations!

Oh, and another special treat. I picked another name out of the hat, and that name will get to choose one character to reappear from the past. Whoever you want who isn't yet in this story.

And the winner is…… dramaaddict8807!

These winners will email me with their responses and I'll write them out as soon as I can. Congratulations again.