PORTMAN'S POV

I guess you could say I spent the rest of the day in a foul mood. I mean its not every day your hopes of getting the girl of your dreams gets crushed the second she starts flirting with the school's quarterback.

And if you watch all of those high school comedy movies, the quarterback of the football team was the ultimate catch.

I'm gonna kill whoever said life imitates art.

It was all I could do not to punch pretty-boy Ethan's face in whenever I saw him in the halls. He had every reason to be smiling today, he had Julie and I didn't.

So I strolled around with a scowl making everyone cower in fear that I was going to lash out at them.

Good! That's exactly how I wanted them to react. Maybe then no one will ask me what's wrong and I wont have to admit that I've just been rejected by Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, well not to my face anyway.

But of course there was one person who just couldn't leave me alone.

"Hey stranger" a sickly sweet voice appeared beside me.

I turned to face its owner.

"Hey Britney" I replied not feeling too social but not feeling like giving her the brush off either.

"Are you playing in Friday night's game?" she asked me.

"Of course" I replied wondering why she would even ask such a stupid question.

"So I was thinking maybe after your game we could, well you know" I could hardly believe my eyes when she starting wiggling her ass against me.

You know what? Fuck it! maybe she'd help me forget all about Julie.

"Sure thing babe" I replied turning on the Portman charm.

She practically squealed in delight that I'd actually just agreed to spend time with her. I wasn't an idiot, I knew all she wanted to do was make out and perhaps give me a pretty good screwing later but I'm a guy and dammit if Julie doesn't want me then fine! I'm not gonna sit around and wait for her to realise that she likes me too.

Next thing I knew I had her hands on my face and her lips inching towards me. For a split second there I thought she was Julie and started kissing her back intently.

"A taste of things to come" her voice cut me out of my daydream and I realised who I was really kissing.

"Oh shit" I heard Connie's voice.

I immediately pulled away and reached out for her arm to stop her.

"What's up Cons?" I asked concerned that she was hurt or in some kind of trouble. That's what us guys on the team do. We look out for the girls.
"You're a big fucking idiot that's what's up" she exploded shoving me hard and taking off down the hallway.

Man for a tiny little thing, she could definitely hold her own.

"What did I do?" I yelled after her but she ignored me and continued walking.

Crap! Now Julie's gonna find out I was with Britney.

Oh well do I care? She now has Ethan.

Yeah, take that Gaffney.

JULIE'S POV

I couldn't believe what I had just seen.

Portman and Britney?

I supposed I should have expected it. I mean he's a hot jock and she's the hot cheerleader. Aside from that I'd heard the rumour that Fulton had hooked up with Britney's best friend Alexa so I guess it made sense for Portman to go for Britney.

I just really wished I hadn't witnessed that.

I paused in the stairwell trying to catch my breath.

I had to get out of here but I didn't know where I could go.

Then it hit me.

Connie had been ranting to me how Averman had listened to her when she was upset about Guy. She said he'd made her laugh and she'd felt better than she had in months.

I guess it was worth a shot.

I left the stairwell and started running for the boys dorms, hoping like hell that Portman and Britney hadn't decided to continue their little display in the dorm rooms just yet.

I found Averman's room and began knocking rapidly on the door.

He opened after a few seconds and looked extremely shocked to see me.

What I meant to say was "Can I come in? I really need to talk to someone"

But what came out was "canicminirllnedtaktosmen"

"Huh? Slow down" he replied adjusting his glasses.

I took a shaky breath. I didn't know if I trusted myself to speak. When I finally regained my composure I started again.

"Sorry, Connie said you were a good listener and I know you won't tell anyone cos if you do I'll kill you and Connie will kill you too and….."

"Come in" he cut me off and led me inside. He looked at me with a sympathetic smile.

"Thanks" I sniffled feeling like the worlds biggest idiot.

He crossed the room to retrieve some tissues from a desk and he handed them to me.

"Thanks Averman, I know why Connie likes you so much" I said before blowing my nose and making a horrible sound.

"She does?" he replied sounding like he was amazed.

"Of course she does" I gave him a weird look. Duh? She doesn't just go around kissing people you know!

