Saved by the Bell: A New Generation

Chapter Eight

After all the things I've done for you
You never tried to do the same
It's like you always play the victim
And I'm the one you always blame
When you need someone to save you
When you think you're going to drown
Time To Say Goodbye
Think you're going to drown
You just grab your arms around me and pull me down

Cheerleading practice had finished for the day and each cheerleader had now returned to the change room to change back into their gear and head home or wherever they were to go after school.

"Hey new girl, I saw you talking to Chase earlier. Do you like have a thing for him?" Kayla asked like she was needed to know if she had rivalry for him as she stalked in the direction of Ariana and Claire who were both fixing their hair.

Taken by surprise, Ariana spun around and saw Kayla stand over her as she sat on the bench.

"Kayla, don't you think the new girl is getting kind of old? Ariana's been here three days now. She does have a name you know," Claire spoke up, obviously annoyed.

Kayla placed her hand on her hip outright and sized both girls up. "Old habits die hard, I guess. But I'll try my best. So, Adriana, do you like Chase?"

Claire rolled her eyes. Hadn't they confirmed her name when they first met each other? The wrong name was pure coincidence to excuse the fact that she didn't want to try.

"No, I don't like Chase. I guess we're friends," Ariana interjected, smoothing her hair down to let it flow around her back. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Excuse me?" Kayla asked, clutching her hand to her chest like she didn't know what she was talking about.

"Kayla, anyone can see that you've got a crush on Chase but you have nothing to worry about because I don't want him. I'm not after him and I know you'll be thankful to hear that. After all, that is the reason you asked me."

Kayla laughed it off. "Oh, I wasn't worried. I know I have nothing to worry about. I was just curious because you look awfully chummy together—that's all."

"Alright then," Ariana finally said, unsure where to take what she had said. Should she be offended?

Without another word, Kayla sauntered away with a flick of her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"So, you're not interested in Chase?" Claire asked, once Kayla had gone.

"Nope," Ariana shook her head, picking up her belongings and slipped them into her bag, so she could go. "I have a boyfriend in San Francisco who I'm committed to."

"Are you sure you don't like him because I mean even with a boyfriend in San Francisco, you can still unwittingly have feelings for someone else who's gorgeous and appears beyond you, trying to get your attention," Claire questioned again, draping her bag over her shoulder. "I think he likes you."

"Please," Ariana returned with a sigh and nudge to Sierra. "I doubt he likes me. I'm a junior and he's a senior. He could have any girl he wanted so why would he want me but if he does then it isn't going to be precipitated because I have a boyfriend," Ariana assured Claire as they headed out of the change room.

Was Claire right? Did she like Chase? If Kayla thought she was moving in on her territory then she couldn't be further from the truth. Ariana was most definitely not interested in Chase. She had a boyfriend whom she couldn't be happier with. Now all she had to do was repeat that to herself a dozen times.

They were unaware of Kayla who had heard every word of their conversation and no doubt planned to use it for her benefit.

Five minutes later after everyone had come and gone, Kayla walked the hallways alone as she headed for the exit. Walking out the doors, she caught sight of Chase walking to his car.

"Hey Chase!" Kayla caught up to him. Now was the time to tell Chase of the important information she overheard about Ariana. After all, he did have a right to know if he developed a thing for her.

Chase turned his head and half smiled. "Kayla, hey," he said. "Listen, if this is about the concert, I'm sorry I didn't ask you but—"

"It's not about that Chase," she cut in. "I have something to ask you."

"Okay."

"Do you like Ariana?"

Whoa, where did that come from? Chase was taken by surprise and so he was unsure as to how he was to reply. "I don't know…"

"Well, I hold this in my mind that I think you should know. Ariana has a boyfriend in San Francisco."

Chase stood there. Ariana had a boyfriend? Okay, fine. But why was Kayla telling him?

"Why are you telling me this?"

Kayla pouted and came closer towards him where she could smell the scent of his musky vanilla cologne. "I'm telling you because I'd hate to see you get hurt if you try to pursue her," she placed her hand on his bicep. "Can't you see? I care about you Chase. I don't want to hurt you. Besides, she's only a junior. You're a senior, you deserve much more mature."

