Chapter Ten – Make This Count

"He kissed you?"

"Yup, before I even knew what was going on, he just walked up to me and kissed me. He said it was something he should have done a long time ago."

"Then what happened?" Sawyer asked.

"We kissed some more and then he drove me home." Lydia said, as she pulled her duffel bag out from under her bed.

"Have you talked to him since?"

"No, I'll see him on the bus though." The gang was leaving for the classic in only a few hours and Sawyer was helping Lydia pack. "You don't think it will be awkward do you?" asked Lydia, stuffing her pajamas into her bag.

"No, it should be fine, but just in case let him talk to you first."

"Why?"

"Well he kissed you, which could mean anything. I know it's not like Jude to kiss a girl he doesn't like, but you just have to be careful with this kind of thing."

"What if it was just a spur of the moment thing, and he thinks that we're still just friends? Or worse, what if he things we're like some friends with benefits type of deal?"

"Lydia, relax okay, you're over thinking it. You finally got what you wanted after waiting like ten years, just enjoy it."

"You're right, I just need to calm down, this trip is supposed to be fun."

"This trip is going to be fun, okay, we're young, we're hot, and it's time to do some damage."

Jenny tossed her bag in the compartment below the bus and joined Casey who was waiting to board the bus. "How was your date with Jude?" Jenny asked.

"It sucked actually, he bailed half way through. He said there was somewhere he really needed to be and that it couldn't wait."

"Sounds magical compared to my night." Casey gave her a confused look. "Johnny dumped me."

"What? You're not serious, what happened?"

"He said that we just didn't make sense as a couple anymore, and that he used to love me but it went away."

"You do know what that means right?" Jenny shook her head. "He stopped loving you because he started loving someone else."

"You think he was cheating on me?"

"Why else would he break up with you? Even if a boy's not in love he won't dump his hot cheerleader girlfriend unless he has something else lined up." Jenny thought about this as she spotted Johnny walking up to Sawyer and Lydia who were lined up to put their bags in the storage. She watched as he took both of the girl's bags from their shoulders and put them away himself. Casey noticed what Jenny was looking at and shook her head. "Which one are you thinking?"

"Huh?"

"You think he's hooking up with one of them right?" Jenny reluctantly nodded. "Which one, blonde bombshell Sawyer, or sexy librarian Lydia?"

"It's one of them, and either way, he's getting his ass kick by someone." Slowly everyone began boarding the bus, Jenny watched Johnny as he sat behind Lydia and Sawyer, no luck there. She made her way to the very back of the bus. When she passed Johnny he gave her a small smile. "Ass" was all she said. She took a seat and turned to Casey. "For the next two days you are not to take your eyes off of him. I want to know everything he's doing and who he's doing it with." Casey smiled.

"Sure thing boss."

The teams had settled in and everyone was running about the hotel preparing for their upcoming competitions. Sawyer sat on Alex's bed as he flipped through all the channels on the TV. "So, I heard Johnny broke up with Jenny." He said.

"Yeah" was all she responded with.

"You don't seem too happy about it."

"If you think about it, it doesn't change anything. I mean sure, I won't be hooking up with someone else's boyfriend, but it doesn't change the fact that I already did. And we still can't go public about it, Jenny would become the mastermind behind my social suicide."

"I don't know, she seems too sweet to do something like that."

"Please, anyone who could be friends with Casey Hawk is not sweet. She can be just as evil and manipulative as the rest of the cheer zombies." Alex shook his head annoyed.

"You do realize you and your best friend are cheerleaders right?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So, you rag on these other girls for being rude and selfish when you're the exact same way." Alex hadn't meant to be so harsh, but it was true. She was so wrapped up in herself and her feelings that she was oblivious to everyone else's. She was saying terrible things about the girl who's life she screwed up.

Any other girl would have left the room crying, but Sawyer was not just any girl. "What is your problem?"

"My problem is you, and how ignorant you are to everyone around you."

"Ignorant, how dare you. You're supposed to be my friend remember, be there for me when I need you."

"I am, okay, but there is only so much one person can take. You're becoming a total hypocrite, getting upset about how messed up your life is, when you're the one who messed it up!"

"You know what, you're right. I screwed up my own life with all my stupid decisions, but half of the time I don't know what to do. I'm caught between listening to my head and listening to my heart, and it made me feel better knowing that you wouldn't judge me, but clearly I was wrong." Sawyer slammed the door when she left, leaving Alex to feel like an ass. She must love him; he's been told that love makes you do crazy things.

Davis sat at the hotel bar, drinking only water of course, well until Whitey went to bed, when Johnny sat down next to him. "Hey man, how you holding up?" Davis had heard about Johnny's break up, and while he felt for his friend, he also wanted to make sure he was in proper shape for game day.

"I'm good man, I did what I had to do and now I feel like I can breathe again."

"Good, I'm glad you're okay."

"What about you, I never heard about your night after the auction. Who bought you anyway?"

"Her name's Beth."

"Does she have a last name?"

"I'm sure she does, I just have no idea what it is."

"Okay, what exactly did you guys do on your big date?"