I saw his face light up and I could tell he was trying to hide his excitement.

"So tell me what's up Julie?" he asked.

"You're gonna think I'm such an idiot" I was hesitant. I was feeling highly embarrassed.

"I'm the King of Idiots apparently so you're preaching to the choir Catlady" he joked and immediately I smiled.

"That's what I love about you Averman, you always know how to make your friends laugh" I sighed. He really was a good friend.

He grinned at the compliment.

"So come on, out with it" he ordered.

"Well its stupid really but I kinda like someone and I saw him with a gorgeous cheerleader and she kissed him and I think they're gonna hook up and its just so damn frustrating!" I exploded replaying the scene over in my head.

"So who's the jerk with the cheerleader?" he asked obviously trying to seem disinterested enough to humour me. I knew it sounded dumb, I mean come on, I'm not supposed to get crushes on teammates.

"Promise you won't laugh" I said cautiously. The last thing I needed was for him to laugh at me.

"Promise" he replied gently.

"Portman" I said softly.

He looked shocked. I guess the thought never occurred to him before.

"Does he know you like him?" he asked slowly.

"No which is why I feel so damn stupid! Now he's gonna wonder what the hell my problem is and I don't think I want to tell him just yet" I had calmed down enough to stop rambling incoherently.

"You don't have to tell him anything, well you can tell him you forgot to water your plant or you had bad mac & cheese for lunch in the cafeteria, hey anyone would believe that story, or you could say that your dog was sending you mental messages that you had to feed him" Averman suggested wacky reasons I could tell Portman.

"I don't have a dog Averman, or a plant" I laughed. He was really making me feel a lot better about things.

"Well go with the mac and cheese story" he replied.

I couldn't help but laugh again.

I was about to respond but another knock came at the door.

I immediately stiffened.

God I hope Portman hadn't seen me come in here. It was the last thing I needed.

He opened the door and I couldn't quite see who was standing there.

"Hi" Averman said to the person on the otherside.

"Hi" I instantly relaxed when I heard Connie's voice.

Thank God!

They were silent for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Averman asked her.

"Huh?" she replied as if she'd been daydreaming.

"Are you okay?" he repeated his question.

"Yeah um, Charlie said Julie was here" she replied.

"Yeah she is" Averman stood aside and let Connie in.

"Jules I saw what happened are you okay?" she rushed towards me and sat down, putting her arms around me.

She must've noticed how awful I probably look.

"Yeah I'm fine now. You were right, Averman is a good listener" I gave her a little smirk that only she could have worked out the hidden meaning behind it.

"Yeah he is" she agreed getting up and sitting down on Averman's bed.

Then there was a thick silence in the air, as none of us knew what to say.

I knew I should leave these two alone now.

"Well I'm fine guys so I'd better get going. Thanks for listening. I'll see you two later" I said quickly before jumping up and heading for the door.

"Anytime Julie, remember if you want him that badly just tell him. He'd be an idiot not to like you back" Averman called to me.

I thought about what he said for a minute.

"Okay, you know what I think I will" I grinned before leaving the room.

I'd made up my mind before I'd even closed the door.

I was going to tell Dean Portman how I feel.

OKAY, NOW I'M BRACING MYSELF FOR THE 'I HATE YOU'S'!!!!

HIDING IN THE SHADOW: Ethan's a jerk, plain and simple and Julie's an idiot for using him to make Portman jealous!

HOCKEY-GIRL90: See above comment, I just used the US stereotype that football jocks are wankers (well that's how I perceive it anyways)

FOOTYCHICK: sorry I'm driving you nuts, I'm afraid there's a little while to go yet before it gets sorted (Sorry!)

SPIKEYHAIRGOOD: I suppose you could say Ethan's being used to give Portman a 'sort-of' valid reaosn to sleep with the cheerleader. But I might make him a variable later on, haven't decided yet.

GALINDAPOPULAR: thanks for your review, I'm glad you liked it. I LOVE your stories BTW, they're awesome!

ELYSE BLACK: thanks for being patient but you're probably gonna hate me in a few chapters time!!

Thank you all for reviewing!