Chase stepped back. Ariana was a junior? She was taking an AP mathematics class for seniors. Boy, she was pretty as well as smart. Was there nothing this girl wasn't good at? These features only intrigued him additionally.

"I don't care whether she's only a junior. What does age have to do with it?" he stepped aside from her en route of his Toyota Hilux Ute. "Good bye."

"Forget her, you're wasting your time," he uncared for her comment as he continued to tread to his Ute.

Forget her? It was outright unfeasible to disregard Ariana. Maybe he was wasting his time by getting to know her considering she had a boyfriend but he was determined to discover the answer for himself—even if he got hurt in the process of doing so.

Later on that night, Ariana lay curled up on her bed as she listened to her music at full blast, and deciding to call Logan. After her little chat with Claire that afternoon and how she proclaimed she was not engrossed in Chase at all.

Picking up her pink cell phone from her beside table, she flipped open the phone and scrolled through her list of contacts until she came across Logan's name. When she found it, she stopped and for a moment she pondered over whether she should call him or not. She felt a strange vibe in the pit of her stomach that by calling him would be signalling the end of their relationship.

And she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to end things between them. Sure, they had drifted apart more now being cities apart but deep down she knew she liked him. Unlike her other friends' past relationships, she and Logan worked well together. Then again, maybe they had just grown up and grown apart from one another. She could feel more desirability to Chase these past few days than she did to Logan over the course of the six months they had been going out.

Maybe her relationship with Logan was merely more of a friendship than a boyfriend girlfriend relationship. Though she knew she should face up to her ambience. If she was feeling this way for a reason, then she needed to go ahead and call him. Pressing the call sign, she held the phone to her ear and listened to the dial tone as she waited for Logan to counter his phone—if he answered his phone.

On the third ring, he picked up and spoke into the phone with a deep and raspy voice like he had been asleep.

"Hello."

"Hey Logan, guess who?" Ariana said with a hoarse tone of voice, trying to sound sexy and mystifying.

"Uh, listen, Aimee—"

"Nuh-uh," Ariana cut in. "It's Ariana, your girlfriend who's missed you so much. Wait—who's Aimee?"

There was a long break of silence before either spoke. Ariana guessed he was stalling for a rationale clarification to his mistaken name calling.

"Well? Who is Aimee?" Ariana asked again, mounting impatient to know the truth.

"She's just a…friend. Our friend, remember. What, you've been in LA for too long and you've already forgotten who your friends are here."

Last time Ariana checked, she and Aimee were enemies rather than friends. She had always been out to steal Logan's affections away from her, only Ariana had always been there to even the score.

Getting lost into the sensation of the music playing in the background, she twinged a little like a lost little girl.

Why did the tune have to bear a resemblance to her morose mood all of a sudden? Was it possible that she knew her relationship was going to end?

"Logan, do you like Aimee?" she managed to get out. "And I need you to be honest with me, please, for the sake of us."

"I don't know," he said.

The sensation of her music was now all but a distant dullness. Instead, she took clear note to every word of the song like it was telling her something.

"This isn't working is it? Our relationship isn't working."

"No…it's not. I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you."

"I know which is why we need to go our separate ways now before one of us hurts the other. We've grown apart from each other and my moving has only added further strain to our relationship. Tension that neither one of us should be feeling when we're sixteen years old."

"I don't want to be feeling like I can't trust you around Aimee when I know I will be if we stay together. This…thing we've got going. It was never going to work between us. You need to do you own thing and I need to begin a life here."

"So?" he interjected like there was nothing more to say.

"I guess this is good bye," she insisted, idiomatically closing her phone.

She let her phone slide down the side of the bed in which she lay down and wept a single tear down her cheek, listening to the music to enfold her like it was her own personal soundtrack. And yet, as agonizing as a good bye to Logan was, a part of her felt like she had been unconstrained from a poignant struggle she no longer had to weigh up like a weight or heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

Ariana conspicuously knew that this was the place she was at and knew she was right to be going on her voyage unaided.