Bryce's POV

The whole week had been pretty miserable. Sure, Juli was allowed to sit with him and his friends at lunch, but she would sit next to Garrett and mostly speak to him or Dana. Sherry always made a point of standing in the way if Bryce made an attempt to have any kind of one-on-one conversation with Juli. At this point, the whole situation seemed kind of hopeless.

Life at home was not much different. His parents were going through a rough time. They fought a lot, but this week was different. His mother said something she had never said before. She wanted a divorce. The night before, the Loski's were having a special dinner for Lynetta. She was visiting home from college and the Loski's hadn't seen her months. It was meant to be a nice, family get together, but that night at the dinner table, Patsy Loski lost it. She was through with Steven and his lack of respect, his drinking, his verbal and physical abuse, and the most painful: his infidelity. Bryce thought about the fight that had occurred the previous night at the dinner table…

"In a week, I want you out of this house!" Patsy yelled with tears running down her face.

"Patsy, I know I made a mistake. But this is my house too. These are my kids. This is my family," Steven pleaded in defense.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to cheat on mom with another woman, STEVEN," Lynetta snapped at her father. She made sure to call him 'Steven' with all the hatred she felt towards him. She would never call him dad again. He didn't deserve to be part of their family.

"Don't you talk to me like that," Steven began lifting his hand to slap her in the face, but Chet stepped in and stopped it.

"Don't you think that's enough for tonight, Steven?" Chet warned. "Now put down the glass of whiskey, drink some water, and try to calm down."

" You can't tell me what to do. Who do you think you are telling me what to do?" Steven began getting angry.

"Either you choose to calm down or I will call the police and have you arrested tonight. Which do you prefer, Steven?" Chet asked without flinching.

Steven collapsed into the sofa seat, defeated. He could not be sent to jail.

"You are such an asshole. I hope he does call and you get thrown in jail," Lynetta said disdainfully.

"Lynetta, please," Patsy pleaded with her daughter to stop.

"That's enough from you young lady," Chet demanded of his granddaughter.

"Ok, Mom. Sorry grandpa, I'll stop. I'm through with anyways. He's not even worth it." With that Lynetta led her mother to the kitchen in an attempt to calm her down and separate her from Steven.

"Bryce, go get a glass of water for your father." Chet was trying to delegate and bring the fight to an end, at least for tonight. He couldn't stand seeing Patsy in so much pain.

Bryce quickly got a glass and handed it to his father. "Aren't you going to tell me how much you hate me too?" Steven asked looking at Bryce.

Bryce was so angry, but he had to be the other man of the house and keep his cool. He couldn't lose it like Lynetta. Inside he felt like crying, screaming, yelling, and so many other things. But he had to be strong. He had to be strong for his family. He took a deep breath, and answered. "No, Dad," and walked away to his room. He needed to get away and think. What would happen to his parents? Would they divorce? What would people think? He had spent so many years preoccupied what people thought of him. He lost Juli because of that. He felt like such an idiot. That night he struggled to sleep. There were so many things he wanted to fix, but he had no control over. Why did his whole world feel like it was falling apart?

The next day at school was Friday. At least the week was over. He could play football tonight and maybe everything going on could leave his thoughts, even if it was only temporarily. Football kind of did that for Bryce. It made him feel sort of invincible. He wondered if that was the feeling Juli had described to him about being up in the sycamore tree. Either way, he knew it was an amazing feeling.

Later that night at the game, the sound of the crowd cheering him on and fans screaming his name was just what he needed to get his mind off of the incidents from that week. This was the fifth game of the season and they had been undefeated so far. They weren't about to let that winning streak go. They were going to win this game too. And they did. They won. It felt so nice after the terrible week he seemed to be having. But now it was time for the party at Sherry's. Suddenly, the joy of winning the football game seemed to vanish. He would go and have to watch Juli spend all of the party with Garrett. This would be torture for him, he already knew.

"Great game man," Garrett said enthusiastically to his best friend, giving him a high five.

"Yeah, great game," Bryce managed to force a smile.

"Now, let's go get trashed," Garrett grinned. "I'm taking Juli, you'll be with Sherry. It will be epic."