"We hung out at the beach, drank some beer, went swimming."

"And do you plan on seeing this girl again?" Johnny asked.

"Nah, it wouldn't go anywhere."

"How do you know?"

"When I kiss the girl for me, I'll know it. Until then I am just going to have fun."

"Are you still having fun with Casey?"

"Negative, that died a painful death when she bought Jude in the auction."

"I didn't know she bought Jude, did they hook up?"

"Nope, he bailed half way through to go find Lydia."

"Please tell me they didn't just hang out and watch movies again."

"Actually, he kissed her."

"It's about damn time. I thought those kids were never going to get together. Are they official now or what?"

"I don't know, he hasn't talked to her since then, but I can't imagine them not being together."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey do you want to check out the gym in this place, maybe they got a hoop we can practice on."

"Sure, why not." Davis placed some money on the bar before he followed Johnny to the gym.

Lydia stripped out of her clothes, leaving only underwear, threw on an over sized shirt and crawled into her hotel bed. She had been practicing her routine all night and was exhausted. Sawyer was upset about something too, but she wasn't sure what it was, and on top of everything, she still hadn't talked to Jude. The outlook of their relationship was not looking promising, he kisses her once after sixteen years and then ignores her, this was going great. This was supposed to be a fun trip to Charlotte and now all she could think about was a boy.

It was getting late and Sawyer wasn't in the room. Lydia attempted to call her a few times, but she didn't answer. She got out of bed and stuck her head into the hall. She heard a crashing sound and immediately ran around the corner to find maid placing items back on her cart. When she saw Lydia standing there she laughed, "Nice jammies." It was now that Lydia realized she had failed to put any type of bottoms and was standing in the hallway only wearing her underwear. She quickly made a dash back to her room, but when she went to turn the knob nothing happened. She tried harder, pushing on the door, praying this wasn't happening. She had left her phone in the room, so it's not like she could call anyone and she wasn't about to walk down to the front desk. She tried the door again, twisting the knob every which way, leaning on it with all her strength. When nothing happened she slammed her fist on the door and cursed. "Shit."

"Having some trouble?" Lydia spun around to find Jude staring at her with a confused look on his face.

"No, I'm fine." She said, not wanting to have to awkwardly ask him for his help.

"Really?" She nodded. "Because it kind of looks like you locked yourself out of your room, oh and forgot to put your pants on."

"Fine, you're right. I was looking for Sawyer and I let the door go and left my key and phone inside."

"Sawyer's with some of the others in the pool. They thought it would be relaxing."

"That would explain why she's not answering her phone. Why aren't you swimming?"

"I was looking for you actually." Her heart sped up.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I thought maybe we could hang out." Lydia wasn't sure what to make of this. She didn't really expect him to profess his love for her in the hallway, but she thought he might say something more, anything really.

"Sure, but we might need to do it in your room, I'm kind of locked out."

"Okay, Davis is down at the pool so we'll have the place to ourselves. My rooms upstairs, let's go." Lydia followed him down the hall wondering if he meant anything when he said they would have the place to themselves. She was over thinking it again, she just needed to calm down and enjoy it, like Sawyer had said. They stepped into the elevator and Jude pushed the button for the floor his room was on. As soon as the doors shut Jude pushed Lydia against the wall and began kissing her. At first she was shocked, but she quickly reacted to his touch.

Jude had been waiting all day to kiss her, and he took the first opportunity he got. She looked amazing in just her shirt and he didn't want to wait until they got to his room. He felt down her sides and made his way under her shirt. When the elevator door opened they stumbled down the hall, attached at the lips. When they got to his room he took the key card out of his back pocket and fumbled to swipe it in the door. Lydia somehow noticed Jude struggling to open the door, she grabbed the key from his hand and spun them around so his back was pressed against the door. She swiped the key and the door cracked open. Jude lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist as the pair continued to kiss. He backed them up into the room and fell backwards on to his bed.

Sawyer was falling apart at the seams, and she only had five minutes to compose herself before she had to perform in front of hundreds of people. She couldn't help but feel like everyone around her was disappointed by the choices she made and actions she took. "Hey." She spun quickly on her feet to Johnny standing only a few feet behind her.

"Hi."

"We haven't really had a chance to talk since the auction. You know I broke up with Jenny right?"

"Yeah, I know." He smiled and reached for her hand, but she quickly pulled away.

"What's going on?"

"You're not dating Jenny, but you're not dating me either. Everything is messed up and it's all my fault, I wrecked everything and I'm sorry."

"Sawyer, what are you talking about?" Johnny asked confused. The announcer called for the Tree Hill cheerleaders to take the stage. Sawyer walked away from him without another word. As she joined the group of girls she noticed Casey staring at her intently. She chose to ignore this and do her routine like her life depended on it.

The girls won the competition and the boys won their game. The bus was ecstatic on the way home, but Sawyer sat by herself wishing she could shut the world out. She didn't want to feel sorry for herself, but there was no way to fix what she had done, and after everything she still wanted him, she just wasn't sure if that was good or not.

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