Brittany

There's something peaceful about an empty neighborhood at six in the morning.

It's like all the little gnomes that paint the sky bright blue are still asleep. I don't know, I think I'm still tired.

I was jogging through my neighborhood to clear my head and it was kind of working. I just had to put one foot in front of the other and breathe.

And not make eye contact with the middle-aged Asian woman that pushed her shopping cart around this time.

But that's wasn't the point.

The point was there was no school to worry about.

No Cheerios.

No rumors.

And no Santi-

You know what? I'm not even going to say his name. Not going to give that smug S.O.B the satisfaction of my thoughts. No ma'am. Or sir. Or whoever I am talking to right now? Me?

Whatever, I was going about my jolly good way on my 2nd mile (crushing it by the way) turning the block when this wet... dolphin came and slammed into me!

"DANGER!" I yelled with my signature defense pose. My mom taught it to me when I first started walking to school. She didn't want me thinking that all strangers were dangerous so she told me just use my gut when I think I'm in trouble and right now my gut was screaming at me.

"What the hel- Pierce? What are you a street fighter now?" The man who was trying not to be named asked. He lightly slapped my hands from their defense pose but I kept them there.

"What. The. Fuck Santiago!" He was taken aback by my brass language, but I was boiling. This was supposed to be my time and he still manages to find a way back into me whenever he wants.

I mean a way to run into me. Not like that.

I snapped, "Are you stalking me now? This is a new low Lopez, even for you"

"That's hilarious, I think I have better things to do goldielocks"

"Really? After that stunt you pulled at school I can't tell anymore" I lost it.

"Pierce I'm actual-"

"No! You listen. I do not want to be a part of this pathetic, virgin, story time you thought of. If anyone asks I am throwing your sorry ass under the bus and putting it in reverse."

Wow where did that come from?

Santiago pinched his eyebrows and stared at me for a quick second then looked down. He looked back up, scoffed and then sprinted the opposite direction without a word. Shit.

I took off after him without another thought. We used to do this racing crap all the time back in grade school but it kind of stopped when middle school started. Made sense since that's when the competing stopped and the pranks worsened. Still, it brought back memories of the two of us racing home with giant bookbags on our backs trying to get there first.

But this is now.

I was hot on Santiago's tail by the time we reached our block. He was speeding up and I could see how badly he wanted to win but I just did not have enough in me to let him. So I sped up.

We looked like fools running our hearts out when the sun was barely coming up but it didn't matter. I felt twigs snapping underneath my feet, and I could practically feel the nature's wind physically trying to slow me down. But I just didn't have enough in me to let her stop me.

So I sped up.

Just like that I made it to our designated finish line gnome that we use to declare the winner. And that was me! Our houses have two houses in between them (thank god) and between those two houses is a medium-sized red hat gnome. It was pretty worn down but it meant a lot. I looked behind me to see that Santiago was literally just two steps behind me and when he saw I beat him he had to catapult himself onto the neighbor's lawn so he wouldn't run me over. It was so satisfying that I too collapsed onto the sidewalk but sitting upright with the pride of victory.

I looked at Santiago's naked chest heaving on the grass,"You ok there Sanny?"

"Just...fine...princess", he replied with every breath eventually. I chuckled and got up to go home when he stopped me.

"Wait... just a second", he stood up. He had grass and bits all over him but something else caught my attention.

"Look Pierce you only won because I already had 4 miles down so..."

"Ha my miles didn't slow me down" I quipped.

"And how many did you get?"

"Like... five miles asshole" I lied, "and your nipple is weird" I poked his left one because it wasn't inverted but half of the nub was like inside but the other half is out, it wasn't that noticeable but it raised a lot of questions.

He tapped my hand away and rubbed it like it was sore, "Then don't touch it, you pervert" he said. I scoffed and waited for an explanation. He owed me at least one good story.

He rolled his eyes like an expert and said, "When I was like 13, Puck tried to pierce my nipple in my sleep. It, uh... hasn't been the same since".

I already felt my happy tears forming because I was SO going to bring that up again.

Santiago just shook his head and looked at the sun brightening the sky. He turned back and said, "And I'm not a virgin". He was obviously referring back to my outburst before our race.

"Do you want a sticker for your deflated nipple?" I chuckled.

He scoffed and looked at me for another weird second. "What?", I asked.

"That whole rumor, you know how McKinley is? It'll be dead by lunch today", he said. This was his way of apologizing for the incident but something just didn't sit right.

"It's not just about the rumor San. It's about how you can't face the fact that there's somethings you just can't win at. So you resort to letting everyone think you what? Plowed me like another one of your bimbos? Are you that intimidated by me? Or is this a 'I would rather die than let anyone think a girl can beat me' kind of thing?". I don't know why I am accusing him of being sexist but I guess it was bothering me if it came out like this.

He said nothing though. He parted his lips like he was going to say something, but I guess it died in his throat when he closed them. It was all I needed to hear so I turned back around and went inside my home to get ready for the rest of another long day.

Santiago

It was lunch and I had a plan.

It wasn't foolproof. Plus it would probably just make things worse but I felt like I had to do it. I was a little nervous but I remembered that Lopez' have no shame so it was go-time kids.

"Excuse me" I boomed. I was sitting (well standing now) on the table the Cheerios and the football team shares during lunch and I was calling for their attention. I couldn't give a crap if anyone else listens because that's high school...

"HEY everyone shut up! Lopez is gonna strip for the camera again" a cheerio called. A few cat whistles followed but it got everyone's attention so I didn't care.

"Thank you Annabelle" I said.

"It's Dayna"

"Ok. Listen up you guys" I continued.

"The other day I got my ass kicked by Pierce over there" I pointed to her. She was one of the first eyes to follow me and now one of the first eyes to leave.

I continued though, "I didn't get my ass kicked by a girl in a broom closet though, I got my ass kicked by a person who is a girl and I just wanted to set the record straight so yeah". I nodded assuringly, sat back down and took a huge bite out of my celery stick. No shame.

I looked up and saw a couple of the guys and girls high five Pierce and joking with her. She was wearing her little smirk and boasting about it. No one was paying me any mind and that couldn't have gone any better.

I'll let Pierce be the "badass" for today.