Bryce couldn't contain himself anymore. The jealousy had just begun to kick in. "Garrett what is this about? You were the one who always hated Juli the most. You constantly made fun of her, said she was retarded, and suddenly you're taking her to Sherry's party? It just doesn't make sense. You don't really like her do you? All I know is, you better take care of her and treat her well tonight. If you do anything to hurt her, I swear I'll -" but Bryce was cut off by Garrett.

"You swear you'll what? Are you going to rescue Juli from me and tell her how much you love her tonight? Because you really should. You're right, you don't get it. Of course I don't like Juli. I know how much you do though, and I know it's the only thing that will take you away from Sherry. My whole life I've been going crazy over Sherry Stalls. And she has never given me the time of day because you always stood in the way of that. How could I ever compete with Bryce Loski? You don't even really like Sherry, stop pretending like you do. I know you only date her because it makes you popular and well-liked by everybody. I would kill to be in your shoes because I actually like Sherry. So, that is why I did all of this. Call me crazy, but if you could just walk away from Sherry then we'd all be happy. I can't even begin to comprehend why you'd be happy with Juli Baker, but you would be. And Sherry would be with someone who actually likes her, she deserves that. I knew me taking Juli to the party would drive you crazy. And hopefully it would push you do what you should have done a long time ago, let go of Sherry. So come on man. What are you waiting for?"

Bryce stood amazed at what Garrett had just said. Essentially, Garrett was trying to make Bryce jealous enough to abandon his safe and popular position as Sherry's boyfriend. Garrett knew Juli Baker was Bryce's weakness. Best friends know that sort of information. Garrett was right, Bryce didn't like Sherry Stalls. Not at all. But being popular seemed to be everything Bryce had worked so much for and sacrificed for so many years. He would have to give that up for Juli. But she was worth it. She was worth so much more than that. Suddenly Bryce saw Juli approaching. He froze. What was he supposed to do? Sweep her off her feet and take her galloping into the sunset on a horse? No, he didn't quite have something as impressive or thoughtful planned out to win her over. She always managed to make him extremely nervous. She didn't even have to say a word and he was already melting like a piece of butter. Quick! Say something. What do I say? Wow, she looks beautiful tonight.

"That was a really good game, Garrett," Juli smiled. "Oh yeah, good game to you too Bryce," she said plainly as if it wasn't a big deal that Bryce was the quarterback of the football team. She had been acting standoffish towards him all week.

Garrett waited for Bryce to make his move. He still stood frozen. "Alright then…. guess we'll be seeing you at the party then dude." Garrett and Juli walked away, Bryce staring after them

Great, I had the chance and I stood there frozen like an idiot. I have to think of something. It has to be something really special. She deserves something as amazing as she is. Whatever I do, I am going to win her heart tonight.

Juli's POV

Juli had never gone to a football game, not to mention any parties during her high school career. At least, not till now. Tonight this would all change. And she was nervous. She was nervous but excited. What should she wear? Who would be there? Would the team win? Would she have fun with Garrett? There were so many questions going through her head.

Watching the game was a lot more fun then she expected it to be. And Bryce, he was an amazing athlete. She never knew that about him. He was the quarterback, so obviously every girl sitting in the stands was yelling and screaming his name. Although she wouldn't admit to herself, this kind of drove her crazy.

When the game ended she went to find Garrett. She figured congratulating him was the best thing to do since he would be her date to the party that night. Juli was single again. She had spoken to Eddie Trulock that week and they both made the agreement to end their so-called "relationship". Eddie actually almost seemed happy when Juli brought it up to him. They agreed to be friends and Juli was happy with that.

She finally reached Garrett and noticed Bryce was standing there with him. Just don't even act like he's there.

"That was a really good game, Garrett." She paused. Bryce had still done really well. Just because she was mad at him, she wouldn't ignore the fact that he was a huge factor of the team winning that night. "Oh yeah, good game to you too Bryce." But Bryce didn't even say anything, not even a thank you. What a stuck up, jerk. Juli felt herself starting to get upset. She tugged on Garrett's arm as if to motion it was time to go.

"Alright then…. guess we'll be seeing you at the party then dude."

Juli felt her stomach in knots. Hopefully the party would be fun like the game. Hopefully people would be nice. Hopefully she made the right choice to go with Garrett. Maybe he would be the answer to getting over Bryce Loski. All she knew was, tonight she was going to party. And she was going to party hard.

Next chapter… the party! I will try to update weekly from now on. Keep on reading and reviewing. Thank you!